Prison for Women (Kingston, Ontario)

Last updated
Prison for Women
P4w-kingston-demolition-march-2008.JPG
Demolition of the stone security wall on March 10, 2008
Prison for Women (Kingston, Ontario)
Location Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Coordinates 44°13′21″N76°30′48″W / 44.2225°N 76.5133°W / 44.2225; -76.5133
StatusClosed
Security classMaximum
Opened1934
Closed2000
Managed by Correctional Service of Canada
Notable prisoners
Karla Homolka

The Prison For Women ("P4W"; French : Prison des femmes [1] ), located in Kingston, Ontario, was a Correctional Service of Canada prison for women that functioned at a maximum security level from 1934 to 2000.

Contents

Background

The first female inmates arrived on January 24, 1934. Before this date, maximum security female offenders were housed in the Female Department of the maximum security Kingston Penitentiary located across the street. [2]

Beginning in 1995, female inmates were gradually transferred to other federal correctional institutions. On May 8, 2000, the last female inmate was transferred away from the P4W. [3]

In January 2008, Queen's University took ownership of the former site of the Prison for Women. The property is 8.1 acres (33,000 m2) in size. The university archives were originally slated to be housed there once renovations were completed, but this is no longer the case. [4] The transformation of the property included the demolition of three of the four stone security walls. [5]

The institution, and several women who were incarcerated there, were profiled in Janis Cole and Holly Dale's 1981 documentary film P4W: Prison for Women . [6]

Controversy

The Prison for Women was closed following a number of controversial incidents. LSD was administered to inmates at the prison as part of tests that are today considered to be ethically dubious. [7] As well, a riot at the prison in 1994 resulted in Justice Louise Arbour, then of the Ontario Court of Appeal heading up what became known as the Commission of Inquiry into Certain Events at the Prison for Women in Kingston which found that the treatment of prisoners at the facility had been "cruel, inhumane and degrading". [8] Routinely overclassified in their security category, [9] [10] Indigenous inmates constituted a considerable proportion of the inmate population and reported particularly violent treatment by prison staff. [11]

Directors

Notable prisoners

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingston Penitentiary</span> Former Canadian maximum security prison

Kingston Penitentiary is a former maximum security prison located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, between King Street West and Lake Ontario.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Correctional Service of Canada</span> Canadian federal agency that administers prisons

The Correctional Service of Canada, also known as Correctional Service Canada or Corrections Canada, is the Canadian federal government agency responsible for the incarceration and rehabilitation of convicted criminal offenders sentenced to two years or more. The agency has its headquarters in Ottawa, Ontario.

Saskatchewan Penitentiary is a Medium Security Facility with Maximum Security areas. It is located on a walled 20-acre parcel of land in the Rural Municipality of Prince Albert No. 461, one kilometre west of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada. It opened in 1911 built on the site of a former residential school run by the Anglican Church of Canada.

Millhaven Institution is a maximum security prison located in Bath, Ontario. Approximately 500 inmates are incarcerated at Millhaven.

The Regional Reception Centre is a Canadian federal prison for men located with Archambault Institution at the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) complex at Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines, Quebec, a short distance from Mirabel International Airport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cummins Unit</span> Unincorporated community in Arkansas, United States

The Cummins Unit is an Arkansas Department of Corrections prison in unincorporated Lincoln County, Arkansas, United States, in the Arkansas Delta region. It is located along U.S. Route 65, near Grady, Gould, and Varner, 28 miles (45 km) south of Pine Bluff, and 60 miles (97 km) southeast of Little Rock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Massachusetts Correctional Institution – Concord</span> Prison in Concord, Massachusetts

The Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Concord (MCI-Concord) is a medium security prison for men located in Concord, Massachusetts in the United States. Opened in 1878, it is the oldest running state prison for men in Massachusetts. This prison is under the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Department of Correction. There are 570 inmates with a total capacity of 614 general population beds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ohio Reformatory for Women</span>

The Ohio Reformatory for Women (ORW) is a state prison for women owned and operated by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction in Marysville, Ohio. It opened in September 1916, when 34 female inmates were transferred from the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus. ORW is a multi-security, state facility. As of July 2019, 2,394 female inmates were living at the prison ranging from minimum-security inmates all the way up to one inmate on death row. It was the fifth prison in the United States, in modern times, to open a nursery for imprisoned mothers and their babies located within the institution. The Achieving Baby Care Success (ABC) program was the first in the state to keep infants with their mothers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taycheedah Correctional Institution</span> Prison in Wisconsin, USA

Taycheedah Correctional Institution is a prison in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin near the Town of Taycheedah. Established in 1921, it was known as Wisconsin Home for Women until 1975. The facility houses maximum-security and medium-security adult females, with an average population of 936 as of May 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stony Mountain Institution</span>

Grand Valley Institution for Women is a women's prison in Kitchener, Ontario, operated by the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC).

