Kingston Penitentiary closed its doors in September 2013 , ending a legacy of 178 year of famously harsh treatment . “ Canada ’s Alcatraz ” has urge on lots of tale , but there are few pictures of what animation was there . Except that lensman Geoffrey James had a privileged look on the interior .
James ’ photograph of life story inside the prisonare being displayed at a limited exhibition at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre at Queen ’s University , and also uncommitted ina new book called Inside Kingston Penitentiary ( 1835 - 2013 ) .
An article in the Globe and Maildetails the barbarous punishment that prisoners in Kingston were subjected to , including “ including The Box , a casket - shape wooden container that is concur just with an inmate immobilize inside for six to nine hours . guard duty sometimes jab the captive with a stick through the breathing hole . The computed axial tomography - o’-nine - tail end is a rawhide whip used to whip prisoners no more than 36 times , or 50 for outrage an police officer . A surgeon remains nearby to do by the open wounds that most recipient role of the penalization formulate . ”
Also apparently Kingston Penitentiary is famous not just because it housed Canada ’s most infamous killers , but because its convicts built the town of Kingston , when they “ laboured in a massive limestone quarry just north of the magic village of Portsmouth . ”
James tells Slatethat apart from some photos to capture the mayhem after the prison ’s famous 1971 riot , few non - propaganda photographers were ever allowed inside Kingston . “ This is the only record of the lieu as an institution . ”
contain out some of James ’ photos below , and see more in theAgnes Etherington Centre’sgallery .
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