“The prisoners in the county goal are expecting a deviation from prison fare on Christmas day. They usually get a treat of good things on that day of rejoicing.”
This small note was published in the Dec. 19, 1895, edition of the Northern Advance. If the Christmas Day meal was different from all the others behind the limestone walls of the old jail on Mulcaster Street, what was an ordinary meal like?
Before 1900, a jailhouse menu generally consisted of lots of gruel (a thinned porridge) and soup, along with bread, potatoes and the occasional boiled meat dish. Often, the diet of the prisoner depended on their age, gender, length of sentence, and whether or not they had been sentenced to hard labour.
Much of the food was grown by inmate labour in the jail vegetable garden, or donated by charitable citizens, then cooked by the prisoners under the supervision of the matron.
Another report, this one from the Northern Advance of Dec. 21, 1911, gives a clearer picture of what wonderful treats might be expected by the jail inmates on that one special day.
“There are eleven prisoners in the County Jail at present, ten males and one female, all of one but whom will eat their Christmas dinner within the institution. This spread will be something to write home about too. There will be roast pork, roast beef, and several kinds of vegetables, plum pudding (no mention is made of the brandy sauce), candies, figs, oranges, apples, etc., etc., etc. Why, it’s enough to make us all wish for a term in the stone-walled academy to get a dinner like that. And discipline will be relaxed and everything done to make the prisoners’ Christmas happy.”
On Christmas Eve 1960, a reporter for the Barrie Examiner wanted to learn about Christmas behind bars and arranged a visit to what he called the 'old stone fortress'. He said that the place reminded him of another Christmas Eve, during the Second World War, when he took leave in Scotland and “found the accommodations so crowded that the only place available was some dormitories in what had been the dungeon of a castle, several flights down an old stone stairway.”
The 1960 Christmas Day jailhouse menu included a fairly ordinary breakfast followed by a visit by the Salvation Army. This visit was much looked forward to as the inmates were encouraged to sing as loudly and lustily as they liked, which was a break from the silence which was expected in the jail the other 364 days of the year.
Then came the big deal — a midday dinner of roast turkey, mashed potato, dressing, gravy, mashed turnip, bread and butter, jelly and ice cream, coffee, tea and abundant sweet goodies that had been gifted by the community. After a rest period, the good times continued with a supper of hot turkey sandwiches, Christmas cake, coffee and tea, and an orange.
The chores necessary to the running of the institution were done that day, but no extra tasks were added.
Only if a snowstorm hit, and shoveling gangs were needed, would more be asked of the prisoners. These gangs filled quickly though as the inmates reportedly looked forward to getting outside in the fresh air.
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