Prison on Montreal Counter-information

Spoken Contribution by Toby Shone for the Tattoo Circus, Bristol, 2025

Tue, 02 Dec 2025 11:51:00 +0000

This is from a talk by Toby at the Bristol Tattoo Circus, which took place a few weeks ago at a squatted venue in the city. After the talks and workshops there was bands, DJs and a benefit party. Free the prisoners!

Hello everyone,

Ok, we’re at Tattoo circus, my name is Toby Shone, I’m an ex-prisoner and anarchist. Tattoo Circus was started around 20 years ago in Italy as a way to fund anarchist prisoner solidarity campaigns.

Female Keep Separate: Prisons, Gender, and the Violence of Inclusion

Tue, 05 Dec 2023 13:52:00 +0000

Anonymous submission to North Shore Counter-Info

First, a warning: This text is written by and for queers and their friends. It is meant as part of a conversation around inclusion and identity where the validity of queer people isn’t in question. Anyone using this text to contribute to homo- or transphobia is a fucking goof.

\\\*

When finally the cell door closes, when the jangling keys recede, you’ve arrived as far as you’re going that day. Then you can exhale alone with your mattress and be in your own body again, your body no longer a problem to be solved or a question to be answered. Just your own familiar weight under the blanket, where you can just shake and shake and try to sleep and get ready for whatever happens next.

What’s in the Contracts? Trying to Learn More about the Proposed Women’s Prison in Montreal

Thu, 15 Jun 2023 12:04:00 +0000

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

For more background information, check out this piece about who has been awarded the new contracts and a bit about the project to build a new prison for women on the island of Montreal.

The first step in fighting new development projects is usually trying to find as much information about the project as possible. That research can involve many things; since the first contracts have already been awarded for the proposed new women’s prison in Ahuntsic-Cartierville, we wanted to get our hands on them. Long story short, that was pretty difficult. The province has put some annoying security mechanisms on the contracts that makes them somewhat easy to download anonymously but very tricky to open and share. However, we’ve seen them and they don’t contain much. We wanted to share all the relevant parts here for people looking to fight the new prison.

Laval Migrant Prison: Detention Delivery Fundraiser

Fri, 02 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

From Solidarity Across Borders

Since the opening of a new prison for migrants in Laval Quebec in October of 2022, we’ve been consistently hearing from detainees about the terrible conditions. In-person visits have been suspended, while detainees are blocked from accessing their medication, have complained of being served rotten food, and many have continued to see their mental health spiral. All this in a brand new facility, that the federal government touted as a “more humane” form of detention. Now more than ever, it is clear that detention can never be “humane”, and only ending the practice of immigration detention in its entirety can put an end to these abuses.

What we know so far about Montreal's proposed new women's prison

Fri, 03 Mar 2023 12:47:00 +0000

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

Quebec recently announced the construction of a new provincial women’s prison in Montreal, with work slated to begin this fall (2023). The new prison is intended to replace Maison Tanguay, which was closed in 2016. Since then, women have been imprisoned in Leclerc, which was initially a mixed-gender facility, in Laval. The provincial government’s plan is to demolish Tanguay in 2024, and to build the new prison between the old Tanguay site and the still operational Bordeaux prison, in Ahuntsic-Cartierville. The whole project is billed at $400 million.

Month Against Detention

Tue, 19 Jul 2022 12:12:00 +0000

From Solidarity Across Borders

Month of Action Against the Migrant Prison.
August 1-31, 2022.

Despite years of concerted opposition, construction is nearly complete on the new migrant prison in Laval. If it opens, it will maintain and expand the government’s capacity to detain, surveil and deport migrants. It will also serve to force migrants to remain in exploitative working and living conditions.

This August, Solidarity Across Borders will be holding a month of action to oppose the migrant prison, as well as to demand an end to all prisons. Join us for a series of workshops, film screenings, and demonstrations to assert: the only alternative to detention is status for all!

Escaping Tomorrow's Cages: A Strategy for Stopping Prison Expansion

Wed, 08 Jun 2022 11:28:00 +0000

From Escaping Tomorrow’s Cages

Our main goal in writing this text and drawing attention to the issue of prison expansion in Ontario is to stop the projects, so in this final section we would like to offer some ideas about how that could happen. This is just our contribution to what we hope will be a larger conversation, and we certainly aren’t trying to say there is only one way of struggling against prison. That said, we hope that you will resonate with our ideas and feel inspired to push in similar directions.

June 11th: International Day of Solidarity with Marius Mason & All Long-Term Anarchist Prisoners

Wed, 01 Jun 2022 12:00:00 +0000

From June 11th

As time moves on and the seasons change, we approach once again the June 11th International Day of Solidarity with Marius Mason & All Long-Term Anarchist Prisoners . Another year has passed, and many of our dear comrades remain captives of the state, subject to its daily subjugation, isolation, and brutality. June 11th is a time to stop the ever-quickening rush of our lives and remember.

Escaping Tomorrow’s Cages: Fighting Against Recuperation

Mon, 23 May 2022 13:03:00 +0000

From Escaping Tomorrow’s Cages

This article is the fourth in a series about prison expansion in Ontario that starts here .

Although we have many reasons to be against prisons and against this prison expansion project in particular, our motivations are profoundly anti-capitalist, since prison is an important part of how capitalism functions. However, we understand that not everyone will share this motivation, even if we have a shared goal of keeping this prison expansion project from happening. Therefore, while our primary goal is abolition, our secondary goal is to stop these prisons from being built, so we will need to find and reinforce common ground with others. Perhaps the best foundation from which to work is to identify the state, in the form of the provincial government, as a common adversary in this fight.

Escaping Tomorrow’s Cages: Why Oppose Ontario’s Prison Expansion?

Tue, 10 May 2022 12:12:00 +0000

From Escaping Tomorrow’s Cages

This text is the third in a series. To start at the beginning, read the introduction . The second part, a summary of the projects, can be read here .

First, briefly, why oppose prisons in general?

We take as our starting point that the world would be better without prisons. Prisons don’t solve social problems, they exacerbate existing inequalities and play a crucial role in a violent capitalist system. The lie told about prisons is that by disappearing people who have been convicted of criminalized activities, our communities will be “safer”. In reality, breaking up communities, only to later release people with more trauma and fewer resources, does far more harm.

UK: Two statements from anarchist prisoner Toby Shone

Fri, 06 May 2022 12:05:00 +0000

From Anarchist Black Cross Brighton

First of May 2022

As a minimal gesture I refuse to eat from the prison servery to mark the Revolutionary 1st of May, to join in the demonstrations around the world using my body as a means of solidarity and to protest the denial of my correspondence by the security company G4S. I will not be isolated from my family, friends and comrades and I continue to define my anti-political convictions. Honour and dignity to all those who have fallen.

Update About Anarchist Prisoner Toby Shone (UK)

Tue, 05 Apr 2022 13:55:04 +0000

From Act for Freedom Now!

Actforfree received by email:

Justice for Anarchist Prisoner Toby Shone!

Anarchist prisoner Toby Shone is being held in the Category B facility HM Prison Parc, a privately run prison in South Wales, despite being in reality a Category C or D prisoner who was eligible for Release on Temporary License (ROTL) on 21 January 2022, according to paperwork he received on 26th March 2022. ROTL is home leave from prison in preparation for release. Category B prisoners are not eligible for home leave.

