Revealing the true face of street prostitution: "john school"
"John school" is an adult court diversion program for eligible first-time offenders charged with communication in a public place for the purpose of prostitution. Participants are selected after consultation with police, the Crown prosecutor's office and the courts. Those who are not eligible for john school must face the charge in court.
By Terry Jorden
One Saturday morning about 20 men gathered in the lobby of an Edmonton office building, waiting for the doors to open so they could begin their day. They didn’t talk or look at each other. Most looked like they just wanted to disappear.
The men ranged in age from their late teens to well past 70. They came from all walks of life but the one thing they had in common was they were all caught by the Edmonton Police Service’s (EPS) vice unit trying to buy sex from an undercover policewoman.
Each offender paid $500 to attend john school, or as it is officially called, the Prostitution Offender Program. This is the latest of more than 50 similar sessions held since 1996.
They listened to Crown prosecutors, police, health care professionals and survivors of prostitution who talked about the deeper impact prostitution has on them, their families and neighbourhoods. They were also told how prostitution accelerates the spread of diseases and how it is linked to various other crimes.
Crown prosecutor Marissa Anderson told the men that by choosing to commit this crime they have also chosen, consciously or not, to become part of a special group that includes pedophiles, drug dealers, rapists and even murderers.
She told them about all the things that could and have happened when they try to buy sex on the street.
“How often do you stop and let a complete stranger into your car?” she asked. “Has it occurred to you that most of these prostitutes are intoxicated by alcohol or drugs, or both? Crack cocaine and crystal meth are often the drugs of choice. They work to support their addiction and they get high to do the work. It’s a cycle. Many prostitutes could be carrying weapons. They may steal something from you or they could leave something behind in your car, perhaps even evidence of another serious crime. Worse yet, they could die of an overdose in your car.”
EPS vice unit detectives Jack Kraus and Jim Morrissey have seen it all. They tell the story of a man who picked up a girl, took her back to a hotel where some men showed up, tied him to a chair and beat him until he gave them his bank card’s PIN. The man died from head injuries before he was thrown in a bush. Police found his body two years later.
In other instances, johns have been robbed, their cars have been stolen or damaged by frustrated neighbours tired of the noise and garbage street prostitution creates.
They say these things happen all the time and – not surprisingly – are rarely reported.
“Nothing happens in isolation,” Det. Morrissey said several times during the day. “There is a lot more going on in this business than sex for money.”
Kevin Quail, of the Maintenance Enforcement Program with Alberta Justice, told the men that being caught buying sex could result in devastated families, expensive divorces and on-going maintenance payments.
Failure to keep up with these payments can result in property liens, direct paycheque deductions, the liquidation of assets like houses or vehicles, difficulty obtaining or renewing driver’s licences or hunting and fishing licences, pilot’s licences or passports. You could even lose lottery winnings. And if that isn’t bad enough, your picture could be featured on the Help Us Find website used to locate missing debtors who owe money.
Quail, a former EPS vice unit member, said he wanted these guys to understand how their behaviour was putting others at risk.
“It is very difficult to be talking to someone on the phone who is crying because he is not allowed to see his children again,” said Quail.
Two registered nurses from Capital Health talked about HIV/AIDS and hepatitis and showed colour pictures of male genitals covered in gonorrhea, syphilis, crabs, lice and scabies.
Another woman who lives in a neighbourhood used for street prostitution told the men how she used to go outside her house to pick up the needles and used condoms before children walked by on their way to school.
“The next time you are out cruising and are tempted to stop for one of the sex trade workers, stop for a moment and think to yourself. ‘What am I doing here? What am I doing to myself? She wouldn’t be here if I and all the other guys like me weren’t here.’ She’s somebody’s daughter, mother, sister or friend. Please, please do everyone – including yourself – a big favour and just cruise right on by.”
Another speaker was a woman who worked as a street prostitute for 18 years before leaving the street seven years ago. She held back her tears and anger as she spoke to the men.
She told them she was abducted and molested when she was five, became addicted to drugs at 10 and turned her first trick when she was 11.
“Not all of you are bad but the acts that you have chosen – by picking up a prostitute – can be harmful and you don’t even know it,” she said.
“Any woman who takes money in exchange for sex has got something unhealthy going on in their lives and by you participating in that exchange does not make you a better person,” she said. “Something in your life is unhealthy. Try to fix it before you hurt someone you love. Don’t fool yourself, you are part of the prostitution problem.”
Kate Quinn, the executive director of the Prostitution Awareness and Action Foundation of Edmonton (PAAFE) that operates the program, said only one per cent of men completing this program have been caught re-offending.
At the end of the day each man talked about what they had learned.
“I know that we all have our own crosses to bear,” said one man. “I know I now have to dig deep within myself to change this behaviour.”
