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Andrew Mercer Ontario Reformatory for Females

@amreformatory.bsky.social

2.3K followers 2.1K following 110 posts

Criminalized Women & Girl’s Ancestral Research. Supporting descendants whose ancestors were either incarcerated or born at the institution & #adopted. #PrisonAdoptees #PrisonBorn #PunishedInUtero #Genealogy https://andrewmercerreformatory.org/

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Andrew Mercer Ontario Reformatory for Females @amreformatory.bsky.social · Nov 10

Over 20,000 women & girls were incarcerated at the Mercer Reformatory in Toronto, ON from 1880-1969. What happened to the children of imprisoned mother’s or their babies born while incarcerated?
Follow as we explore #HiddenHistories & #adoption
Annual Report 1948. No. 18, p. 36

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Andrew Mercer Ontario Reformatory for Females @amreformatory.bsky.social · 12h

🥚Thousands of Canadian adoptees with carceral birth origins remain unaware — their stories sealed by the Youth Criminal Justice Act and rendered invisible within adoption disclosure practices.

Prison Adoptee @prisonadoptee.bsky.social · 12h

🥚Very few adoptees know we were born in prison. I suspect thousands share this history — but it’s hidden behind youth privacy laws worldwide.

Upcoming event with Deborah Jiang-Stein, author of Prison Baby.

Andrew Mercer Ontario Reformatory for Females @amreformatory.bsky.social · 2d

In 1905 in Ontario, a little girl was placed out for the first time. J.J. Kelso’s vision was to rescue children from unworthy families and give them “safe homes.”
But that vision fell short — she was shuffled through home after home, only breaking free by marrying.

Andrew Mercer Ontario Reformatory for Females @amreformatory.bsky.social · 4d

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒕 — A 1957 film unseen for nearly 70 years, now public (2025).
Found via Library & Archives Canada, we requested a digital copy from the NFB & had it made public
It follows a woman released from Mercer connecting with the new Elizabeth Fry Society
andrewmercerreformatory.org/reading-mate...

Reading Material and More - Andrew Mercer Reformatory

This is a collection of articles, theses, books, podcasts, and chapters that explore the history of the Mercer Reformatory and other similar confined institutions. Most of these materials are availabl...

andrewmercerreformatory.org

Andrew Mercer Ontario Reformatory for Females @amreformatory.bsky.social · 5d

The narrator of the heritage plaque is Lauren Robilliard — an Investigative Genetic Genealogist known for uncovering the identities of unidentified human remains. We thank her for assisting with our #MercerBabies in uncovering their paternal identities. #HiddenHistories revealed through #DNA.
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Andrew Mercer Ontario Reformatory for Females @amreformatory.bsky.social · 5d

🧵The Andrew Mercer Reformatory was one of many carceral institutions in Ontario that imprisoned over 20,000 women and girls.
To read the text beneath the photos on the heritage plaque, please visit: andrewmercerreformatory.org/heritage-pla...
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Andrew Mercer Ontario Reformatory for Females @amreformatory.bsky.social · 6d

🥚All these countries—including Canada—need to investigate what happened to the children of criminalized and incarcerated women and girls, particularly in cases of adoption concealed under youth privacy laws that prevent disclosing whether the mother was criminalized as a "juvenile delinquent."

Farnad Darnell, PhD @docdarnell.bsky.social · 6d

It's a start. But the trauma and pain inflicted on the families and children can't be undone.
🥚 #adopteesky

www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/202...

South Korea president apologises for abusive foreign adoption scheme

Programme, which started after Korean War as a way of removing mixed-race children from society, violated human rights.

www.aljazeera.com

Andrew Mercer Ontario Reformatory for Females @amreformatory.bsky.social · 11d

An abused Italian woman was jailed, her child “placed out” by CAS — learn more about her fight to regain custody of her child. 👉 Re D’Andrea, 1916 CanLII 479 (ON SC)

A story reflecting injustices faced by thousands of criminalized & incarcerated women & girls

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAeF...

Mercer Reformatory for Women: la prigione delle donne, a Toronto, 1880/1969 | OMNI News Italian

YouTube video by OMNI Television

www.youtube.com

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Andrew Mercer Ontario Reformatory for Females @amreformatory.bsky.social · 12d

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A double system of exploitation: children forced into domestic and farm labor, while mothers worked in for-profit Mercer industries. Those who resisted were punished in windowless isolation cells in the Mercer basement—called dungeons.

Andrew Mercer Ontario Reformatory for Females @amreformatory.bsky.social · 12d

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For decades, mothers like her were criminalized for poverty, survival, or resisting control—and had their children taken by CAS. “Placed out” meant forced labor, isolation, and exploitation.

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Andrew Mercer Ontario Reformatory for Females @amreformatory.bsky.social · 12d

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We’ve seen Children’s Aid Society (CAS) and Mercer records of a mom jailed in 1911 with five kids—all “placed out.” One son, indentured, was denied his earnings by Fort William CAS when he turned 18 in 1922. He hired a lawyer. How much did CAS steal from those who had no power?

Sixth Annual Report of the Children's Aid Society of Toronto - 1897
Retrieved from: https://archive.org/details/r01098_1896_97/page/11/mode/1up?view=theater&q=%22indenture%22

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Andrew Mercer Ontario Reformatory for Females @amreformatory.bsky.social · 18d

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Stay tuned as the descendant continues gathering data — uncovering truths long buried… and data still hidden behind the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA).