Borders Kill, CBSA Negligence Kills: Statement of Rage and Collective Mourning of the Death at the Laval Immigration Detention Center

Sun, 06 Feb 2022 13:22:00 +0000

From Solidarity Across Borders

Last Sunday, January 30th, we were enraged and deeply saddened to learn of yet another death at the Laval immigration detention center.

We do not have any information about the person who lost their life while in custody of the Canadian Border Services Agency. All we know is that they were a migrant detained for administrative purposes: ie. for not having papers. This person should never have been detained in the first place, and now they are gone. No one should ever be detained.

Bristol, UK: Toby Shone Speaks from the Dungeons of Bristol Prison, Explaining His Case

Wed, 05 Jan 2022 11:56:00 +0000

From Act for Freedom Now!

Your browser does not support the audio element.

My name is Toby Shone, and I’m an imprisoned anarchist held in Bristol prison who was kidnapped at gunpoint by the anti-terrorist unit, as part of Operation Adream in the UK. The repression was aimed to target the anarchist group of critique and practice, 325 collective and the website 325.nostate.net. Operation Adream is an attack by the British State in conjunction with European partners against anarchist direct action groups, counter-information projects, prisoner solidarity initiatives and the new anarchist critique of the technological singularity and the fourth and fifth industrial revolution. Operation Adream is the first time that anti-terrorist legislation has been used against the anarchist movement in the UK.

A Prison Administrator’s Car Burns

Tue, 28 Sep 2021 13:00:00 +0000

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Solidarity with Anarchist Prisoners, Free Them All!

Sat, 19 Jun 2021 11:33:00 +0000

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

In the summer of 2020, three high schoolers - Bogdan Andreev, Denis Mikhaylenko, and Nikita Uvarov, all 14 years old - were arrested in the city of Kansk in the Krasnoyarsk region of Siberia, within the claimed borders of the Russian state. The three boys are accused of forming a terrorist organization, and plotting, among other things, to construct a model of the Russian secret police (FSB) headquarters in the game MineCraft then blow it up. More credibly, they are accused of demonstrating solidarity with Azat Miftakhov, a graduate student in mathematics in Moscow and an anarchist, presently aged 28. Miftakhov was initially accused of constructing a smoke bomb that had been thrown into an office of the ruling political party over a year before. He has more recently been sentenced to six years in a “penal colony”. Andreev, Mikhaylenko, and Uvarov are all awaiting trial.

Declaration of the Inmates of the Laval Detention Centre

Fri, 05 Mar 2021 13:38:00 +0000

From Solidarity Across Borders

Seven inmates of the Laval migrant prison are continuing the hunger strike they began on March 1, 2021. The strikers have launched a declaration to announce their strike, denounce their situation and demand their release.

Declaration of the Inmates of the Laval Detention Centre

We are a group of migrants detained at the Laval Detention Center.

With this letter we wish to denounce the conditions in which we are being held at the Center. For some time now, the COVID virus has entered the prison. The sanitary measures taken by the immigration officers are clearly insufficient.

Letter from a Former Prisoner

Wed, 20 Jan 2021 11:58:11 +0000

We received the message that follows by email. We’re publishing it with the permission of the author.

Hello,

I don’t know if it’s your organization that passed in front of the Federal Training Center detention center (CFF600) on Montée St-François on December 31st, 2019, but if it was, I’d like to thank you.

I was in prison at the time, in the condos that face Montée St-François. I could see you from the window of the living area and from my cell. For that moment, you made me forget that I was incarcerated, and I felt important and alive. Knowing that people on the outside were thinking of me and traveling for me did me good.

A Prison Administrator’s Car Burns

Sat, 25 Jul 2020 13:40:46 +0000

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

The night of July 11th, the Volvo belonging to Vince Parente was burned in front of his home in Ste-Thérèse. Vince Parente was just recently named interim associate deputy minister at the Ministry of Public Safety. Besides this nomination, he is the assistant director-general for the Montreal region at the Bureau of Correctional Services. In clearer terms, he is the boss of the prison wardens at Bordeaux and Rivière-des-Prairies in Montreal.

Montrealers call for defunding the police, decarcerating prisons

Mon, 15 Jun 2020 13:28:54 +0000

From the Anti-Carceral Group

June 13, 2020 – Montreal – At 12pm today, one hundred Montrealers gathered in front of the Bordeaux prison to call for defunding the police and decarcerating prisons. Black activists told the crowd about the violence inflicted upon their communities by prisons and the police. The crowd held banners with slogans such as “Prisons Kill,” “Black Lives Matter,” and “Defund the Police,” and made noise to show solidarity with prisoners inside Bordeaux.

Montrealers Create Memorial for Deceased Prisoner, Call for Action

Mon, 25 May 2020 16:11:36 +0000

From the Anti-Carceral Group 24 May, Montreal – At 2pm today, a caravan of over 30 vehicles visited the Bordeaux jail in Montreal, creating a memorial for the deceased prisoner, Robert Langevin, and calling for immediate and significant actions to keep prisoners and communities safe. The memorial included a message from Mr. Langevin’s sisters, while the vehicles, decorated with slogans such as “Prisons Kill” and “Free All Prisoners,” honked their horns, made noise, and held banners in solidarity with those inside.

From Embers: History of Epidemics in Canadian Prisons

Sun, 24 May 2020 20:23:22 +0000

From From Embers

In the context of ongoing COVID-19 outbreaks in Canadian prisons and jails, I was curious about other times in history that prisoners have faced similar situations and especially times when prisoners have been released as a result. Today’s interview is with a local prison historian about epidemics and public health in Canadian prisons, mostly about the 19th and early 20th century. Also some stories about prisoners being released, what health care was like inside and outside of prison walls, and what kind of world people were returning to.

Family Members and Advocates Call for Action after the Death of a Prisoner at Bordeaux

Thu, 21 May 2020 14:42:55 +0000

From Anti-Carceral Group

20 May, Montreal – In the wake of today’s announcement that a 72-year-old prisoner at Bordeaux has died of COVID-19, family members and prisoner advocates are calling for immediate and significant actions to keep prisoners and the community safe. In doing so, they reject Minister of Public Security Geneviéve Guilbault’s claim at today’s press briefing that the preventive measures implemented by her ministry are working and that nothing more needs to be done.

As Laval Detention Centre Empties, CBSA Pushes Tracking Bracelets on Migrants

Thu, 14 May 2020 13:24:46 +0000

From Solidarity Across Borders

Community Update

#FreeThemAll #StatusForAll #HungerStrikeLaval #BordeauxHungerStrike

After two months of resistance by detainees and their supporters, the Laval Immigration Holding Centre now stands almost empty. Only 2 men and 1 woman remain inside, watched over by dozens of guards. While the struggle continues to empty this prison entirely, and to ensure it never reopens, we now confront other ways the state controls migrants and is even pushing forward new forms of surveillance under cover of the pandemic.

Manifesto of Bordeaux Prisoners

Thu, 14 May 2020 13:21:52 +0000

From Anti-Carceral Group

For more information on the hunger strike and the situation at Bordeaux Prison, read an earlier post .

A group of prisoners at Bordeaux, who aim to create a prisoners committee, communicated the following demands to their lawyer on May 11, 2020.

