A Criminal Record was shot and edited in 1969-70 in Collins Bay Penitentiary. Originally broadcast on CBC Weekday.

The inmates of Collin's Bay Penitentiary (Kingston, Ontario) put on the play "A Criminal Record" by Peter Madden. The film explores their lives and the story behind this endeavour.

I was 18, an English Lit/Film student at Queens University, Kingston, ON. I Directed and interviewed prisoners as they rehearsed the play of the same name, written and performed inside Collins Bay. A Criminal Record was about the courts and prison system- from the inside. 

I asked the Convicts how their role related to their real-life experiences. Martin Duckworth shot it all. The great Martin Duckworth. Lucky student/stringer me… 

I edited and released it to CBC Weekday, which was a documentary / current affairs series spin-off from the long-form CBC Weekend. 

A documentary on TV! For 18-year-old me, that was a thrillingly proud event. From that moment, documentary had me for life. 

Credits

• Produced, Directed and Edited by: Allan Code

• Produced and Distribution by: CBC Weekday

• Cinematography and Camera by: Martin Duckworth, Allan Code, Nancy Helwig, and James Morrison

• Thank you to the participation of the guards and inmates of Collin’s Bay Penitentiary

• Acknowledgments: Quarry Films Queen’s University, The Solicitor’s General’s Dept, CKWS Radio and Television Kingston, and Collin’s Bay Penitentiary Administration