Media Advisory — This Year’s Edition of Prisoners’ Justice Day
For Immediate Release
MEDIA ADVISORY
Prisoners’ Justice Day events are taking place coast-to-coast on August 10th commemorating deaths in custody and demanding changes to save lives
August 9, 2022 – Eddie Nalon died alone in a segregation cell in Millhaven maximum-security penitentiary located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada on August 10th, 1974. A year later, Prisoners’ Justice Day (PJD) was first observed by imprisoned people held in the same Canadian federal penitentiary who engaged in a one-day hunger and work strike in support of their demands to end solitary confinement and other injustices behind bars. Since then, PJD has been marked by people inside and outside prison walls across the world.
As prisons continue to exist and kill, PJD events are once again taking place across the country tomorrow to commemorate the lives lost to human caging and to stand in solidarity with prisoners, along with their loved ones, who are demanding changes to save lives behind and beyond bars, including an end to solitary confinement and segregation-like measures that have become further entrenched during the COVID-19 pandemic. There is also a need to work towards decarceral futures where resources currently invested in human caging are redirected to people and communities pushed to the margins by colonialism, racism and white supremacy, capitalism and classism, patriarchy, heterosexism, ableism and other violent structures.
In support of these efforts, the Abolition Coalition is organizing PJD TV on August 10th from 6:00pm to 10:00pm ET. The broadcast on The Breach hosted by El Jones and Desmond Cole will feature footage from local PJD events, as well as segments with criminalized people and community organizers to raise awareness about the violence of imprisonment and alternatives to human caging that enhance our collective well-being and safety.
PJD EVENTS AND MEDIA CONTACTS:
PJD 2022 NATIONAL BROADCAST
PJD TV 2022 (hosted by El Jones and Desmond Cole)
August 10, 2022
6:30pm-9:30pm ET
The Breach (with ASL)
Online broadcast link: https://breachmedia.ca/prisonerjustice2022/
List of local events
Abolition Coalition media contact: justin.piche@uottawa.ca
MI’KMA’KI / HALIFAX
Prisoners’ Justice Day: Regulation Cannot Wait Any Longer
August 10, 2022
6:00pm – 8:00pm ADT
North End Community Library (2285 Gottingen Street)
In-person event link
Canadian Association of People Who Use Drugs media contact: capudofficial@gmail.com
TIO’TIA:KE / MOONIYANG / MONTREAL
VIGIL
Prisoners’ Justice Day / Journée de la justice pour les détenu.e.s
Tio’tia:ke / Mooniyang / Montréal
August 10, 2022 / le 10 août 2022
18h30-20h30 ET
Park Vinet (CEDA), 550 Rue Vinet, H3J 2L5
Metro Lionel Groulx
In-person event link
Anti-Carceral Group media contact: anticarceralgroup@riseup.net
UNCEDED AND UNSURRENDERED ALGONQUIN ANISHINAABE TERRITORY / OTTAWA
Prisoners’ Justice Day Release Camp for People Released from the Ottawa Courthouse and Jail
August 10, 2022
9:30am-4:00pm ET
Ottawa Courthouse (161 Elgin Street)
In-person event link
Jail Accountability & Information Line media contact: jailhotline@gmail.com
Prisoners’ Justice Day Vigil
August 10, 2022
6:00pm-8:00pm ET
Major’s Hill Park
In-person event link
Criminalization and Punishment Education Project media contact: cpep.action@gmail.com
KATAROKWI / KINGSTON
Prisoners’ Justice Day Healing Circle
August 10, 2022
Starts at 1:00pm ET
Prison for Women | P4W (40 Sir John A. Macdonald Boulevard)
In-person event link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/prisoners-justice-day-healing-circle-2022
P4W Memorial Collective media contact: p4wmemorialcollective@gmail.com
Prisoners’ Justice Day Special Broadcast in Remembrance of Those Who Have Died Behind Bars
August 10, 2022
4:00pm-10:00pm ET
CFRC 101.9FM, CJAI 92.1FM or cfrc.ca
Online broadcast link
TKARONTO / TORONTO
Prisoners’ Justice Day – August 10th 2022:
No More Deaths in Custody!
August 10, 2022
4:30pm-7:30pm ET
Allan Gardens Park (Gerrard Street and Shelbourne Avenue)
In-person event poster
Media contact: tiinaailaeldridge@gmail.com
TREATY 1 TERRITORY / WINNIPEG
Prisoners’ Justice Day:
A Vigil in Solidarity With Those Who Have Died in Custody
August 10, 2022
Starts at 6:15pm CT
Winnipeg Remand Centre (141 Kennedy Street)
In-person event link HERE
Winnipeg Police Cause Harm media contact: wpgpolicecauseharm@gmail.com
UNCEDED AND ANCESTRAL TERRITORIES OF THE MUSQUEAM, TSLEIL-WAUTUTH AND SQUAMISH COAST SALISH NATIONS / VANCOUVER
Prison Justice Day Memorial
August 10, 2022
6:00pm-8:00pm PT
Claire Culhane Memorial Bench
Trout Lake Park
In-person event link
Prison Justice Day Committee Media contact: pjd@prisonjustice.ca