Barrie MacKenzie (born 1944) was a Canadian criminal who was credited with a key role in ending the 1971 Kingston Penitentiary riot.
Early criminal career
MacKenzie was born in Hamilton into a broken home. During his childhood, he was placed "in care" and grew up in 14 different foster homes, lonely and unloved. After being convicted of theft, he was sent to the Guelph reformatory. In 1968, he was arrested for armed robbery and escaped from the Halton county jail in Milton by knocking out a policeman. Within half an hour, MacKenzie was recaptured.
MacKenzie was sentenced later in 1968 to 8 years in prison for armed robbery, escaping lawful custody and assaulting a police officer with his sentence to be served at Kingston Penitentiary, the toughest prison in Canada. The prisoner-writer Roger Caron wrote that MacKenzie, Brian Beaucage and Wayne Ford were the three toughest prisoners at Kingston penitentiary who were all "natural leaders" and were "not to be fucked with" by the other inmates. The journalist Catherine Forgarty wrote that "...MacKenzie was a clean-cut, muscular guy who was known as a con's con-tough as nails and well respected. He adhered to the prisoners' code and wasn't afraid to stick his neck out to help others".
The Kingston penitentiary riot
On the evening of 14 April 1971, MacKenzie was in his cell in the 3-B range when he was released by another prisoner who had been handed the keys by Billy Knight, the leader of the uprising. Knight assigned MacKenzie to the inmate "police force" in charge of keeping order along with Ford and Beaucage. MacKenzie protected the "undesirable" prisoners in the 4-D range for child molesters from the other prisoners. When two prisoners attempted to kill a child molester, Brian Ensor, MacKenzie came to his aid and forced Ensor against his will into a cell for his own protection. MacKenzie took turns guarding the six prison guards while being ordered to kill them if the Crown should try to storm the prison. Caron observed that MacKenzie and Beaucage were friends, but felt that there was much tension under their superficial friendship and the two would soon turn on each other. On 16 April, MacKenzie freed one of the hostages, Terry Decker, as a good faith gesture intended to end the uprising peacefully.
A citizens committee had formed to mediate an end to the crisis. MacKenzie came to form a strong rapport with one of the citizens' committee, Ron Haggart, the crime correspondent of the Toronto Telegram newspaper. Haggart was the member of the citizens' committee that MacKenzie trusted the most. Caron wrote between Haggart and MacKenzie "a bond of trust began to develop between the two strong personalities". When the soldiers of the Royal Canadian Regiment arrived at Kingston penitentiary, Haggart assured MacKenzie during a phone call that he just spoken with Major Edward Richmond, the commander of the task force, who in turn promised him that the prison would not be stormed as long the lives of the hostages were not in danger.
During the talks, MacKenzie who sat on the inmates' committee impressed the citizens committee with his "cool demeanor" and being more reasonable than Knight who made absurd demands that the Crown would never accept. When the lawyer Arthur Martin of the citizens committee told Knight that the Solicitor-General, Jean-Pierre Goyer, had rejected his demand for immunity, Knight began angry and agitated. MacKenzie told Knight: "Dummy up, just dummy up, we're getting tired of your bullshit". When Knight continued to press for pardon, MacKenzie tensely told him: "You're the only who's saying that". Martin told Knight: "You have a choice between hanging for capital murder of a prison guard or accepting charges of kidnapping". When Knight persisted with his demand for amnesty, MacKenzie snapped at him: "We don't want your ping-pong prizes. Most of your grievances are silly. The object is get the guys out of here". MacKenzie offered the terms of a surrender as a "pro rata arrangement" where 100 prisoners would be freed for every hostage freed, and a promise that the guards would not beat the prisoners after the crisis ended. MacKenzie also wanted a promise that the inmates would not be sent to Millhaven Institution and that the Crown not announce the inmates were being sent to other prisons other than Millhaven, saying: "That saves the government the embarrassment of giving in to our demands. The public won't known the government made a deal with us". The committee and then the Crown agreed to the terms that MacKenzie had offered. The meeting ended with MacKenzie stealing the cigarette package of Ron Haggart as he left the room.