Ruth Morris was one of the world's leading spokespersons for prison abolition and transformative justice. Her activism for peace, racial justice, and antipoverty causes led her into the issues of the penal system. Ruth Morris was an active member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and was the Coordinator of the Canadian Friends' Service Committee in Toronto from 1975-1978. She played an active part in the Quaker Committee on Jails and Justice, which helped Canadian Quakers become the first religious body in the world to endorse prison abolition (by consensus). Ruth Morris was also a founder of the International Conference on Prison Abolition, which continues to this day.Ruth Morris died September 17, 2001 from her second bout of cancer. She named the tumor "Henry.".