September 26, 1985 _ '

“I was a breech birth,” Claire Culhane told a kings- ton audience last week,” and I’ve had my foot in it ever since.”

The words nicely evoke both her wit and her en-

since she was a teenager. Claire Culhane, at 66, has radical bones. Look at what she had to say during an interview:

0 “I’m into confronta- tion.” ._

0 “There are nuns (anti- nuclear protestors) in the US doing two to five years; Eventually all thinking people will end up in prison under this system.”" "

Q “My concern is to keep the convicts alive so they can tear the place (prisons) down. Let’s stop babysitting con- victs and get into' political action.”

0 Two slogans on her letterhead: “It is our duty to fight for our rights and our duty to win” and “Prisons are part of society. You can’t change them until you change society. And that’s a long and dangerous roa .”

Born in Montreal to Russian-Jewish parents, she supported the International Brigade fighting in the Spanish Civil War. In 1967 she be- came administrator of a hos- pital in Vietnam, an ex- perience that led to her first book, Why Is Canada In Vietnam? The Truth About our. Foreign A id.

Schedule: UPEI Human, ights Conference.

riday September 27, 1985

pening speech by Yusaf aloojee, Canadian Repre- entative to. the African

nformal reception, a chance 0 meet our guest speaker nd relax after a long day.

turday, September 28, 1985

:30 A.M. _— 12:00 Noon

‘Womens Rights Under The anadian Charter of Rights nd Freedoms.” Delories

ith free refreshments will

6 provided.

unch 12:00 Noon — 1 P.M. Vailable at the UPEI Cafe- ria on cash or coupon basis

' r 'f'c'rff'fiait‘i'i’frt'f

tanglement in political issues.

Back home she began teaching at a Vancouver com- munity college and eventually got another “foot in it” — this time, Oakalla Prison.‘ Her newest book, Still Barred from Prison, is the product of a 10-year hate relationship with a system that she says was meant to correct and rehabilitate but does neither.

Actively involved in inter- national efforts to abolish prisons, Culhane argues that the $4-billion criminal justice system in Canada is a growth industry that depends on “merchandise” — prisoners — for survival. Eighty per- cent of prisoners are not violent, she says, and should be in the community doing restitution, not time.

“Some people want ven- genance, if, for example, an impaired driver kills another man. It would be better to take away that man’s license for life but leave him in the community where he could pay restitution to the widow and her children.” She points to San ,' Francisco, where community projects have shown that law-breaking can be handled locally. Culhane argues that of the remaining 20 per cent of the prison population only 1.1 per cent are truly violent and need to be imprisoned.

Culhane, in touch with pri- soners across the c0untry, has an inexhaustible supply of horror stories, a prisoner dying of multiple sclerosis, whose warden pleaded that

uman Rights Conference v

Taking on the System ‘ Claire Culhane

he be released. Denied. A blind prisoner in solitary con- finement. One in constant agony from gunshot wounds has been denied crutches or medication; another swallowed 500 pills in a failed suicide attempt;

There is no law inside priSons, says Culhane, worse, there is no accountability. She urges that represenative community groups — not Citizen’s Advisory Com-

News

Page 3

* Prison Activist * CLAIRE CULHANE * Peace Activist * I N V I T A T 1 0 N

The women’s Studies Group invites students and faculty to hear Clair Culhane, prison activist, peace activist, and author of Still Barred From Prison: Social Injustice in Canada. At this Family of Woman class, open to the public, she will speak on the reality of prisons in Canada, particularly women and prisons.

Date: Wednesday, 2 October 1985 Time: 7:00 —- 8:30 P.M. Place: RL-lll (Robertson Library Lecture Theatre)

“The intent of this book is clear — to link the prison abolition movement with other political struggles for fundamental change. A formidable task, but one which must be tackled — with creativity, with enthusiasm, and with a passion.”

(Still Barred From Prison. p. 180)

mittees, which are govem- ment-funded and, too often, government-controlled spend time in prisons to monitor daily the situation.

Culhane believes that the existing system brutalizesl/zl both keeper and convict. The stress on the former, espe- cially those who simply want to do a good job, is over- whelming. “Con-lovers,” she I says, get their tires slashed; ' marital breakup amongI guards stands at 40 per cent. Culhane decries “groupism,”

- a form of prejudice implying that all guards and convicts are cut from the same miser- able m0uld.

Like all radical thinkers, Culhane challenges other definitions, especially such basic ones as crime. An assault on workers, she argues,. is a crime, just as break-and-enter is a crime:

“Eighty-four people died on the Ocean Ranger, through neglect. ‘What if someone. robbed a bank and killed 84 people? Wouldn’t someone go to jail for that?” She quotes Bishop Remi de Roo of Victoria: “If people com- mit crimes through greed, that’s worse than those who commit crimes through need.”

History will judge whether Culhane and others like her are farsighted or mere cranks. But one has to admire her honesty. Some of her critics dismiss'her as a grandmother basking in the affection of desperate people. To that, she says, “of course.”

By Larry Scanlan

UMKHONTO WE SIZWE I

1:30 P.M. — 5:00 P.M. Kelley Building, Room 237 “HIIman Rights of Prisoners

of Conscious” Yusaf Saloojee seminar leader

Please Note: A short break

with free refreshments will be *

provided.

li’wiy’rwwxv' — v

For further information con- tact the conference organizers

Michael S. Zinck, Program Director

Charlottetown Area Chamber of Commerce At

(W) 892—3424

(H) 566-5120

Carolyn Ryan, V-P Academic ' UPEI Student Union at (w) ' 556-0530 UPEI Student Union Office

‘ SMT

DEPARTS UPEI FRIDAYS AND

EFFECTIVE SEPT. 27, 1985

SMT IS ADDING VAN EXTRA TRIP

FROM P.E.I. TO AMHERST WITH

GOOD CONNECTIONS TO HALIFAX, ANTIGONISH, ST. JOHN, FREDERICTON, AND BOSTON.

THE BUS WILL LEAVE CHARLOTTETOWN AT 1:45 P.M. FRIDAY AND SUNDAY ONLY AND DEPARTS FROM THE U.P.E.I. BUS STOP AT

1:50 P.M. RETURNS 10:30 P.M. FRIDAY AND SUNDAY ONLY. THE TRIP WILL OPERATE THROUGH KENSINGTON, ' SUMMERSIDE AND BORDEN.

ASK ABOUT OUR LOW ECONOMICAL FARES. CALL SMT AT 892-0750

SUNDAYS

PIERROT

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