Prison policy in Canada

As early as the 1830s problems in British North America’s prisons had led to investigations that concluded jails were greatly overcrowded and inadequately regulated. The prison system, which often left inmates in worse psychological and physical shape upon release, drew sharp criticism. There was more and more demand for reform of prison policy, through which inmate rehabilitation must the leading objective. Condemning the so-called Auburn system as unrelentingly punitive in its approach, administrators worked to bring in components of the famous Croftonian system of reformatory prison discipline, whereby convicts could progress to a gradual reintroduction to society by ticket of leave. The Penitentiary Act of 1868 introduced such elements. The system of renting out convict labour was phased out following legislation in 1883, and after 1886 the bulk of prison labour was done for the public account. In 1899 Canada’s first national parole legislation was promulgated.