ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Dana Brothers has worked with the John Howard Society of Newfoundland since 1994 in a community corrections treatment program. She is trained as a Social Worker and has been working in this field for fifteen years. Before working for John Howard Society, Dana has worked as a teacher and a social activist. During her nine years of working with people who have been in conflict with the law, Dana has run groups with men and women who have convictions of various crimes, but has predominately worked with men who have histories of domestic violence and sexual offences. Dana’s interest in the topic of the link between substance abuse and crime developed from this work and she believes that a better understanding of this link will help lead to better drug policies and improved programs for people who want to stop their criminal behavior. Ms. Brothers can be contacted at: dbrothers@thezone.net

Giselle Dias is the Federal Community Development Coordinator at Prisoners' HIV/AIDS Support Action Network (PASAN). Giselle is an activist and has been working with federal prisoners for the past 10 years. She has been actively involved in the penal abolition movement and helped organize the Ninth International Conference on Penal Abolition. She has spoken at numerous conferences on topics such as Corporate Crime, Penal Abolition, Transformative Justice, HIV/AIDS in Prison, Harm Reduction and Prisoners' Rights. Giselle was recently published in Medical Nightmares: The Human Face of Errors. Ms. Dias can be contacted at: pasan@interlog.com

Barbara Macrae is the Director of Development and Communication for the John Howard Society of Ontario where she devises and directs the fundraising and communication strategies and activities for the Ontario Provincial Office as well as the National Office’s direct mail campaign. Barbara has worked as an editor at Maclean Hunter and as a freelance writer for many years. Her articles and essays have appeared in a wide range Canadian and international publications. Ms. Macrae can be contacted at: bmacrae@johnhoward.on.ca

Lori Mills Lori Mills worked as researcher with the John Howard Society of Alberta from January to October, 2002. She graduated from the University of Alberta with an LL.B. in 2000.

Greg Smith has been living in Vancouver, BC for the past three years. Greg completed his bachelors in British Columbia, where he now works as the resident manager of Guy Richmond Place, a community residential facility in Vancouver. He has enjoyed the opportunity to be involved in the enrichment of people’s lives through his work with the John Howard Society. Over the past three years with the John Howard Society, Greg has been greatly affected by the pursuit of a more compassionate approach to prison reform. He continues to work as an advocate within the Vancouver area. Mr. Smith can be contacted at: grsmi@shaw.ca

Gerald Thomas is the Policy Project Director at the John Howard Society of Canada. He completed his Ph. D. in public policy analysis at Colorado State University in 1998. From 1998 to 2001, he was an assistant professor of political science at Purdue University where he did research and taught in the area of environmental policy. He immigrated to Canada in October 2001 and began work at the John Howard Society in November 2001. Dr. Thomas can be contacted at: gerald.thomas@johnhoward.ca