NCJ Number
92141
Journal
Canadian Journal of Criminology Volume: 25 Issue: 4 Dated: (October 1983) Pages: 433-446
Date Published
1983
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This historical survey of Canadian prison history focuses on the Brown Commission of 1849, the Archambault Commission of 1936, and the Parliamentary Sub-Committee Investigation of 1977, concluding that efforts to check a tyrannical administration often created conditions which fostered anarchy and administrative indecision.
Abstract
All three commissions of inquiry found that prison administration was ineffective because power was concentrated in the warden's office or at headquarters. Upper Canada constructed its first penitentiary in 1832, and by the 1840's its system of management amounted to the tyrannical rule of one man, warden Henry Smith. The system had grown to seven separate institutions by the 1930's, but it also was plagued by the rule of one man, General Ormand, the Superintendent of the Penitentiary Branch in Ottawa. Finally, institutional directors in the 1970's complained that their authority was undermined by regional directors. Each inquiry commission also cited lack of external supervision over penitentiary operations as contributing to administrative breakdown. The Brown Commission rejected suggestions that the warden operate under external direction, but did acknowledge the need for a mechanism to check the warden's authority. The 1936 commission recommended that the superintendent and inspectors who oversaw individual penitentiaries be replaced by a commission responsible directly to the Ministry of Justice and Parliament. The 1977 Sub-Committee did not take away the Commissioner's authority, but recommended several checks on that office's power. All commissions urged that citizens become involved in operations of the prison system, and now Citizen's Advisory Committees are mandatory for each institution. Another source of administrative instability single out by the commissions was deteriorated staff morale caused by unresolved tensions between management and employees. The rise of public sector unionism in the 1970's has placed new checks on management, but problems remain as evidenced in the 1977 commission's criticism of unions for interfering in prison management. Since World War II, bureaucratization of the penal administration has made tyrannical control by a single individual impossible, but it has also produced chaos inside prisons and confusion on Ottawa. A chart and 19 references are supplied.