Ferndale Institution is the former name of the minimum-security federal correctional annex of Mission Institution, now referred as Mission Minimum Institution. Is located in Mission, British Columbia, in the central Fraser Valley, about 80 kilometres east of Vancouver. Ferndale opened in 1973 and can house up to 166 inmates, who live in residential-style units on a federal reserve shared with Mission Institution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women</span>

North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women (NCCIW) is the primary North Carolina Department of Public Safety prison facility housing female inmates on a 30-acre (12 ha) campus in Raleigh, North Carolina, and serves as a support facility for the six other women's prisons throughout the state. The facility's inmate population, which is the largest in the state, consists of inmates from all custody levels and control statuses including death row, maximum security, close custody, medium security, minimum security, and safekeepers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mimico Correctional Centre</span>

The Mimico Correctional Centre was a provincial medium-security correctional facility for adult male inmates serving a sentence of 2-years-less-a-day or less in Ontario, Canada. Its history can be traced back to 1887. The Mimico Correctional Centre is one of several facilities operated by the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services and was located at 130 Horner Avenue in the district of Etobicoke which is now a part of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The facility was closed in 2011 and demolished to make room for the new Toronto South Detention Centre which opened in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Collins Bay Institution</span> Canadian correctional facility

Collins Bay Institution is a multilevel correctional facility in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, and falls under the supervision of Correctional Services of Canada. The facility was opened in 1930, and is now the oldest operational federal penitentiary in Ontario. The main prison is medium security, with a minimum security facility residing on the same property. A 96-bed maximum security unit is also operational.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Incarceration in Canada</span> Overview of incarceration in Canada

Incarceration in Canada is one of the main forms of punishment, rehabilitation, or both, for the commission of an indictable offense and other offenses.

Joliette Institution for Women is a prison for women in Joliette, Quebec, northeast of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is operated by the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) and has a capacity of 132 prisoners.

Janis Cole is a Canadian filmmaker, producer, writer, editor and professor. She has directed several films over the span of her career. Most of these films were done in cooperation with her friend and professional partner, Holly Dale. Her most notable films include Cream Soda (1976) and Prison For Women (1981).

Prisoners' Justice Day is a solidarity movement that takes place annually on August 10. The movement began in Canada in 1974 in support of prisoners’ rights and to remember all the people who have died of unnatural deaths while incarcerated. The first Prisoners' Justice Day was held at the Millhaven Institution on August 10, 1975, on the first anniversary of Edward Nalon's death. In addition to a day of mourning, six prisoners took part in an eighteen-day hunger strike. In 1976, August 10 was recognized as a memorial day where prisoners would strike in opposition to the use of solitary confinement and to protest inmate conditions within the Prison System by going on a one-day hunger strike and refusing to work.

The Commission of Inquiry into Certain Events at the Prison for Women in Kingston was a Canadian inquiry headed by Justice Louise Arbour concerned with prisoners' rights and the treatment of federally-incarcerated women. The Commission's final report was released in 1996, and was dubbed the Arbour Report.

References

  1. "Projet de vérification de la dotation mixte 2. Contexte." Correctional Service of Canada. October 8, 1999. Retrieved on August 6, 2016. See English page
  2. "The Closing of the Prison for Women in Kingston", page 4. Brochure produced by Correctional Servides Canada, July 6, 2000
  3. "The Closing of the Prison for Women in Kingston", page 1. Brochure produced by Correctional Service Canada. July 6, 2000
  4. "Library and Archives Master Plan – Executive Summary" (PDF). 25 September 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  5. http://qnc.queensu.ca/story_loader.php?id=46e6d127cf889 Queen's Acquires former Prison for Women Site (Press Release)
  6. "Prison for Women captures the sorrow". The Globe and Mail , September 10, 1981.
  7. Kathleen Cranley Glass, "Questions and Challenges in the Governance of Research Involving Humans: A Canadian Perspective" in Trudo Lemmens & Duff R. Waring, ed., Law and Ethics in Biomedical Research: Regulation, Conflict of Interest and Liability (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006) 35 at 36–37.
  8. Women's Prison Riot Report, by Sharon Doyle Driedger and Patricia Chisholm, from Maclean's Magazine, April 15, 1996, reproduced by The Canadian Encyclopedia.
  9. Monture-Angus, P. (2000) Aboriginal Women and Correctional Practice: Reflections on the Task Force on Federally Sentenced Women. IN: Hannah-Moffat, K. and Shaw, M. (eds.) (2000) An Ideal Prison? Critical Essays on Women’s Imprisonment in Canada. Pp 52–60.
  10. Faith, K. (1995). Aboriginal women's healing lodge: Challenge to penal correctionalism? The Journal of Human Justice. Vol. 6 (2). Pp 79–104.
  11. Sugar, F. and Fox, L. (1989). Nistum Peyako Seht'wawin Iskwewak: Breaking chains. Canadian Journal of Women and the Law. Vol 3 (2). Pp 465–482.
  12. http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/pblct/brochurep4w/17-eng.shtml List of Prison for Women Directors
  13. "Key events in the Bernardo/Homolka case." CBC News. June 17, 2010. Retrieved on August 6, 2016.