The Prison For Women located in Kingston

Kingston, Ontario

Kingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in Eastern Ontario where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. Originally a First Nations settlement called "Katarowki," , growing European exploration in the 17th Century made it an important trading post...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, functioned at a maximum security level from 1934 to 2000.

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

Kingston Penitentiary

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

 located across the street.

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.

In January 2008, Queen's University

Queen's University

Queen's University, , is a public research university located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Founded on 16 October 1841, the university pre-dates the founding of Canada by 26 years. Queen's holds more more than of land throughout Ontario as well as Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex, England...

 took ownership of the former site of the Prison for Women. The property is 8.1 acres (32,779.6 m²) in size. The university archives will be housed there once renovations are completed. The transformation of the property includes the demolition of three of the four stone security walls.

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. As well, a riot at the prison in 1994 resulted in Justice Louise Arbour

Louise Arbour

Louise Arbour, is the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, a former justice of the Supreme Court of Canada and the Court of Appeal for Ontario and a former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda...

, then of the Ontario Court of Appeal

Ontario Court of Appeal

The Court of Appeal for Ontario is headquartered in downtown Toronto, in historic Osgoode Hall....

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".

Directors

• 1934-1944 Ms. Edith A. Robinson Supervising Matron
• 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