Locked In

BY TRACEY DUGUAY

When an inmate dies in jail, an ?eerie, weird feeling? can be felt throughout the prison, even before the news of the death is announced, says John Moore, who spent about 10 years of his life behind bars.

?You can sense something like that happening right away,? Moore explains. ?It?s a spiritual connection.?

Tuesday, Aug. 10, is Prisoners? Justice Day, a time when prisoners and their supporters remember the men and women who have unnatural deaths while incarcerated.

?Everybody stopped eating for the day and didn?t go to work either,? Moore recalls when asked how inmates commemorated the day.

In order not to detract from observances held by inmates Tuesday, a separate public ceremony will be held on the lawn of the Sudbury Jail Monday,

starting at 10 am. According to Cheri Gladu, co-ordinator of Prisoners? Justice Day for the John Howard Society of Sudbury, the activities scheduled include an opening prayer, followed by a native smudging, prayer and then drumming ceremony presented by the White Cedar Singers. As well, Collette and Warren, two former inmates, will each speak about their experiences in jail.

After the conclusion of the ceremony, a video entitled Locked In, Locked Out, will be played at the Elizabeth Fry Society offices across the street

from the jail.

John Rimore, executive director of the John Howard Society, said he believes Prisoners? Justice Day serves the same function for inmates and supporters as do other commemorative events, like Workers? Memorial Day, which pays homage to those killed in the workplace.

?It?s a day about remembering that people who are incarcerated are still human,? Rimore says. ?We have to remember people shouldn?t lose their

humanity because of the crimes they commit.?

Prisoners? Justice Day has been commemorated since 1974 when Eddie Nolan, a prisoner at Millhaven Penitentiary, bled to death while in solitary confinement, despite attempts to summon guards for assistance. An inquest in his death revealed the emergency call buttons in the jail had been deactivated. Despite this finding, another prisoner, Bobby Launders, died in the same solitary confinement unit two years later. The emergency button had still not been reactivated.

Moore says inmates deal with same type of problems and issues the general population deals with but it?s all more intensified inside a correction facility.

?You feel like nobody gives a shit,? he says.

While Moore has been out of jail for the past 16 years, he remembers his thoughts of suicide when he was incarcerated. During his time in jail, he lost his father, grandmother, other relatives, close friends and one of his sons.

?I entertained the thought (of committing suicide) every Christmas.?