Mercer Reformatory House

Creating Canada’s First Women’s Prison

The man behind the opening of Mercer Reformatory, J.W. Langmuir, emphasized a strict regimen of work and behavioural reform for female inmates, largely based on nineteenth-century ideas of gender roles. Daily tasks for female inmates often consisted of domestic tasks including cleaning, cooking, laundry, and sewing.  

To create a suitably “maternal” atmosphere for its female population, most of Mercer’s staff were also women.  As inmates were often assigned domestic tasks, such as cleaning or sewing, female employees were hired to teach what were considered “feminine” skills at the time. 

An advantage that Langmuir found in creating a women-only prison was that operation costs would be cheaper than a men’s, or mixed gender, prison.  One reason for this was the perception that less security would be needed to guard female inmates. This idea came from the belief that women were less dangerous than men. Hiring female guards was also cheap and cost-effective, because female guards would often be paid less than men for the same position. 

Mercer Reformatory House

Maternal Control

Gender roles were mapped onto not only the female inmates at the reformatory, but its employees as well. The key qualification for a Mercer superintendent was that this person, a woman, would need to have “a maternal quality.” 

This quality was found in Mrs. Mary Jane O’Reilly, who was the first superintendent of Mercer from 1880 to 1900. In her role, O’Reilly was in charge of several staff members, the bursar, the prison physician, and Mercer’s inmates.

O’Reilly governed Mercer with a moralistic authority informed by Christian values. Inmates who engaged in what were deemed “un-lady-like behaviours”, such as drinking or bad language, faced harsh punishments under O’Reilly’s management.

Mercer Reformatory House

Medical Practices

Another key figure at Mercer was Dr. Edna Mary Guest, who worked at the reformatory from 1921 to 1939. Dr. Guest, who specialized in venereal disease, was a recognized leader of the Canadian feminist movement, and was the president of the Toronto Social Hygiene Club. Dr. Guest performed gynecological exams on Mercer women to test for venereal disease or pregnancy.

Reports have shown Dr. Guest often gave inmates significantly higher doses of medications for venereal disease than what was considered adequate by the Board of Health at the time. Such doses could pose an increased risk to an inmate’s health. Additionally, under provincial legislation, Mercer could indefinitely keep any inmate shown to be suffering from disease. Dr. Guest was suspected of falsifying patient diagnoses to extend an inmate’s sentence.