CHANGING IDEALS: REFORMATION AND PUNISHMENT

Third in a series about the Old Don Jail

By Elizabeth Abbott

 

                                                                 View from Necropolis

            Construction of the new jail was dogged by one crisis after another. The decision taken to begin by building the central block and two wings. The site of the new Don Jail was also chosen, city land across the Don River from the Necropolis, which would “afford the greatest advantages to the city in point of access and economy.”[1]

            Construction began and with it, one crisis after another. The Police Board was demanding, meeting on the work site and issuing unauthorized orders on the spot; unfortunately, Thomas obediently followed them. In addition, the project was bogged down in delays caused by his alcohol-clouded, incompetent project supervisor, Thomas Young, and by fraudulent work. Costs skyrocketed and tempers flared. Thomas was reprimanded and Young was fired; later, City Council appointed Thomas’ architect son, William Tutin Thomas, to replace Young.

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        This new arrangement did not immediately reinvigorate the project. Instead, the Provincial Prison Inspectors, a newly appointed body, pored over Thomas’ plans and evaluated them according to their agenda of cleansing the filth of Upper Canadian jails where, they reported, “We do not punish, or we punish improperly. We do not deter from crime, and we do not reform the criminal.”[2] The Inspectors concluded that there were several ways to reform Upper Canada’s unspeakable jails. These included: classification of prisoners so that recidivists and the very bad could separated from the merely venal; good security to prevent escapes; proper sanitation and decent food, clothing and living conditions; chaplains to provide religious instruction; and the instillation of discipline and order. In light of these priorities, the Inspectors rejected Thomas’ plans for the Don Jail and scrapped the Eastern model for the very different Auburn one, sending Thomas back to the drawing board.

Next issue: Father Time Watches Over the Physical Plant


[1] McArthur and Szamosi, p. 119.

[2] Cited by Peter Oliver, Terror to Evil Doers, p. 338.

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