Monday, April 23, 2012

The Pen


Please join me in being baffled by the federal government's announcement of the closure of maximum security Kingston Penitentiary. Haven't we been told that despite a falling crime rate the feds will spend billions on building new prisons? Granted, KP is one of the oldest prisons in the country --177 years old -- and parts of it feel downright medieval. It has been the place where many of the truly bad guys have been housed including Clifford Olsen and Paul Bernardo.

Believe it or not I feel some pangs of nostalgia over this closure. When I was doing my seminary training I spent four months in a chaplaincy internship at Kingston Pen and it was one of the most challenging and instructive periods of my life. It certainly shaped my faith and opened my eyes to the grim realities of the criminal justice system. Just about all those guys deserved to be in prison and some admitted to me that while they had been wrongfully convicted for one crime, they were involved in criminal acts at the time which would have resulted in greater sentences!

For more than 30 years I have been aware of the issues around conviction and incarceration. I saw firsthand that the poor and First Nations people are more likely to go to jail because they don't have the money to hire decent lawyers. I was aware of the desparation of many inmates who weren't notorious criminals and who must hide their fears from those around them. Institutions such as these need chaplains.


Farewell KP. Any observations?

3 comments:

IanD said...

I went in as a volunteer in '98 to visit with inmates while at Queen's. It was, for sure, one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life.

K.P. is still a shaping force on Kingston. It's one of the top employers in the area, and it draws the families of many inmates into Kingston to live as they wait for their loved ones to complete sentences. Physically, it's original premises are as iconic to the area as Queen's campus, RMC and the Hotel Dieu hospital.

For anyone who's interested, I'd recommend a book I read 6-7 years ago called "Canada's Big House" by Peter Henessey. It covers the life of the Pen from founding to (more of less) present day. I'm not a big fan of social history, but as far as that idiom goes, it makes for interesting reading.

IanD said...

PS - Love the new get-up on the blog, David. Renos look great!

Anonymous said...

I'll make note of that book title Ian. It may help me in my family history research. (Sorry mom, but that particular ancestor just grabs my curiousity, you can't imgane how weird it was to visit the museum and find his poetry in the prision magazine) I have found a few ancestors in town histories, so you never know.

I also like the renos David. Pretty classy.