Thursday, March 28, 2019

The Project of a Lifetime.

My Goal
To save all of the Corrections Canada buildings and towers in Kingston, Ontario, past and present.
To create a multifaceted, unique tourism experience in the Limestone City.

Try to convince the Prime Minister of Canada, Members of Parliament, Parks Canada and the Government of Ontario to preserve all of the prison buildings and landscapes.
Create a multimedia centre in the Kingston Penitentiary or the Prison for Women. The Centre will include videos, interactive content, paintings by prisoners; newspaper articles about the Pen by Charles Dickens and Ernest Hemingway: a speech by Canadian writer Margaret Atwood to a Save Our Prison Farms rally; documentaries, etc:
Canadian writer Margaret Atwood at Corrections Canada Headquarters, Kingston.

YouTube videos:
He's 38 years old and never kissed a girl - by the Tragically Hip.
We become our own wolves - with music by Rae Spoon. An animated video featuring works of art by women prisoners at the Isabel MacNeill Halfway House,
Small Minds by Vera Sola - Danielle Aykroyd.
Live at Collins Bay Penitentiary - by the Blue Diamonds.
I've Come to get My Baby Out Of Jail - The Rattlesnake Choir/Handsome Ned,
Music from The Big House - Rita Chiarelli.

Songs and Music Albums
Audible Songs from Rockwood - by Simone Schmidt.
Time off for Good Behavior - by Neil Young,
"My brother went to Kingston
He's in Kingston doin' time
He got seven years for sellin'
What I've been smokin all my life."

Documentaries:
P4W
The Netflix presentation "Alias Grace" by Margaret Atwood.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Items that can be sold in the Penitentiary Museum:
Limestone necklaces and earrings. (Own a piece of the rock).
Replicas of the denim dresses that P4W inmates wore during the 1960's.
Key chains that resemble licence plates. (Prisoners used to manufacture licence plates for the Ontario government,)
Mug shots of tourists.
Record albums by the Tragically Hip, Rita Chiarelli, Rae Spoon, Simone Schmidt.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I will contact:
The Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport - The Hon. Sylvia Jones, MPP.
The Official Website of Tourism in Ontario.
Tourism Kingston, located in Innovation Park, 209 Ontario Street.
The Haunted Walk of Kingston.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Architecture
On a plaque in front of each building, document the fact that Kingston Penitentiary inmates were responsible for the construction of all of  the buildings; that limestone was used; give the dates of the construction and the names of the architects.
Return Canada's Maple Leaf Flag and Coat of Arms to the Kingston Pen, Rockwood Asylum, Prison for Women, Stone Gables, Isabel MacNeill Halfway House, etc.

Do not let the new owner of the Prison for Women remove any bars from the windows or cells, knock down any interior walls, or the demolish the remaining perimeter wall. YouTube has a video showing the 3 walls and many buildings being demolished, Google "P4W walls coming down."
Replace the bell in the Prison for Women bell tower.
Install telescopes in each of the Kingston Pen guard towers.

Sell books by local architectural historian Dr. Jennifer McKendry:
Historic Portsmouth Village, Kingston (1995).
With Our Past Before Us: 19th Century Architecture in the Kingston Area (1995)
Portsmouth Village, Kingston: An illustrated history. (2010)
Get copies of a presentation given by Dr. Jennifer McKendry before the Frontenac Heritage Foundation, called "The Importance of Kingston Penitentiary".
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Street names where the buildings are located:
Sir John A. Macdonald Boulevard
Mowat Avenue
King Street
Union Street
Stone Gables
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Places of Worship located within the Kingston Pen.
Church of the Good Thief - a nearby Catholic Church built by inmates using limestone.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All of the land surrounding the Kingston Penitentiary and Rockwood Asylum will remain public:

Rockwood Asylum was built by Kingston Pen inmates to house federal prisoners, before the property was sold to the Province of Ontario. From: A City Of Kingston report, June 20, 2018---"The subject lands are part of a recognized "cultural heritage landscape" within Section 7.3.D.5 of the City of Kingston Official Plan." Real estate developers would like to commercialize the 100-acre Provincial Lands that surround the Asylum.


See the Corrections Canada Internet article "Kingston Penitentiary Harbourfront Property-CSC-SCC-"The remediated area will no longer be leased for boat slips or long-term boat storage, so the refreshed space will be open for the public to enjoy!"










Wednesday, March 20, 2019

More historical buildings and landscapes in the Village of Portsmouth.

1.) Penitentiary Water Tower - 61 West Campus Lane, Kingston. In 1969 the Government of Canada transferred prison farm land and an old limestone quarry to Queen's University.

2.) Penitentiary Farm House - 61 West Campus Lane - 1850-1900. The farm house is the oldest Kingston Pen building surviving outside of the prison walls.
3.)  The Penitentiary Stone Quarry - 181 Mowat Avenue is three minutes away from "The Big House". A baseball diamond and a park now inhabit the site where Kingston Pen inmates worked for years, excavating limestone. A plaque was recently unveiled in Garrigan Park, see the YouTube video "Project Book Canada: Unveiling of 'The Convict Loverplaque' .In the video Hugh Christopher Brown sings "The Prisoner's Song" and author Merilyn Simonds reads from her book "The Convict Lover"---a book that is based on correspondence between a penitentiary inmate and a Village of Portsmouth woman during the year 1919.
The Penitentiary Stone Quarry - 181 Mowat Avenue.

4.)  Tunnels - a tunnel connected "The Big House" to the nearby Rockwood Asylum. Rockwood was built to accommodate inmates who could not tolerate living in the prison. A tunnel also connected the penitentiary to the Prison for Women. Actress Sarah Gadon took a photograph of the tunnel during the filming of "Alias Grace", a novel by Margaret Atwood.
A scene from the television program "Alias Grace". Grace is being escorted to the "Governor's House", 555 King Street West. The building is a Corrections Canada museum, open to the public. Photo is from: The kingstonherald.com.

The tunnel connecting Kingston Penitentiary to P4W  across the street. Photo by actress Sarah Gadon, from the kingstonherald.com.





Wednesday, March 13, 2019

The following buildings can be saved by the United Nations.

A United Nations agency called UNESCO has the power intervene when heritage buildings and landscapes are threatened by war, development pressures and the adaption of existing buildings that would threaten their authenticity. The following properties are located in the city of Kingston, Ontario Canada:
The Kingston Penitentiary - 560 King Street West.

Corrections Canada - 443 Union Street.

The Penitentiary Museum - 555 King Street West.
The former Prison for Women - 40 Sir John A. Macdonald Boulevard.
The Isabel MacNeill Halfway House - 325 King Street West.

The Church of the Good Thief - 743 King Street West.

The Rockwood Asylum - 8 Gable Lane
Ontario Regional Headquarters, 440 King Street West.
Former Portsmouth Community Correctional Centre - 508 Portsmouth Avenue









Saturday, March 9, 2019

Monday, March 4, 2019