Reformatory prisons and juvenile offenders

Until the 1850s, there was no legislative provision for the separate confinement of juvenile offenders in Canada. This changed in 1857 when An Aet for the Establishment of Prisons for Young Offenders was passed. The act provided for the construction of reformatory prisons in Upper and Lower Canada.

The federal government followed this direction in the post-confederation period with the enactment in 1886 of an Act Respecting Public and Reformatory'” Prisons. This act contained provisions for the operation of provincial correctional facilities, which included mandatory separation of youthful offenders from older offenders.

At the provincial level, British Columbia passed the Reformatory Act in 1890 to establish a juvenile reformatory for boys. Similar legislation was not passed for girls, who were not incarcerated at this time in B.C. In Ontario and Quebec, however, teformatories existed for girls.

The reformatory was a lawful place of confinement for boys 16 years and under, sentenced by the court for a term of two years but not exceeding five years. The Reformatory Alct stated that the purpose of the reformatory was “...custody and detention, with a view to their education, industrial training, and moral reclamation.” The British Columbia legislation,

like the federal legislation, allowed for confinement of dependent and neglected juveniles within the reformatory.

Boys between 10 and 13 years of age could be confined to the reformatory for an undefined period of not less than two years. Such detention could result from the complaints of a parent or guardian, satisfied by a judge or magistrate, that their child could not be controlled due to incorrigible or vicious conduct. Juvenile offenders were confined to improve their behaviour and skills through training and education. The legislation also provided for probation, although it was not implemented in British Columbia until 1910. When put into effect, probation did not occur within the provincial system, but was initiated by municipal governments.

In practice, the separation of incarcerated juvenile offenders from adult offenders did not begin in British Columbia until 1891. This separation appears to have been administrative, because juveniles were confined separately within an institution used by adults, such as the Victoria Gaol. J. Finlayson was appointed superintendent and a separate report on the Juvenile Reformatory at Victoria was submitted for the year November 1, 1891 to October 31, 1892.

10 The word ‘reformatory’ was applied to institutions established to house juvenile offenders. ‘The variety of terms (e.g. lockup, penitentiary, reformatory, prison, gaol) reflected the increasing complexity of custodial programs.

Era of Punishment (1871-1949)

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