Former site Lower Mainland Correctional Centre (Oakalla Prison Farm) (Burnaby, British Columbia)

Canada / British Columbia / Vancouver / Burnaby, British Columbia
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This is the former site of the Oakalla Prison Farm, a full-service facility which opened on September 2, 1912. The first inmate was William Daley, sentenced on July 31, 1912 to serve a year of hard labor for stealing some fountain pens valued at over $10. By April 30, 1913, some 328 prisoners had passed through the jail's doors. From 1919 until the abolition of the death penalty in 1959, 44 prisoners were executed by hanging on the Oakalla site. The first execution was that of 25 year-old Alex Ignace on August 29, 1919. Leo Mantha was the last prisoner executed, on April 28, 1959. In 1936 there were several double and even one triple hanging.

Thousands of prisoners passed through the doors of Oakalla--renamed Lower Mainland Regional Correctional Centre in 1970--before it closed on June 30, 1991. Originally designed to house a maximum of 484 prisoners Oakalla's population peaked in 1962-63 at 1,269 inmates. With population averages of 600-plus, overcrowding was always a problem. In the institution's final years two nationally-spotlighted events occurred. Thirteen maximum security prisoners escaped on New Year's Day 1988 following a Dec. 27, 1987 uprising and on Nov. 22, 1983 a violent and costly riot took place. Rioters caused more than $150,000 damage in a two-day spree. Oakalla was replaced by the Vancouver Pretrial Services Centre, the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre and the Surrey Pretrial Services Centre. I have included the various locations of the prison buildings etc.
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Coordinates:   49°14'6"N   122°58'49"W

Comments

  • Due to the overcrowding situation an addition called "Westgate" was built in the 50's. To save money it was not the usual concrete and steel construction but wood frame. The then famous Vancouver Sun cartoonist, Len Norris, drew an editorial page cartoon depicting a carpenter working on the construction and an Oakalla guard saying to him, "The warden would appreciate if you would stop singing, 'Plywood walls and two-by-fours do not a prison make.'" It was certainly funny at the time.
  • I was a guest of O.P.F. many, many years ago. I considered myself a B.& E. artist, and paid dearly for it. I saw the really scary side of life, for real. Under the cow barn (isolation) was the worst. You did not know if it was day or night, Tues. or Fri. It didn't really matter. I was in Westgate A (under 23 years old) so there wasn't a lot of the Hollywood movie crap. I/we saw plenty of attempted suicides, escapes from work gangs, stabbings, (usually rats and child molesters) but the worst was probably the human despair, and loss of hope. Everyone thought they were tough, and as soon as they exhibited it, they were shown exactly what tough was all about. The food was nothing short of excellent, and the guards were, for the most part, pretty damned nice guys. Take my word for it, when I say I could not visualize myself saying that 50 years later. I got Parole Violated, and went back to jail to complete my sentence, which was just over six months. I requested a return to Westgate A, and my wish was granted. Most of the same guys were still there. I firmly believe most of those people are still there, or have died of drug overdoses.Myself.....I took the word 'Correction' literally and have never been back, and never intend to. There is no reason for me to ever break the law again. I have a loving wife, a brand new vehicle, a paid for house, 4 grown children, and close to $1Million in the bank (with investments) Oakalla is just a bad memory from the distant past, but it will always be a stain on my very life!!!!
  • To the best of my knowledge, Oakalla was originally built to house natives who were busted for holding potlatch....
  • That does indeed make perfect sense from the HBC "Colony" who has just named a huge area of First Nations land as belonging to their "colony" and signed an agreement with the Dominion to take a loan for a then new Oakalla prison to help them "control" any "objectors" to the HBC "Colony" land takeover. A Colony has no Right of Law and a Colony has no Land Entitlement and a Treaty does not negate Land Entitlement. One of the first things they did was to negate the First Nations Potlatches.
  • Ridiculously late response. My late father was also an inmate at Oakalla. I'm not sure of the years but he was apparently notorious for escaping from various clinks. It would be interesting if you two knew one another. He was a boxer with a Slavic surname.
  • Wow. Good on ya!
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This article was last modified 10 years ago