Toronto Central Prison

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Toronto Central Prison

Location:	Toronto, Ontario
Status:	Closed
Security class:	Maximum
Opened:	1873
Closed:	1915

The Toronto Central Prison (also known as the Central Prison or Central Prison for Men) was a 600-cell facility located near the intersection on King Street and Strachan Avenue in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It opened in 1873, when the area was still well away from any residential development. The prison was abandoned in 1915, as changing attitudes toward crime and punishment led to a revamping of the province’s correctional system, and replaced by the Ontario Reformatory in Guelph. For the next five years, the facility was used as an army base and a processing centre for new immigrants.

In 1920, the main prison building was demolished and much of the land sold for use by the railroads. Remaining buildings ended up being used by Hobb's, Dr. Ballard's, and finally by the neighbouring John Inglis and Company Limited until 1981.

All that remains today is the Central Prison's Roman Catholic chapel (added to the main building in 1877) and the Paint Shop¹ which became part of the city’s inventory of heritage properties in 1985. The Chapel is located at 43°38′19.64″N 79°24′52.21″W / 43.6387889, -79.4145028 and the paint shop at 43°38′21.59″N 79°24′59.74″W / 43.6393306, -79.4165944. During its operation the prison also had an out-camp with a shale and clay quarry on property in Mimico. That property and its buildings became part of what is now known as the Mimico Correctional Centre when the prison closed.