Message from a Prisoner - Anti-Violence Project

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The following is a letter is from a Canadian prisoner. Following that letter is his completed project for Anti-Violence. Its lengthy but well worth a read.

Feel free to post your views and comments.

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An Open Letter on Violence and Social Change

Summary: An Open Letter concerning recent events in Toronto, and the response from our political leaders.

January 1st, 2006

Twenty three years ago as a misguided and angry young man my actions ended a mans life, ruined my life, shattered my victim's family, shattered my family and damaged society. I have been in prison since that day.

As a person who has been in prison for the last 23 years serving a life sentence for the shooting death of Police Constable David Utman(1) in Nepean, Ontario, I have some insight into the world of crime, hand guns and violence.

While my actions have left me with deep shame and regret and a debt I can never repay, I have spent countless years thinking about how I ended up on such a selfish and dangerous road that ended a mans life. While I can never go back and fix anything, I am committed to doing what I can to contribute to society in positive ways.

It is with sadness that I hear the news reports of shootings and increased "gang" activity in the community. It is also very disheartening to hear the politicians speaking the usual fear based rhetoric to garner votes. These simplistic knee jerk reactions only contribute negatively to complicated social problems. As caring people you must not allow wedges to be placed between intelligent and effective responses to the very social problems that create the fertile ground for the growth of violence.

We must work harder for a stronger, more responsive and more inclusive society. Our social institutions have been under funded and even abandoned by short sighted and agenda driven special interests and political parties. The ever increasing needs of the homeless, the mentally ill, the impoverished, the battered, the victims of crime and racism have gone unheeded by government at all levels. Community organizations are resource stretched and are finding it more and more difficult to address the issues that impact them directly. We seem to have narrowed our focus and this has produced a splintering effect on the good traditional Canadian values. We need to find the common ground that links us all and then move towards a united effort to deal with the root causes of violence as well as the tragic current event realities.

When we recognize the connections between bullying in the school yard to spousal abuse or intimidation, racism and sexism in work places, we will be on the way to repairing the damage to our communities. The easiest way to respond to these issues is to point and blame, it is easy to pass judgement and punish or banish but as easy as it is to do this it is also wasteful in terms of time, money and effectiveness.

I worry that my message will be overlooked due to my personal history. However, I challenge you to listen and not turn me off out of hand. I have significant observations that could help society to move towards a safer more respectful and inclusive social reality and away from the current trend of increased isolation, increased violence and increased incarceration.

During these years in prison I have been paying attention to the people who come in as prisoners and the people and systems that attempt to balance and deliver effective and meaningful justice. I see the results of our collective responsibilities and goals being missed. The short sighted, selfishness and arrogance of the average stereotypical prisoner is mirrored in our social realities and systemic and institutional responses. Most of the prisoners I have met have significant social and cognitive impairments that appear to be a result of less than optimum childhoods.

Whether the impairments resulted from poverty, racism, neglect, physical, sexual or emotional/ psychological abuse, we all pay the cost of ignoring these community realities during the child's formative years. The knee jerk reaction of calling for longer sentences and locking more and more people away can never and will never address the root causes, therefore will always be counterproductive at worst and ineffective and meaningless at best.

I can assure you that troubled youth or angry misguided people never consider the possible length of prison sentences before committing a crime. Their lives are in crisis and often they feel rejected and undervalued by the pillars of society. The well-being of their communities is simply an abstract consideration that is not on their list of how to survive. We need to look at why youth are dropping out of high school at the current unacceptable rates. We must also look at school yard bullying and suicide rates. We need to look at why youth are gravitating towards lives in conflict with the law and forming in gang-like groupings. Why would any human being "choose" a life on the fringe, or a violent life destined for prison?

Calling lost youth incorrigible, or kicking them out of school (2) because they exhibit the behavior of someone who clearly needs our help is an admission of our social failure and our negligence where it comes to the welfare of that child. I constantly hear the so-called "Right" calling for longer sentences and tougher laws but all the empirical evidence is clear: those legal responses will not solve the social problems. Our neighbors to the south reap the results of these thoughtless "get tough" reactionary policies with prisons teeming with examples of their dangerously inept policies. We have the capacity and obligation to do better for ourselves and for our children. What we can do, and what we actually do, will be the measure of this society.

