We’re hiring!

LEGAL ADVOCATE

Prisoners’ Legal Services, Burnaby, BC  

Prisoners’ Legal Services is looking for a passionate, problem solving, empathetic and dedicated advocate for the rights of people in prison with a focus on prison discipline.

We are a small non-profit society providing legal services to people in federal and provincial prison in the province of British Columbia.

The legal advocate position involves providing advocacy regarding prison legal issues. This work is primarily done by telephone, fax and email.  Advocacy on behalf of people in prison may involve summary advice, informal advocacy, providing written submissions and personal representation at tribunals.

Legal advocates have conduct of client files and are responsible for ensuring day-to-day tasks are scheduled and performed within relevant timeframes. The job involves reviewing and determining the legal merit of cases and determining the level of service to be provided. Legal advocates work under the supervision of a lawyer.

Legal advocates have a great deal of contact with people in prison, prison administrators and parole authorities.

This position may require frequent travel to prisons in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley. Access to a vehicle is essential. A CPIC clearance is required to visit prisons.

Basic Qualifications:

  • Post-secondary education in Law, Criminology, Social Work, Paralegal training or equivalent;
  • Strong verbal, written and interviewing skills; and
  • Experience in a legal environment or advocacy an asset.

Skills and Abilities

  • ability to be a strong advocate for disadvantaged clients, including those with low income, those with mental health disabilities, and those whose first language is not English;
  • ability to work well with others in a team setting;
  • ability to negotiate and find creative solutions to prisoners’ legal problems;
  • ability to exercise excellent judgment in matters of ethics and confidentiality;
  • ability to identify systemic issues and think strategically;
  • must have excellent communication and interpersonal skills, in particular in dealing with people in prison, lawyers, and prison and parole officials;
  • must be familiar with general software applications (e.g. MS Word, Outlook);
  • must be willing and prepared to assist those convicted of various crimes in a non-judgmental way; and
  • second language or demonstrated awareness of the cultural diversity of prisoners an asset.

Annual salary:  $58,615 (three-year term with possibility of renewal)

Closing date:  March 26, 2023

Start date:  ASAP

Interested applicants should submit a covering letter and résumé outlining how their qualifications meet the position requirements to:

Jennifer Metcalfe, Executive Director
Prisoners’ Legal Services/
West Coast Prison Justice Society

Email: jmetcalfe@pls-bc.ca

prisonjustice.org

We are committed to upholding the values of equity, diversity and inclusion and we welcome and encourage applications from members of groups who experience barriers to equity.

We are hiring a receptionist/administrative assistant!

Prisoners’ Legal Services is looking for a receptionist/administrative assistant who wants to use their skills to support the rights of people in prison.

We are a small non-profit society providing legal services to people in federal and provincial prisons in the province of British Columbia.

The receptionist/administrative assistant reports to the executive director. The position involves providing reception/intake, office and clerical services to support lawyers and advocates.

Duties include:

  • Answering calls from clients, entering information into our database, determining their legal issues, directing calls to the appropriate staff member and taking messages as appropriate;
  • Providing clients with referrals to other agencies, sending public legal education material and providing limited legal information in specific identified areas;
  • Answering other calls, taking messages, arranging couriers, sending and delivering faxes and mail;
  • Maintaining accurate database and filing system;
  • Drafting letters;
  • Track access to information requests and responses;
  • Arranging legal aid lawyers to represent clients at hearings;
  • providing advocacy and litigation support for advocates and lawyers;
  • may assist with IT and website; and
  • keeping the office organized and tidy, vacuuming and taking out recycling and garbage every other week.

Basic Qualifications:

  • grade 12 education and training in administrative assistance;
  • knowledge of computer systems; and
  • adequate typing speed.

Skills and Abilities:

  • able to be discreet and  to exercise excellent judgment in matters of ethics and confidentiality;
  • ability to work well with others in a team setting;
  • must have excellent communication and interpersonal skills, in particular in dealing with people in prison, lawyers, prison and parole officials;
  • must be efficient;
  • must have ability to deal with distressed clients in a calm and respectful manner; and
  • must have a desire to assist those convicted of various crimes in a non-judgmental way, including those with mental health disabilities, those with low income, or those whose first language is not English.

