Prison Justice Day
On August 10, 1974, Edward Nalon committed suicide while held in segregation at Millhaven Penitentiary. He had already endured three months in isolation, and his consistent requests to be returned to the general population had gone unanswered. Unbeknownst to him, his transfer request had been officially logged eleven days prior, and his transition to the general population was imminent.
Fellow inmates in adjacent cells called for help by screaming and pounding on the doors of their cells, as the emergency call buttons had been dismantled, but no guards were within earshot to hear them. A coroner's inquest into Nalon’s death in 1975 recommended the repair of the call buttons and that guards should conduct hourly rounds of segregation cells.
On the first anniversary of Nalon's death, inmates at Millhaven initiated a one-day hunger strike in protest. Subsequently, an eighteen-day hunger strike ensued among six prisoners confined in segregation within the Special Handling Unit (SHU), which led to heightened tensions between guards and SHU inmates. In November, a conflict arose in the SHU after inmates were denied access to showers, leading to the tear-gassing of five inmates.
In January 1976, an inquiry conducted by the Office of the Correctional Investigator shed further light on inhumane segregation policies at Millhaven. Throughout this inquiry, which again recommended the repair of the emergency buttons, numerous inmates provided testimony concerning the utilization of 'Chinese cells' in segregation. The publication "Avatar," published by the nearby Collins Bay Penitentiary, reported on the practice, stating, "The chinese cell is a cell without any bed or water facilities. There is a hole in the floor for toilet purposes. This inmate slept naked and ate his meals while his hands were handcuffed behind his back."
Despite the two inquiries, as of May 21, 1976, the recommendations to repair the emergency call buttons had not been implemented by the Canadian Correctional Services. On that date, Robert "Bob" Landers, a twenty-nine-year-old inmate recently transferred from British Columbia, suffered a fatal heart attack in his segregation cell. Landers' body was discovered with a note reading, "Would like to see you, regarding burning sensation in the breastbone area."
Landers had been segregated since his arrival due to suspicions of being a prisoners' rights advocate. This suspicion proved accurate, as Landers did in fact advocate for equitable treatment of the incarcerated. Prior to his transfer to Millhaven, he authored an article in the external penal press publication, Transition, headquartered in Saskatoon and published beyond prison confines away from censorship. In Landers' article, entitled "Our Prisons - Before the New Year," he wrote, "Our preparation for returning to society is implemented by the use of gas, clubs, handcuffs, leg irons, shotguns, revolvers, high-powered rifles, boots and fists, freezing and starvation, or the threat of such, and a large dose of psychological warfare."
In 1976, Prison Justice Day spread from Millhaven to B.C., Quebec and the rest of Ontario. Thousands of prisoners fasted, refused to work, stayed in their cells and had no communication with guards. A day of peaceful protest, Prison Justice Day was intended to draw attention to the treatment of prisoners and to mourn those who died unnatural and senseless deaths in prison.
The penal press publication, Odyssey, written by the Odyssey Group at Millhaven, began as a reaction to the deaths at Millhaven. The Odyssey group is a “group of long term prisoners who feel that prisons and the justice system in Canada can and must be changed through non-violent means.” The members of the group (including prisoners and outside members) wrote passionately on prisoner justice issues including human rights, access to medical care, fair working conditions and pay and the abolition of solitary confinement.
In 1980, the publication of the Collin’s Bay John Howard Society chapter, Tocsin, republished an article written by Howard ‘Howie’ Brown, the original chairman of the Odyssey Group, the co-founder of Prison Justice Day, and who was in the segregation cell next to Edward Nalon when he committed suicide. Brown was transferred involuntarily to Kent Institution in BC in the late 1970s. “Howie has been punished often and severely for his beliefs but neither threats or bribes could deter him in his fight for better prison conditions.” The editors included a post-script to the article, “none of the prisoners at Collins Bay ate any meals on Prison Justice day, August 10, 1980.”
The publication for the Prison for Women in Kingston, Tightwire, wrote frequently about how they commemorated prison justice day. By the 1980s, in addition to the day-long hunger strike and abstention from work, the women used it as a day to mourn the women who had died in custody at their institution and to reflect upon the continued struggle for prisoner’s rights. In 1984, an article on Prison Justice Day reflected with disgust that some women were choosing to eat and go about their day on August 10th. "Perhaps they don't realize how much blood was shed to get changes." In the same year, a similar sentiment would be reflected in Outlook, published by Warkworth Institution. The editorial commented that prisoners were using the dining room and drinking coffee on the day, "by doing so, we invalidated the protest against the people who were providing those facilities and that coffee."
Prison Justice Day is still marked on August 10th in institutions and by prison abolitionists across the world.
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