Mrs. Moodie's visit to Kingston Penitentiary
It is about three years ago that I paid a visit with my husband to the Penitentiary, and went over every part of it. I must own that I felt a greater curiosity to see the convicts than the prison which contained them, and my wishes were completely gratified, as my husband was detained for several hours on business, and I had a long interval of leisure to examine the workshops, where the convicts were employed at their different trades, their sleeping cells, chapel, and places of punishment. The silence system is maintained here, no conversation being allowed between the prisoners. I was surprised at the neatness, cleanliness, order, and regularity of all the arrangements in the vast building, and still more astonished that forty or fifty strong active looking men, unfettered, with the free use of their limbs, could be controlled by one person, who sat on a tall chair as overseer of each ward. In several instances, particularly in the tailoring and shoemaking department, the overseers were small delicate-looking men; but such is the force of habit, and the want of moral courage which generally accompanies guilt, that a word or a look from these men was sufficient to keep them at work.
The dress of the male convicts was warm and comfortable, though certainly not very elegant, consisting (for it was late in the fall) of a thick woollen jacket, one side of it being brown, the other yellow, with trowsers to correspond, a shirt of coarse factory cotton, but very clean, and good stout shoes, and warm knitted woollen socks. The letters P.P. for "Provincial Penitentiary," are sewed in coloured cloth upon the dark side of the jacket. Their hair is cut very short to the head, and they wear a cloth cap of the same colours that compose their dress.
The dress of the male convicts was warm and comfortable, though certainly not very elegant, consisting (for it was late in the fall) of a thick woollen jacket, one side of it being brown, the other yellow, with trowsers to correspond, a shirt of coarse factory cotton, but very clean, and good stout shoes, and warm knitted woollen socks. The letters P.P. for "Provincial Penitentiary," are sewed in coloured cloth upon the dark side of the jacket. Their hair is cut very short to the head, and they wear a cloth cap of the same colours that compose their dress.
Gallery in Bedlam depicted mid-century
The cells are narrow, just wide enough to contain a small bed, a stool, and a wash-bowl, and the prisoners are divided from each other by thick stone walls. They are locked in every night at six o'clock, and their cell is so constructed, that one of the keepers can always look in upon the convict without his being aware of the scrutiny. The bedding was scrupulously clean, and I saw a plain Bible in each cell.
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Mr. M---y told me that they had some men in the Penitentiary who had returned three different times to it, and had grown so attached to their prison that they preferred being there, well clothed and well fed, to gaining a precarious living elsewhere.
Executions in Canada are so rare, even for murder, that many atrocious criminals are found within these walls--men and women--who could not possibly have escaped the gallows in England.
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Mr. M---y told me that they had some men in the Penitentiary who had returned three different times to it, and had grown so attached to their prison that they preferred being there, well clothed and well fed, to gaining a precarious living elsewhere.
Executions in Canada are so rare, even for murder, that many atrocious criminals are found within these walls--men and women--who could not possibly have escaped the gallows in England.
Offence
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Punishment
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As with convicted men, the women laboured silently during the day, their tasks centred on stitching and mending clothing and bedding. For prison infractions, the same punishments were imposed on women as men – floggings, bread-and-water rations and solitary confinement. And possibly “the hole.”
Although Marks was one of the first women at Kingston Penitentiary and one of the few diagnosed, she was among a growing number of inmates classed as lunatic. Several women were sent to the institution in the mid-1800s and judged insane.
"Murderess or pawn?" By Susanna McLeod - Kingston Whig-Standard July 3, 2012
Although Marks was one of the first women at Kingston Penitentiary and one of the few diagnosed, she was among a growing number of inmates classed as lunatic. Several women were sent to the institution in the mid-1800s and judged insane.
"Murderess or pawn?" By Susanna McLeod - Kingston Whig-Standard July 3, 2012
In the prisons of Grace's time, prisoners of all kinds, from murders to thieves to drunks, of all ages, would have been kept together in horribly crowded conditions. One reformer of asylums, who suffering from bipolar disorder spent time in an asylum himself, spent 21 consecutive nights strapped in a straight jacket.
Images from Mental Institutions Before Reform
Grace Marks would have been in both mental institutions and jails before the reform that became a hallmark of the end of the century. Dorothea Dix, a popular reformer, reported on conditions in mental institutions saying patients were "confined in this Commonwealth in case, closets, cellars, stalls, pens! Chained, beaten with rods, lashed into obedience."
As seen in the images above, patients were often violently restrained in order to restore them to their reason. Additionally, patients were often prescribed purgatives, leading to diarrhea and vomiting. They were given shockingly cold baths.
Psychology was still in its early stages at this time. There were still some still believed insanity was a result of some kind of moral failing. This led to a belief that the insane could be influenced by their social and physical environments, an early reasoning for reform.
As seen in the images above, patients were often violently restrained in order to restore them to their reason. Additionally, patients were often prescribed purgatives, leading to diarrhea and vomiting. They were given shockingly cold baths.
Psychology was still in its early stages at this time. There were still some still believed insanity was a result of some kind of moral failing. This led to a belief that the insane could be influenced by their social and physical environments, an early reasoning for reform.