We demand the release of more prisoners, because what was announced last week [ an announcement by Quebec Minister of Public Security Geneviève Guilbault on May 6 ] affects only a tiny fraction of the detainees. In Bordeaux, very few prisoners meet the categories specified by the decree. We should not be playing with people’s lives – COVID-19 is a fatal disease. We are not reassured by the measures taken to date;

Bordeaux Hunger Strike

Thu, 14 May 2020 13:19:46 +0000

From Anti-Carceral Group

Edit: On May 11, 2020 a group of prisoners at Bordeaux, who aim to create a prisoners committee, communicated a series of demands to their lawyer. You can read it here .

On May 5, a group of prisoners at the Etablissement de détention Montréal, better known as Bordeaux prison, began a hunger strike in response to the rapidly escalating COVID-19 crisis at the institution . As of May 8, the hunger strike has spread to at least four sectors of the prison and other acts of resistance have proliferated.

Noise Demos Outside Montreal-Area Prisons Following Death of Prisoner and a Hunger Strike

Mon, 11 May 2020 14:25:19 +0000

From Anti-Carceral Group

10 May, Montreal – At 2pm today, a caravan of over 30 vehicles visited the Federal Training Centre prison in Laval and the Bordeaux jail in Montreal, demanding the immediate release of all prisoners in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The vehicles, decorated with slogans such as, ‘Prison Should Not Be A Death Sentence,’ & ‘Free All Prisoners,’ honked their horns, made noise, and held banners in solidarity with those inside.

#FreeThemAll: Email campaign to release Federal prisoners

Sun, 12 Apr 2020 14:21:47 +0000

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

SUPPORT ALL PRISONERS NOW! NO ONE SHOULD SPEND A PANDEMIC IN PRISON!

The situation facing prisoners during the COVID19 pandemic is terrifying. It is widely understood that prisoners are in a dangerous position during this pandemic due to the close living quarters, lack of health care, and lack of access to sanitary supplies. Correctional Services Canada has done little to address the risks inside, aside from cancelling all visits, temporary work releases, and trailer visits. Predictably, COVID19 has already started to spread in the federal prison system with prisoners and staff testing positive in more and more institutions.

Communiqué from Prisoners in the Laval Immigration Holding Centre: Hunger Strike Until We Are Free

Tue, 24 Mar 2020 23:55:43 +0000

From Solidarity Across Borders

Laval, 24 March 2020

Following the petition we wrote [on 19 March, sent to government officials and asking to be released in the context of the pandemic*], which had little impact on our situation of detention, we have decided to move to the second phase of our plan. This is to go on an indefinite hunger strike, starting today. This will be done in the most peaceful way and we are not breaking any detention centre rules. Thank you for your support and all help is welcome.

Sherbrooke Against the World and Its Prison

Mon, 13 Jan 2020 18:00:02 +0000

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

To begin our 2020s, with the onslaught of disasters they will bring, in a combative way, our small crew of determined accomplices made a surprise visit to Talbot Prison in Sherbrooke/Nikitotegwak (at the river that forks) this December 31st a little before midnight.

Well hidden in the nearby woods, we waited until the clock struck 2020 to send our New Year’s greetings, by lighting and shooting our festive pyrotechnics towards this freedom-destroying, miserable infrastructure. Quickly we heard coming from the prison enthusiastic cheers from detainees, and we hope that this instant of joyful surprise allowed everyone to momentarily forget the violence of the carceral world and its rotten justice.

New Year's Light Show for the Prisoners of the Quebec City Detention Center

Sat, 04 Jan 2020 13:22:23 +0000

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

December 31th, 2019

Around 7:00 p.m., a group of people gathered in the woods on the outskirts of the Quebec City Detention Center to display their support for those detained. The institution receives prisoners who are serving sentences of less than two years and defendants awaiting trial. The establishment can accommodate more than 710 male prisoners, it is the second largest provincial detention establishment in Quebec, after the Bordeaux Prison. The prison also has a female section which has 56 regular places. At the time of the night visit, about 15 prisoners were in the outer courtyard when fireworks and flares were lit, offering them a bright message of Happy New Year. Enthusiastic wishes and screams were exchanged on both sides before the security tried to control the situation. The action concluded without arrests.

Attack on vehicles parked at home of president of DPL, subcontractor involved in the construction of the new migrant prison

Tue, 19 Nov 2019 14:31:18 +0000

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

Early one snowy November morning, we visited the office of DPL, the company subcontracted to put in place the concrete formwork for the new migrant prison in Laval. We are lucky: the headquarters of DPL (situated at 370 rang Rivière Bayonne Nord in Berthierville) is also the home of Pierre-Luc Désy, president of DPL, his wife Christiane Désy, who is DPL’s administrative staff, and their children.

Solidarity with antifascist prisoner David Campbell

Wed, 13 Nov 2019 14:45:49 +0000

From Montréal Antifasciste

David Campbell is an antifascist comrade who has been imprisoned for events that unfolded at the protest of a New York City far right event on January 20, 2018.

The event, “A Night For Freedom,” was organized by the misogynist and racist activist Mike Cernovich with the participation of Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes and the white nationalist Canadian podcaster Stefan Molyneux. It was part of an ongoing process of consolidating an “alt lite” political scene: i.e. racist, misogynist, and full of conspiracy theories and race and gender pseudoscience, but not actually neo-Nazi.

Responsibility Claim for an Incendiary Attack Against Migrant Prison Construction Company

Thu, 31 Oct 2019 18:14:43 +0000

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

By accepting to be the general contractor for the new Laval migrant detention center, Tisseur Inc. made a grave mistake. On the night of October 26th we decided to make our contribution to the struggle against the system of borders and prisons in all its forms. We set fire to a truck on the banks of the Lachine Canal, on the site of another Tisseur project. We’re not done.

Why Stantec and the Guy-Favreau Complex got targeted at the climate march and why the climate movement should fight the border regime

Sat, 28 Sep 2019 16:30:57 +0000

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

Canada is a major contributor to the climate crisis, playing an active role in displacing people from their homes around the world. Canada hosts over 70% of the world’s mining companies, which sow environmental and economic devastation on a global scale. Canada creates more greenhouse gas emissions than any other G20 country, contributing to the creation of climate refugees. And within its borders, the federal government continues to push through pipeline project after pipeline project, despite sustained resistance by Indigenous communities.

Call for Local Actions: October 3rd, Day of Action against Canada’s Detention of Migrants

Tue, 10 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

From Solidarity Across Borders

What: Multi-City Day of Action Against Migrant Detention When: October 3, 2019 Where: Pan-Canadian & international

Over the past two years, there has been an active struggle against the construction of a new prison for migrants planned for Laval, Québec. Opposition to this project has included many groups and tactics, each fighting in their own way for an end to Canada’s border and prison regimes.

The anti-detention committee of Solidarity Across Borders has participated in this struggle by organizing demonstrations, workshops, press conferences, a declaration against the prison (now signed by more than 80 groups), and temporary occupations of the construction site itself. But despite sustained and widespread opposition to this project, initial construction of the new Laval migrant prison recently began.

Tisseur Turns to Courts in Bid to Silence Critics of New Migrant Prison

Wed, 28 Aug 2019 15:57:35 +0000

From Solidarity Across Borders Montreal, 27 August 2019 — The Superior Court of Quebec has granted Construction Tisseur Inc. a legal injunction against the migrant justice network Solidarity Across Borders. Tisseur was awarded the federal contract to build the new migrant prison in Laval in June. The temporary injunction was sought in response to a festive information-picket, featuring live Klezmer music , outside Tisseur’s headquarters in Val-David last Thursday.

