#harrowsmith

"Not So Hot," St. Catharines Standard. October 31, 1933. Page 4. --- Striking headlines recently carried a despatch in which it was announced that the Kingston Presbytery, in session at Harrowsmith, had passed a resolution urging that a Royal Commission be forthwith appointed to probe penitentiary conditions in Canada, and those particularly at Portsmouth. Now it appears that the publication of the resolution is regarded as an "unfortunate accident,", although it represented the mind of the Presbytery at the time. The chairman of the drafting committee headed a delegation which visited the penitentiary after the resolution was adopted, Rev. J. M. Shaw, and he has written publicly as follows:

"After the resolution was drafted, however, and before it appeared in print, which it has done only by an unfortunate accident, the opportunity was given a delegation from this committee to visit Kingston penitentiary with a view to ascertaining the actual conditions that prevail.

"The report of this delegation will, first of all, be presented to the Presbytery at its next regular meeting, a fortnight hence. But in the meantime, I take the responsibility, as chairman of this committee, to state that, as a result of this visit, and with the more accurate knowledge of the facts now in our possession, we are commending the administration of the present warden and his staff as worthy of the warmest approval - an administration which has already introduced many desired improvements and is bringing about a new atmosphere in the institution, as is freely acknowledged by the prisoners themselves."

The Ottawa Journal takes it that the members of the Presbytery were directed by their natural sympathy for the underdog, and were led astray by statements of convicts and ex-convicts, some politicians and a few newspapers. Now their committee extend the "warmest approval" to the Warden and his staff.

The Prime Minister has virtually opened the door of Portsmouth or any other penitentiary in the country by inviting visits of people interested in the subject of prison maintenance or reform. Such visits may be made without notice. There is nothing to hide when such an open policy is pronounced by the Prime Minister; no preparation to be made inside the penitentiary for visitors some of whom might be anxious to find fault.

“Brockville Jail Breaker Was Rearrested Today,” Kingston Whig-Standard. January 11, 1932. Page 3.  ---- James Medson Taken Into Custody bv Officer G. V. Gubbe at Harrowsmith ---- James Medson, 33 -year-old Indian from British Columbia, who made a sensational escape from the police station in Brockville about 4 o’clock on Friday morning, was placed under arrest at Harrowsmith this morning about 9.25 o’clock by Provincial Officer G. V. Clubbe of Kingston and at 10-30 o'clock was in a cell at the provincial police station awaiting his transfer to Brockville where he will be charted with escaping from custody. 

Provincial Officer Clubbe got a tip this morning that  a man answering the description at Medson was loafing round Harrowsmith and the officer at once motored to Harrowsmith and had no trouble whatever in locating his man. He was sitting in the C.P.R. station when Officer Clubbe walked into the station and offered no resistance. He said that after making his escape from the Brockville "lock up" had been tramping around the country, sleeping in barns and securing his food by begging at houses.