Locked up

So yesterday we were thinking of things we could go and do and I thought...how appropriate for us to go to the Prison Museum since we are surrounded by 9 prisons here in Kingston...including 2 in our city! When we first moved here it seemed really creepy to have a Federal Pen right in our city downtown but I have become so used to it now I usually forget it's even there!

Anyway...after our 3rd try of poutine since Jeni has been here (we're looking for the best kind!) we headed over to the museum. Sean had us go inside and check things out before we took the 3 little kids in, just in case there were creepy things inside that might cause nightmares! Well, I kind of think Taylor was oblivious to it all...but I might be the one having the nightmares...seriously? There was some weird stuff!

This is what you see coming out of the museum...the front doors to the Pen...the museum used to be the warden's residence back in the day right across the street.

These were some of the self made weapons and smuggling containers. Most of these items have razor blades embedded in them...creepy much?
Self tattooing...
You see this outfit? I find it crazy that we lock people up and give them nothing, yet if things get out of hand or they try to escape this is how we have to dress to enter the prison...what the?
So from behind I thought I was looking at some meal trays that were old and crusty...

But when you looked on the other side there was a hole cut through all of them, just big enough for a small skinny man to fit inside and escape. There were actually newspaper articles posted about the actual man that fit inside here and escaped! He had to lose like 40 lb to fit inside! Oh the things people think about when they're locked up!These were fake heads that were made from paper machet and hair from the barber shop for men to escape too.

They had a mock cell and they let Jeni and I in to see how it would feel.
This was one of the corporal punishment measures back in the day when they would lock your hands and feet and then close your head in this barrel. Once you were inside they would pour freezing cold water from the barrel above into the head barrel and it would fill up until you couldn't breath and you would have to hold your breath until the barrel emptied. They would use this on the most stubborn of men that wouldn't take orders.
Look at Jeni's toes in this picture...she was actually terrified to be locked in here because she couldn't get out without help from me!Here is another form of punishment. They would put people in this coffin like box...let's just say I didn't think I was claustrophobic until I went in here!

I was asking Sean as we were leaving...what is this obsession we have with wanting to know what happens in Prisons? Is it the unknown? The need to know what happens behind these closed doors? The craziness that develops in these men's minds as they're locked up from society? It's a scary realization!

After the boys got home from school we tried to make the Ferry over to Wolfe Island to go through the corn maze but as they were loading the cars on we were the last car that wouldn't fit...so we made it first in line for the next ferry (an hour later). We decided to leave that idea behind since it would have been dusk by the time we made it over...and went to a park instead. After the park we walked around Queen's campus for a bit and made our way to the Bookstore so Jeni could get a Queen's t-shirt but when we got there they had just closed like one minute earlier! AH...bad luck much? So we headed back home...the kids were SO tired...Boots hadn't had his afternoon nap and was more than happy to get home to bed!

Well Char just woke up so I'm off for now!

L