“This sets a very disturbing precedent. It is a huge concern for everyone in Quebec when a company uses the courts to silence critics. We remember Barrick Gold’s legal harassment of Éco-societé for publishing Noir Canada. And we see a clear connection: Canadian mining companies like Barrick Gold contribute to displacing people who then end up in immigration detention centres. We won’t be silenced, there is far too much at stake,” said Jane Doe of Solidarity Across Borders.

22 August – Protest the New Migrant Prison

Tue, 13 Aug 2019 19:49:41 +0000

From Solidarity Across Borders

Join us for the first of a series of public actions in opposition to the new Laval migrant prison! These actions will take place on Thursdays at noon at various locations, culminating in a multi-city day of action on October 3rd.

The new Laval migrant prison is part of a $138 million investment into Canada’s migrant detention system under the National Immigration Detention Framework (NIDF), a new policy announced in 2016. The NIDF provides for the construction of two new migrant prisons along with expanded carceral technologies to supervise and control migrants outside these facilities.

Tisseur Inc. Awarded GC Contract to Build Migrant Prison

Fri, 12 Jul 2019 00:09:38 +0000

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

Three years ago, the Canadian state invested $138 million to expand its migrant detention system, including plans for a new migrant prison in Laval. Since then, a multiform struggle has arisen to stop the construction of this prison. Companies such as Lemay, Loiselle, and Englobe have been continuosly reminded that anyone who chooses to implicate themselves in this project can expect major delays at every stage of the project.

June 11th: Lemay Vice President's Car Set on Fire

Tue, 18 Jun 2019 13:14:09 +0000

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

On the day of solidarity with long-term anarchist prisoners, the BMW belonging to André Cardinal, parked in front of his private residence in NDG, was set on fire. André Cardinal is the Vice President of Lemay, the architecture firm designing the migrant prison in Laval.

May fires burn for all that the worlds of prison and borders have stolen from us.

Seeds Against the New Migrant Prison in Laval

Wed, 12 Jun 2019 16:10:37 +0000

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

As we all know, the Canadian government decided to invest more than 56$ million into locking up hundreds of people in a brand-new prison in Laval, slated to open in 2021. On June 7th, we decided to take back this site of suffering and grief and transform it into a place of life and hope.

Thanks largely to a donation of organic seeds by a Quebec-based cooperative farm, we sowed the 377,500 square meter construction site with 490kg of oats, peas and fava beans. This action builds on the work of other community members and aims to encourage further efforts to stop the construction of the prison. We also see it as a way of preparing the ground for other projects to collectively reappropriate this land for the common purposes. No prisons, no borders!

No Borders, No Prisons

Fri, 24 May 2019 15:01:58 +0000

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Español

What Happened to Prisoner Justice Day?

Tue, 21 May 2019 02:56:28 +0000

From End the Prison Industrial Complex

EPIC recommends this excellent new mini-series produced in Montreal called “ What Happened to Prisoner Justice Day? ” for anyone wanting to learn more about the history and context of the prison movement across so-called Canada since the 1970s. From the description:

This is a mini series about the history of prisons in canada focusing on differences in the prison system in the 1960s-1980s versus today. The podcast features interviews with former and current prisoners, as well as supporters on the outside. For those new to prison history, Prisoner Justice Day, also called PJD, started in 1975 on the one year anniversary of the death of Edward Nalon, an inside organizer who bled to death in a segregation cell in Millhaven Maximum Penitentiary on August 10th, 1974. Prisoners refused to eat and refused to work to commemorate Eddie’s death. In May 1976, Robert Landers, who had been actively organizing in Archambault Pen before being involuntarily transferred to Millhaven, died in a segregation cell in Millhaven after repeated calls for medical help met no response. In June 1976, prisoners in Millhaven launched a call for support for their one day hunger strike in remembrance of all prisoners who had died inside – to take place on August 10th. Word spread across the country and, in the end, thousands of prisoners participated in the one day hunger strike and supporters on the outside organized events on the outside. A lot has changed since the 70s, not just in prison, but outside of prison. While respecting PJD remains important to many on the inside and outside, the numbers of those participating are nowhere near the numbers involved in the 70s and 80s. This podcast mini-series sets out to explore why that change has occurred.

Migrant Prison: Nighttime Sabotage at Lemay Company Headquarters

Thu, 18 Apr 2019 17:15:58 +0000

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

On the night of April 14th, we paid a visit to Lemay’s headquarters in St. Henri to make a contribution to the struggle against the construction of a proposed new migrant prison, set to open in 2021 in Laval, QC. Lemay is a major architecture firm involved in designing the prison. We shut off access to the building by gluing all the locks, smashing the electronic sensors that permit access to the building by key cards, and u-locking door handles together at multiple entrances. The garage doors were blocked by a combination of spike strips and smoke bombs, which were rigged to go off if the garage doors opened. We assume that employees and company clients had a hard time accessing the building the next day, and hope they will continue to feel the effects of escalating actions against them and others involved in the project.

Rage for Lucy: Bring Her Back! No More Detentions and Deportations!

Wed, 17 Apr 2019 15:02:52 +0000

From Solidarity Across Borders

One year after the deportation of Lucy Granados, Montreal community gathers to denounce racist and colonial immigration system and demand her return.

Photos here!

On April 13th, friends and supporters of Lucy Francineth Granados marked the one-year anniversary of her deportation with a rally at the Laval Immigration Detention Centre. One year ago, they had gathered in the same location in an attempt to physically block her deportation.

Migrant Prison: Attacks on Lemay Condo Developments

Tue, 26 Mar 2019 13:35:38 +0000

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

On the night of March 19th, the sales office of Humaniti had its windows smashed and two Lowney towers were redecorated using paint-filled fire extinguishers. What do these condo developments have in common? They were both designed by the Lemay architecture firm, which is helping to build a new migrant prison in Laval, Quebec.

Why not disturb the peace and quiet of the citizens occupying these luxury condos, whose wealth and comfort are founded upon the dispossession, exploitation, and imprisonment of those who have been here since before the colonization of this continent, those newcomers seeking a better life, survival, or pushed here by empire, and everyone who resists the prevailing order?

Stop The Prison, Open The Border

Fri, 15 Mar 2019 14:01:26 +0000

From From Embers

This week’s episode features two interviews with people involved in the struggle to stop a new migrant prison from being built in Laval, Quebec. Topics discussed include:

-the project and how the government is trying to frame it as a “nice” cage.

-senses of strategy and what might work to actually stop a project like this.

-actions that have taken place against the prison, how they’ve gone, and what actions might be on the horizon.

General Contractors: Don't bid to build a migrant prison!

Fri, 01 Mar 2019 15:12:52 +0000

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

BACKGROUND

The Canadian government is attempting to construct a new migrant prison in Laval, QC. The building, set to be built by 2021, would hold 158 people, including children, increasing the government’s capacity to control and deport migrants in a context of rising xenophobia and racism across Canada and in Quebec specifically. Though the prison is being billed as “more humane” than the current detention centre, it’s clear that aesthetic improvements will not stop this from being a prison: it will still rip people from their families and communities and be an integral part of the deportation machine.

Migrant Prison: noise demo blocks site visit, and an update on implicated companies and the ongoing bidding period

Thu, 21 Feb 2019 14:48:43 +0000

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

Much of the ground may be covered in a thick sheet of ice right now, and piles of snow have been growing around the construction site for the new migrant prison in Laval for weeks, but that doesn’t mean the Canadian government isn’t hard at work preparing the next stages of construction for this monstrosity, nor that we should turn our attention away until after the spring thaw.

