Making Meaning out of Punishment: Penitentiary, Prison, Jail, and Lock-up Museums in Canada

Abstract

While much of the penal tourism literature focuses on historically significant and infamous penitentiary, prison, and jail museums, such as Alcatraz and Eastern State Penitentiary in the United States, there exist many smaller, rural sites, including decommissioned local jails and lock-ups, where confinement and punishment are represented. Based on a 5-year qualitative study, this article examines the scope of large and small penal history museums across Canada. Offering a typology to aid criminologists and criminal justice scholars in understanding cultural sites that shape public meanings of imprisonment and punishment, we contribute to the penal tourism and dark tourism literatures by analysing museum displays. We make comparisons with national meanings found in studies concerning penal history museums across Australia, South Africa, and the United States and reflect upon the factors animating the emergence of these sites in Canada. We conclude with a discussion on the significance of our findings for criminological and penal tourism literatures.