Sep 9 2023 - More Prison News

 

Here's another "who would have guessed this headline?" Yesterday's escaped murderer holding out in Longwood Gardens is still at large, and the Mushroom Festival - Kennet Square is known for its Portobello Mushroom crop, is set to begin.  There are 400 officers in the search team along with multiple helicopters. Because I searched for the escaped prisoner topic, this promo popped up yesterday.   It is for Kingston Penitentiary.  This seems to me to be  surreal - here's the promo: Pumpkinferno at Kingston Pen "Canada’s oldest penitentiary and popular historical site is about to glow in the dark this Halloween season. How, you may ask? Pumpkinferno is taking over Kingston Pen for the first time ever and showcasing the most elaborate, creative, and spook-tacular glowing pumpkin creations. Here’s what to know. Pumpkinferno at Kingston Pen after dark is new for the site and is sure to round up eager attendees for what’s to be an exciting fall event. You’ll surely find yourself mesmerized “as the historic site is transformed into an enchanted wonderland of glowing pumpkins,” according to Kingston Pen Tours. Guests of all ages are welcome to explore the Jack-O-Lantern exhibit and take pictures of the sculptures." Having been on a tour of the Kingston Pen, it remains a haunting experience for me.  I can't imagine it transforming into frolic fun after-dark.   Here's a picture from our tour a few years ago. There's a wall that I can't imagine being scaled in a crab walk.  But who knows?   We didn't get to Durango or Santa Fe on our Denver trip.   I found this image from the last visit in 2017 - the beautiful white aspen trunks cascade down the mountainside and reflect in the lake below.

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Going to Prison

Prison is unknown to the significant proportion of the population.  There are just over 40,000 adult offenders in prisoning  Canada.  That is 139 per 100,000 population. Would that be 1.39 percent?  Still, 40,000 people in prison is a town's worth. We are very curious about prisons even though we aren't likely to ever experience one.  But we did get to experience one vicariously this week. We visited friends in Kingston and had the tourist experience of the Kingston Penitentiary "Museum" (no longer a prison).   This was a tour of the historic architecture and the internal organization and logistics of a prison facility.  It has a long history - constructed in 1833-34.  It closed in 2013. So this explains how we got to tour through it.  Wikipedia's entry is the basic structure of the tour - when it was constructed, what the buildings' purposes were and all the facilities in them, what riots were there, famous escapes, and notable inmates.  We got the abbreviated notable inmates - no living persons (the privacy act protects them), and gruesome murderers were omitted. It was fascinating - yet it seemed like we were intruding on ghosts of the past.  Here are a few pictures of the limestone buildings, and a cell block. Here's the wikipedia entry HERE.

What is a Castle for?

When we think of castles, we mostly think of Europe - France, Germany, and England where palaces, fortresses and monasteries were 'fortified'  to keep out invaders and intruders over hundreds and thousands of years. Kingston's best known castle is the Bodlt Castle.  It is in the 1000 Islands. I snapped this castle as we drove by it.  It is the Collins Bay Penitentiary and is nicknamed 'Disneyland North'.  It seems an unusual architecture for a penitentiary.  We typically think of Banff Springs, the Supreme Court and Chateau Frontenac for this chateau style - such prestigious places to visit and stay.  Here's the prison's wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collins_Bay_Institution