Prison for Women (Kingston, Ontario)

The Prison For Women ("P4W"; Prison des femmes ), located in Kingston, Ontario, was a Correctional Service of Canada prison for women that functioned at a maximum security level from 1934 to 2000.

Background
The first female inmates arrived on January 24, 1934. Before this date, maximum security female offenders were housed in the Female Department of the maximum security Kingston Penitentiary located across the street.

Beginning in 1995, female inmates were gradually transferred to other federal correctional institutions. On May 8, 2000, the last female inmate was transferred away from the P4W.

In January 2008, Queen's University took ownership of the former site of the Prison for Women. The property is 8.1 acre in size. The university archives were originally slated to be housed there once renovations were completed, but this is no longer the case. The transformation of the property included the demolition of three of the four stone security walls. In June 2018 Queens University sold the site to ABNA Investments Ltd. In 2021 Signature Retirement Living announced plans to turn the property into a seniors community. In February 2023 it was announced that this plan had been cancelled and that the property would instead be developed into a mixed-use neighbourhood.

The institution, and several women who were incarcerated there, were profiled in Janis Cole and Holly Dale's 1981 documentary film P4W: Prison for Women.

Controversy
The Prison for Women was closed following a number of controversial incidents. LSD was administered to inmates at the prison as part of tests that are today considered to be ethically dubious. As well, a riot at the prison in 1994 resulted in Justice Louise Arbour, then of the Ontario Court of Appeal heading up what became known as the Commission of Inquiry into Certain Events at the Prison for Women in Kingston which found that the treatment of prisoners at the facility had been "cruel, inhumane and degrading". Routinely overclassified in their security category, Indigenous inmates constituted a considerable proportion of the inmate population and reported particularly violent treatment by prison staff.

Directors

 * 1934–1944 Ms. Edith A. Robinson, Supervising Matron
 * 1944–1950 Miss Amelia May Gibson, Supervising Matron
 * 1950–1960 Miss Lorraine L. Burke, Supervising Matron
 * 1960–1966 Miss Isabel J. McNeill, Superintendent
 * 1966–1970 Mr. Donald Clarke, Warden
 * 1970–1972 Mr. C.A.M. Edwards, Warden
 * 1972–1980 Mr. Doug Chinnery, Warden
 * 1980–1987 Mr. George Caron, Warden
 * 1987–1994 Ms. Mary Cassidy, Warden
 * 1994–2000 Ms. Thérèse LeBlanc, Warden

Notable prisoners

 * Evelyn Dick - Convicted of manslaughter in the death of her infant son
 * Karla Homolka – Transferred to Joliette Institution after P4W closed.
 * Ann Hansen – Canadian anarchist and former member of Squamish Five.