Material Type

Photograph

Date Range

[between 1950 and 1965]

Physical Description

10 black and white photographs

Physical Condition

Excellent

History Biographical

A provincial jail at Lethbridge had been proposed, and the site selected, in 1907. In 1910, construction of the jail began on a 250 acre / 101 hectare parcel of land located five miles / 8 kilometres east of the city limits. Completed in June 1911 at a cost of $250,000, the Lethbridge Provincial Gaol was the first of its kind in Alberta. The Lethbridge Provincial Jail, as it was also called, consisted of the jail and an administration building. The jail contained three tiers of 34 cells each. The cells measured approximately 9.8 feet / 3 metres deep, by 5 feet / 1.5 metres wide, by just less than 9.8 feet / 3 metres high. The first warden was Dr. John Henry Rivers. The first inmate was Austin Murray, age 17, who was convicted to stealing two parts of a stove belonging to W.D. Scott and sentenced to one month in the new jail. The Lethbridge Provincial Jail was intended to be self-sufficient. The inmates worked on an irrigated farming operation and raised chickens, pigs, and beef and dairy cattle. There was a bakery and cinder block plant at the jail as well. The jail also generated its own electricity and had heating, water treatment and sewage treatment facilities. Built to house 100 prisoners, a 1913 addition provided space for 50 more inmates. A residence for guards was built at the same time. Houses were also constructed near the jail to accommodate staff and their families. From 19 June 1912 until 17 July 1956, 18 men were hanged in the jail. The total included five German prisoners of war who were convicted in two separate murders that occurred in POW Camp 132 at Medicine Hat, Alberta. The 1911 Lethbridge Provincial Jail housed inmates until 1 May 1983 when the new, twenty-eight million dollar Lethbridge Correctional Centre building opened. The 1911 building was demolished in the summer of 1989 to make way for a parking lot. [Sources: The Lethbridge Herald, 22 July 1989, page A3 ; copy of a letter from Warden P.A. Dunlop to provincial Inspector of Gaols E.E. Buchanan, 10 May 1963]

Acquisition Source

Buchanan Ted 1806 23 Avenue North Lethbridge, Alberta T1H 4S8

Custodial History

These items belonged to the donor's father, former RCMP Staff Sergeant and provincial Superintendent of Corrections Edward E. Buchanan.

Scope and Content

The fonds consists of 10 black and white photographs of the Provincial Jail at Lethbridge.

Access Restrictions

Public Access

Accession No.

20101026000

Collection

Archive

Less detail