Prison for Women

Demolition of the stone security wall of the Prison for Women, March 10, 2008, Kingston, Ontario

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.

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]

Directors

  • 1934–1944 Ms. Edith A. Robinson Supervising Matron[9]
  • 1944–1950 Miss Amelia May Gibson Supervising Matron
  • 1950–1960 Miss Lorraine L. Burke Supervising Matron
  • 1960–1966 Miss Isabel J. McNeill Superintendent
  • 1966–1970 Mr. Donald Clarke Warden
  • 1970–1972 Mr. C.A.M. Edwards Warden
  • 1972–1980 Mr. Doug Chinnery Warden
  • 1980–1987 Mr. George Caron Warden
  • 1987–1994 Ms. Mary Cassidy Warden
  • 1994–2000 Ms. Thérèse LeBlanc Warden

Notable prisoners

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. ↑ http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/pblct/brochurep4w/17-eng.shtml List of Prison for Women Directors
  10. ↑ "Key events in the Bernardo/Homolka case." CBC News. June 17, 2010. Retrieved on August 6, 2016.

Coordinates: 44°13′21″N 76°30′48″W / 44.2225°N 76.5133°W / 44.2225; -76.5133

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