Migrant Prison: Excavation Company Loiselle's Offices Redecorated

Thu, 07 Feb 2019 15:35:15 +0000

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

According to this article in a local Salaberry-de-Valleyfield newspaper from January 29th, the building facade of the excavation company Loiselle, located at 280 Pie-XII Boulevard in Saint-Timothée, was redecorated. The words “NO TO THE MIGRANT PRISON” can be read.

The article indicates that this crime was committed with racist intentions, specifying that the company has no idea why it would have been targeted.

We do not know the intentions of the vandals, but we know that a new prison for migrants is supposed to be constructed in Laval, and that this company received the contract for decontamination and excavation for this project. Is it not the fact of imprisoning and deporting more migrants that is racist? It’s only logical that the companies involved in the construction of this prison would be targeted.

Out With A Bang - Making Noise For Prisoners on the Last Night of the Year

Sun, 30 Dec 2018 18:50:53 +0000

From From Embers

This episode features two interviews with organizers of New Years Eve noise demonstrations in Hamilton and in Montreal. We talk about the rage and sadness we feel about the existence of prisons, noise demonstrations, building traditions and rituals, and our favourite New Years Eve stories.

Links:

Seven Years Against Prison (2015) Montreal Against Prisons International Call For New Year’s Even Noise Demonstrations (English, 2018)

Tomorrow is far away: An anarchist intervention against the construction of the migrant prison in Laval

Mon, 17 Dec 2018 19:46:42 +0000

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

Citizenship can only exist and be valued if there is also a category of others, those without status. For this distinction to exist, it must be enforced by the state, which has a number of tools to do so.

Deportation is one such tool. Deportation is a violent process in which the state removes all agency from an individual in order to exclude them from the territory over which it asserts its authority. To accomplish this task, the state uses different tactics, one of which is detention centers or migrant prisons. Migrant prisons are used as holding centers prior to deportation. People without status can be arrested and imprisoned while they wait to be flown out of the country, sometimes to far-away lands that they have no relationship to.

Callout for autonomous actions against the Laval Migrant Prison

Sat, 24 Nov 2018 14:39:32 +0000

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

Between November 23rd and Dec 7th, we are calling for autonmous actions to block the construction of the new migrant prison in Laval.

Under the pretext of improving detention conditions for migrants, the CBSA has been given a huge government budget to develop “alternatives” to detention and to build two new migrant prisons. While the state uses words like “humanized” and “alternatives” to describe their project, we know this is merely an expansion of the prison and border systems. The so-called “alternatives” and the new prisons serve the same purpose: to expand the CBSA’s capacity for border enforcement and immigration policing, to imprison and deport migrants and to rip people away from their families and communities. One of these prisons will be built in Laval on land owned by the Correctional Services of Canada, ostensibly replacing the existing migrant detention center. Two architectural firms have been contracted to build this project: Lemay (based in St. Henri, Montreal) and Groupe A (Quebec City). Work has already begun on the site of the future prison.

Call for Autonomous Actions to Oppose the International Corrections and Prisons Association Conference in Montreal!

Tue, 09 Oct 2018 14:59:38 +0000

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

From the 21st to 26th of October, 2018, Montreal will be the site of the International Corrections and Prisons Association (ICPA) conference, hosted by Correctional Services Canada. The theme this year is “Beyond Prisons: The Way Forward.” Highlighted as topics of some of the conversations are: going forward to make imprisonment and community supervision both more humane and effective, using technology to humanize corrections, and improving community engagement.

Nova Scotia, Unceded Mi’kmaw Territory: Statement by Prisoners Ending Strike at the Burnside Jail

Fri, 14 Sep 2018 20:00:26 +0000

From It’s Going Down

Dear supporters,

You are commended for your work on our behalf. None of us thought that we would gain so much support by sharing our conditions with the public. The negative perception of us inside seems so concrete that it became surreal when we began to read our demands in the newspaper, and hear that our situation has gained national attention.

When discussed among us, it was decided that the time has come to take a different approach, and this is the result of our different approach. Our non-violent strategy is a success. It has set a precedent for other counties to follow suit.

Info on the Laval Immigration Detention Centre

Thu, 06 Sep 2018 17:24:19 +0000

From Stop the Prison

When is the Laval Immigration Detention Centre slated to be built?

The prison is supposed to be operational in 2021, though no official timeline has been made public.

Where will the prison be built?

The site for the prison is an approximately 23,700 square metre piece of land directly beside Leclerc prison, on Correctional Service of Canada grounds in Laval. The CBSA was reluctant to select this plot of land, noting that “the close proximity of the site to the existing high security institution is not ideal as IHC [Immigration Holding Centre: their euphemism for the prison] should not be perceived to be associated with a correctional institution.” This site was officially chosen in February 2017.

IWW K’jipuktuk GMB Stands in Solidarity with Striking Prisoners

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 13:44:11 +0000

From It’s Going Down

K’jipuktuk GMB of the IWW issues statement in solidarity with prison strike.

K’jipuktuk, Unceded and Unsurrendered Mi’kmaq Territory

Whereas Prisoners at Burnside Jail have begun a peaceful protest in pursuit of 10 reasonable demands, and have expressed support for and solidarity with the “National Prison Strike” in the United States,

Whereas the protest organizers “call upon all people with a conscience beyond the bars” to support their statement and demands,

Resisting Slavery: From Marie-Joseph Angélique 1734 to Prison Strike 2018

Mon, 27 Aug 2018 13:13:04 +0000

From It’s Going Down

Some anarchists came together on the night of August 23rd to cover Montréal’s Vieux Port (Old Port) in posters that read in both French and English:

Resisting Slavery: From Marie-Joseph Angélique 1734 to Prison Strike 2018

August 21 – September 9th More Info: twitter.com/JailLawSpeak

We postered along the same streets that Angélique was paraded down moments before she was hung, and then burned. Angélique, we remember. Slavery, stolen land, and attempted genocide define the contours of the ever-forming settler states of Turtle Island (North America). In solidarity with prisoners currently fighting slavery inside all US prisons, we wanted to (re)tell the story of Marie-Joseph Angélique. Angélique was a Black woman enslaved in Montréal during the 18th Century who was sentenced to torture and death for allegedly setting fire to her slave owner’s domicile, which resulted in the majority of the city of Montréal burning. We offer Angélique’s story as a reminder that Québec and Canada were engaged in the practice of slavery for over 200 years. We chose Angélique’s story because it connects the city we live in to the ongoing story of resistance to slavery on this continent.

Statement from Protesting Inmates at Burnside Jail, Nova Scotia

Wed, 22 Aug 2018 15:42:36 +0000

Re-posted from the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee

We, the prisoners of Burnside, have united to fight for change. We are unified across the population in non-violent, peaceful protest.

We are calling for support from the outside in solidarity with us. We believe that it is only through collective action that change will be made.

We recognize that the staff in the jail are workers who are also facing injustice. We are asking for a more productive rehabilitative environment that supports the wellbeing of everyone in the system. These policy changes will also benefit the workers in the jail.

Against borders, against prisons. Stop the Laval migrant prison.

