2017 Trent Three Minute Thesis: Cory Baldwin
3 minutes, 14 seconds in length
Kingston Penitentiary Inside Out
Carmen Yntema – Student, History MA:
Shot in his cell during a riot at Kingston Penitentiary, a prisoner named Price was leftwithout food or medical attention for 22 hours.It would be an additional day before administration authorized the removal of the bullet put inhis shoulder by an unknown guard.This moment is violent, uncomfortable, and a problem for our ideas about prison in Canada.That’s because our ideas are a lot like these images.See, the top one is a postcard of Kingston Penitentiary, it looks nice, right?That institution is a culmination of all our best intentions in action to rehabilitatecriminals.We might know that its a little bit rosey but it still sums up most of how we feel aboutprison in Canada: Its a safe place, that can help people.So how does it become the troubled institution below?Well in 1954 the prisoners lit it on fire for the 2nd time.Images of the smoke hovering above the walls would be published across the country.The Toronto Star ran the headline “Penitentiary is smouldering ruin, blame hundred hard psychos”.These are the two stories of Kingston Penitentiary.From the postcard to the flames prisoners themselves crank up the volume on the storyof a penitentiary where human rights are in peril and rehabilitation is a far off dream.They counter and attack that postcard prison image.This is what I study.Looking at what happens at the prison and what is said about it, I find Canadians havea bit of a riddle.We support prison because we need to punish wrong doers. That's easy to agree to.It's why we like the top image, because that reassures us we’re sending prisoners somewhereto serve their rehabilitation needs just as much as our sense of safety. But when prisonerssignal that things are going very wrong inside the prison, that instead of rehabilitationtheir lives are shaped by violence, we question our judgement.We felt a need to punish but cannot support the punishment.A shocking mistake is a lesson learned though, right?As a historian this is my favourite day dream.But studying the past and living in the present, I am startled by the similarities.We are still caught between a postcard image and prison on fire.In fact in February Amnesty International condemned Canada for our continued abuse ofsolitary confinement.That’s why my research matters.You might find me in the archives, but make no mistake, our work in a dark past is about our hope for the future.