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）将坐落于安大略省金斯顿市的金斯顿监狱（Kingston Penitentiary, KP）正式停用。为纪念该监狱的关停，加拿大惩教署为员工及其家属、新闻工作者及社会公众组织了监狱设施开放参观活动。本研究依托戈夫曼（Goffman, 1959）提出的印象管理（impression management）概念框架，结合信息公开披露文件的分析，考察了加拿大惩教署筹办金斯顿监狱参观活动时所开展的核心后台工作。分析结果显示，加拿大惩教署通过着力塑造惩教人员的正面形象，以及宣扬本机构对公共安全与当地社区的贡献，以此消解利益相关方对该监狱关停决策提出的反对意见。本研究最后探讨了监禁象征主义（carceral symbolism）的内涵，以及当惩罚性纪念活动由“惩教”机构的行动逻辑主导时，其呈现的具体形态。