KP Tours (ATI records)

In October 2013, Correctional Service Canada (CSC) decommissioned Kingston Penitentiary (KP) in Kingston, Ontario. To commemorate KP’s closing, CSC organized facility tours for staff members and their families, journalists, and the public. Based on an analysis of Access to Information disclosures informed by Goffman’s (1959) conceptualization of impression management, we examine CSC’s backstage work integral to the organization of KP tours. Our analysis reveals how CSC sought to elevate positive stories of penitentiary staff, as well as the organization’s contribution to public safety and the local community as a means of neutralizing opposition to the closure of the facility expressed by stakeholders. We conclude by discussing the implications of carceral symbolism and the form it takes when punishment memorialization is driven by the imperatives of ‘correctional’ agencies.

2013年10月，加拿大惩教署（Correctional Service Canada, CSC）正式关停位于安大略省金斯顿市的金斯顿监狱（Kingston Penitentiary, KP）。为纪念该监狱关停，加拿大惩教署为其员工及家属、新闻记者与社会公众组织了监狱设施参观活动。本研究以戈夫曼（Goffman, 1959）提出的印象管理（impression management）概念为分析框架，对《信息获取法》披露的相关资料展开分析，考察了加拿大惩教署在组织金斯顿监狱参观活动过程中不可或缺的后台工作。研究结果显示，加拿大惩教署试图通过宣扬惩教人员的正面事迹，以及本机构对公共安全与地方社区的贡献，来化解利益相关方对该监狱关停计划的反对声浪。本研究最后探讨了监禁象征体系的意涵，以及当刑罚纪念活动由"惩教"机构的运营需求所驱动时，该类纪念活动所呈现的具体形态。