Murder on the Inside - by Catherine Fogarty (Paperback)

About the Book

"On April 14, 1971, a handful of prisoners attacked the guards at Kingston Penitentiary and seized control. The inmates held the guards hostage for four intense days, making headlines around the world and drawing international attention to the dehumanizing realities of incarceration when several inmates appeared on camera and described the overcrowding, inadequate rehabilitation programs, harsh punishment, and extreme isolation they endured. As negotiations between the leaders of the inmates and a citizens' committee of journalists and lawyers entered the a third day, tensions inside the prison erupted when gangs of angry, disenfranchised convicts turned their rage towards the weakest prisoners. As heavily armed soldiers prepared to regain control of the prison through a full military assault, the inmates finally gave up the fight. Murder on the Inside tells the story of a prison in crisis set against the backdrop of a pivotal time in history when the disenfranchised began rebelling against institutional discrimination. Like the uprising at the Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York that occurred later the same year, leaving twenty-nine inmates and ten guards dead and marking a watershed moment for civil rights in America, the Kingston rebellion was a pivotal moment in Canadian thinking about human rights. Until now, few have known the story--yet the tense prison drama chronicled in this book is more relevant today than ever, as Canada's correctional system remains mired in crisis almost fifty years later."--

Book Synopsis

Shortlisted for the Speaker's Book Award - Shortlisted for The Brass Knuckles Award for Best Nonfiction Crime Book

"You have taken our civil rights--we want our human rights."

On April 14, 1971, a handful of prisoners attacked the guards at Kingston Penitentiary and seized control, making headlines around the world. For four intense days, the prisoners held the guards hostage while their leaders negotiated with a citizens' committee of journalists and lawyers, drawing attention to the dehumanizing realities of their incarceration, including overcrowding, harsh punishment and extreme isolation. But when another group of convicts turned their pent-up rage towards some of the weakest prisoners, tensions inside the old stone walls erupted, with tragic consequences. As heavily armed soldiers prepared to regain control of the prison through a full military assault, the inmates were finally forced to surrender.

Murder on the Inside tells the harrowing story of a prison in crisis against the backdrop of a pivotal moment in the history of human rights. Occurring just months before the uprising at Attica Prison, the Kingston riot has remained largely undocumented, and few have known the details--yet the tense drama chronicled here is more relevant today than ever. A gripping account of the standoff and the efforts for justice and reform it inspired, Murder on the Inside is essential reading for our times.

Includes 24 pages of photographs.

Review Quotes

Praise for Murder on the Inside

"The uprising is cast in part as a prisoners-rights movement, but it is complicated by internal struggles among inmates ... [Fogarty] delivers them in three-dimensions, complicated, inconsistent, incomplete, flawed, but human beings who wanted and deserved better treatment ... A detailed and balanced record ... The book serves as a study of a moment and of its participants, who both reflect the time and transform it as the events of the 1971 riot would contribute to long-overdue penal reform in Canada. Where the book is at its best, the reader gets to know the inmates who struggle for power among one another and against the political system that forgot them."
--Globe & Mail

"Fogarty's approach makes for a compelling narrative and an extremely readable book ... Fogarty's most significant contribution is in a number of original interviews with guards, including one who had been held hostage, and prisoners who had lived through the riot. These interviews allow for a rich chronicling of events ... Murder on the Inside successfully weaves a concise history of Canada's most notorious prison into a compelling story of the 1971 riot and its aftermath and is a valuable contribution to the history of Canada's prisons and the Canadian prison justice movement."
--Ontario History

"Catherine Fogarty's page-turner is a story of social and political failure. She's worked very hard to flesh out the complex men on both sides of the 1971 Kingston Pen riot and make them into compelling characters. She's found fascinating heroes and moral cowards in places you won't expect. And, when you think you've reached the end of the story, Fogarty will show you injustice upon injustice. Almost no one comes out of this story looking good, including Canadians who think human beings should be locked in cages and left without hope."
--Mark Bourrie, lawyer and author of Bush Runner: The Adventures of Pierre-Esprit Radisson

"Catherine Fogarty's moment-by-moment recreation of the bloody 1971 riot at the notorious Kingston Penitentiary is a compelling must-read. The depth of research is remarkable. The narrative crackles with tension and foreboding. Those caught up in the standoff--inmates, guards, prison officials and journalists alike--come alive. This searing portrait of the still-too-secret world of Canada's prisons truly is impossible to put down."
--Dean Jobb, author of The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream and Empire of Deception

"The most important observation author Catherine Fogarty makes in this her first book (and a good one) is not about the notorious riot in 1971 in Kingston Penitentiary (KP) that she examines, but her conclusion that Canada's prisons are still much better at housing and hurting people than helping them ... Fogarty's chronicle of the KP riot is a comprehensive and action-packed explanation of what went right and wrong when 500 prisoners in the worn-out and under-staffed pen went rogue ... Murder on the Inside is a shocking tale of sickening savagery and unrewarded heroics, and Fogarty details with growing confidence the unhealthy, sadistic straight-jacket life inside Kingston's notorious maximum security prison 50 years ago."
--Winnipeg Free Press

About the Author

Catherine Fogarty is a storyteller. She is the founder and president of Big Coat Media, with offices in Toronto, Los Angeles, Vancouver, and North Carolina. An accomplished television producer, writer and director, Catherine has produced award-winning lifestyle, reality and documentary series for both Canadian and American networks.

Catherine is the executive producer of the Gemini nominated series Love It or List It. In addition to that franchise, Catherine has produced several other lifestyle and documentary series including Animal Magnetism (W Network), My Parents' House (HGTV), and Paranormal Home Inspectors (Investigative Discovery Canada). Catherine also produced and directed I Don't Have Time for This, an intimate documentary about young women with breast cancer.

Originally trained as a social worker, Catherine studied deviance and criminology. She worked with numerous at-risk populations including street youth, people with AIDS, abused women, and social services.

Catherine holds an MA in Social Work, an MBA in Human Resource Management, and an MFA in Creative Non-Fiction from the University of Kings College. She was recently awarded the Marina Nemet Award in Creative Writing through the University of Toronto.