The Toronto Central Prison, also known as the Central Prison, Central Prison for Men, and more colloquially as The Toronto Jail (the third of four

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

area jails to be given that nickname) was a prison in Toronto,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It was a 336-bed facility located near the intersection of King Street and Strachan Avenue. It opened in 1873, when the area was still well away from any residential development. The prison was intended as an industrial facility and began with the manufacturing of

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

cars for the

Canada Car Company Canadian Car and Foundry (CC&F), also variously known as "Canadian Car & Foundry" or more familiarly as "Can Car", was a manufacturer of buses, railway rolling stock, forestry equipment, and later aircraft for the Canadian market. CC&F history g ...

. Hard work and discipline were considered the best forms of rehabilitation and active industry would raise money for the prison. The prison should have flourished as an example of modern penal facility of its time, but by the 1880s it had a well-deserved reputation for brutality. Its first warden,

William Stratton Prince Captain William Stratton Prince (18 April 1824 – 15 November 1881) was a British Army officer, Chief Constable of Toronto (1859–1873) and the first warden of the Toronto Central Prison (1873-1881). As chief, Prince oversaw the militarizatio ...

, was an

alcoholic Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomina ...

ex-

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

officer who resigned as chief of the

Toronto Police The Toronto Police Service (TPS) is a municipal police force in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the primary agency responsible for providing law enforcement and policing services in Toronto. Established in 1834, it was the first local police ser ...

to take the position. During his tenure he was accused of ordering extreme beatings, denying medical treatment, and supporting clandestine, nighttime burials. Wardens that followed tried to adopt a less disciplinarian approach, but the guards continued to brutalize the inmates. In 1911, Dr. J.T. Gilmour, one of the more reformist wardens, made news in the United States with his new outdoor work program, specifically one that allowed inmates to work without armed guards. Dr. Gilmour's reforms were not enough to overcome the prison's reputation. The Toronto Historical Association sums up the facility's reputation: "Central Prison represents one of the most shameful parts of the city's history, and its severe conditions and brutality are shocking". In 1915, the prison was abandoned as changing attitudes toward crime and punishment led to a revamping of the province’s correctional system and replaced by the Ontario Reformatory in

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Wel ...

. For the next five years, the facility was used as an army base and a processing centre for new immigrants. In 1920, the main prison building was demolished and much of the land sold for use by the railroads. Remaining buildings ended up being used by Hobb's, Dr. Ballard's, and finally by the neighbouring John Inglis and Company Limited factory until 1981. During its operation the prison also had an out-camp with a shale and

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envir ...

on property in

Mimico Mimico is a neighbourhood (and a former municipality) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, being located in the south-west area of Toronto on Lake Ontario. It is in the south-east corner of the former Township (and later, City) of Etobicoke, and was an in ...

. That property and its buildings became part of what is now known as the Mimico Correctional Centre when the prison closed. All that remains today is the Central Prison's

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

on East Liberty Street (added to the main building in 1877) and a wall of the prison's paint shop. The chapel became part of the city’s inventory of heritage properties in 1985. The wall is now part of the east wall of the A. R. Williams Company Liberty Storage Warehouse on Lynn Williams Street. The Williams company purchased the paint shop property after the closure of the prison and demolished the building. The Williams warehouse is itself now a listed heritage property. Image:TorontoCentralPrisonChapelEast.jpg, East side of the Toronto Central Prison Chapel Image:Toronto Central Prison - Salvage Room - 1917.jpg, The prison in use as the Aeroplane Repair Park in 1917 during WWI

References

{{coord, 43.638789, N, 79.414503, W, region:CA-ON_type:landmark, display=title Defunct prisons in Ontario Demolished buildings and structures in Toronto 1873 establishments in Ontario 1915 disestablishments in Ontario Buildings and structures demolished in 1920

See also

References