It was opened on 14 July 1880 as a
maximum security penitentiary on a hill overlooking the
Memramcook River valley. It is now, having been built three years after
Stony Mountain Institution (1877), the second oldest federal corrections facility in Canada still in operation following the closure of
Kingston Penitentiary on September 30, 2013. The prison became notorious following
World War II as it was responsible for all maximum security offenders in
Atlantic Canada. It was replaced by the modern
Atlantic Institution in
Renous and was downgraded to handle medium security offenders. Together with
Springhill Institution, Dorchester Penitentiary handles all medium security offenders in the federal system in Atlantic Canada. Springhill Institution has a younger and commensurately more impulsive offender population, whereas Dorchester Penitentiary has specialized in handling Protective Custody offenders in need of treatment and providing psychiatric services to CSC Atlantic Region, therefore having an older offender population. Dorchester Penitentiary recently installed a wind turbine, making it just one of two federal penitentiaries in Canada with such a device. In 2015 Dorchester Pen & Westmorland merged to form Dorchester Institution. They are now referred to as Dorchester Medium Sector (formerly Dorchester Penitentiary) & Dorchester Minimum sector (formerly Westmorland Institution). ==Notable inmates==