Correctional Service of Canada Museum showcases two centuries of Canada’s prisons

January 2022

The historic City of Kingston, Ontario, is known for being the original capital of the United Province of Canada (in 1841) and being the birthplace of Canada’s first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald. Nicknamed the “Limestone City” because of the many heritage buildings constructed using the plentiful limestone mined in the area, it’s also the birthplace of the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC), Canada’s penitentiary service, in 1835.

Kingston Penitentiary, British North America’s first penitentiary, opened on 1 June 1835, as the Provincial Penitentiary for the Province of Upper Canada. Situated on an 8.6 hectare plot of land, on the shore of Lake Ontario, the penitentiary was encircled by large, foreboding limestone walls.

Directly across the street from the penitentiary, a residence for the Warden was built in 1873, named Cedarhedge. John Creighton was the first Warden to inhabit the residence. The grounds of the residence consisted of formal lawns, an orchard, and a badminton or tennis court, as well as terraces stepping down towards King Street.

Every succeeding Warden lived in Cedarhedge until the mid-1930s. The last Warden to inhabit the residence was Lieutenant-Colonel William Blight Megloughlin, but it continued to be used as the Warden’s office, previously located inside the prison. Part of the residence did remain as living quarters until around 1952, but only for engineers tasked with maintaining the prison.

In 1985, the museum took over part of the residence, and a few years later, the entire house became the CSC Museum.

Operated by the “Friends of the Penitentiary Museum,” are a volunteer group that includes some retired correctional officers, the museum features an interesting collection of artifacts from penitentiaries across Canada, relative to all aspects of correctional history in Canada. Featured amongst the collection are confiscated contraband weapons, including a crossbow made of toothbrushes, escape paraphernalia, early punishment and restraint equipment, Inmate hobby crafts, including many striking works of art, and an exhibit about the now-closed Prison for Women, located directly beside the museum.

Visitors can also peek into two mock-ups of the prison cells, one of the original cells at Kingston Penitentiary, which were 29 inches wide by 8 feet deep and 6 feet, 7 inches high, and the other a much more spacious modern cell, used at the time of Kingston Penitentiary’s closure in the fall of 2013.

This popular museum sees around 50,000 visitors each year.

Photos of some of the museum’s exhibits:

Also read:

Sources: Home – Penitentiary Museum, Correctional Service of Canada Museum (csc-scc.gc.ca), Canada’s Penitentiary Museum – Visit Kingston, Canada’s Penitentiary Museum – Take a closer look at Museums, Art Galleries & Historic Sites of Kingston (kingstonmuseumsblog.com), Kingston, Ontario – Wikipedia, Correctional Service of Canada – Wikipedia.