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The Pen Goes to War // Le pénitencier participe à la guerre

In time for Remembrance Day, a look at the ‘unknown front’ of World War 2: the home front. How did Canadian penitentiaries contribute to the war effort? In 1943, journalists and photographers visited three Canadian penitentiaries to answer this question. Read here: https://www.canada.ca/…/2023/11-10-pen-goes-to-war.html This story was published in Let’s Talk by the Correctional Service of Canada and written and researched by the Museum’s Cameron Willis.

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À temps pour le jour du Souvenir, regard sur le « front inconnu » de la Seconde Guerre mondiale : le front intérieur. Comment les pénitenciers canadiens ont-ils contribué à l’effort de guerre ? En 1943, des journalistes et des photographes visitèrent trois pénitenciers canadiens pour répondre à cette question. Lire ici : https://www.canada.ca/…/11-10-penitencier-participe-a…

Cette histoire a été publiée dans Parlons par le Service correctionnel du Canada et écrite et étudiée par Cameron Willis du Musée.

Closed for the Season // Fermé pour la saison

Canada’s Penitentiary Museum is now closed for the 2023 season.

We would like to thank the over 30,000 people who visited the Museum this year – on the 150th anniversary of Cedarhedge. Thank you to our staff and volunteers who did so much to make our visitors’ experience memorable. See you in 2024!

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Le Musée pénitentiaire du Canada est maintenant fermé pour la saison 2023.

Nous tenons à remercier les plus de 30 000 personnes qui ont visité le Musée cette année – à l’occasion du 150e anniversaire de Cedarhedge. Merci à notre personnel et à nos bénévoles qui ont tant fait pour rendre l’expérience de nos visiteurs mémorable. Rendez-vous en 2024 !

Museum Closes November 3

This is the last week Canada’s Penitentiary Museum is open for the season! We’re still celebrating #cedarhedge150, so please come visit before November 3!

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C’est la dernière semaine que le Musée pénitentiaire du Canada est ouvert pour la saison ! Nous célébrons toujours #cedarhedge150, alors venez nous rendre visite avant le 3 novembre !

Annual General Meeting, November 12, 2023

NOTICE
Friends of the Penitentiary Museum
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Sunday November 12th 2023 at
Canada’s Penitentiary Museum
555 King Street West, Kingston, Ontario

2:00 p.m. Reception & Light Refreshments
bottled water & individually-wrapped snacks

2:30 p.m. Annual General Meeting called to order
Agenda to include election of Board Members

Nominations & Voting by Friends‘ Members in Good Standing only

2023 Memberships & Renewals available at the meeting

Members of the Public welcome to attend!

For additional information contact info@penitentiarymuseum.ca

Happy Birthday, Cedarhedge!

For #cedarhedge150, a reflection by the Museum’s curator, Dave St. Onge:

It was one hundred and fifty years ago today that Warden John Creighton moved into the recently completed Warden’s residence, along with his young family and his elderly father. This marked the commencement of 150 years of experience in what came to be known as “Cedarhedge”. The long hedges that gave it its name may be long gone, but the old place goes on.

This impressive limestone structure came complete with all of luxuries of the day. It had Greenhouse and Conservatory wings and a stable building attached. The grounds were filled with orchards, garden paths and green space for recreation. All this in stark contrast to the meagre accommodations across the street at the penitentiary.

For sixty years this building served as a home to a string of Wardens. Sixty years of birthdays and Christmases. Sixty years of happiness and sadness, pleasure and grief have been experienced within its walls. For another sixty, it served primarily as an administration building, housing the various offices that prisons require to operate. During the tail end of those years, our little museum moved into a portion of the building. Those were interesting times, as the daily goings on at the Warden’s office across the hall served as a “living exhibit” of sorts.

For 38 years now, this old place has been our home. Well over 640,000 people have crossed its threshold during that time. Our hope is that they have left with a better appreciation of what Corrections is all about. We hope, at the very least, that they have taken away new knowledge about the Correctional history of Kingston and of Canada.

As we pause and reflect upon all the people that this building has touched since 1873, from the inmates and tradesmen who built it, to the officials who lived and worked in it, to the vacationing families who have satisfied their curiosity by passing through its doors, we must admire its strength. Certainly, it’s not what it once was, but it is still going strong. One wonders if the masons and carpenters who toiled over its construction back in 1873 ever imagined that it would still be standing, and appreciated, 150 years on.

So today, let’s wish old Cedarhedge a Happy Birthday and wish it 150 more.

Art by Nicole Mulder. Edited by Lauren St. Onge.

INTRODUCING MUGSHOTS: THE HISTORY OF PENITENTIARY PHOTO IDENTIFICATION

The Museum is proud to highlight this article published in the Correctional Service of Canada’s ‘Let’s Talk Express.’ Written by Curator Dave St. Onge and researcher Cameron Willis, it’s a succinct history about the introduction of prisoner photographic identification – or mugshots – in Canadian federal prisons. It took a few years of research but it is exciting to see something published on such an interesting topic!

“Did you know that the standard procedure of taking mugshots in correctional institutions started in 1910?

Although this type of prisoner photo identification has been around since the 1840s, CSC has no such records prior to the early 20th century. Why is this the case? When did federal penitentiaries begin photographing offenders in Canada?

We’re going back to basics by bringing to light the story of how mugshots became part of CSC’s standard practice.”

Read the story and immerse yourself in CSC’S history: https://www.lte-ene.ca/…/introducing-mugshots-history…