Canadian Correctional Service Strikes Again

Visits play an important role in preparing prisoners to get out. So, why does the Correctional Service of Canada put so many roadblocks on visiting? The excuses they use most often are security and drug trafficking prevention.

So then why is a mother not allowed to visit her son for the first month of his incarceration? Is it because she is an addict? No. She never has and never will use drugs, not even prescribed ones. Is it because she is a threat to staff? No. She is barely 5 feet tall and weighs in at less than 100 pounds, even soaking wet. Is it because she is a bad person? No. It is because she is vocal about abuses perpetrated on prisoners while they are serving their time.

If you tell the higher authorities what local prison officials and guards are doing to torture the prisoners, then you are not allowed to visit. If you buy a newspaper subscription for your son so he can keep informed about the world outside the prison, you cannot be trusted and cannot visit. If you tell your son about the avenues he can use to right any wrongs, then you cannot visit. If you ask to speak to his management team, then you are interfering and you cannot visit.

What are we learning from this? you can visit prisoners you do not know if you do it under the umbrella of a church group. You can meet prisoners through a pen pal arrangement. But, Heaven Forbid if you want to visit a relative in prison. That is just not a good idea.

Our son, Derik Lord, has been in prison for half his life. Not that he actually committed a crime, but he was found guilty of one. that part does not matter. He will never see the outside because his family still visits him. They made sure he was moved far enough away that it is difficult for his mother to see him. They will not allow his father to see him at all. It has been over 4 years since he has seen his father. His father tells him about the laws being broken and the redress available to him. His father offers to speak with the people in control and is turned away. His father writes letters to the people in charge of the system, and some things do change, but that makes him an unwelcome trouble maker in the system. So he is not allowed to visit.

Where do we go from here? We need to reform the system to be more accepting of family contact. The system has to be more forward in encouragement of family visits. The system needs to take a closer look at the benefits from family visits. The system needs to open the prisons to more outside contact, not less. The prison system needs to encourage more passes to prisoners to interact with people not in prison. And the list goes on from there.

It takes an extraordinary man to avoid being corrupted by this evil unlawful system. Visits from family members and others can help prevent the great loss to society that occurs during "rehabilitation".

Contact me via Skype coach_elouise
via email lordelouise@gmail.com

Contact the Commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada, Don Head, at
National Headquarters
340 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0P9

Phone: (613) 992-5891
Fax: (613) 943-1630

check out our story

So What is Next?

Yes, they celebrate Christmas in prisons. Some have a not too bad family Christmas, but to many it is just another day. So what happens after 18 years inside? Derik has had that and it is now more than half his life spent behind those bars. He does not have regular family type Christmases. His father has not been allowed to see him for over 4 years now.

As I said in previous posts, he sits in prison wrongfully convicted of two counts of first degree murder. Because he will not confess to a crime he did not commit, he stays there. After 2 years of fighting with the system, he was finally moved to William Head Prison where he successfully completed his first year apprenticeship training in carpentry. He has a certificate in house framing, a first aid ticket, training in building foundations, framing walls, installing floors, constructing roof trusses, finishing the roof and putting in doors and windows properly. He has done insulation, siding, basic plumbing along with that. He is gaining some hours in the trade working with the onsite carpenter. He also is getting skidsteer loader esperience.

He will be gaining very few hours if he stays at William Head. So he heard about a large construction project starting at another prison. There he would get the hours he needs to complete his first year of apprenticeship. So, upon completion of his course and getting his grades, he applied to transfer out to the other prison.

Surprise!! Well, not really. As you have seen in previous postings, transfers for him have been particularly difficult. This one is no different. His Internal Parole Officer, IPO, has informed him that she will not support him for a transfer. She will not support him for family visits with his sister. She will not support him for escorted passes to the college to continue learning. She refused to even speak to him for at least 2 years. She has refused to do the paperwork that is her job. So, there he still sits. Again the system failed!

