New Brunswick Historical Tidbits

The First Provincial Jail

By Mitch Biggar

In 1841 the Legislative Assembly passed a motion to establish a Provincial House of Correction. The need for this had been brought on by the bad conditions of the goal's located throughout the province.

Earlier in 1839 two judges named Botsford and Parker had been requested by Sir John Harvey to inspect the Saint John goal. The judges found the building too small for the needs of the city. The judges also found that there was no method of separating convicts from persons awaiting trail. There was also no method of separation between juvenile offenders and hard felons.

Soon the building in Saint John was taken over by the province and the prisoners from other counties were also sent there. This building severed as a penitentiary until Dorchester was built.

This page was designed by Irene Doyle September 1999