Kingston Women Prison Memorial Fund
Donation protected
Please help us make it right.
We are donating money for a memorial to honor women who have died inside prison. We hope that you will too.
Why should you donate money for a memorial for these women?
The women who died behind the walls were mothers, sisters, daughters, wives and aunties. They were so much more than their crime.
Some of these women died many years ago in P4W. Some of the bodies were never claimed. They may be buried in a “pauper’s field” somewhere near Kingston. Their families never knew what happened to them. There is no headstone or marker there or on the old prison grounds to tell their story.
As time passes, more and more people are beginning to recognize that many women in prison are scapegoats for unjust social conditions and economic inequality. These are strong women but sometimes the burden of suffering is just too much.
Canada is just waking up to the injustice of residential schools. Are Canadians ready to make the connection to prisons? In 1998 the Supreme Court of Canada recognized that colonization in the form of residential schools and reserves has contributed to the criminalization of a disproportionately high percentage of native people. Did you know that native people make up only 4% of the general population, but they make up 23% of the total prison population? Native women make up 33% of the population in federal women’s prisons. Between 2002 and 2012 the number of native women imprisoned in Canada increased by 109% This injustice is not a thing of the past. It’s happening now. It’s getting worse.
The walls of the prison for women in Kingston have come down but women are still jailed in federal institutions across the country. Women are still dying in prison. Let’s not forget the women who lived and died inside P4W and the women in jail today. Let’s not forget these women, and let their memories guide us to build a world where there are no more prisons.
This is a project of the P4W Memorial Collective. Donations can be made to…This account is managed by the Elizabeth Fry Society of Kingston, charitable number….
Expect an update by August 10th, 2016—Prisoner Justice Day—a day for remembrance.
We are donating money for a memorial to honor women who have died inside prison. We hope that you will too.
Why should you donate money for a memorial for these women?
The women who died behind the walls were mothers, sisters, daughters, wives and aunties. They were so much more than their crime.
Some of these women died many years ago in P4W. Some of the bodies were never claimed. They may be buried in a “pauper’s field” somewhere near Kingston. Their families never knew what happened to them. There is no headstone or marker there or on the old prison grounds to tell their story.
As time passes, more and more people are beginning to recognize that many women in prison are scapegoats for unjust social conditions and economic inequality. These are strong women but sometimes the burden of suffering is just too much.
Canada is just waking up to the injustice of residential schools. Are Canadians ready to make the connection to prisons? In 1998 the Supreme Court of Canada recognized that colonization in the form of residential schools and reserves has contributed to the criminalization of a disproportionately high percentage of native people. Did you know that native people make up only 4% of the general population, but they make up 23% of the total prison population? Native women make up 33% of the population in federal women’s prisons. Between 2002 and 2012 the number of native women imprisoned in Canada increased by 109% This injustice is not a thing of the past. It’s happening now. It’s getting worse.
The walls of the prison for women in Kingston have come down but women are still jailed in federal institutions across the country. Women are still dying in prison. Let’s not forget the women who lived and died inside P4W and the women in jail today. Let’s not forget these women, and let their memories guide us to build a world where there are no more prisons.
This is a project of the P4W Memorial Collective. Donations can be made to…This account is managed by the Elizabeth Fry Society of Kingston, charitable number….
Expect an update by August 10th, 2016—Prisoner Justice Day—a day for remembrance.
Organizer
Fran Chaisson
Organizer
Kingston, ON
