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，加拿大惩教署为工作人员及其家属、新闻记者与社会公众组织了设施开放参观活动。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，结合信息公开披露资料开展分析，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。分析结果揭示了加拿大惩教署如何着力宣扬惩教人员的正面事迹，并强调该机构对公共安全与当地社区的贡献，以此消解利益相关方针对该监狱关停提出的反对声音。本文最后探讨了监禁象征主义的相关意蕴，以及当刑罚纪念活动由"惩教"机构的履职要务所驱动时，其呈现出的具体形态。