I tried to call her to get her point of view on this and perhaps a reason for her not to support him. She hung up on me. She told me that she does not speak to parents of prisoners. Why she won't use such a valuable resource to reach him I don't understand. What is she teaching him? That his views on the abusiveness of authority figures are well founded. Teaching him that if he bends over to be fucked, he might get something. Teaching him that women who work in prisons hate men. Teaching him that the system needs him for continuation of the jobs created by his incarceration.

You would think that a system basing its mandate on rehabilitation would be trying to educate, socialize and generally prepare men for re-entry into society. Instead, the system relies on continued incarceration, so any attempt at improving a prisoner's ability to earn a living, get along with people, control his anger, or anything else that might help him succeed is quashed. This young man, having gone from high school to prison, has never lived on his own. Should he not be offered as much education and life skills as possible? Apparently not, the system is concerned about job security and keeps him locked in.

Please write to the Deputy Commissioner of Corrections Canada, Ms. Anne Kelly, to offer your opinion on this.



Regional Headquarters - Pacific
32560 Simon Avenue
PO Box 4500
2nd Floor
Abbotsford, British Columbia
V2T 5L7
Phone: (604) 870-2500
Fax: (604) 870-2430

Deputy Commissioner: Anne Kelly

Tel.: (604) 870-2501
Fax: (604) 870-2430


Contact me:

Skype: coach_elouise
email: lordelouise@gmail.com

By the way, the other boy convicted at the same trial made up a confession and has been out on parole for 8 years now. He works as a cleaner at a local hospital.

When in Prison, Don't be Honest!

This video made me laugh a lot!. However. It is nothing like life in Prison. Derik has been in prison now for 18 years. What for? for knowing the wrong person. Not that there was anything wrong with his friend other than a psychosis which he was getting treatment for. But when his friend's mother and grandmother were murdered, his friend was the type of person who falls under suspicion right away. Not because he was a violent person, but because he was super polite and had an attitude of superiority.

The long and the short of it is that since Derik and two friends were together for at least part of the evening in question, they were targeted as likely suspects and subsequently convicted of the crime with no physical evidence to back up the verdict.

I had an eye-opening experience with police investigations gone wrong. I know who commissioned the killings, but I cannot prove it. The hitman is in China. There is no extradition treaty with Chine, so as soon as an investigation heads that way it is usually dropped. I have seen the police use lies, force, coersion, and many other not so legal methods to get witnesses to change their testimony. I did not believe one could be convicted on hearsay evidence alone. But now I know better. It happens from time to time. It happened to Derik.



He was sentenced to life 10, along with another boy about the same age. The other boy fell for the coersion in prison. Guards, Parole officers, other officers, all tell prisoners that they have to confess to get out of prison. Legally, they do not have to do that. Derik went against the crowd. He said he would refuse to confess to a crime he did not commit. Especially, he would not confess to such a terrible one. Lots of prisoners say they did not do it, but they stay in prison for much longer times because of that denial. The other boy admitted and confessed to the crime. We do not know what he said to the prison staff, but by the time the 10 years was up, he was out of prison and on parole for the rest of his life. Derik still refuses to confess to this terrible crime. So he is still in prison.

The system has tried many ways to coerce him into making a false confession. Just to get out of prison. He still maintains his innocence and refuses to make that lie. So there he sits.

It is not like he has done nothing while in there. He has worked hard to improve himself. Since he was not allowed to complete high school, he obtained his equivalency certificate. He took the pilot course in peer counselling in prison. He became a peer counsellor for the other prisoners, helping them with sucidal tendencies, depression, marital issues, parenting issues and whatever else he could help them work through. He is well respected for that job. He has done every program the parole board wanted him to do except the ones where he has to confess. He has had passes outside of the prison. One for his grandmother's funeral, several for LINC meetings. LINC is lifers in the community who counsel others who have been in prison for a long time on how to survive on the outside.

He has tried to get passes for education, but since the class times are long and no guards want to sit on the classes, he was not able to get those. About 2 years ago he transferred to another prison to obtain a carpentry course. The first year of an appenticeship program in building construction. At first, the staff at this new place would not allow him into the course although he transferred there just to take that course. Finally, by going above the staff and appealing to th administration, he got the course. He has completed that successfully and is now certified as a framer for construciton.

