The Springhill Institution (french: Établissement de Springhill) is a Canadian
federal corrections facility located in the town of
Springhill,
Nova Scotia.
History
It was opened on 15 October 1967 on the southwestern edge of the former
coal mining
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
town on the northern edge of the
Cobequid Mountains; occupying 167 hectares of land on a plateau overlooking the area, it is described as the largest "fenced" correctional facility in Canada.
[correctional Service Canada]
Institutional Profiles: Springhill Institution
Accessed June 15, 2014
Springhill was selected as the site for the medium security prison for Atlantic Canada during the early 1960s, partly as an economic diversification strategy following the closure of the town's largest employer, a coal mine that was permanently shut in 1958 following the
Springhill Mining Disaster.
Until the opening of the maximum security
in central New Brunswick in 1987, Springhill provided all medium security correctional services for the region; after 1987, part of
Dorchester Penitentiary was downgraded to handle medium security prisoners as well.
Springhill Institution is also the location of the Regional Reception Centre (RRC) which handles the intake of all offenders directly from the court system.
References
External links
Springhill Institution
Correctional Service of Canada institutions
Buildings and structures in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia
Prisons in Nova Scotia
1967 establishments in Nova Scotia
{{Prison-stub