Life in Canada’s Barbaric Jails

Monday, 01 September 2008 00:00

Guantanamo, the notorious U.S. prison for terrorist suspects, would have seemed as comfortable as a summer camp for inmates in the barbaric jails of early 19th century Ontario (then Upper Canada).

At Niagara Falls, a prisoner suffocated to death when the outside temperature in the shade reached 105 Fahrenheit, and even hotter in a tiny, unventilated cell. When a prisoner died in the Brockville jail, a jury ruled that death had been caused by "the visitation of God."

Toronto’s (then York’s) jail seemed the worst. "Of all the countries on earth, we believe there is none in which insolvent debtors are so bararously treated as in Canada," claimed newspaper editor Francis Collins, imprisoned for libelling the attorney general. Debtors were often confined to prison for life, sometimes with their families. William Lyon Mackenzie found cramped, primitive facilities, serious malnutrition and an overpowering stench from inadequate sanitation in York’s jail. One debtor languished in jail even after his debt had been forgiven, because his lawyer had not forgiven his fees. Another debtor was locked up with his wife and five children.