Prison for Women

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

The Prison For Women ("P4W"), located in Kingston, Ontario, 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.[1]

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.[2]

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.[3] The transformation of the property included the demolition of three of the four stone security walls.[4]

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.[5] 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".[6]

Directors

References

  1. http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/pblct/brochurep4w/4-eng.shtml The Closing of the Prison for Women in Kingston. July 6, 2000
  2. http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/pblct/brochurep4w/1-eng.shtml The Closing of the Prison for Women in Kingston. July 6, 2000
  3. "Library and Archives Master Plan - Executive Summary" (PDF). 25 September 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  4. http://qnc.queensu.ca/story_loader.php?id=46e6d127cf889 Queen's Acquires former Prison for Women Site (Press Release)
  5. 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.
  6. Women's Prison Riot Report, by Sharon Doyle Driedger and Patricia Chisholm, from Maclean's Magazine, April 15, 1996, reproduced by The Canadian Encyclopedia at http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=M1ARTM0010644.
  7. http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/pblct/brochurep4w/17-eng.shtml List of Prison for Women Directors

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

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, February 26, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.