‘Terror to Evil-Doers’: Prisons and Punishments in Nineteenth-Century Ontario by Peter Oliver (review)

396 letters in canada 1999 There is a detailed and informative piece by John R. Wunder on the legal status and rights of Indians who live in the area claimed by the United States but there is no comparable analysis of conditions in what is now Canada. The predicaments and strategies adopted by native peoples and the policies and attitudes of Canadian and American authorities are full of possibilities for fruitful comparison, but they are missed here. Such is the natural consequence of having a book stitched together from a series of separate lectures, but for readers coming to the region from the outside looking for insights on big issues there is some sense of disappointment. This is even more so because there are no chapters on pre-contact Native peoples and their cultures. Perhaps the most successful, certainly the most ambitious, chapter in the book is the piece by Ken Coates of the University of New Brunswick which seeks to relate the history of this region to the course of world history since the 1890s. This chapter makes a compelling case for regional history B and for titling this book `terra pacifica.' Paradoxically the emergence of the new field of world history has possibilities for revitalizing regional histories as scholars seek connections and patterns that link regions in different parts of the world B gold rushes in the Klondike and in New Zealand, Chinese and Japanese immigrations to British Columbia and Washington are but two examples. In placing regional history on this world canvas, Coates opens up pleasing possibilities as he and some of the other authors break out of the parochialism that often confines regional studies. (GORDON T. STEWART) Peter Oliver. `Terror to Evil-Doers': Prisons and Punishments in Nineteenth-Century Ontario University of Toronto Press for the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History 1998. xviii, 576. $75.00, $45.00 This work brings to Canadian history the first detailed, professional study of Ontario's prison system. The author's research findings and ideas will be useful to a generation of scholars who have yet to examine in depth the history of prisons and punishment across the country. The book is organized into three sections. Part 1 covers the colonial origins, including early punishments, gaols, and the origins of Kingston Penitentiary. Part 2 takes the reader into Kingston Penitentiary during its first quarter-century from 1834 to the 1850s. Part 3 examines alternative sanctions and reform initiatives, focusing on county gaols and intermediate prisons B Central Prison for Men (Toronto, 1874) and Mercer Reformatory for Women (Toronto, 1880). A short introduction and conclusion set and close the stage. The success of this work is in its use of primary sources to make an incisive examination of institutional governance, the carceral politics of the state, and conflict between central and local authority. The humanities 397 historiography is sound, especially with regard to Canadian and American scholarship, both within and outside of Ontario. But some of the pathbreaking work in Europe by authors such as Michel Foucault, David Garland, and Victor Gatrell was not used where it could have contributed to the author's conclusions. The critical turning point in imprisonment was the 1830s, when the transformation of the justice system was made by a small elite group within the halls of government with virtually no opposition. Influenced by the work of the assize judges and JPs, they brought the triumph of incarceration as the sole form of punishment. This group, who also introduced asylums and poor-houses, had a monopoly of decision-making because most citizens had little interest in crime or institutions of punishment. Kingston Penitentiary, which opened in June 1835, was a success for most contemporaries because it served as an instrument of punishment and an image of deterrence. Supported by almost all those in authority, the work of reformers came to nought and the institution was largely unchanged to 1914. As Oliver concludes, `there was even regression.' This is attributed to unreflective prison officials and an indifferent general public. The prevailing view was that criminals could not be reformed, and thus prison was `a terror for evil-doers.' While the regime of the Central Prison was...