But. Now the worst blow of all. With this training and having obtained the best overall score in the course, he is trying to get a transfer to another prison where they are rebuilding the entire place. They want prisoner workers to do the work. His parole officer will not support him for that as she said that she wants him to stay there for at least another two years just to do time. So, here we go again. This time he will once again have to go to administration for results. Why can they not help guys get out to support themselves?

Taxpayers are blind to the fact that it costs in the neighbourhood of $100 000.00 to keep a man in prison for one year. More if health issues are present. these guys should be out, earning their own keep. Paying taxes like the rest of us. Learning how to live with other people without resorting to crime. Some, in fact, many, would never go back to crime if they had job skills.

Now, Derik has served nearly twice what the other boy served. He will not confess because he is innocent. I used to tell my kids to always be honest. Now I suspect that is a mistake. No one else is honest.

Canadian injustice

Elouise
skype: coach_elouise
email: rascal60@shaw.ca

Who cares for the prisoners?

Well the same things keep happening over and over again. To my followers who say they are tired of hearing about Derik and the things he has to go through, I say listen and learn. There are many things in Canada's prison system that need changing.

Derik has finally completed the first year carpentry training that he transferred to William Head prison to take. It took 8 months to get into the program because his Internal Parole Officer had decided that 16 years was not enough punishment for him. She said he could not get anything from her at all. And to think that all he wanted to do was to get a trade in order to perhaps support a family should he ever get out of that terrible place.

Canadian Correctional Services calls the time spent in those jails rehabilitation time. Not much actual rehabilitation takes place from the service end of things. Rehabilitation occurs when the prisoners themselves decide they want another attempt at a real life. See a few of my earlier posts for more on this topic.

Derik has been trying to do several things while in those institutions. He has been trying to prove his innocence of the crime. So far, nothing has come from that, but the UBC Law School students are still working on it.

He has been trying to stay away from the very large drug culture inside those institutions. So far, he has been successful at that. He has even been able to help a couple of others stop the horrible circle of getting high, scoring another hit and getting high. It is a tough road. Drugs are much more easily obtainable inside than on the street. They are also a lot cheaper. The institutions don't appear to be able to stop the inflow. They only check visitors, not staff. Way more comes in through staff than through visitors. Even the prisons on lockdown don't have a shortage of drugs with no visitors coming in at all.

He has been trying to obtain some sort of training that he can use to find work if he is ever released. To that end, it took him nearly 5 years to get some cooperation from the officials in charge to get his first year apprenticeship for carpentry. Now he is employable. He has a Framer's ticket, a forklift ticket, and experience with concrete foundations. He has installed and removed windows and doors and done some roofing.

He has been trying to obtain escorted passes outside of the institution. He wants to visit his neice and nephew in their own home, not in a prison. He wants to get a job and earn some money so he can get out of prison and have a place to go. He wants to get passes to take more courses towards his carpentry. Now that he has finally been able to obtain some education towards that end, his Internal Parole Officer, who did not support him for the course, is refusing to support him for any sort of passes, work release, education, or transfer to another institution for at least another 2 years.

Why? 19 years is still not long enough punishment. His crime? He refuses to admit guilt and confess to something that he did not do. He was not there. He has support from other guards, other parole officers, other staff, but without the ok of this particular bitch, he cannot do anything or go anywhere. His sentence was for 10 years until parole eligibility. Many people outside the system think that means he would serve 10 years and be out. Boy are they wrong!! That is not how it works for those who disagree with something. Derik will not confess to something he is innocent of, so he remains.

Please help by writing to the Minister of Public Safety in our federal government to urge prison reform. Training and release is their mandate, but it is not what they are doing.

Minister of Public Safety,
Parliament Buildings,
Ottawa, Ontario,
Canada K1A 0P9

For more of Derik's story, check out http://www.canadianinjustice.com

or contact me
Elouise
skype: coach_elouise
email: lordelouise@gmail.com

We are here for a reason

Having a happy life is easier than you might think. I have made the decision after listening to the Dali Lama that it is up to me to have a happy life. So How do I do that? I have been thinking on it and trying some new things to see what works.

