The Kingston Penitentiary riot of 1971 was a prison riot that took place, leaving 2 inmates dead at Kingston Penitentiary, in Ontario, Canada, between 14 and 18 April 1971.
Background Kingston Penitentiary had been opened on 1 June 1835 and was the oldest prison in Canada. The federal prison was widely considered to be the harshest prison in Canada and in 1971 it held 641 prisoners. A journalist, Ron Tripp, who visited Kingston penitentiary wrote: "As soon you walked in, you had a sense that society had crushed and defeated you. It was a human warehouse of death, decay and horror. Many inmates died of murder and suicide within its walls". Prisoners were not permitted to speak outside of their cells. Solitary confinement was frequently used as a punishment for inmates. At the center of the prison was the dome and in the middle of the dome was a gigantic brass bell that was much hated by the inmates, whose ringing determined everything in a prisoner's life from being woken up at 6:45 am to going to bed at 10:30 pm. Roger Caron, a prisoner at Kingston turned writer wrote about the bell that was rung 100 times every day: "To the cons it was an object of repugnance and outrage, an unjustifiable punishment. A brass monster that we were convinced had been designed solely to shatter our nerves with its loud and strident ringing. For the prison staff it was the golden cow". Caron complained that in 1971 Kingston penitentiary was still governed by "archaic" Victorian rules under which the prisoners were punished by 30 days in solitary confinement if caught masturbating. The cells were equipped with peep-holes to allow the guards to see if the prisoners were masturbating and many of the prisoners sent to solitary confinement were only guilty of masturbation.
Around the circular dome were 640 cells stacked up on four floors. The cells in Kingston penitentiary were small, cold, drafty, minimally furnished and overrun by rats. Starting in 1966, most of the privileges enjoyed by the prisoners such as a baseball team, writing for a prison magazine, and almost all recreational programs were abolished. In 1968, the Liberal Party under the leadership of Pierre Trudeau won the election of that year under the slogan of the "Just Society". The implication of the "Just Society" platform was that Canada was an unjust society that needed sweeping social reforms, which led to hopes in Kingston penitentiary that the new government would change conditions in the prison. However, the new Trudeau government to counter criticism that it was "soft on crime" made conditions in the prisons even harsher. For an example, starting in 1948, the prisoners were permitted to write for and publish a magazine, KP Telescope, which allowed the lesser educated prisoners to learn how to read and write. In 1969, the Trudeau government abolished KP Telescope under the grounds that the prisoners did not need a magazine to read. The prisoners were not allowed to bring in magazines and the loss of KP Telescope was much resented as depriving the prisoners of their main reading material. The combination of a Liberal government whose rhetoric promised a "Just Society" for all vs. the steadily more harsher conditions at Kingston penitentiary made for a volatile mood in the prison.
Caron charged that the lack of recreational programs was the main reason for the riot as he wrote: "Kingston Penitentiary was one of the few federal institutions that still insisted on keeping the prisoners dead-locked in cages for as long as eighteen hours a day for no better reason than punishment". By the fall of 1970, more and more prisoners were punished by being sent to solitary confinement as the overcrowding at the prison led to tensions between the prisoners, which were often resolved by making accusations to the Warden, Arthur Jarvis of being "trouble-makers". The increasing use of solitary confinement as a discipline tool in 1970-1971 led to an increase in suicides at the prison as many prisoners could not face more solitary confinement. It also led to angry mood with many of the prisoners willing to risk all by lashing out against a system that they believed to be oppressing them. On 18 January 1971, Warden Arthur Jarvis wrote to Paul Faguy, the commissioner of penitentiaries, where he warned: "There is a high degree of tension at Kingston Penitentiary at this time. In fact it appears to be almost at the point of explosion". Jarvis complained that Kingston penitentiary was overcrowded, there were shortages of guards and many of the inmates feared that new prison of Millhaven would be more harsh, making for a volatile mood. In 1963, the federal government started construction of a new prison at Millhaven to replace Kingston Penitentiary, which was intended to be a high-technology prison that would be impossible to escape from that would house 1, 350 inmates. Rumors were rift at Kingston Penitentiary that the new prison of Millhaven, which was intended to be opened later in 1971, would be more harsh than Kingston Penitentiary.
