Don Jail, Gerrard Street E., Toronto, c. 1860s. Image: Canadian Heritage Gallery
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Resource ID
8046
Access
Open
Award Status
Nominee, Winner
Credit Line
Canadian Heritage Gallery
Keywords
architecture, law and order, architectural history, Architecture award, Jail, Renaissance Revival, law
Program Category
Tours
Rights
public domain
Caption
Don Jail, Gerrard Street E., Toronto, c. 1860s. Image: Canadian Heritage Gallery
Description
The Don Jail is one of Toronto's most important mid-19th-century public buildings. Even though some cells measured only 1 by 3 metres, at the time of its construction in 1859, the Don Jail embodied progressive ideas of penal reform. It was once the largest prison of its kind in North America and included a farm (now largely Riverdale Park) worked by prisoners. Seventy executions took place on its gallows, including the last in Canada on December 11 1962.