The Prison For Women ("P4W"; french: Prison des femmes), located in Kingston,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, was a

Correctional Service of Canada The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC; french: Service correctionnel du Canada), also known as Correctional Service Canada or Corrections Canada, is the Canadian federal government agency responsible for the incarceration and rehabilitation of ...

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 Kingston Penitentiary (known locally as KP and Kingston Pen) is a former maximum security prison located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, between King Street West and Lake Ontario. History Constructed from 1833 to 1834, and opened on June 1, 1 ...

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 took ownership of the former site of the Prison for Women. The property is in size. The university archives were originally slated to be housed there once renovations were completed, but this is no longer the case. The transformation of the property included the demolition of three of the four stone security walls. The institution, and several women who were incarcerated there, were profiled in

Janis Cole Janis Cole (born 1954) 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. ...

and

Holly Dale Holly Dale (born December 23, 1953) is a Canadian filmmaker and television director. Over the course of her career, Dale has worked in the Canadian film and television industry as a director, producer, writer, and editor. Although she has comp ...

's 1981 documentary film '' P4W: Prison for Women''."Prison for Women captures the sorrow". ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', September 10, 1981.

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, then of the

Ontario Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal for Ontario (frequently referred to as the Ontario Court of Appeal or ONCA) is the appellate court for the province of Ontario, Canada. The seat of the court is Osgoode Hall in downtown Toronto, also the seat of the Law Socie ...

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".Women's Prison Riot Report
by Sharon Doyle Driedger and Patricia Chisholm, from Maclean's Magazine, April 15, 1996, reproduced by The Canadian Encyclopedia. Routinely overclassified in their security category, Indigenous inmates constituted a considerable proportion of the inmate population and reported particularly violent treatment by prison staff.

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

Notable prisoners

Karla Homolka Karla Leanne Homolka (born May 4, 1970), also known as Karla Leanne Teale, Leanne Teale, and Leanne Bordelais, is a Canadian serial killer who acted as an accomplice to her husband, Paul Bernardo, taking active part in the actual rapes and murde ...

– Transferred to Joliette Institution after P4W closed.Key events in the Bernardo/Homolka case
"

CBC News CBC News is a division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.ca ...

. June 17, 2010. Retrieved on August 6, 2016. * Ann Hansen – Canadian anarchist and former member of

Squamish Five The Squamish Five (sometimes referred to as the Vancouver Five) were a group of self-styled " urban guerrillas" active in Canada during the early 1980s. Their chosen name was Direct Action. The five were Ann Hansen, Brent Taylor, Juliet Carolin ...

References

{{Authority control Correctional Service of Canada institutions Defunct prisons in Ontario Buildings and structures in Kingston, Ontario 1934 establishments in Ontario Women's prisons in Canada 2000 disestablishments in Ontario Women in Ontario