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）正式关停并停用位于安大略省金斯顿的金斯顿监狱（Kingston Penitentiary, KP）。为纪念该监狱的正式关停，CSC面向工作人员及其家属、新闻界人士及社会公众组织了监狱开放参观活动。本研究基于对信息自由披露（Access to Information disclosures）资料的分析，并结合戈夫曼（Goffman, 1959）提出的印象管理（impression management）概念框架，探讨了CSC在筹办金斯顿监狱参观活动中不可或缺的后台工作。分析结果显示，CSC通过着力宣扬惩教人员的正面事迹，以及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所表达的反对声音。本文最后探讨了监禁象征主义的内涵，以及当惩教机构出于自身运作的必要性主导惩罚性场所纪念活动时，该象征意义所呈现的具体形态。