Media Advisory — PJD TV 2023

For Immediate Release

Online broadcast to be held on August 10th to cover events being held from coast-to-coast commemorating the 48th edition of Prisoners’ Justice Day

August 9, 2023 – 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 demanding change. A current prisoner shared the kinds of changes they would like to see prison authorities make with the Tracking (In)justice Project, noting:  

“…corrections must review all protocols and training so that this vulnerable community can survive its stay in these institutions. Transparency and support for families and witnesses must be available or else it is at high risk to repeat itself. Sending the right message by not allowing people to die at an alarming rate at the hands of the system is the least the government can do”.

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 this age of disruption plagued by COVID-19, floods, forest fires and poor air quality, heat waves, and other preventable disasters. Rachel Fayter, a member of the P4W Memorial Collective and PhD Candidate in Criminology at the University of Ottawa with lived expertise of imprisonment, notes the deteriorating situation people behind bars have faced recently and its impact:

“The pandemic lockdowns that emerged during COVID-19 haven’t ended for many people locked up inside jails and prisons. Institutional lockdowns are an increasingly common reality for prisoners, resulting in segregation-like confinement for days and weeks at a time. Prisoners can’t access phones, showers, yard time, visits, programs, library, gym, and education, among other things. In the federal system, this results in people not going on temporary passes to community programs or work releases, and program delays making them ineligible for parole. Isolation and mental health issues are exacerbated. All this combined with a lack of air-conditioning or fresh air during intense heat waves has heightened tensions inside”.

In this context, there is 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 to enhance our collective well-being and safety. Aleisha, who was once imprisoned and is now facing barriers accessing necessities while on parole, underscores the need to be building communities, not cages:

“I can’t believe the federal system doesn’t look out for lifers when they get out, I mean you don’t even have a warrant expiry date so there should be supports offered for food, clothing, and rent. That’s ridiculous to me. I’m borderline, PTSD, ADHD, substance use disorder and I can’t find any counselling or anything to help me while I’m out. It’s crazy and I need it, I know I need it, but there’s nothing out here for me. Once you’re out of the prison system, you’re disposed of. It’s atrocious and I hate it”.

In support of efforts to demand changes behind and beyond prison walls for criminalized people, the Abolition Coalition is organizing the fourth edition of PJD TV on August 10th from 5:00pm to 10:00pm ET. The broadcast being live streamed via the Criminalization and Punishment Education Project’s Facebook page will be hosted by Desmond Cole and El Jones. The event will feature live and recorded footage from local PJD events across the country (see the event list below), as well as interviews with criminalized people and community organizers to raise awareness about the violence of imprisonment and alternatives to human caging that, when resourced adequately, can help us keep each other safe.

In support of efforts to demand changes behind and beyond prison walls for criminalized people, the Abolition Coalition is organizing the fourth edition of PJD TV on August 10th from 5:00pm to 10:00pm ET. The broadcast is being live streamed via the Criminalization and Punishment Education Project’s Facebook page and will be hosted by Desmond Cole and El Jones. The event will feature live and recorded footage from local PJD events across the country (see the event list below), as well as interviews with criminalized people and community organizers to raise awareness about the violence of imprisonment and alternatives to human caging that, when resourced adequately, can help us keep each other safe.

PJD Events (East to West) and Media Contacts

PJD TV 2023 National Broadcast

PJD  TV 2023
Hosted by Desmond Cole and El Jones
August 10, 2023
5:00pm-10:00pm et
Online Broadcast Link: https://www.facebook.com/events/702402968394737
Media Contact: justin.piche@uottawa.ca

Mi’kma’ki / Halifax

7th Step Society 10-year Anniversary & Prisoners’ Justice Day
August 10, 2023
6:00pm-8:00pm at
Alderney Gate Public Library (60 Alderny Drive – 2nd Floor)
Local Event Information: https://www.instagram.com/p/CvKKLmKuCHh/
Local Media Contact: eastcoastprisonjustice@gmail.com

Tio’tia:ke / Mooniyang / Montreal

Prisoners’ Justice Day Vigil
August 10, 2023
6:00pm-8:00pm et
Parc Vinet, Metro Lionel-Groulx
Local Event Information: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100066644375210
Local Media Contact: wendyjbariteau@gmail.com

Unceded and Unsurrendered Algonquin Anishinaabe Territory / Ottawa

Prisoners’ Justice Day Demonstration and Vigil
August 10, 2023
12:00pm – 2:00pm est
Human Rights Monument (220 Elgin Street)
Local Event Information: https://cp-ep.org/prisoners-justice-day-2023/
Local Media Contact: pjdottawa@gmail.com

Katarokwi / Kingston

Prisoners’ Justice Day Healing Circle Hosted by P4w Memorial Collective
August 10, 2023
11:00am-4:00pm et
40 Sir John A. Macdonald Boulevard
Local Event Information: https://p4wmemorialcollective.com/prisoners-justice-day/
Local Media Contact: rfayter@uottawa.ca

15th Annual Prisoners’ Justice Day Special Broadcast by CFRC Prison Radio
August 10, 2023
5:00pm-7:00pm et
Local Broadcast Information: https://www.facebook.com/cprkingston
Local Media Contact: cfcprisonradio@riseup.net

Tkaronto / Toronto

Press Conference – No More Deaths in Custody
August 10, 2023
Starts at 1:00pm et
Queen’s Park (25 Grosvenor Street)
Local Event Information: https://www.instagram.com/p/CvuY7IdOhZD/
Local Media Contact: reintegration101@outlook.com

Prisoners’ Justice Day Vigil
August 10, 2023
5:00pm-8:00pm et
Church of the Holy Trinity (19 Trinity Square)
Local Event Information: https://www.facebook.com/events/604328955104595
Local Media Contact: tiina.rittenhouse@gmail.com

Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabeg Territory / Hamilton

Prison Justice Day
August 10, 2023
Starts at 6:00pm et
Ferguson Bridge
Local Event Information: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cvke-eyOcvI/?hl=en
Local Media Contact: bartonprisonsolidarityproject@riseup.net

Treaty 1 Territory / Winnipeg

Prisoners’ Justice Day Sacred Fire
August 10, 2023
1:00pm-7:00pm ct
94 Mcgregor Street

Prisoners’ Justice Day Feast, Presentations and Social Gathering
August 10, 2023
2:00pm-7:00pm ct
591 Pritchard Avenue
Information for Local Events: https://twitter.com/wpgpoliceharm/status/1689314891923066880/photo/1
Local Media Contact: wpgpolicecauseharm@gmail.com

Treaty 4 Territory / Regina

Prisoners’ Justice Day Memorial
August 10, 2023
Starts at 10:00am ct
Saskatchewan Legislative Building (2405 Legislative Drive)
Local Media Contact: beyondprisonwallscanada@gmail.com

Unceded and Ancestral Territories of the Musqueam,
Tsleil-Waututh and Squamish Coast Salish Nations / Vancouver

Prison Justice Day 2023
August 10, 2023
6:00 Pm – 8:00 Pm pt
Clare Culhane Memorial Bench, Trout Lake Park
Local Event Information: https://www.facebook.com/events/811612730629555
Local Media Contact: pjd@prisonjustice.ca