CrimSL Librarian Danielle Van Wagner recently returned from the Bibliographical Society of Canada's 2024 Annual Conference where she presented "Printing on the Inside: The Production of Books in Canada’s Prisons and Penitentiaries" during a session entitled Publishing in the Likeliest and Unlikeliest of Places.
She also chaired the session Cold Worlds: Publishing Canadian Authors, 1960-90.
The conference, on the theme "Topographical: The Place of Books," was held June 17-18, 2024, in Montreal as part of Congress 2024.
In her presentation, Danielle explored the processes of printing, bookbinding and book creation as part of vocational training for inmates within federal and provincial correctional facilities across Canada.
Danielle's abstract, shown below, aptly summarizes her presentation and details some of the more interesting aspects of this topic.
Danielle Van Wagner
When considering the production of Canadian prison labour, items such as license plates and office furniture most frequently come to mind. However, decades of warden’s reports, penitentiary annual reports, and correctional briefs tell a different, and rather unexpected, outcome of prison labour: printing and books.
Large scale prison reform, beginning in 1948, brought an increased focus on vocational training as a crucial part of rehabilitation, and with it the Kingston Penitentiary ran a print shop, printing the stationary needs of the penitentiaries, alongside governmental and private contracts, often including the publishing of books, periodicals, and reports under the banner of the Queen’s Printer. But this phenomenon was not restricted to Canada’s oldest penitentiary; rather, it was nationwide. At the print shop of the Saskatchewan penitentiary, they provided custom printing for the Department of Natural Resources, as well as printing books, reports, and pamphlets for the John Howard Society and the Salvation Army. At the Reformatory of Millbrook, through a partnership with the CNIB, their prison shop became the national printer for braille books, including providing all braille books for the Schools for the Blind in Ontario, Nova Scotia, and British Columbia.
Printing was not the only way prisoners were involved in the creation of books, as bookbinding workshops were also common. For example, at the Vanier Centre for Women in Brampton, they sewed bindings for specialty militaria books for the British press, William Kimber of London.
Couched under the umbrella of vocational training, Canada’s prisoners were paid a fraction of the wages of professionals in the field and were rarely, if ever, publicly acknowledged for their contribution to Canada’s literary and printing history. This presentation will identify these unknown printers and their work, and delineate the full extent of printing and book creation in Canada’s prisons.
A long-term and executive member of the Bibliographical Society of Canada, Danielle is currently its 2nd vice president and was a member of the planning committee for the 2024 conference.
Printing was not the only way prisoners were involved in the creation of books, as bookbinding workshops were also common. For example, at the Vanier Centre for Women in Brampton, they sewed bindings for specialty militaria books for the British press, William Kimber of London.
