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Brutality CanadaPolice Brutality O Canada |
Adrian Humphreys
National Post
The Kingston Whig-Standard
Robert "Rosie" Rowbotham sits in his cell at Frontenac Institution, a minimum-security prison in Kingston, in April, 1997. Rowbotham, who became a CBC radio producer after completing his prison term, could now be sent to Kingston Penitentiary.
A national CBC radio personality is fighting for release from jail before an assault charge sends him to the same maximum-security prison he has been exposing in a series of broadcasts about prison corruption.
The situation stems from the unusual background of Robert "Rosie" Rowbotham, a producer for CBC national radio news and former contributing editor to the network's flagship program, who is on parole for the large-scale trafficking of marijuana in a complicated case that began during the 1970s.
Rowbotham became a counterculture darling in the late 1960s after arriving in Toronto from his native Belleville, Ontario with curly hair flowing past his shoulders and a reliable supply of high-quality marijuana that he sold to fellow hippies with such a sunny smile he soon earned his nickname.
He took up with an eclectic group of hippies at Rochdale College, a free art school inside an 18-storey high-rise in downtown Toronto. The school attracted international attention for its unusual approach to education -- erasing academic barriers and emphasizing freedom of expression, diverse cultural experience and liberal lifestyles.
Rowbotham, like the school, developed a reputation for drugs as well as intellectual debate.
Some of the famous friends he made in his halcyon days of mixing art, leisure and soft-drug use testified on his behalf during lengthy court battles after his marijuana selling, which was steadily increasing in volume, attracted police attention.
Norman Mailer, a famed Pulitzer prize-winning U.S. author, praised Mr. Rowbotham to the court in 1977, comparing him to the swashbuckling film star Errol Flynn. In an unconventional court argument, he said putting Rowbotham in prison would be "bad for the cosmos."
Neil Young, the Canadian rock star, testified in Rowbotham's defence after another charge in 1985.
Rowbotham himself railed against the court in a speech that did nothing to suggest to the judge he was remorseful for his involvement in what he called the soft drugs of marijuana and hashish.
After several trials, arrests and legal twists, Rowbotham was sentenced in 1985 to 20 years in prison, at the time the harshest penalty handed out in Canada for a marijuana conviction.
At his two court appearances this week to deal with his current, unrelated charges, other well-known faces and familiar voices were in court to offer Rowbotham support.
Michael Enright, host of CBC Radio's The Sunday Edition and former host of This Morning, the network's flagship morning show, sat in court for an afternoon, waiting to see Rowbotham's case addressed. Ira Basen, the producer who created This Morning and was its executive producer until leaving last year to work on a special CBC project, was also present.
Others in court included Susanne Reber, executive producer with CBC Radio News; Karin Wells, a justice reporter who has probed the Canadian court system in an acclaimed radio series; Greg Kelly, a producer with This Morning; Maureen Brosnahan, a senior reporter with CBC Radio; and Paul Wilson, a former CBC producer who is now a senior editor at Saturday Night magazine, which is part of the National Post.
And conjuring up the past, Neil Young's brother, Rob Young, a friend of Rowbotham, was in court all day yesterday, waiting for the case to be heard.
"I'm here as a friend," Mr. Enright said. "We're all just here as friends and colleagues, to show the flag. It's what you do for a friend."
Whispers of "There's Rosie" floated through the crowded courtroom on Wednesday when Rowbotham, 50, was brought from his detention cell into the courtroom, handcuffed to two other prisoners. Rowbotham was stoic, nodding gently in acknowledgement of his supporters.
His career with CBC began shortly after his parole in 1997 for his marijuana conviction. He was interviewed on air about his life behind bars by Mr. Enright on This Morning.
It was an interesting chat. Rowbotham had earned his high school certificate, a college diploma and a university degree while in prison, had become a managing director of Prison Life, a U.S.-based magazine dealing with prisoners' issues, and hosted a prisoner-run cable television show. He also swore off drugs.
Producers at This Morning were impressed and Rowbotham was hired to contribute to the eclectic morning show. His impact was immediate.
Adding a rough dynamic uncommon on the national broadcaster, Rowbotham tackled crime and justice issues and used his unusual perspective to bring listeners stories as diverse as a profile about two prisoners recording hip hop songs and music videos to the issue of injection drug use and the spread of the HIV virus behind bars.
Rowbotham is 10 months away from the expiry of his parole for his marijuana conviction, which would cut him free from Corrections Canada for the first time in 20 years.
Last month, however, he was charged with assault, threatening death and assault causing bodily harm in an incident that has not been addressed in court; the court has banned publication of details of the case.
Rowbotham was granted bail on the new charges. The marijuana conviction, however, immediately came back to haunt him. As a parolee, the charges constitute a violation of his parole order and Rowbotham was kept in custody.
What is worrisome to some of his friends, however, is the reaction of prison officials to Rowbotham because of an investigative project he broadcast in June about prison guards at Kingston Penitentiary.
The broadcast called the prison an "out-of-control drug-dealing centre run by gangs of prisoners and a number of corrupt staff."
Those who violate parole conditions are usually sent to Kingston Penitentiary to serve the remainders of their sentences.
Privately, many of Rowbotham's friends fear he could be in danger, given the sensitive nature of his reporting.
The court is having difficulty arranging for a speedy hearing on the charges, leaving Rowbotham sleeping on a mattress in a crowded cell when he should be continuing his work on the radio, said Moishe Reiter, Rowbotham's lawyer. In court, Mr. Reiter has been pushing hard for a prompt hearing.
"I have serious misgivings about what may await him in any aspect of the treatment he is receiving," Mr. Reiter said outside of court. "I have serious misgivings about the basis upon which he is presently being held."
"His career that he has established since his release ... is a devastated ruin," he said in court. "My life may not depend on this, but this man's life very well may."
Rowbotham may end up serving the remainder of his parole in jail while waiting to find out whether he should be there, Mr. Reiter told Justice Antonio Dizio. Mr. Reiter compared it to a man being promised a fair trial immediately after his hanging.
Margo MacKinnon, assistant Crown attorney, acknowledged there are extenuating circumstances in the case, but added: "There are thousands of people in this courthouse whose lives are being disrupted."
Ms. MacKinnon said time was needed to properly prepare for the case and the courts are heavily booked.
Judge Dizio ordered a hearing for Oct. 11 but agreed to petition the senior regional justice for the Toronto region for a change of venue if an earlier trial could be arranged.
"I'm trying to satisfy everyone, but probably I'm not," he said.
Reprinted under the Fair Use doctrine of international copyright law.
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This page created July 18, 2001