Salary:  $43,166 (benefits after 6 months)

Closing date:  June 17, 2022

Starting date:  ASAP

Interested applicants should submit a covering letter together with a résumé outlining how their qualifications meet the position requirements to:

Jennifer Metcalfe, Executive Director
Prisoners’ Legal Services
Email: jmetcalfe[at]pls-bc.ca
prisonjustice.org

News Release: PLS releases paper documenting Canada’s ongoing genocide against Indigenous people in its prisons

BURNABY, BC – September 29, 2021

Today, Prisoners’ Legal Services released a paper documenting government reports that confirm Canada’s treatment of Indigenous people held in its prisons constitutes a continuation of genocide and crimes against humanity.

Indigenous people in prison are more likely to be held in maximum security and solitary confinement. They are more likely to have violence used against them by correctional officers. Indigenous people in prison have high rates of death by homicide, suicide attempts and self-harm.

The Canadian government spends more than half-a-billion dollars each year imprisoning Indigenous people, while it denies funding to Indigenous communities to provide healing services and significantly under-funds Indigenous-run healing lodges.

On the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Prisoners’ Legal Services calls on Canada to end the genocidal practice of incarcerating Indigenous people in prisons, and calls on Canada to ensure Indigenous communities have the resources to provide healing alternatives to imprisonment.

Leading up to the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Prisoners’ Legal Services has received reports from Indigenous people that correctional officers have been making racist remarks, including that the reports of unmarked graves identified at the sites of former residential schools are “fake news” and “propaganda” and that Indigenous people should “let it go”.

These remarks were made to people who are experiencing the very real pain and intergenerational trauma of genocide, in an environment where every aspect of their lives is controlled by the state.

“There is hypocrisy in creating a national holiday in the spirit of truth and reconciliation with Indigenous people while Canada actively engages in the mass-incarceration of Indigenous people. We can’t have truth until Canada acknowledges these ongoing atrocities, and we can’t have reconciliation until we stop denying Indigenous nations and communities the ability to heal,” said Jennifer Metcalfe, executive director of Prisoners’ Legal Services.

Media contact:

Jennifer Metcalfe
604-636-0470
jmetcalfe@pls-bc.ca

 

NEWS RELEASE: Two-Spirit prisoner files human rights complaint over violence and harassment in federal prisons designated for men

BURNABY, BC – August 19, 2021 – Today, Prisoners’ Legal Services (“PLS”) filed a complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Commission on behalf of Nick Dinardo, a 29-year-old Two-Spirit and transfeminine member of the Piapot First Nation, against Correctional Service Canada (“CSC”).

Since coming out to CSC last year, Nick has been repeatedly transferred between institutions designated for men, where they have experienced violence and harassment from both officers and other prisoners and have frequently been isolated in Structured Intervention Units (which replaced administrative segregation).

Nick has been repeatedly subject to physical force by correctional officers, and in May 2021 officers broke Nick’s arm. Officers have discussed Nick’s gender identity openly, putting Nick’s safety at risk. Both prisoners and staff have called them transphobic slurs.

Nick has often declined opportunities to come out of their cell because they fear officers will use violence against them again. Nick has not showered in approximately two months as a result. Nick has also been subject to indignities including having male officers watch them use the toilet and repeated searches by male officers, in violation of CSC policy.

These experiences are extremely traumatic for Nick, who has a history of trauma and abuse and whose family survived residential schools.

“CSC has written that it is seeking specialists in gender identity disorder for me, but my gender and culture are not a mental disorder”, Nick says. Nick’s complaint argues that not being able to live freely and safely as a Two Spirit person is a consequence of colonization and genocide against Indigenous peoples.

Nick’s requests to transfer to an institution designated for women, where they would be safer and more able to express their gender, have been denied. In making its decisions, CSC has not considered the risks to Nick’s safety and wellbeing nor their experiences of victimization in institutions designated for men.

“Nick should not have to live with a constant threat of violence hanging over their head from the people charged with their care and custody, and in conditions that regularly undermine their dignity,” said Jennifer Metcalfe, Executive Director of Prisoners’ Legal Services.

