Testimonials
Instead of a traditional comments section we are seeking more thoughtful contributions to this page in the form of text, audio, and video "testimonials". These can be from former inmates and staff who have spent time on the prison farms, experts who have a professional point of view to offer, and Canadians who have something to say about the value of the farms.
All testimonials will be reviewed before being posted as comments. The Save Our Prison Farms campaign team reserves the right to post only those we find to be appropriate. We will not, however, edit any testimonials. We welcome your contributions.
Here's an example of a video testimonial from Dianne Dowling at the Save Our Prison Farms Concert, March 20, 2010
August 12th, 2010 - 09:58
I respectfully suggest that a major goal of the SOPF should be to work towards the objective of having the federal Conservatives win two fewer seats in the next election than they won in 1993.
Bob Hilson.
August 11th, 2010 - 13:50
I welcome opportunity to share my experience of being arrested on Monday and why I chose to do this. As a Prison Chaplain for over 16 years I think the loss of the prison farms is a significant set-back in programs for offenders that help them to grow in their compassion and self-discipline – both of which are key to the creation of a safer society.
August 10th, 2010 - 14:52
To Patrick Thompson…….
My Dear there is NO need what so ever to apologize, I was raised in a farming community of Petrolia Ontario and had the honour of working on my American Grandparents farm in Michigan, we are a strong breed of people (Farmers & their families), more in touch with our own country than most politicians ever will be, so keep that chin up and I am here to give you a hug & salute you , stay strong
August 9th, 2010 - 16:05
Today, I am a heartbroken and disgusted to be a Canadian.
Heartbroken, because the dairy herd that has lived at a quiet prison farm has been shipped away in trucks; disgusted, because Stephen Harper ensured that it happened.
Heartbroken, because our local food bank will not have a ready supply of locally produced eggs and milk; disgusted because local citizens who depend on the food bank were not considered in the decision to close the prisons.
Heartbroken, because the inmates whose hearts may have turned to good will no longer have the opportunity to care for live animals; disgusted, because the government of Stephen Harper would opt to have food trucked in to our prisons rather than have our prisons produce their own food.
Heartbroken, because so many good honest people have been trying kindly and gently to change the path of the government only to be denied and treated like criminals; disgusted, because the number of police officers at the farm closure protest today was truly outrageous especially given that a majority of the protestors were senior citizens.
Heartbroken because the government determined that a heavy police presence should greet the protestors; disgusted that extra Ontario Provincial Police officers were brought in for the protest (and they left their vehicles running).
Heartbroken because the government deems it appropriate to follow the path of the United States in creating super prisons; disgusted that the government intends to expand our prisons even though crime in Canada is declining.
Heartbroken because democracy no longer has meaning with our current government; disgusted that the word democracy no longer has meaning with our current government.
I am sure that those protestors that shed a tear while singing Oh Canada at the protest today were not doing so out of pride and honour.
August 9th, 2010 - 00:20
Dianne:
We support you 100%. Saw an article in the National Post yesterday quoting you directly.
August 3rd, 2010 - 16:09
I know not whether Laws be right,
Or whether Laws be wrong;
All that we know who lie in goal
Is that the wall is strong;
And that each day is like a year,
A year whose days are long.
But this I know, that every Law
That men have made for Man,
Since first Man took his brother’s life,
And the sad world began,
But straws the wheat and saves the chaff
With a most evil fan.
This too I know–and wise it were
If each could know the same–
That every prison that men build
Is built with bricks of shame,
And bound with bars lest Christ should see
How men their brothers maim.
With bars they blur the gracious moon,
And blind the goodly sun:
And they do well to hide their Hell,
For in it things are done
That Son of God nor son of Man
Ever should look upon!
___
The vilest deeds like poison weeds
Bloom well in prison-air:
It is only what is good in Man
That wastes and withers there:
Pale Anguish keeps the heavy gate,
And the Warder is Despair
For they starve the little frightened child
Till it weeps both night and day:
And they scourge the weak, and flog the fool,
And gibe the old and grey,
And some grow mad, and all grow bad,
And none a word may say.
