Canada · BC · Surrey
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The British Columbia Penitentiary (BC Penitentiary, commonly referred to as the BC Pen and the Pen) was a federal maximum security prison located in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada. The BC Penitentiary operated for 102 years, from 1878 until it was decommissioned in 1980. It was the first federal penal institution west of Manitoba.
Source: Wikipedia article lead, CC-BY-SA.
Capacity
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Current population
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Occupancy
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Year opened
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Operational
Figures from official sources · verified 28 May 2026 · methodology
Operator
Correctional Service of CanadaPopulation held
Mixed/unknown
Opened
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Region
BC
Security level
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Death-row facility
No
No conditions summary available yet.
No visiting information available.
No mailing information available.
Contact the operator's website for inmate-specific procedures.
No major issues documented in our database.
Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated
Same country, matched on type + security level where possible.
How many of our profile fields are populated. We surface this so families and researchers know the limits.
Under CC-BY-4.0. Include the URL and access date; the site is a living reference and entries can change.
World Prisons. (2026). British Columbia Penitentiary. Retrieved July 21, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/prisons/british-columbia-penitentiary
"British Columbia Penitentiary." World Prisons. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/prisons/british-columbia-penitentiary.
@misc{worldprisons-british-columbia-penitentia,
author = {{World Prisons}},
title = {British Columbia Penitentiary},
year = {2026},
url = {https://worldprisons.com/prisons/british-columbia-penitentiary},
urldate = {2026-07-21}
}