The Communicator
Periodical profile published 1981

Year Published:  1981
Pages:  56pp   Resource Type:  Serial Publication (Periodical)
Cx Number:  CX2380

The Communicator is a magazine published by prisoners in the maximum security penitentiary in Springhill, Nova Scotia.

Abstract: 
The Communicator is a magazine published by prisoners in the maximum security penitentiary in Springhill, Nova Scotia. It presents their viewpoint on current issues related to incarceration and includes articles of fiction, poetry and a sports section.

The editorial page, in this issue, describes the controversy surrounding the federal government's program for conjugal visits to prisoners in maximum security prisons. The program will permit husbands and wives, family members and legally sanctioned common-law partners to visit prisoners continuously for a two-day period, every four months.

The editorial argues that the program is privilege-based in that the prisoners' behaviour determines eligibility and will initially apply only to maximum security institutions. The editorial writer describes the "ambient spite" which permeates the prison system and relates it to the lobby (against the program) by the guards' union and the Union of Solicitor General Employees, against the program. He describes as "red herrings" the guards' complaints about the program; the guards argue that it is difficult to ensure that drugs and weapons do not accompany visitors inside the walls. He deplores, most of all, the attitude of some prisoners who object to the program because it does not include everyone.

Among several other articles is one describing a protest called "Real Opportunities for Prisoners' Employment" (R.O.P.E.). This program provides a service for ex-prisoners who seek employment or training in marine industries and fishing.


One year outside (6 issues) $6.00