Each narrow cell in which we dwell
Is foul and dark latrine,
And the fetid breath of living Death
Chokes up each grated screen,
And all, but Lust, is turned to dust
In Humanity’s machine.
The brackish water that we drink
Creeps with a loathsome slime,
And the bitter bread they weigh in scales
Is full of chalk and lime,
And Sleep will not lie down, but walks
Wild-eyed and cries to Time.
- Oscar Wilde, an excerpt from The Ballad of Reading Gaol
July 16th, 2010 - 12:01
Several years ago I watched a discussion, likely on TVO about the quality of workers who were heading west to work in the oil fields. The representative said they were looking for people who were used to heavy work, like those who had come from farms. He said if you were working at a Mac’s store standing behind a counter, don’t come. The incredible work ethic it takes to manage a farm can be taken to any future employer.
My father, Bill Chitty, a fomer warden of Collins Bay and Joyceville Institutions, wrote a letter to the editor of the Whig in response to their editorial “Why not get rid of Canada’s penitentiaries?” In part, he wrote ” …penitentiaries stand at the end of a series of societal failures to cope with the problem of crime and delinquency in our communities. We all need to be reminded that the progression to the penitentiary usually starts in our homes and leads through schools, foster homes, probation, jails, training schools, reformatories and the parole system. One must assume that that the foregoing facilities and methods failed to modify the anti social behaviour maintained by those offenders who graduate to our penitentiaries. He went on to write: “Thousands of men and women offenders who have moved to the point where they recognize the need for their own behavioral change are desperate for opportunities for their own rehabilitation. The penitentiary system, with scarce resources, effectively assists and prepares for that moment of change by providing a broad range of personal and skill-development opportunities inside the institution.”l
For those who believe prison farms don’t provide useable work skills in an economy that is increasingly urban, Bill Chitty was raised on a farm. When he wrote that partially quoted letter to the editor he was the president of the Ontario Association of Corrections and Criminology.
I believe my father would have supported your efforts 100%
July 10th, 2010 - 01:16
Good morning, I wish to say thank you for an exciting website about a subject I’ve had an interest in for a while now. I’ve been looking in and reading the responses and so only wanted to express my many thanks for giving me some pretty useful reading material. I look ahead to reading more, and getting a more active part in the talks here, while picking up some expertise as well
June 25th, 2010 - 15:45
A few months back I heard a comment from a Conservative MP to the effect that it made sense to cut prison farms because they didn’t provide useable work skills in an economy that is increasingly urban. To me, this was an insult to every farmer everywhere. As someone who grew up on a farm in Saskatchewan and has spent time around farmers my whole life, I know for a fact that farmers are among the most adaptable, inventive, determined people in the entire workforce. Plus a big chunk of them know how to fix machines, weld, drive, butcher, and so on and have no fear of hard work or long hours. The way of being taught on prison farms is invaluable.
June 21st, 2010 - 22:56
In Queen’s law second year, one of my courses was a clinincal course called Correctional Law. In that program, I worked as a free advocate for incarcerated persons on a variety of matters. Since being called to the bar in 2000, I have continued to do a portion of my work with incarcerated persons, or the recently-released. During this work, I have met and spoken with and come to know a great number of people within the Correctional system, both incarcerated people and guards and other workers. TO A MAN, they have all been enormous supporters of this program.
I spoke with any number of clients who have worked on the farms, and have found it easy to see what they gained from it. Now, at this point in my piece, some people might begin to do the snort and say, “Sure, they love it! They get to be outside, hanging around in the fresh air, watching animals and picking their teeth with a haystalk!” WRONG!! The people who work the farms get up at 4 AM, without being wakened by anyone else, get themselves ready and get out to the barn to collect eggs or milk cows or whatever else is in their duties for the day. They work as a team, and have to learn to make that happen peaceably and cooperatively. They fix their equipment when it breaks down, they react to an ever-changing work situation, they gain skills in fixing mechaincal things, welding, operating heavy equipment, and many other skills that preppare them for jobs in the outside world.