Fri, 13 Jul 2018 04:13:27 +0000

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

Launch of a new website for the campaign against the construction of the proposed Laval migrant prison

In 2016 the federal government announced the construction of a new migrant detention center in Laval. This prison, which is anticipated to hold up to 158 undocumented migrants, is intended to be built on Correctional Service of Canada grounds, right beside Leclerc prison, and is slated to open in 2021. While the Liberal government is attempting to spin this project as a more humane way to detain migrants, we call it what it is – a prison, and know that this is simply prettier window dressing on a violent system of imprisonment and deportation, one that keeps people locked in cages while tearing apart families and communities. We want a world without prisons or colonial borders, a world where people, not states, can decide how they can move and where they can stay. Stopping the construction of the Laval Immigration Detention Centre is one step in the struggle to tear down migrant prisons everywhere.

Anti-construction Crew Releases Thousands of Crickets into Immigration Prison Architecture Headquarters

Sat, 19 May 2018 20:34:42 +0000

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

One morning in April 2018, our amateur construction crew released thousands of crickets into the newly built headquarters of the Montreal architecture company Lemay. We pulled a sheet of plywood off the side of the building and funneled the crickets into a recently completed office space. Lemay, along with Quebec-City based company Groupe A, has been awarded a contract to build a new immigration detention centre in Laval, a suburb of Montreal. It is slated to open in 2020. We oppose borders, prisons, and immigration detention centres. We struggle for a world where people are free to stay and free to move; a world without white supremacy, capitalism, colonialism, and patriarchy.

Solidarity Demo Outside Laval Prisons for the New Year!

Wed, 03 Jan 2018 20:21:04 +0000

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

On New Year’s Eve, for the sixth year in a row, a noise demonstration was held in front of the Laval prisons. Despite the freezing cold, this year was marked by the greatest participation since the beginning of this tradition. More than a hundred people walked chanting “Everybody hates the police!” and “For a world without prisons or detention centers!”, the whole thing accompanied by percussion, banners, whistles and fireworks in large quantities.

NYE Prison Noise Demo

Thu, 07 Dec 2017 20:44:49 +0000

From sub.Media

Join us this New Year’s Eve to send loud messages of solidarity to those spending the holidays behind bars, as we celebrate ongoing prisoner resistance, and renew our commitment to fighting for a world without prisons!

Justice and Jean-Pierre Lizotte, the Poet of Bordeaux Prison

Wed, 06 Sep 2017 14:47:11 +0000

On September 5, 1999, eighteen years ago, Jean-Pierre Lizotte died as a result of injuries sustained from the blows of a Montreal police officer. I’m re-sharing today an article that I wrote in 2008 (published, in a slightly different form, in the Montreal Gazette) about the “Poet of Bordeaux Prison”. RIP Jean-Pierre Lizotte!

The Gazette’s opinion pages recently provided space to the lawyer for Montreal police officer Giovanni Stante who was charged in the death of Jean-PierreLizotte in 1999. The lawyer takes offense to a Gazette report, subsequent to the police killing of Freddy Villaneuva in Montreal-Nord in August this year. He feels that the report gives the “false impression that Lizotte was a victim of police brutality.”

Demonstration of solidarity in front of the prisons in Laval for the New Year and return on the situation in Leclerc’s prison

Tue, 24 Jan 2017 18:36:46 +0000

From Toute détention est politique

For the fifth consecutive year, a noise demo was held in front of the detention centers in Laval to wish prisoners a happy new year and show them our solidarity.

The group of about 60 people accompanied by musical instruments and fireworks gathered in front of Leclerc penitentiary, the Immigration Center, the transitional residences B16 and the Federal Training Center (FTC). The rally was also an opportunity to remember Arash Aslani, a former detainee at the Immigration Detention Center who died this year. He began a hunger strike in 2005, which led to his release after almost a month. He since continued to be involved in struggles for migrants (To know more, click here ). The migrants’ detention conditions in Canada are particularly alarming, often being held for indefinite periods without charges or trials. It should also be mentioned that at least two migrants died during their detention in these centers this year.

Prison Radio Show - The Saskatchewan Penitentiary Riot

Mon, 16 Jan 2017 16:40:31 +0000

From Prison Radio Show

Download and Listen Here

This show featured news and a pre-recorded interview from Kingston’s Prison Radio with Sherri from Saskachewan about the December 14th riot in Saskachewan Pen in Prince Albert. We also had a live phone interview with Claude Marks, a former political prisoner and organizer with the Freedom Archives project. We talked to Claude about political prisoner and former Black Panther Jalil Muntaqim. Jalil is currently facing time in long term segregated housing for teaching his Black history class about the Black Panther Party. More info about Jalil is available at freejalil.com.

Prison, solidarity and isolation on New Years

Fri, 13 Jan 2017 20:36:41 +0000

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

On the night of December 31, a small group of people went to the Joliette federal prison for women, with a banner, casseroles (pots and pans) and fireworks, in order to continue the tradition of celebrating New Years with those locked up behind the walls of the State.

When we arrived, two women inmates were in the yard of the prison, and asked us to leave. One of them left running to potentially alert someone to our presence, while the other explained that if we don’t leave, their visits the next day will be canceled. Unlike last year, the women stayed inside the housing units while looking out the windows. We shot off some fireworks while leaving, not knowing how to react. We believe that the authorities punished the inmates last year for our presence and their enthusiasm by perhaps blocking their visits and putting them in lock-down. We don’t find this surprising on their part, given that they maintain their authority by imposing fear, and in this way, repressing desire for freedom.

Call For Renewed Actions In Solidarity With The Prison Strike, October 15-22

Sat, 01 Oct 2016 19:13:12 +0000

From It’s Going Down

It hardly seems necessary to summarize what has gone down inside U.S. prisons since September 9th. Hunger strikes, work stoppages, and riots have spread throughout the country on a scale that we likely aren’t even fully aware of yet. Some uprisings appeared took us by surprise, such as in several Florida prisons , while others presumably grew from recent organizing endeavors on the inside, such as at Kinross in Michigan or Holman in Alabama. By rough estimates , over 20,000 prisoners were involved in some way. That’s huge.

Letter of Support from Quebec Prisoners in Struggle

Sun, 11 Sep 2016 22:28:03 +0000

From Prison Radio Show

A Letter in Support of Prisoners in the US who are striking against prison slavery

First, we want to tell you that you are not alone! We are keeping our eyes on your struggles. We support you!

In your call for a strike on September 9th you evoke the uprising in Attica that began on September 9, 1971. You write about ending prison slavery by ceasing to be slaves yourselves. We see you. We hear you. We support you.

Banners in Solidarity with Striking Prisoners

Sat, 10 Sep 2016 16:59:38 +0000

A Challenge: Spread the Strike to Every Jail, Juvie, and Prison, in Canada too!

Sun, 21 Aug 2016 02:25:03 +0000

From La Solide , adapted from IGD

This is a challenge to anyone who is supportive of the September 9th prisoners’ strike but who has remained on the sidelines until now.

In order for this strike to not be snuffed out by a handful of prison censors and violent guards, it needs to spread uncontrollably beyond their reach. And because prisons strictly forbid communication between prisoners, it is our responsibility on the outside to facilitate this contagion. Spreading the call to prisons in Canada will further this contagion, and give an opportunity to link our struggle against prison and the world that needs it, through prison walls and across borders.

September 9th Prisoner Strike across the US

Mon, 08 Aug 2016 03:57:49 +0000

From Anti-State STL , modified for distribution in Canada

“We are not beasts and we do not intend to be beaten or driven as such… What has happened here is but the sound before the fury of those who are oppressed.” – L. D. Barkley, participant in Attica rebellion

On September 9, 1971, the inmates of Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York seized control of the prison. The Attica uprising, which lasted for five days, was not the first and certainly not the last prison rebellion. And yet its importance is indelibly marked within the history of the struggle against white supremacy and the prison society we still inhabit today.

