Entre petite criminalité et grande misère : la prison des hommes à Montréal et sa population (1836-1912)

An analysis of the male population of the Montreal Gaol between 1836 and 1912. According to the author, the jail was used to repress "disorderly" conduct, especially drunkenness. The majority of sentences served at the institution were of less than two months, and these most often resulted from the failure to pay a fine. The author points out that the over-representation of Irish Catholics in the Montreal Gaol until 1880 can be seen as a direct result of how the institution was used. The Irish were admitted in similar numbers to French Canadians, and this Irish presence was likely the result of police repression focused on the surveillance of problems related to alcohol, especially around those legal and illegal sources of drink which were frequently situated in neighbourhoods boasting large Irish populations.

PhD dissertation

Université de Montréal

Montréal

2007

xiii-258p.

fr