Prison Compass
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This book is a guide to surviving Canada’s prison system. It was written by a survivor who successfully transitioned to life on the outside. It’s based on real experience and tells the undisguised truth about what it is like to be jailed, dealing with police, lawyers, fellow convicts, and parole officers.
Crime rates have fallen sharply in Canada for many years, says the John Howard Society, but the number of people being jailed has actually gone up substantially.
Most of those held in jail – and this proportion has been growing steadily for years – are on remand. They have been charged with a crime but not convicted.
Black and Indigenous people and men are hugely overrepresented in the jail population, and this situation has been getting worse, not better, in recent years. Although providing education to prisoners is known to be an effective crime prevention tool, such opportunities are very limited to non-existent in the Canadian system. The amount spent by the Correctional Service of Canada on education per student prisoner per year is under $3000, compared to $10-12,000 or more per student per year spent by Canada’s public schools. It costs more than $100,000 per year to keep someone in a federal prison for a year. Federal prisoners “earn” around $6 per day for their work while in jail, an amount that has not changed in more than 30 years. About half of this is deducted for “room and board”, telephone, and other costs. The telephone deduction is in addition to the very high rates federal prisoners pay for each phone call.
There is a lot of use of force in prisons against prisoners, many of whom have identified mental health problems, and this situation appears to be getting worse. The use of solitary confinement continues to be an exacerbating problem.
In provincial jails prisoners, most of whom have not been convicted, are often “locked down” meaning they cannot leave their cells even for a shower or a phone call, sometimes for many days at a time. Prisons are full of people with mental health problems and have a much higher rate of suicide than in the general population.
Until the prison system is reformed into a humane, practical, crime prevention process, if you are caught up in it, you will need Prison Compass to escape the “gotchas”, to survive and transcend to become a productive member of society.
About the author:
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Issa Cheikhezzein is a graduate of Canada’s prison system. This is his first book.
Paperback Saddlestitch 5.5×8.5″ 24 pp February 2021, ISBN: 978-0-88970-219-6 $9.95
Ebook: You can get “Prison Compass” in three e-book formats (ISBN 978-0-88970-220-2 each $4.99):
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