This year marked 15 years of new years eve noise demos at the Barton Jail in Hamilton. A group of around 50 people marched around the jail, setting off fireworks, throwing paint bombs and shouting our new years greetings to our neighbours who are locked up. The Barton Jail is a horrific place where every day people experience degradation, dehumanization, and neglect at the hands of COs, administration, and a society that would prefer to forget about them. From denial of medical care, overcrowding, freezing cold cells, to the bleak isolation imposed by the prison system, this dark season feels like an especially important time to let folks know they aren’t forgotten.
This year a trans man died in a segregation cell, while earlier this month an inquest was held into the deaths of six people in the Barton Jail between 2017-2021. As long as people in our community are locked in cages, this cycle will continue.
Direct acts of solidarity do more to restore the dignity and recognize the humanity of prisoners than any inquest or reforms ever will. Let’s keep prisoners in our hearts and actions all year long. Happy new year and onwards to a world without prisons. <A3