Andrew Mercer Ontario Reformatory for Females @amreformatory.bsky.social · 18d

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This is an extremely tragic story that begins in the 1930s. It’s unbelievable what happened to this family — the children, the foster care system, the adoptions that followed and Ontario Training School. Make maters worse, discovering your grandmother was at Mercer there during the 1948 riot.

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Andrew Mercer Ontario Reformatory for Females @amreformatory.bsky.social · 18d

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A Mercer descendant exploring femininity, class, morality, and resistance.

This fabric will be joined with printed newspaper clippings from the June 1948 Mercer prison riot — the second month my 17-year-old grandma arrived there.

🎥 Watch the reel:

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Andrew Mercer Ontario Reformatory for Females @amreformatory.bsky.social · 18d

Thank you for letting me know! It’s likely set to private then for only FB friends. Sorry about that. It was a video of an array of fabric plus newspapers images of the riot.

Andrew Mercer Ontario Reformatory for Females @amreformatory.bsky.social · 18d

Mercer descendant, playing with ideas of femininity, class, morality, and resistance
States: this fabric will be joined with printed newspaper clippings from the June 1948 Mercer prison riot — the second month my 17-year-old grandma arrived there
🎥 Watch the reel: www.facebook.com/reel/1428738...

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Andrew Mercer Ontario Reformatory for Females @amreformatory.bsky.social · 20d

Monica's Story: The Hidden Lives of Kids with Imprisoned Moms and Dads
www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7N_...

Andrew Mercer Ontario Reformatory for Females @amreformatory.bsky.social · 20d

For adoptees, the YCJA continues to conceal knowledge and block access to records of forced adoptions of mothers criminalized as “juvenile delinquents” in maternity homes, Good Shepherds, the Mercer, asylums, and other carceral sites across Canada.

www.justice.gc.ca/socjs-esjp/e...

Evolution of Canada’s Youth Criminal Justice System - State of the Criminal Justice System Dashboard

Web Experience Toolkit (WET) includes reusable components for building and maintaining innovative Web sites that are accessible, usable, and interoperable. These reusable components are open source so...

www.justice.gc.ca

Andrew Mercer Ontario Reformatory for Females @amreformatory.bsky.social · 25d

4/4:
So far, we’ve identified several Ontario maternity homes used by Training School officials:

— Salvation Army
— Humewood
— Victor Home
— Armagh

Catholic-run maternity homes of OTS girls haven't yet been identified.
(Asylums and Mercer confined many OTS girls, but weren’t maternity homes.)

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Andrew Mercer Ontario Reformatory for Females @amreformatory.bsky.social · 25d

3/4:
Today, under the YCJA (Youth Criminal Justice Act), adoptees are prohibited from accessing any records that reveal a mother’s offence related to delinquency or CAS wardship.

As a result, it may appear as though their mother entered a maternity home voluntarily.

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Andrew Mercer Ontario Reformatory for Females @amreformatory.bsky.social · 25d

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By virtue of wardship (CAS or OTS), many of these girls who became pregnant were literally incarcerated in maternity homes, asylums, or at the Mercer Reformatory.

They did not go willingly. But official records often say otherwise.

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Andrew Mercer Ontario Reformatory for Females @amreformatory.bsky.social · 25d

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Obscured behind adoptees’ records and adoption stats are likely many girls labeled as "delinquents" or wards of the CAS — committed to Ontario Training Schools (OTS) or placed on probation until age 21 (later reduced to 18).
The image below shows the scale of girls under OTS wardship only.

Annual Report 1962, Part 2: Training Schools, N0 37, p 10.

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Andrew Mercer Ontario Reformatory for Females @amreformatory.bsky.social · 25d

Wards of the CAS were almost never named in the press — but 13-year-old Lillie was.

Little is known about her, but we do know she arrived at the Industrial Refuge in the west wing of the Mercer Reformatory.
Her charge? “Immoral conduct.”

Like so many others, Lillie’s voice was lost in the records.

“Sent to the Mercer Reformatory,” The Evening Post, Lindsay, Nov 4, 1903, 2.

Andrew Mercer Ontario Reformatory for Females @amreformatory.bsky.social · Sep 7

According to Ont Agricultural College, in 1934 L. Payne, a grad, published a book: Bread and Water Diets of Prisoners Found Inadequate. In 1947, K. Sandford documented punishment in the dungeon and the bread-and-water diet at Mercer. This raises the question: when was this punitive practice ended?

"inside Mercer," The Globe and Mail, Jul 04, 1947, 4.

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Andrew Mercer Ontario Reformatory for Females @amreformatory.bsky.social · Sep 5

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Over 20,000 locked up at Mercer Reformatory. Many were ages 16 to 18 and pregnant, but still sentenced as adults in Ontario. Under the JDA, under 16 meant a “delinquent”; over 16, an adult. Does the YCJA now allow these historical adult records to be treated as youth—and retrospectively denied?

Andrew Mercer Ontario Reformatory for Females @amreformatory.bsky.social · Sep 5

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Several access requests for Mercer records were denied under the YCJA. In this case (age 17, 1931), she was sentenced as an adult—yet the records are now denied as if she were a youth? Really? We sought help. 👇
#Hiddencarceralbirths
@debdundas.bsky.social @kpateonthehill.bsky.social

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