Our understanding of violence and social change must be informed and reasonable and our responses need to be intelligent and flexible. We need to think outside of the box if we are going to reach kids and improve their social direction. If we start in earnest now we will see incredibly positive results within 10 or 15 years.

Fear is a message our media and politicians peddle because it increases viewers and generates votes, but what it does not do is tell the truth, or produce intelligent or effective responses. We do not need to get "tough on crime" we need to get smart about it. We need to look at the causes and attack the roots of the conditions that produce the violence, the alienation, the hopelessness and the anger. The escalating gun violence we see in Toronto is systemic and a result of alienation and poverty that follows race and class themes. We need to be real about that, if we cannot get right about that in our awareness we will be destined to nurture the privileged and exclusionary dichotomies that are a cancer to a healthy Canadian social fabric. These kids and angry young people did not come from a different planet, they are our brothers and sisters, cousins, nephews, nieces, etc. We need to look at what we are we doing in every spectrum of our society and we need to address the outstanding social issues.

I propose that we start by looking at the systems that we have in place and using them to create, generate and cultivate community bonds. We have to change our approach and we cannot afford to just throw laws and money at the problem.

We need to facilitate and encourage anti violence programs in the schools and the community. We have to cast off the useless promotion of angry and retributive "get tough on crime" rhetoric. Canada already hands out some of the worlds longest prison sentences and does not require tougher sentences. The over reliance of punishment against those whose lives are already in crisis is a futile action that only deflects real and constructive approaches to the root causes of violence in our communities.

Our current justice system does not allow for meaningful healing for victims and does not allow for meaningful understanding or opportunities for reparation by the perpetrator. A healthier approach is required and can be found in the Transformative Justice Mode1 (3) and second to that is the Restorative Justice Model.

I present the following proposal as a method to turn society away from the tragic route we seem to be following. I know I cannot possibly have all the answers but I believe that it is a significant start. I know that this will be viewed skeptically by some and discarded out-of-hand by others. I offer these ideas and insights because I've walked the destructive path and I understand how it draws people in and I know that prison and laws will not solve the problems. We need intelligent caring people who are willing to take the risks and make these kinds of approaches work.

Let's all get real and use our intelligence instead of our frustration and base level response which is simple and thoughtless vengeance. During these sad times we have an opportunity to do the right thing. With all the knowledge and understanding in your experience and at your fingertips... what do you choose?

I encourage you to promote this proposal to your local Member of Parliament and to your political, business and community leaders.
Sincerely
Peter Collins

Contact Information
Pete Collins 079283B
PO Box 1500
Bath, Ontario KOH lG0


Notes

1. I included Officer David Utman's name in this document because I felt it would be a further indignity to refer to him as if he was only a police officer and only a victim of my crime. He was an outstanding man of courage and a community hero. Identifying Officer Utman was not a decision I made lightly, I recognize that some may disagree with my decision and have valid concerns about the family's right to privacy. I am trying to do the right thing here and hope that I have not hurt or offended anyone through this inclusion.

2. Former Ontario Premier Mike Harris's policy of zero tolerance booted youth at risk out onto the streets and this sent a message to the children that they were considered failures and not worth helping. This policy has single-handedly elevated expulsions and dropouts. In turn, youth are drawn together on the streets and turn to gang activity to help them "make it".

3. Transformative Justice Models can be better understood through the independent NGO Rittenhouse: A New Vision Restorative Justice Models can be better understood through contacting the theology department at Queens University.


Posted with kind permission and encouragement of Peter Collins

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Anti-Violence Project
• Forward
• The Problem
• Mapping a Solution
o Schools
o Programs
o Media Involvement
o Government Involvement and Funding
• In Conclusion

Forward
The following proposal is designed to present a vehicle geared toward reversing the erosion of respect, tolerance, understanding, personal responsibility and accountability.
The goal is to honestly and relentlessly attack the places that violence grows and the roots through which it replicates. To realize results we need to be willing to accept our collective and personal responsibilities and be innovative, flexible and intelligent about this direct action common sense mandate.

The following formula is intended to expand upon the strategies that made the "anti drinking & driving" and the "anti-smoking" agendas so successful. The difference is that our youth and young adults will be involved in working with and creating the campaigns that will ultimately drive the project.