First, I discussed this with my family. All of them agreed that looking outside myself for happiness is not the way to go. Happiness is always inside you. You can be in very happy situations and surrounded by very happy people and still not feel happy within yourself. Only you can change what you feel inside yourself.

Secondly, I spoke with my friends about this. For the past few weeks, the topic has come up in many conversations. The final conclusion does not change though. We have all come to an agreement. Happiness is something you can control. How is up to each person and situation, but it is under your own control. Where do I go from here?

I have been looking at my own thought patterns. What thoughts come to my mind and how I treat them. Upon realizing that not all my thoughts are positive in outlook, actually many are quite negative, it has become important to me and my happiness to learn to control them. It is much more difficult that I expected. I suppose the habits of 62 years of life on this earth in this lifetime has ingrained some negative ideas firmly enough to make them difficult to remove. Now comes the work.

Fortunately, I have some great friends who are helping me to learn this. I have found great resources here for learning. Check out this site! The amount of knowledge to be found there is huge!

Wolfpac1

Once you start getting followers from http://followe.rs/uS, then upgrade to a paid account to earn even more money

Regarding Colin Thatcher

This video is quite funny, making fun of the prison. But on the more serious side, we have the case of Colin Thatcher. Who is he? A former premier of the Province of Saskatchewan, in Canada.

Colin Thatcher, being a politician, became a media target when his former wife was found murdered. He was blamed, of course, since the relationship had become quite sour. Throughout his trial and his appeals, Thatcher has steadfastly maintained his innocence, which he admits is probably the reason he was not paroled until late 2006.

Sounds a little familiar doesn't it? Derik has also maintined his innocence for over 17 years now. He also cannot get parole. He also refused to confess to a crime he did not do. At least, in Colin Thatcher's case, there was some evidence, circumstantial as it was, that allowed the police to believe they may have been correct. Derik's case shows nothing like that at all.

I am looking forward to reading the book Colin has written about his wrongful conviction. I am expecting some very similar things between the investigation in that case and the investigation in Derik's case. A substantial lack of physical evidence, police coercion of witnesses, police fabrication of evidence, crown hiding evidence which could have helped the defense, and more.

This is yet another nail in the coffin of the laws of Canada in relaion to appeals on wrongful convictions. Once again, the case is made that Canada needs to take a page from Great Britain. We need to have an independent group look into these cases of potential wrongful convictions. We can go back many years and look at cases that have been proven to be wrong. The pattern is unmistakeable.

The largest issue by far has to be the appeals to the Minister of Justice. The entire process of appeal there is contaminated by the fact that the Minister is the overall boss of the entire process of evidence gathering, holding trials, and holding appeals. Despite the laws of Canada, the Minister can override any evidence of wrongful conviction and refuse to allow a closer look. Even when a closer look is made, the Minister can choose to overlook any mistakes found and hold the verdict. This system is about as fair as asking the dog who chases the cat to decide if chasing the cat is an ok thing to do.

There is something else in common between these two men. Neither Colin Thatcher nor Derik Lord has been abl to gain parole from the prison system because of their maintaining their innocence. In both cases, parole officers employed by the prison demanded a confession, an accouting for the crime, an apology for committing the crime, or some other detailing of the crime. This is wrong in more was than one. The issue that I have with this process is that Canada is a signatory to the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment. Canada has agreed to this Body of Principles.

Principle 21

It shall be prohibited to take undue advantage of the situation of a detained or imprisoned person for the purpose of compelling him to confess, to incriminate himself otherwise or to testify against any other person.

Forcing a confesion before allowing the prisoner to apply for Parole violates this fundamental principle. Forcing a confession to gain support for any sort of release is also a gross violation of this fundamental principle.

If you want more details, check out the website:


Please write to the Minister of Justice, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1A 0A1

Coach Elouise
604-794-3218
Skype coach_elouise
Email: lordelouise@gmail.com
rascal60@shaw.ca
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