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）。为纪念该监狱正式关停，加拿大惩教署为内部员工及其家属、新闻从业者及社会公众组织了场馆开放参观活动。本研究基于戈夫曼（Goffman, 1959）的印象管理（impression management）概念框架，对信息获取披露资料展开分析，考察了加拿大惩教署在筹备金斯顿监狱参观活动过程中不可或缺的后台工作。分析结果显示，该机构试图通过强化惩教人员的正面叙事，以及宣扬自身对公共安全与当地社区的贡献，来消解利益相关方对该监狱关停的反对声音。最后，我们探讨了监禁象征体系的影响，以及当“惩教”机构的运营需求主导惩罚纪念活动时，该象征体系所呈现的具体形态。