Arson attack at a luxury car dealership in solidarity with imprisoned anarchists

Tue, 26 Jul 2016 16:49:38 +0000

11 x 17″ | PDF

For the end of prisons

Fri, 22 Jul 2016 18:14:05 +0000

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

Friday, March 18, 2016

a few individuals crossed the fences surrounding Leclerc penitentiary to make an action in solidarity with the prisoners who had just been transferred to Tanguay.

The eastern facade of the old prison was redecorated with yellow, blue and pink paint eggs and the inscription «Feu aux prisons, Fin aux systèmes d’oppressions!» (Fire to the prisons, end to the systems of oppression!) was written with spray cans.

Arson attack at a luxury car dealership in solidarity with imprisoned anarchists

Tue, 15 Mar 2016 03:21:46 +0000

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

A car dealership near Côtes-des-Neiges was attacked using incendiary devices causing damage to luxury vehicles in the honor of the courageous imprisoned comrades of the Conspiracy Cells of Fire and of Revolutionary Struggle.

Solidarity means attack.

Long live anarchy.

A thousand years to the Black International

11 x 17″ | PDF

Solidarity with trans and queer prisoners!

Sat, 06 Feb 2016 01:35:06 +0000

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

In response to the International day of solidarity with trans and queer prisoners, we roamed our streets leaving messages of solidarity in french, english, and spanish.

Because war against the existent begins with the reappropriation of our lives and the deconstruction of established norms.

The struggle is individual, collective, but especially daily.

Against domination, fire to the prisons!

Fireworks outside of prisons in Laval

Tue, 05 Jan 2016 00:40:55 +0000

On New Years Eve, over 100 people gathered for a noise demonstration at the prisons outside of Montreal in Laval; the Immigration Detention Center, the Federal Training Center minimum facility, and Leclerc prison. Banners read : Happy New Year, Free All Prisoners and Our passion for freedom is stronger than prison.

At the Immigration Detention Center, we were not able to make visual contact with people inside but know from previous years that fireworks and chants can be heard across the walls. Police following the demonstration on foot had their video camera obscured by banners, and demonstrators walked in their path to disrupt their line. At Leclerc and the Federal Training Center, prisoners could be seen flashing their lights on and off, waving and shouting through the windows. An abundance of fireworks were shot off at each prison, and statements were read over a sound-system against prisons and their relation to systems of colonialism, white supremacy and capitalism. Words of support and solidarity with prisoners were communicated in French, Spanish, and English.

New Years Eve fireworks at prison for women in Joliette

Sun, 03 Jan 2016 18:06:41 +0000

From La Solide - Anti-répression Montréal

On the evening of December 31, we went to the federal prison for women in Joliette in the region of Lanaudière (the only prison for women with sentences that exceed two years in so-called Québec). We held two banners: L’(A)MOUR POUR LA LIBERTÉ NOUS FAIT ENNEMI.ES DE L’AUTORITÉ ( The p(A)ssion for freedom makes us enemies of authority) and LA LIBERTÉ EST NOTRE ARME ABSOLUE ( freedom is our absolute weapon). We shot some fireworks, and were able to communicate with the incarcerated women and shout our solidarity. Several of them could leave their units (little houses in the prison yard), or went to the windows. This demo was a first of its kind at this prison.

Action in solidarity with those incarcerated at Rimouski prison

Sun, 03 Jan 2016 17:39:47 +0000

From toutedetentionestpolitique

On the night of December 31, a noise-demo took place in front of the prison of Rimouski. Around ten people gathered with pots and fireworks for the occasion. The security guard blocked us from access as soon as we began, and three cop cars rapidly arrived, asking us to leave the prison property. We continued the action regardless, reading the manifesto of prisoners against austerity and focusing on the situation in Rimouski.

Forum of reflection and organization for the support (of the struggles) of prisoners

Thu, 12 Nov 2015 18:29:53 +0000

With a reenergized enthusiasm, you are invited to a

Forum of reflection and organization for the support (of the struggles) of prisoners November 21st, 9:30 am-5pm, Centre St-Pierre (1212 Panet st), room 205

This forum wishes to reunite people working and/or reflecting on anti-prison struggles and prisoner support, with the goal of making an overview of the efforts in struggles and support going on, as much on the inside as the outside. In addition, this forum will allow the networking between existing groups, and the people motivated by these issues, as well as target the concrete needs and adopt the political strategies to tackle them. The ultimate goal of this forum is to create the basis of a struggle and prisoner support collective.

Six-hour inmate riot at Penetanguishene superjail

Wed, 24 Jun 2015 19:09:21 +0000

From our enemies - 19/6/2015

PENETANGUISHENE - Inmates at the maximum security facility in Penetanguishene, Ont., erupted into a random riot Thursday, destroying meal hatch doors, cell doors, phones, duct work and garbage bins in a six-hour incident that was only resolved when a tactical team used pepper spray.

The riot began when 45 prison inmates in two separate units at the Central North Correctional Centre refused to be locked in their cells.

Montreal actions against prisons, police, and the world that needs them

Wed, 20 May 2015 17:22:30 +0000

11 x 17″ | PDF

My friend is in prison

Thu, 23 Apr 2015 17:47:32 +0000

From Group de soutien

Last Wednesday, April 15th, my friend got arrested at UQAM. Security agents followed him in the hallways. They called the cops who made the arrest. He spent the night at the Operational Center. He was supposed to get released at the municipal court but the judge moved the inquiry to the next day. He spent that night at the Rivière-des-Prairies male prison in northern Montreal. The next day; Friday the 17th, we organized a picket in support at the municipal court and waited all day for his turn. We were about 30 people. After the inquiry, the judge denied bail before trial. Until then, he will serve time without trial at Rivière-des-Prairies. The judge’s main argument is that if he had freed our friend, it would damage public opinion and that the population would lose faith into the justice system. He also spoke of the importance to preserve the public’s trust into the management of that justice system; in concern to a «well-informed public», he said. He was talking about the people who read the newspapers and watch the news on television every night, basically, thus an hymn to the mass media.

Just One More: Santa Martha Prison for Women - Amélie Trudeau

Tue, 24 Feb 2015 18:45:03 +0000

From Fire to the Prisons

A new prisoner arrived in my cell on Wednesday, three days ago now, after spending a month in Ingresso (1). We are four now, in a cell with five beds (One bed is empty). Ingresso is where you go when you first arrive in prison. In the days that follow your arrival, your fingerprints are taken and you have to fill out lots of paperwork. Then, it’s meetings with “professionals” who assess your character in order to classify you and finally, you are assigned to a permanent cell with other people who correspond to your profile assessment. You have to meet a psychologist, a criminologist, a social worker, an addiction specialist, a technician, the person in charge of cultural activities and sports, and the person in charge of spiritual and religious activities. All together, their reports make up your profile and classification.

Montreal: Month Against the Prisons – from Jan. 8th to Feb. 7th

Fri, 09 Jan 2015 00:00:00 +0000

This is a month to think about the prison industrial complex as a method of repression and social control. The idea is to make public education and awareness of this oppressive, patriarchal, colonialist, racist and capitalist method. While trying to collectively reflect on how it should be in a libertarian world and anti-oppression.