The most hated prisoners at Kingston Penitentiary were the "undesirables" held in the 1-D range. The "undesirables" (a term used by both the guards and prisoners) in the 1-D range were generally child molesters, rapists, child killers and police informers. However, there were exceptions. Richard Moore was not a sex offender, but rather a 21-year old automobile thief in Port Coquitlam who had received an 18-month sentence in prison for stealing a car in 1968. After an escape attempt in 1969, Moore had received six years in prison and was sent to Kingston penitentiary. As Moore was a very attractive young man, many of the other prisoners at Kingston penitentiary had wanted to rape him, which led him to ask in February 1970 to transferred to the 1-D range for his own safety as he was afraid to use the communal showers. Because Moore lived in the 1-D wing, he was widely assumed to be a child molester. Within the general population of Kingston Penitentiary, younger prisoners, especially those considered physically attractive, were known as "sweet kids" who were given the option of becoming the lover of an older prisoner known as a "wolf" who would provide him with cigarettes, chocolates and protection from the other prisoners in exchange for sex. A "wolf" prisoner was generally heterosexual outside of prison, but homosexual inside prison. A "sweet kid" who refused the offer to become the lover of a "wolf" was considered to be fair game and would be beaten and/or raped for their defiance. Rape is an act of violence, not sex, and as such the general population prisoners at Kingston Penitentiary despite their hatred of rapist prisoners would engage in rape as a form of domination against weaker prisoners. The best known "wolf" at Kingston Penitentiary in 1971 was Harold St. Amour who served as the resident bookie for illegal gambling, which made him a relatively well off prisoner, who used his wealth to purchase several "sweet Kids". One of St. Amour's lovers was Ralph Lake, an young man convicted of rape who was placed under St. Amour's protection, allowing Lake to work as a mailroom clerk despite living in the 1-D range.
Riot begins William "Billy" Knight, the prison barber, had starting planning an uprising to protest conditions at Kingston penitentiary sometime in March 1971. At 10: 30 pm, 14 April 1971, the bell rang which indicated that the prisoners' were to leave the recreational hall and return to their cells. Knight along with his followers Brian Doge, Charles Saunders, Robert Adams, Allan Lafreniere and Leo Barrieault took their places in the line-up together. Knight was held in the 4-B range, but the other prisoners who joined them in the line-up had swapped places with inmates from different ranges. When one of the guards, Terry Decker, having noticed that Knight's shirt was not tucked in, he ordered Knight to tuck it in. Knight who feared that his plan was coming apart, punched Decker in the stomach. Knight shouted "That's the last fucking order you're going to give!" Saunders seized the keys from Decker while Dodge, Barrieault, Lafreniere and Adams raced into the dome before the guards shut the gate. Dodge tackled a guard, Donald Flynn while Lafreniere attacked another guard Ed Barrett. One guard, Joseph Vallier, froze up with fear and did nothing. Another two guards, Douglas Dale and Kerry Bushell, were overpowered and taken hostage. Within a few minutes, Knight's followers had seized control of the dome and taken Barret, Vallier, Flynn, Dale, Bushell and Decker hostage. Using the keys he seized, Knight started to open all of the cells. Knight, who had a Messiah complex, gave a speech saying: "Brothers! Our time has come to shake off the shackles. We've taken control of the dome and we've got six hostages. You will all be released from your cells".
The first act of the prisoners was to smash the much hated bell. An attempt to take control of the kitchen was unsuccessful and the inmates turned back after a guard fired a warning shot with his shotgun. The hostages were moved to a safe location. Caron wrote: "They knew the value of healthy pawns, knew that without them the authorities were certain to machine-gun their way inside the main cellblock, a dreadful outcome that would have left a lot of people dead". To keep order, Knight created an inmate "police force". Assigned to the inmate police were Brian Beaucage, Barrie MacKenzie and Wayne Ford. Caron wrote that Beaucage, McKenzie and Ford were the three toughest prisoners at Kingston penitentiary who were all "natural leaders" and were "not to be fucked with" by the other inmates. Knight in a speech rejected calls to kill the hostages, saying: "Brothers! Brothers! Let's not give the pigs the satisfaction of finding a reason to label us as animals to the world. We need the public's support and we won't get it by creating a bloodbath". Upon hearing of the riot, Jarvis ordered all off-duty guards to return and for the guards to be armed with rifles and shotguns from the prison amoury. Jarvis went to the Keeper's Hall where he spoke on the telephone with Knight. In a tense stand-off in the gymnasium, Knight met with Jarvis and demanded that he allow the prisoners in the gymnasium who had forced against the wall at gunpoint to be allowed to return to the dome, saying that otherwise he would kill one of the hostages. Jarvis accepted Knight's demand and all 64 prisoners in the gymnasium were allowed to return.
One 1-D range prisoner who expressed much fear of the uprising was Brian Ensor, known as "the Camel" to the other prisoners. Ensor was an immature man of "subnormal intelligence" and a pedophile. Ensor, a child-like man who seemed incapable of understanding why it was wrong to be sexually attracted to children, was serving a life sentence for raping two young girls, both under the age of 10, after he was convicted in 1962. Two psychiatrists testified at this trial that Ensor was unable to control his sexual urges against children and would rape again if released. Two prisoners chased after Ensor and tried to throw him to his death from the third floor. Ensor was saved by McKenzie who told the two men to stop and as McKenzie was a prisoner whom no-one wanted to fight, the two men released him. Knight and McKenzie forced Ensor into a cell for his own protection. Ensor kept crying and screaming that he did not want to be at Kingston penitentiary and was afraid for his life, leading Knight and McKenzie to tell him to stay in his cell for his own safety.