Schools need to embed anti-violence education workshops and campaigns in the school curriculum. Running parallel should be life skills courses and experiential anti-bullying, anti-racism and anti sexism workshops.

These workshops will show kids and adults that harm is done by all forms of violence both physical and psychological, directly and indirectly. The far reaching damage that silent treatment and verbal put-downs can have on the personal self-esteem and the well being of others is significant. When these concepts are fully explored by people in the company of peers and others, a transformation of understanding is shared and the experience builds community. And community builds trust, caring and responsibility which equals less violence.

The school systems need to implement anger management, cognitive reasoning, and parenting skills programs that will permeate throughout the school experience.

Currently our educational systems do not address these skills in a meaningful fashion and this shortcoming needs to be addressed. The results will improve everyone's ability to understand and get along with one another in most social settings. The benefits will translate into healthier intimate loving relationships with life partners and provide future parents with the skills to give their babies more understanding and be better loving care givers.

With this simple goal and dedicated commitment we can reduce the current trends of outbursts of anger and violence. Our efforts will repair feelings of alienation and emotional pain and in doing so will make our society a safer and healthier place to live and flourish for everyone.

The Problem

Our society is fragmented into small cloistered groups with lines drawn around race, sex, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, employment, age, class, education level, urban, rural etc, and so on. No longer is "the village" a part of the upbringing of children. The cause of this fragmentation can be linked to many unchecked social evolution patterns. (The causes of which can be discussed in another forum.) It is clear that the resulting loss of community bonds and leadership has created a vacuum and nothing healthy has replaced the growing void.

We now worship money and celebrate strangers who act, make music or play sports. Our entertainment and media sources glamourize, glorify and dramatize violence and anti-social behavior and then we act shocked when our children emulate them. We have lost touch with ourselves, with our better nature and with each other. We are as apathetic to the pain and suffering of our own citizens as we are to our global neighbor's starvation and death. Our neighborhoods do not encourage or foster community in the truest sense.

We can live feet from each other and never even know each other's names. We walk past people freezing on the streets without a second thought. We throw people in prison for addiction issues with no treatment. We turn a blind eye to systemic racism, sexism and homophobia. We spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on theater shows and sporting events and other entertainment diversions while single mothers, welfare recipients and low income earners struggle by on next to nothing.

We penalize poverty as if it is a personal failing while allowing corporate greed to rule our world, our country, our social responsibilities. Our attitudes around the natural world, pollution and the degradation of the planet is as shockingly ignorant and personally self destructive as it is damaging to the planet. Our western hemisphere's governments are engaged in fights, or are posturing to fight, for the earth's resources. The truth is lies and we spend billions of dollars on the fashion trends while our world collapses around us.

We voice our concern about the violence in our communities but do nothing. We clamour about the erratic nature and seemingly unfocused manner in which violence rears its head and hurts innocent bystanders. A four year old child is shot in Toronto as a gun is discharged into a neighborhood. A young girl is shot to death while shopping with her parents on Boxing day. Are there better examples of innocent bystanders than these poor children?

After we remove from society the one or two or three or four people who are responsible for that or other similar acts are we going to continue to kid ourselves that we are safer? If we continue to choose the path of reaction and not look at our society in a different way then we may as well be pulling the triggers ourselves. We need to look at why a human being ends up on the streets, why they have been pulled into a life that runs contrary to the best interests of the community. We need to honestly look at whether our society truly looked after the best interests of a child before he or she turned into "a menace"? Did we help that child or did we cultivate that child?
I certainly do not advocate a free ride for those who hurt others through selfish, reckless, cruel actions There needs to be penalties, but they will only be the lip service vehicles of political gain if we take no meaningful steps to address the causation.

On the other hand it is far too easy for people of privilege to preach about choice and "social responsibility from the comfort of their luxurious lifestyle with its stability, safety, full bellies and sufficient (if not opulent) income with all their family resources and support mechanisms.

If we want to have a country that not only rhetorically speaks about the respect of others, human rights, dignity and all that goes along with it then we need to change our attitudes about our personal responsibilities and our judgmental ways and get involved in our communities. It requires governmental, corporate, educational institutions, family and individual commitment to develop abetter, healthier community base. This will ultimately result in a stronger, healthier and more honest country.

