John Howard's recommendations for a strict regime of separate confinement, coarse diet and "labour of the hardest and most servile kind in which drudgery is chiefly required" were faithfully implemented in Canadian penitentiaries. The presence of large quantities of limestone at Kingston made it an ideal location for an institution requiring hard labour. Stone quarried by convicts was dressed in the prison's workshops. In addition to being used for the penitentiary buildings, the cut stone was sold to builders in Kingston and Toronto to defray some of the expenses of the institution. This drawing of prisoners at work appeared in the Canadian Illustrated News, 5 July 1873.
More fortunate prisoners escaped the rigours of hard labour by being assigned to trades such as shoemaking, carpentry and blacksmithing. These men worked under constant surveillance in specially designed shops where talking was prohibited.