Often, these jobs are not on farms directly, but some are on farms, or at farm-related businesses. Farmers are a bit more ready to hire people who have actually done the work before, and these men have that skill set. But, much more than that, they have the pride in accomplishment, the knowledge that they are able to do that most basic and important of human jobs, helping feed people. And they have the pride and the skills to carry those jobs, wherever they are.
If these farms are closed, it is not clear what the government plans to replace them with. I see nothing from our government about a ramping-up of new programs, just a lot of empty statements about what “kind” of work it will be that they’re trained in. It is ludicrous to assume that any actual programs to replace this one will be in place any time soon, when even the programs already ävailable”are often not run for years at a time in some prisons. I have had clkients who were required to complete certain programs prior to getting parole, and then were also told that the programs were not being run at that time, often for several years’time in a row. So, to replace this very concrete program tht is such a wonderful one with some hypothetical programs that may never appear, and certainly won’t be in place any time soon is just not acceptable or honest or sensible. We are asking these men to learn to behave in an honest, honourable manner, taking responsibility for their own lives and actions, and beng contributing members of society. So, set an example for them. Provide an honest opportunity for them to do an honest day’s work, in a way that offers them the possibility of improving themselves, and their world along with it. Until you can come up with a viable replacement that provides not only jobs for men but also something consumable that will help supply the prison system, leave the farms alone. In the words of the first farmer I ever met, many years ago, “If it ain’t broke, don’t ‘fix’ it.”
June 21st, 2010 - 10:22
SAVE OUR PRISON FARMS SONG 2 – LITTLE TINY BRAINS (TUNE: Do Your Ears Hang Low?)
June 21st, 2010 by RoseLittle tiny brains (waggle heads fetchingly back & forth)
In the federal government
They wobble to and fro
Where ‘ere they’re sent
When they sell our farms
They are showing their
LITTLE TINY BRAINS (Lightly cuff head unbelievingly)
2)
The Correctional Service
Says they’re saving dough
When they sell our famrs
But this ain’t so
The cost goes up
In society
due to TINY BRAINS!
(SING first verse again)
3) Stupid sat with dumb
And they both asked how
Can we show we’re doing something?
‘Hey! Let’s sell the cows.
At promotion time
They’ll remember us!”
LITTLE TINY BRAINS!
(REPEAT FIRST VERSE)
Posted in Songs, Songs – Also see Raging Gran Songsite | Edit | No Comments »SAVE OUR PRISON FARMS SONG 1 (DEEP IN THE HEART OF KINGSTON) Tune: Deep In The Heart of Texas
June 21st, 2010 by Rose1) They’re shutting down
Our prison farms
Deep in the heart of Kingston
Greedy idiots
Doing harm
Deep in the heart of Kingston
2) The heart of Kingston
Reaches out
To prison farms
around us
Keep all the cows
Yes, keep the lot
This is the word from Kingston!
P
June 16th, 2010 - 17:47
We cannot understand why the Harper Government does not want to leave the prison farms intact. The prison farms are teaching the inmates skills which they will not get by sitting in a cell; as well as feeding themselves and others. How does a 4 million dollar cost compare to some of the other exorbitant less worthy expenses to tax payers, e.g. $1Billion for security for G8 and G20 Summits? The Harper Government did not ask tax payers for approval of this expense. We think this money could have been better spent on Education, Health and the poor and hungry homeless amongst us.
June 9th, 2010 - 18:08
I do not understand the logic behind cutting out what I see as one of the more really “positive, physically engaging, practical, life-skill promoting, soul-reaching forms of therapy” available at prisons. Not only would it be a set back for therapeutic/rehabilitative reasons, but does it not make “sense” to be growing as much food as possible in this day and age.?… healthwise, and financially.?.These farms could be producing all the food for prisons across Canada, and likely have plenty to share beyond the prison walls.
If it were up to me, I’d be looking at starting up “more” prison farming operations …not cutting out the few presently functioning ones still in place. It seems completely absurd to me.
I grew up near the Guelph Correctional Center where one of these farms had been in operation for many years. As far I as could tell it was a very good thing.