Summer Catch-Up – Kingston Pen
Who knew this was inside the walls? I didn’t. All those times I walked by, I had no idea.
It was the hot ticket this summer – a ticket to tour the legendary Kingston Penitentiary. Our tour guide joked they were right up there with Hip tickets, except Pen Tour tickets were more affordable.
True, cheaper, but with a “Today’s Tours Sold Out” sign propped perpetually in front of the big doors on King Street, not much easier to get.
I saw a tweet early in the spring and bought tickets immediately, so we were sorted.
It was hot the day we went. In an unusual twist, Kingston was hotter than Ottawa – this almost never happens due to the city being perched on the edge of massive Lake Ontario, but this day it was blazing.
We walked from the ferry dock to the Pen, which GMaps told me was a 3.75K stroll. My seventy-year-old in-laws told me that was just fine with them, and we made the executive decision it was no problem for our two healthy kids, but it was a HOT walk.
Fortunately most of the way is along a path right on the edge of the lake, and we did fortify ourselves with Tim Horton’s snacks which we ate halfway there, but we were all more than a bit sweaty when we arrived. Fortunately those stone walls are thick so, despite no air-conditioning (see here for a discussion about whether AC should be a human right – especially for prisoners), we began to cool down once inside.
The tour was … interesting.
I know many people have had their socks knocked off by it. Maybe that depends on your guide, and your mood when you go, and your thoughts on incarceration.
I thought it was worthwhile, I was glad to see what was inside, it was suitable for the whole family (our twelve-year-old to the aforementioned septuagenarians), but I probably wouldn’t go back unless I was taking another visitor to see it.
It is worth seeing once, though, especially if, like me, you’ve ever lived in Kingston. I had no idea how little security there was there until quite relatively recently. For part of my time in Kingston, there were apparently no motion sensors, or razor wire along the big wall. They just figured it was a forty-foot wall so, good enough – who would try to climb it?
Well … um … these were some of the most desperate, ruthless, and – yes – creative, people in Canada. Of course, somebody did try to climb the wall and then they beefed up the security a bit.
Some of the things that hit me:
The architecture / stone work – in many spots, this place is beautiful.
There were lots of gasps when we walked into the workshop area – those ceilings!
The dichotomy of this very grim place occupying prime Lake Ontario real estate can’t be ignored. That’s the lake down at the end of this lane.
And a closer shot of the lake – sailboats on one side, the most dangerous convicts in Canada on the other …
There’s the big watchtower outside …
And the interior “bird cage” watch post, installed after a riot tore through the prison.
This is how you communicate when you don’t have email – real-life “mailboxes”
And these I found very interesting – these are the homes available for conjugal visits. Each one is a complete house with two or three bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, etc. as well as a fenced yard where, according to our guide, children of the prisoners could be seen playing outside when they came to visit.
As you can see, I did find quite a lot of this tour interesting, but I’m left with the feeling that it just scratches the surface. Things about Kingston Pen seem surprisingly humane – the area in the grounds where there was a sweat lodge and a native garden – but, then again, that’s only because SO many prisoners (far too many) were / are Native Canadians.
The school seems progressive, and the former teacher who spoke to us was lovely and clearly dedicated, but it’s sad that so many prisoners need to earn their high school diploma in prison.
The former guards (and they were the best part of the tour) spoke of many prisoners with respect, and even affection. I don’t doubt both were present, but I also think there were many other, darker, emotions / events that we’re not going to hear about on these tours.
And then, just at the peak of being very hot, and sweaty, and grimy, a reporter from the local news channel requested somebody who had been on the tour to give an interview. Five fingers (thanks, family!) pointed my way, and here I am being prepped for the interview. I was so hot I hardly knew what I was saying and, no, I didn’t know this picture was being taken (thanks, husband!).
Yup, I had to thread the mic under my shirt on a forty-degree day. And, the poor reporter had to take it back after the interview!
My main hope, as I told the reporter during my interview, is that the Pen will now be used for something positive. It’s a stunning location, and much of the property is also beautiful. There’s been talk of making it a distillery district. There’s been talk of making it into a sailing school, perfectly located beside Portsmouth Olympic Harbour. I’m good with anything that opens the facility to the public, showcases the lake, and – hopefully – provides some connection to downtown Kingston which, after all, as I discovered on the hottest day of the summer, is only a short walk away.