Mapping a Solution

Schools

Universities, colleges, high schools and public schools begin to facilitate and encourage anti-violence workshops and life skills courses on a regular basis. In conjunction annual competitions for the best student generated anti-violence advertisement campaigns in film, radio and print media be started.

Students need to be included in every facet of the anti-violence workshops as well as the advertising competitions. Ultimately these students will be the best facilitators and ambassadors of the shift in attitude.

Teachers, Principals, Guidance Counselors & Secretaries

Student chosen leaders for each school need to be identified and put in charge of organizing. Then map out the components and implementation of the anti-violence courses and advertising competitions along with the life skills courses Teachers and other school employees need to be encouraged to promote and facilitate the development of this paradigm shift. They will be hugely important to success.

Parents

Parents need to be encouraged to be involved in the programs. Incentives could help.

Community members

Community members, businesses and organizations need to be encouraged to advocate for and to be involved in the project. They could be involved in funding, providing material and/ or human resources, expertise and support.

Programs

Alternatives to Violence Project (A VP) or Be The Change (BTC) (l) type models of teaching be introduced to the schools -all the schools -all grades up until the end of high school. These are experiential workshop models and not intended to be and should never be the subject of grading. Involvement and participation is the criteria.

Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP)

AVP was developed in Greenhaven penitentiary (Sing Sing) by prisoners who wanted to try and stop the cycle of violence that they saw in their lives being repeated as they grew older and watched other youngsters coming in to fill the prison cells. They contacted the Quakers and asked if there was something they could do to help them.

From this hope and request for help sprang AVP. The program has since spread across the USA, into Canada and across the globe. The program is nothing short of amazing and it works in prisons and in schools and the rest of the outside world.

Be the Change (BTC)

BTC was developed to address bullying in the schools. Like AVP, BTC is an experiential workshop that develops community, greater understanding, compassion and cultivates friendships and a healthier school environment. Amazing changes flow from this type of workshop.

Life skills

We need to teach life skills from an early age all the way through school. This will develop the understanding of violence and its causes and it will develop an understanding of the impact it has on others. This understanding is not something that all kids learn during their upbringing for a wide variety of reasons. We recommend that student drivers don't learn from unprofessional driving instructors and we should put at least that same level of importance on these life-skills. I see the results of impaired social skills in the people who I spend time with in prison. I also see their potential and willingness to try to do the right thing. The cause and effect of damaged lives can be seen in the prisoners and the prison guards to one degree or another.

My observation and recommendations are that we need to teach life skills such as cognitive reasoning, anger and emotion, understanding and management, parenting and social responsibility in school from the beginning to the end.

The community expertise and experience is out there and willing to help. They simply need l to be asked and we need to mobilize long term strategies to promote the fundamental education and to develop more qualified instructors and facilitators.

We need to take alternative approaches to reach those who currently employ violence and those who will be growing up and becoming one of the people who fall into this behavior/ lifestyle. We need to develop, implement and aggressively and shamelessly promote AVP type approaches.
Universities and colleges should offer courses in AVP or BTC or similar courses in order to develop baseline expertise for Canadians. These courses should also be available for adults and organizations such as teachers, unions, police, nurses, doctors and other front line service providers. Higher learning institutions should be mandated as well as encouraged to assist in the development of this project. Public service providers and officials should be mandated to participate in these programs, at least once with yearly refreshers.

Other programs and workshops of equal value should be embraced and invited into our schools. More funding should be provided to train more facilitators and deliver more workshops and target our schools, our youth and our future.

Physical Involvement

Physical involvement will encourage group participation throughout the whole school. The idea is to organize daily activities ranging from Recreation to Community Service. On alternating days Community Service followed by Recreation. The involvement level needs to be 100% among teachers, students, counselors, principals, secretaries and parents where possible so that everyone begins to become more involved in each others lives. Daily outdoor activity hours should commence everyday with no one being put on the spot or forced to do something they do not want to do. It can range from organized sport, to walking, to cleaning up in the neighborhood, shoveling snow in elderly people's driveways / walkways, and so on. This needs to be developed into part of the daily regime for everyone. The results will be very apparent and realized in stronger community building, healthier more socially aware students and teachers with less stress.

