In the News
December 30, 2013
Below is an excerpt from the Kingston Whig-Standard article, September: Closure end of an era, which was printed on December 28, 2013, as part of their Year in Review series.
After 178 years of operation, the iconic and notorious Kingston Penitentiary was shut down for good.
In that time, the maximum-security prison overlooking Portsmouth Village and Lake Ontario held many of Canada’s most notorious criminals.
KP opened in 1835 with 55 inmates – 52 men and three women – living in cells just 27 inches wide and six and a half feet long.
In April 1971, the prison was the scene of a protracted riot that saw guards terrorized and taken as hostages, and two convicts murdered.
KP provided a positive story for Kingston in September.
The hottest tickets in town were for guided tours just after its closing.
When the second batch of 2,400 tickets went up for sale on a Wednesday morning, they were snatched up in just half an hour.
The sales were part of a fundraiser for United Way Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington, and ended up netting the organization more than $171,000.
The previous block of 7,000 tickets for the 90-minute tours went on sale on a Friday afternoon and were completely sold by Sunday afternoon, even though they had not been advertised and were only offered online.
The tour sales contributed to the United Way’s record-breaking $3.45-million campaign for 2013.
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