The inspector suggested that in order to introduce the solitary system without incurring the expense of building new prisons, the construction plans for the extensions of the new penitentiaries opened between 1870 and 1880 57 should provide for one wing 'having roomy and lightsome cells wherein those bad characters can be placed in separate confinement and then perform their allotted daily labour.'58

By 1888, Inspector Moylan's advocacy had made itself felt, for a decision was taken to construct at Kingston Penitentiary a block of cells suitable for the solitary confinement of both incorrigible and habitual offenders and the newly received prisoners. In his 1888 annual report, Inspector Moylan reviewed some of the European experiences with the solitary system, particularly in England and Belgium, to demonstrate that the system, if properly administered, was consistent with his views of the purposes of prison discipline. He cited some of the glowing (albeit selfserving) testimonials from a number of the European delegates to the 1872 London Prison Congress. The Belgian delegate claimed that the recidivism rate of those leaving solitary confinement in Belgian prisons was only 4.46 per cent, whereas it was 68 per cent for those liberated from congregate prisons. The director of the prison at Bruchsal, in Baden, was of the view that separate imprisonment in Germany 'produced excellent results'; that he had seen prisoners live thirteen years in separate confinement' 'without any inconvenience' and that in his view 'all prisoners, except 1%, could endure cellular confinement for life without injury ...'59 Based upon his review, Inspector Moylan confidently asserted that 'the isolation of newly received convicts, for eight to nine months, for the object mentioned by Sir Walter Crofton [for reflection, repentance and religious instruction] and of incorrigibles for at least 18 months, to reform and prevent them from corrupting those who are well inclined, can be tried with all safety. The experiment is certainly well worth a trial; it is the first effectual step towards real and radical reform.60

As the 'Prison of Isolation' (the chilling but compellingly appropriate name given to the new cell block at Kingston) neared completion, Inspector Moylan addressed the nature of the regime under which prisoners would live. The prisoners were to work in their cells, and 'light industries, which would not injure health by being carried on in the cells, by vitiating the air, such as map making, willow and rattan work, broom and cane and chair making, would be suitable, and a very limited output of each kind of such handiwork would not interfere, to any appreciable extent, with outside manufacturers.'61 The guiding principle for the selection of work in the Prison of Isolation, as elsewhere, was that it be 'calculated to elevate and reform, instead of lowering and degrading' the prisoners.62 The inspector strongly urged that as a necessary step in devising a system of management and framing suitable rules and regulations for the new Prison of Isolation, a commission be appointed to examine the prison system in Europe where the separate plan was in vogue, particularly in Belgium and Ireland. In urging that the Irish Crofton system be examined, Inspector Moylan cited the characterization of that system by the eminent American penologist Dr Wines: 'an adult reformatory, in which the will of the prison inmate is brought into accord with the will of the prison keeper, and held there so long as that virtue becomes a habit.'63 There was no doubt in the mind of Inspector Moylan what the Prison of Isolation was designed to accomplish. In 1981, the breaking of a man's corrupted spirit in aid of reformation was a desirable and legitimate purpose of imprisonment.

No commission was appointed, and in 1892 Inspector Moylan, lamenting the lack of precedents and the absence of any existing institution in North America still following the separate or solitary system, drafted a code of rules for governance of the new prison.64

The Prison of Isolation was completed and received its first prisoners in 1894, the same year in which Inspector Moylan retired from his twenty- year inspectorate. However, during the time that had elapsed between the decision to begin construction of the Prison of Isolation and its completion, Inspector Moylan's original dual conception of its function had undergone revision. In the new inspector's first report in 1895, it is stated that the prison 'is [to be] used for third term men, incorrigibles and prisoners who have been sentenced for unnatural offences.'65

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