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Canned preserves line the pantry shelves. Freshly separated milk and cream chill in the refrigerator. Bread rises in a bowl in the kitchen. The scene paints a picture of life on the Alberta prairie, but up until 1970, it was just another day at Lethbridge Provincial “Gaol.”
At a recent Wednesdays at the Galt program, security intelligence officer Shane Hoiland shared some of the changes that have happened over the past 100 years at the gaol, as was the spelling at the time. It was home to its own cattle and garden operation, and between 1950 and 1960, an onion house and slaughter house were built. A cannery opened in 1953. These all helped make the gaol pratically self-sufficient, with the exception of items such as sugar and flour, which had to be purchased.
Inmate participation in the farm operation was mandatory.
“At the farm, people had to work,” Hoiland told the crowd gathered at the Galt Museum & Archives. Today, participating in physical labour, such as that done by the crew that goes out in the community to clean coulees and perform similar duties, is voluntary.
The farm was shut down in 1970 and replaced with rehabilitation programs that continue today at what is now called the Lethbridge Correctional Centre.
The gaol was the first provincial one built in Alberta and the first west of Manitoba. The original facility was built in 1910-11 for approximately $250,000 on a 240-acre parcel of land. The doors opened in July 1911. It was comprised of 110 cells and six dormitories with a capacity to hold 168 inmates. In 1925 a six-bed hospital ward was added.
Remnants of the original gaol are still on the grounds, Hoiland said. The gaol was replaced by the Lethbridge Correctional Centre, which opened on the same site in 1983 at a cost of $28 million.
One difference between the two facilities is the design of the jail cells.
“The modern ones are made of steel and bricks,” said Hoiland who’s worked at the corrections centre since 1996. “Jail bars like you see in the movies don’t offer enough barrier between people.”
The lack of solid walls makes it difficult to keep inmates from freely passing items between cells and having physical contact, which present a danger, especially if the inmates are rival gang members. That’s why it’s rare to find cells separated by bars in modern-day facilities that are designed with ”care, custody and control” in mind, he added. It’s also the reason why some facility-wide activities, such as the sports day traditionally held each Canada Day, had to be discontinued.
The former goal cells do have a famous connection though. The design of the Lethbridge gaol was like that of the main cell block of Alcatraz prison.
“They’re virtually similar,” Hoiland said. “Other than one is surrounded by very, very cold water.”
The correctional centre celebrated its anniversary with an open house and displays on Aug. 23.
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