We need to develop inter-community volunteer projects that have multi prong purposes:

• Encourage the people in the community to get involved with their communities.
• Encourage children to get involved with their communities.
• Encourage more inclusive community development.
• Identify the kids at risk and reach them in effective, creative, non judgmental ways.


Media Involvement

Advertising Competitions

Hold individual and group projects to develop anti-violence advertisement schemes in all classes and all schools across Canada. Capitalize upon the inherent honesty and understanding of youth. Involvement should span every grade in every school and would be a project that is inclusive, esteem building, community strengthening and a source of pride for all.

Student selected advertisement final choices become that year's government funded advertisement projects. All of the other entries would be catalogued and then posted in the halls of schools, exchanged between schools and exhibited provincially.

The media would print or air articles and documentaries or shows about the projects and the kids who came up with the ideas. In this way the efforts and concerns of the kids will continue to be recognized, validated and encouraged.

The continued cultivation of the project and the kids involved will generate goodwill, personal affirmation and build ownership of a society that celebrates community and stands firmly against violence in all its forms.

We need to have advertising blitzes about the harm of violence -not "JUST SAY NO" nonsense but serious cutting edge tactical advertising strategies. This would have to be taken on by some of our leading creative advertising businesses. It needs to be relevant, clever and hip. We need to reach the kids and reach them with credibility and honesty - no bull!

Advertisement Selection Method

Students come up with their best collaborative and or individual advertising ideas and projects. Completed projects are voted on by class or school. All finalists are voted on by the entire student body. Selections are forwarded to city wide competitions and then provincial and finally federal contests.

The final competitions could be held on television and voted on by the community the same way they vote on the TV show "Canadian Idol", etc.

Selected finalists projects would then be forwarded to selected Canadian advertising firms.
Close collaboration with student creators and advertisers would develop a ready to run version. In this way the students and the company are intimately involved and students would develop valuable business skills. The projects will need to include the print, visual and audio version of each.

Then every Canadian newspaper, magazine, periodical, radio or television broadcaster must be encouraged or even mandated to run the advertisements during all periods of their respective publishing or broadcasting spectrums. They have the privilege to reach across public air waves and to publish in Canada and they also have the responsibility and duty to help make the country healthier with their expertise and services.

We need television companies to make space for public service commercials about violence and about the benefits of developing more cohesive communities. The commercials that we use need to employ the sophisticated advertising skills that are out there. These commercials need to be brutally honest with the communities and they need to reach the children and young adults at risk. We have done it with Drinking & Driving and Smoking. With that same passion and commitment we could change social attitudes ~ around the violence and the many forms of its causation.

We need to show the hopelessness, confusion, bitterness and anger that results in violence.
We need to show where it comes from: poverty, lack of educational opportunities, lack of recreational activities, racism, poor parenting, homelessness, hunger, etc.

I believe an effective televised advertisement done in the style of a music video could be:
"One act of gun violence resulting in the sharp shocking end of someone's life and then how it ripples out and destroys everyone around the act. The immediate families of both the victim and the perpetrator and then the ripples into the extended families, the friends and the community members. The hurt, the sense of violation, the feelings of exposure, lack of safety and security. We need to show the stark grave sight with a devastated family and the lonely prison cell and the devastated family visiting. We need to illustrate the lonely, dangerous and hopeless dead end that it presents for everyone."

Television is certainly the medium that we can reach out and touch everyone with, and not in a Hollywood "after school special" nonsense kind of way but in a substantial, clever and insightful way that lets kids see the painful fruitless reality.

Tax Breaks and Incentives

Tax breaks and incentives for companies and individuals who give their time and expertise to help the project by providing:
• Expert skills.
• Access to cameras, computers, equipment, training, etc.
• Software development.
• Intern positions.
• Educational sessions for students.

Every station, magazine, newspaper and radio is mandated to provide so many hours or pages of free advertisement and the hours have to be distributed across the 24/7, 365 day viewing and reading spectrum.

Television

TV will air anti-violence commercials aired with regularity.

Documentaries

One government funded documentary per province / territory that is won by competition and shared between professional producers and students.

Radio

Radio will air anti-violence commercials with regularity.