It is important to note that we are an independent group, autonomous, and that under no circumstances we leave aside this autonomy whether to receive grants or create collaborations. We are all activists from diverse backgrounds coming together in this project with a common goal: to reflect on the prison in an abolitionist and libertarian perspective. We are former political prisoners, close to (ex) political prisoners and comrades in solidarity. We wish to launch a reflection in activist circles (particularly in the French-speaking environment) because we consider that it is a too little-discussed topic but a very very important one, especially with the context of post-G20 judiciarization and the student strike of 2012.

Mexico : the four anarchist comrades end hunger strike

Sat, 18 Oct 2014 22:11:09 +0000

On October 17th, 2014, comrades Carlos López, Mario González, Fernando Bárcenas and Abraham Cortés called off their hunger strike that began on October 1st.

The comrades are well, without complications or physical damage. They will soon make the reasons and motives for ending the strike public.

For now this is all the information we have.

Freedom for all! Down with the prison walls! Anarchist Black Cross of Mexico

Mexique : Des prisonnières se solidarisent avec les quatre anarchistes en grève de la faim

Thu, 09 Oct 2014 22:47:43 +0000

Vendredi dernier dans la nuit, un énorme graffiti est apparu sur le mur de la salle à manger du dortoir C de la prison de San Marta dans laquelle nous sommes séquestrées. Le graffiti exprime notre solidarité avec les compagnons anarchistes Abraham, Fernando, Mario et Carlos en grève de la faim indéfinie. Depuis ce vendredi, nos camarades prisonnières ne cessent de commenter l’œuvre bien visible.

Ça change des « je t’aime » peints habituellement dans les couloirs de la prison ! Il y a un caractère de confrontation, en rupture avec la passivité quotidienne.

Mexico City: Explosive solidarity with anarchist prisoners

Thu, 02 Oct 2014 22:18:05 +0000

From Contra-info

As part of activities in solidarity with prisoners, we decided to attack those who have collaborated in the detention of several of our comrades. The espionage work carried out by the security bodies of the university in collaboration with the Mexican judicial system is all too known.

In relation to the events that occurred in the University City [ UNAM’s main campus] on September 30th, 2014, we just want to say that we will not stop taking to the streets to propagate the antiauthoritarian action until our comrades walk out to the streets again and we destroy this society of exploitation in its entirety.

Mexico, 5E: Carlos López "Chivo" writes about his situation in prison

Sat, 07 Jun 2014 20:09:42 +0000

translated from Italian by act for freedom now!

Greetings, comrades! I’m writing this letter driven by a strong need to communicate with the comrades outside. I’m convinced of the importance of being updated on all the episodes of struggle against what we normally call ‘the enemy’, that is the State and capital, from their miserable institutions to their fascist methods of control.

Anti-prison struggle is important and it is precisely for this reason that I feel the need to talk about my situation as an anarchist prisoner, while making it clear a priori that I have never tried to pass myself off as a victim because of what I’m going through, because as I have said (or written) in the past: I don’t believe in nor do I accept concepts of guilt or innocence in relation to the crimes I’m accused of, and I consider myself an anarchist with his insurrectional and revolutionary projectuality, an anarchist kidnapped by the State (and not the ‘victim’ of a kidnapping, as I read in a communiqué), and the reason why I want to talk about my condition in prison is only to publicly denounce some aspects of the way this disgusting institution functions. ‘If you don’t see it, it doesn’t exist’, and within my limited possibilities, to make my denunciation under censorship is part of my anti-prison struggle.

Mexico, 5E: Anarchist comrade Carlos “Chivo” Lòpez writes on his situation as a prisoner

Sat, 24 May 2014 00:10:52 +0000

Bank Fire Bombed In Solidarity With Imprisoned Comrades In Mexico City

Sat, 11 Jan 2014 00:22:28 +0000

From Anarchist News

On the 9th of January, we answered a call for solidarity with stolen anarchist comrades in Mexico City, Fallon Poisson, Amelie Pillierst and Carlos López Mart. We crept up to a HSBC bank on East Hastings, in occupied Coast Salish Territory (Vancouver, BC), and lit an incendiary device in the ATM area causing a massive fire ball. HSBC is a symbol of capitalism, oppression and domination. So it’s a perfect target for our rage.

Solidarity demo at Immigration Detention Centre in Laval

Mon, 23 Sep 2013 21:44:13 +0000

from Montréal mediacoop Video Camera: Aaron Lakoff and Otto Buxton Post-prod: Submedia.tv

On August 11, 2013, around 100 migrants and their supporters descended on the Laval immigration detention centre just outside of Montreal, to denounce the Canadian government’s practice of locking up and deporting non-status people. The demonstration was held in conjunction with Prisoner Justice Day, which is marked every year on August 10 to commemorate the lives of those who struggle and die behind bars, and to reaffirm people’s commitment to abolishing jails. Some people came by bus, and others came on bike, and when they arrived, they were determined to make enough noise so that migrants inside the detention centre could hear their message.

Solidarity with the G20 prisoners!

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 22:14:42 +0000

we receive and publish

The month of June, 2012 marks two years since the G20 summit in Toronto and the courageous resistance shown to it. It also marks the sentencing of our comrade Charles Bicari to seven months behind bars for smashing the windows of two police cars, two stores and an ATM with a hammer. To mark the occasion, we spent a few evenings spreading anti-system and solidarity slogans with the G20 prisoners in the streets of Montreal.

Counter-information action in solidarity with the G20 prisoners

Sun, 01 Jul 2012 21:15:52 +0000

December, 2011

Two banners were hung in Montréal in solidarity with the G20 prisoners. Solidarity with the G20 prisoners / Tear Down the Prison Walls was hung from a building on St. Catherine street downtown. Solidarité avec les Incarcéré(e)s du G20 / Propageons la Révolte (Solidarity with the G20 Prisoners / Spread Revolt) was hung in the St. Henri neighborhood. Flyers were scattered at both sites, and further distributed in the metro system and on the street in the following days. We hope this counter-information action brings a smile to our locked up comrades.

Downpour: A contribution to the struggle against prison and it's world

Sat, 30 Jun 2012 20:57:53 +0000

Web version

Prison

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 22:27:50 +0000

Download 11"x17"

FIRE TO THE PRISONS AND THE WORLD THAT NEEDS THEM

Prison is nothing more than a reflection of the society in which we live. Our society resembles a great open-air prison; with the threat of starvation if you don’t spend your energy on meaningless work for capitalism, with cameras on every corner, with the police intimidating and murdering in the streets like the jailers do to those locked in cages, and with borders drawn by our rulers serving as walls. The inside and outside of prison only differ in their degree of intensity, but both are based on domination, alienation, and control.

Solidarity and complicity with the G20 prisoners

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 22:50:51 +0000

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Solidarity evening with the anarchist prisoners of the group Revolutionary Struggle

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 19:39:31 +0000

Download

Millhaven Prison Uprising

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 16:05:15 +0000

Download

A flyer that was thrown and handed out in the metro during January, 2011 in solidarity with inmates who rioted at Millhaven prison in Ontario.

The RBC firebombing and prison expansion

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 15:58:10 +0000

A flyer distributed in the metro in solidarity with Roger Clement, sentenced to four years in prison Tuesday, December 7, 2010, for his role in firebombing an Ottawa RBC in May, 2010.

More information on Roger, his co-accused, and the case against them.