SOC209H5 Chapter Notes - Chapter 10-11: Penitentiary Act, Prison Overcrowding, Life Skills
Document Summary
Correctional institutions have always been a source of curiosity and controversy because most canadians have never experienced it and only know as much as the media portrays. In pre-confederation canada, imprisonment was not used for the specific purpose of punishing offenders. It was to hold offenders who were awaiting trial. There was extensive use of the death penalty and many other sanctions that were imposed in public and were designed to shame and humiliate the offender. Early 1800s, lower and upper canada established local jails and workhouses. These facilities were plagued by poor management, foul conditions, lack of separation of men, women, and youths, and general chaos. Canada"s first penitentiary was built in 1835 in kingston, ontario based on blueprints provided by officials in new york. It was the united states that the widespread use of imprisonment as a form of punishment emerged. 1900s, the government began passing legislation to improve the conditions in correctional institutions.
