Women's Prisons: What are they *really* like? | WLRN video

February 15, 2020 - Event recorded at the Ottawa Public Library, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. This event features the raw and personal stories of Heather Mason, Joey Twins and Alia Pierini; three brave amazing women who have been incarcerated into provincial and federal penitentiaries across Canada and have dedicated a lot of their time to educating the public about what actually goes on inside of women's prisons.

First, Joey Twins opens up the evening with a land acknowledgement and is the second panelist to speak at 0:09:50 . The Ottawa Public Library sits on unceded Algonquin territory. Joey Twins is a plains Cree woman, from the bear clan of Alberta, Canada, that spent 20 years incarcerated for a crime which she did not commit. At the young age of 18, Joey was charged with murder and with two co-accused that were willing to testify that Joey had done the crime, she took the plea deal of 10 to life. Joey, along with some other incarcerated woman at the Kingston Prison for Women, engaged in a physical combat with the guards when they could not stand the abuse they were subjected to any longer. The same prison, made notorious with horror stories of psychiatric experimentation and abject abuse of human rights, was finally shut down in the year 2000. She shares her knowledge and wisdom from her time inside of prison, her lessons of survival, as well as hardships faced afterwards.

The first panelist to speak (@ 0:01:55) about her experiences in prison is Heather Mason. Heather was convicted with drug trafficking charges that lead to her 3 year sentence. Heather details the lack of services for incarcerated women both at the federal and provincial level as well as the degradation faced by women on a daily basis, in jail. She is a strong voice and fierce advocate for the improvement of the lives of women serving their sentences in prisons.

Last of the panelists to speak is Alia Pierini (@ 0:24:15). Alia is from a small town in Northern British Columbia and through a long series of economic stresses found herself charged and convicted of drug trafficking. She was sentenced to 5 years and served 44 months of time in jail. However, of those 44 months she was subjected to 36 months of solitary confinement. Alia is a women's prison abolitionist and feels women and the community would benefit more effectively through women serving their time in their communities.

Watch the entire event unsegmented and uncensored in this video. All three women open with what they were charged and convicted with and then share their experiences with the audience about their time incarcerated. The opinions expressed by the panel and/or any of the audience members, doesn't necessarily reflect the views of Women's Liberation Radio News.

The question period during this event (starts at 0:45:00) features questions like: what is the differences between the federal and provincial penitentiary system, what kind of work do you have to do and how much are you paid to do it, what are the different programs available for men and women, what are the effects of bill C-16 (gender identity) on women's prisons and so much more.

Joey Twins then closes the panel with a moving song derived from native sisterhood song from women prisoners, at 1:39:30.

Thanks to all three women for traveling in from different parts of the country to speak at this event. A thanks goes to the Ottawa Public Library for hosting it, and to Heather Mason and her friends for securing the location and organizing the event.

And thanks to you, our listeners, for supporting your feminist community radio. Please remember to like, comment and share widely. Let's break the sound barrier together.

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