Newspapers

One half page of every issue devoted to the anti-violence advertisement. A weekly article published from students or teachers or facilitators discussing the program's progress and impact, both successes and failures.

Magazines

One full page of advertisement each issue with a published article and or discussion on the progress of the program and successes and failures and the impact in the community.

Government Involvement and Funding

Non Governmental Organizations and Student Stewardship

Allocation of funding given to (NGO) to encourage and facilitate anti-violence program implementation and training -in the schools and in the community and police forces. (Schools and front line community based service providers have to participate).

Tax Incentives

Tax incentives could be given to people who take and deliver the courses.

Bidding Contracts

A government call goes out to all advertising companies to bid for contracts to work with school kids who develop advertising ideas and then working with professionals to develop strategies for magazines, newspapers, billboards and radio, television and documentaries (etc).

Mandatory Community Involvement

Every area of the community needs to be canvassed and encouraged to participate in some meaningful way. The purpose is to flood the community with aggressive, insightful, thought provoking, attitude changing anti-violence advertising.

Prisoner Involvement (Federal & Provincial)

The anti-violence programs should be introduced into all prison settings and delivered by NGO's to both staff and prisoners. Advertisement competitions should be expanded into the prison setting.

Young Offender Prisons and Facilities

The anti-violence programs should be introduced into all YO prison settings and delivered by NGO's to both staff and prisoners. Advertisement competitions should be expanded into the Youth Offender setting.

In Conclusion

I recognize that my presentation is at once complex and simplistic, but I believe this ; project holds real promise and a positive move forward. I ask you to look into your heart and ask where you would like your society to go and how you will contribute to that direction.

I look back on my own childhood and I remember times when I might have been reached if the people in the school system and youth authority had the understanding, knowledge, training and flexibility to be more responsive to my obvious need for help and direction.

It is entirely possible that I could have been reached and my life turned around before it came to such a tragic crisis. I worry about how many more people will be hurt and of how many more youth at risk will travel this road for lack of effective and intelligent response and support at the early and formative points in their developing lives.

As projects go, we know that AVP & BTC work and turn around bad situations in the schools on a personal level and for groups. These programs are even very effective with the so called "hardened convicts" and "career criminals" (2) so the question begs to be asked:

Why are we not implementing them across the board already in Canada?

Do the right thing here... help your children, help yourselves.

Peter Collins


Personal comments

While I have been in prison I have worked very hard to turn my life around and I try to assist my fellow prisoners. I earned certification as an Alternatives to Violence Facilitator and a Frontier College Tutor. I work in the prison as a Peer Health Education Counselor and I work with a number of community based health and service organizations in a variety of capacities. I also wrote a book to assist prisoners and their families in understanding and surviving Canada's penitentiaries as well as construct a release plan that will help them be successful upon release. I share this information with you so that you can evaluate my sincerity and qualification to offer these insights and ideas.

I would like to add that my accomplishments have been hard won and are in no way a reflection of the effectiveness of the prison system. I have been very lucky and blessed with opportunity and the support of friends and family. Prison by its very nature is destructive to everyone who for whatever reason ventures inside the perimeter fences. Whether a prisoner, a guard, a nurse, or a visitor: prisons erode everyone's humanity. Prison is financially and socially wasteful and will never be the appropriate answer except for the very dangerous and unreachable few.




1. Alternatives to Violence Project and Be The Change are both experiential workshops that develop understanding, awareness, life-skills, compassion, hope and communal awareness. They deliver incredible messages that change people's perspectives and their ability to respect and honor each other's differences, and to be better members of a healthier community.

2. The labels "hardened convict" and "career criminal" are used with reservation and only to illustrate in common language. I know the label "hardened convict" is applied to people who have been rejected so often that they try to reject first and thereby protect themselves. The "career criminal" label is used to demonize and categorize someone who has fallen through the cracks so often they appear to want nothing more than a life in prison and may even say so. The reality is that no one makes an informed choice to spend their life in prison. The prison demographic has the highest rates of illiteracy, the lowest levels of education, very little employable skill base and high rates of mental illness. I suggest that this is not the same level of opportunity and choice as that of an Enron CEO who actually did have a career.

Posted with kind permission and encouragement of Peter Collins