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Photos & Coordinates | Sources
This correctional facility in the Rural Municipality of Headingley was designed by provincial architect Gilbert C. “Gil” Parfitt. It was built between 1929 and 1930 by St. Boniface-based contractor Joseph Lorenzo Guay at a cost of about $450,000.
In the centre of the complex was the two-storey administration building that housed offices for the complex and the receiving room that prisoners would be brought to when they first came to the facility along with medical rooms, governor’s office, chief turnkey’s quarters, laundry room, and work rooms. The three-storey east and west blocks were designed to contain prisoner cells with 56 cells on each floor, 448 cells in total. The end of the west block contained the death cells and an execution room. The complex also contained an auditorium building. Also on the grounds was farmland that prisoners were expected to tend to raise some of the food they would consume.
Starting in October 1930, male and female prisoners from the Vaughan Street Gaol were transferred to this facility. By early 1931, it was reportedly overcrowded.
Period
Governor / Superintendent
Before 1930
1930-1938
John Crawford Downie (1863-1942)
1938-1946
Royal Burritt (1876-1962)
1946-1955
Edward G. “Ted” Weeks (1901-1975)
1955-1968
Sidney Beresford Hope “Berry” Littlewood (1910-1981)
1968-1970
William Ellis Lawson (c1912-1970)
1970-1973
Eric George Ernest Cox (1928-2012)
1973-1975
Douglas Henry Walter “Doug” Lawrence (1926-2015)
1975-1977
John Michael Gillingham
1977-1980
Alvin Hall Carruthers (1930-2019)
1980-1981
Reginald A. Forester
1981-1983
Albert Stuart
1983-1984
Paul Levielle - Acting
1984-1988
Reginald A. Forester
1988-1992
Denis B. Lemoine
1992-1996
Lawrence Robert “Larry” Krocker (1948-2004)
1996
Denis B. Lemoine
1996-1997
Reginald A. Forester
1997-2001
James Ross
2001-?
?
?-2007
Catherine Anne Sandney (1955-2007)
Architectural drawing of the Headingley Gaol (1929)
Source: Winnipeg Tribune, 6 July 1929, page 7Site Location (lat/long): N49.87032, W97.43793
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Manitoba Industrial Farm / Prison Farm (RM of Reynolds)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Vaughan Street Gaol (444 York Avenue, Winnipeg)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Headingley Gaol Cemetery (RM of St. Francois Xavier)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Central Judicial District Gaol and Courthouse (20 Third Street SE, Portage la Prairie)
Memorable Manitobans: Gilbert C. “Gil” Parfitt (1886-1966)
Memorable Manitobans: Joseph Lorenzo Guay (1890-1962)
Memorable Manitobans: John Streib (c1887-1931)
“Plans for new provincial jail,” Winnipeg Tribune, 6 July 1929, page 7.
“Govt. accepts $198,991 tender,” Winnipeg Tribune, 9 July 1929, page 2.
“New Headingly jail now ready for occupancy,” Winnipeg Tribune, 7 October 1930, page 16.
“250 prisoners transferred to new jail at Headingley,” Winnipeg Tribune, 27 October 1930, page 3.
“Headingly jail overcrowded, figures show,” Winnipeg Tribune, 31 January 1931, page 3.
Obituary [William Ellis Lawson], Winnipeg Free Press, 14 October 1970, page 43.
Obituary [Edward G. Weeks], Winnipeg Free Press, 18 April 1975, page 78.
Obituary [Sidney Beresford Hope Littlewood], Winnipeg Free Press, 27 June 1981, page 45.
Turnkey to Case Manager: The Professionalisation of the Correctional Officer Headingley Correctional Institution, Manitoba, 1930-1996 by Christian J. R Stansfield, MA Thesis, University of Manitoba, 2001. Appendix B / page 155.
Obituary [Alvin Hall Carruthers], Winnipeg Free Press, 27 July 2019.
We thank Lois Braun, Nathan Kramer, and Jordan Makichuk for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 20 April 2025
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