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Penitentiary City - Municipal Facilities
Municipal, County and Military Facilities
Kingston was, of course, accustomed to suffering from crime, trying and convicting criminals and maintaining a place for their incarceration. There were cells in the basement of the Kingston City Hall, built in 1844.
The Midland District Courthouse and Gaol (demolished) was located on King Street East at the corner of Clarence Street on the site now occupied by the Canada Customs House and Boucher Park. Built of stone in 1824, this facility continued to operate through to 1855, when the site was needed for a new Customs House. A new courthouse, gaol (demolished) and gaoler's house (the Frontenac County Courthouse) were built in 1855-1858 in separate stone buildings at a different site on Court Street facing City Park.
James Buckingham described Kingston in his book of 1843, Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the Other British Provinces:
It was here that a number of the rebels captured at the Battle of the Windmill during the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1838 were held and, in eleven cases, executed. As was the custom, their corpses were interred in the gaol yard.
Many small communities did not have the funds to erect such large and handsome courthouses and gaols as Kingston and Brockville possessed and had to make do with small lock-ups, perhaps containing only one or two cells for a few debtors or criminals in the area. An existing building might be adapted or a new town hall constructed with cells in the basement rather than going to the expense of constructing a purpose-built prison. The Portsmouth Village Town Hall of 1865 (the village is now part of the City of Kingston) had two cells for local miscreants.
Military facilities usually included cells for refractory soldiers or enemy prisoners. Today, visitors can view the prison area at Fort Henry, across the Great Cataraqui River from downtown Kingston. The fort was used to house prisoners as recently and the Second World War.
