The two Kingston prison farms at Joyceville and Collins Bay might be opened by next March.
Before that being decided, long series of protests were needed, but the protestors celebrated their win on Monday evening: the cows and the prison farms are coming back home.
Collins Bay Institution’s big shadow hosted over 100 people who showed up on Monday night to make a toast to the dedication that brought them back what the desired.
On Monday at Collins Bay Institution Jeff Peters of the “Save Our Prison Farms” group showed up as well:
“If you want to fight and if you can keep up the fight and if you have a group of committed, tenacious … followers, you can win, and democracy will prevail if you can last long enough.”
Why were they protesting?
The prison farm program was reinstated by the federal liberal earlier this year, and these prisons will be called home by goats and dairy cows.
In 2009 the initiative was shuttered by the former Harper government and the outcry from the public starting burning. This is when “Save Our Prison Farms” was created.
A former inmate, Shaun Shannon, was both a protestor to bring the cows back and part of the program when he served his sentence at the Collins Bay. The turn-out from Monday totally impressed him.
“It’s amazing. These are regular people (who) have jobs and work hard all day long, and they believe that this program works,” Shannon said. “If it weren’t for these people, this program would not be getting back.”
The protestors are very proud of what they have achieved and cannot wait for the cows to be back. The people that showed up on Monday could also see a few offspring from the previous prison herd and interact with them.
As our second lead editor, Anna C. Mackinno provides guidance on the stories Great Lakes Ledger reporters cover. She has been instrumental in making sure the content on the site is clear and accurate for our readers. If you see a particularly clever title, you can likely thank Anna. Anna received a BA and and MA from Fordham University.