In July 2020, Nick filed a human rights complaint against CSC for failing to address their mental health needs and for responding to their emotional distress, including acts of self-harm, with violence and isolation, including officers in riot gear, pepper spray, restraints and bare isolation cells, which serve only to exacerbate their suffering. This complaint is ongoing.

Media contacts:

Jennifer Metcalfe
jmetcalfe@pls-bc.ca
604-636-0470

Nicole Kief
nkief@pls-bc.ca
604-636-0470

News Release: Report exposes Canada’s use of widespread isolation in its prisons

Burnaby BC

Today, the West Coast Prison Justice Society and Prisoners’ Legal Services (PLS) released Solitary by Another Name: The ongoing use of isolation in Canada’s federal prisons.

The report identifies ways that the Correctional Service Canada (CSC) continues to routinely keep prisoners in solitary confinement, or solitary-like conditions of isolation, sometimes for months on end, despite Canada’s claims to have eliminated the use of segregation.

The report focusses on prisoners’ experiences at Kent Institution, where prisoners are subjected to extensive isolation. Kent Institution frequently uses “lockdowns,” where prisoners on certain units or in the entire prison are confined to their cells all day, often only getting out for a 15-minute shower and phone call, sometimes for weeks at a time. The reasons for lockdowns are often for administrative reasons, rather than for true emergencies.

Kent Institution has also implemented a restrictive movement routine, which kept prisoners who had not secured institutional jobs or spots in programs or school, locked in their cells for all but three hours per weekday. During the pandemic, the routine has been modified to allow prisoners out for an additional hour on weekdays, which is not a significant improvement especially when other services are restricted.

One anonymous Kent prisoner describes this isolation: “I feel completely messed up spiritually and mentally. I spend my time just thinking about what I will do when I get out of my cell. And then I get so agitated that by the time I leave my cell, I get extremely irritated when people talk to me. When we get out of our cells, everybody is on edge, like me, and I feel like I have to watch my back.”

The report also describes prisoners’ experiences at Mission Medium Institution, which was locked down for more than two continuous months when prisoners tested positive for COVID-19. All Mission prisoners were held in total isolation for the first eight days, and were held in extremely restrictive conditions of solitary confinement for the rest of the lockdown, including for weeks after there were no active cases of COVID-19.

November 30, 2020 marks the one-year anniversary of the implementation of Structured Intervention Units (SIUs), which were introduced to replace CSC’s unconstitutional segregation regime. Solitary by Another Name describes many prisoners’ experiences in the SIU at Kent Institution over the past year as involving the same isolation and lack of meaningful human contact that they experienced in segregation. The report details obstructionism by Kent which denies prisoners the right to counsel in SIU reviews.

Often people with untreated mental health needs that are exacerbated in the prison environment end up in maximum-security and SIUs. Indigenous people, who may have been impacted by multi-generational trauma and are often further traumatized by the colonial prison system, are also overrepresented in maximum security and SIUs.

Solitary by Another Name recommends legislative limits on the use of isolation, with more investment in independent healing professionals. It recommends prisoners with serious mental illnesses be transferred to community-based hospitals where they can receive mental health care in a therapeutic environment. The report further calls on Canada to significantly increase funding for Indigenous-run healing lodges.

“With no significant investment in alternatives to SIU, such as Indigenous-run healing lodges or units that would actually provide a therapeutic environment for people with mental health disabilities, CSC will continue to keep vulnerable prisoners in conditions of isolation.” – Jennifer Metcalfe, Executive Director, Prisoners’ Legal Services

Prisoner accounts in the report make it clear that CSC will not be able to reduce its reliance on isolation unless its toxic staff culture changes. PLS calls for an external review of staff culture at all levels within CSC to develop a plan to change the culture of corrections that would respect the dignity and human rights of prisoners.

“It is well acknowledged that isolation causes serious harm to mental health, yet CSC continues to subject prisoners to this draconian practice.” – Jennifer Metcalfe, Executive Director, Prisoners’ Legal Services

The full report is available here. 

Media contact:

Jennifer Metcalfe, Executive Director, Prisoners’ Legal Services

604-636-0470
jmetcalfe@pls-bc.ca