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）将位于安大略省金斯顿市的金斯顿监狱（Kingston Penitentiary, KP）正式停用。为纪念该监狱关停，加拿大惩教署为工作人员及其家属、新闻从业者以及社会公众组织了设施开放参观活动。本研究基于戈夫曼（Goffman, 1959）的印象管理概念框架，对信息公开披露材料展开分析，考察了加拿大惩教署在筹备此次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塑造惩教人员的正面形象，同时宣传本机构对公共安全与本地社区的贡献，以此消解利益相关方对该监狱关停所表达的反对意见。本文最后讨论了监禁制度象征主义的内涵，以及当惩罚性纪念活动由‘惩教’机构的运营需求所驱动时，该象征主义所呈现的具体形态。