Demolition of the stone security wall on March 10, 2008
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| Location | Kingston, Ontario, Canada |
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| Coordinates | 44°13′21″N 76°30′48″W / 44.2225°N 76.5133°W / 44.2225; -76.5133 |
| Status | Closed |
| Security class | Maximum |
| Opened | 1934 |
| Closed | 2000 |
| Managed by | Correctional Service of Canada |
| Notable prisoners | |
| Karla Homolka | |
The Prison For Women ("P4W"; French: Prison des femmes[1]), located in Kingston, Ontario, was a Correctional Service of Canada prison for women that functioned at a maximum security level from 1934 to 2000.
The first female inmates arrived on January 24, 1934. Before this date, maximum security female offenders were housed in the Female Department of the maximum security Kingston Penitentiary located across the street.[2]
Beginning in 1995, female inmates were gradually transferred to other federal correctional institutions. On May 8, 2000, the last female inmate was transferred away from the P4W.[3]
In January 2008, Queen's University took ownership of the former site of the Prison for Women. The property is 8.1 acres (33,000 m2) in size. The university archives were originally slated to be housed there once renovations were completed, but this is no longer the case.[4] The transformation of the property included the demolition of three of the four stone security walls.[5]
The institution, and several women who were incarcerated there, were profiled in Janis Cole and Holly Dale's 1981 documentary film P4W: Prison for Women.[6]
The Prison for Women was closed following a number of controversial incidents. LSD was administered to inmates at the prison as part of tests that are today considered to be ethically dubious.[7] As well, a riot at the prison in 1994 resulted in Justice Louise Arbour, then of the Ontario Court of Appeal heading up what became known as the Commission of Inquiry into Certain Events at the Prison for Women in Kingston which found that the treatment of prisoners at the facility had been "cruel, inhumane and degrading".[8] Routinely overclassified in their security category,[9][10] Indigenous inmates constituted a considerable proportion of the inmate population and reported particularly violent treatment by prison staff.[11]
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