Atlantic Institution
Prison in New Brunswick, Canada
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Atlantic Institution (French: Établissement de l'Atlantique[1]) is a Canadian federal corrections facility for male offenders located in Renous, New Brunswick.
 Interactive map of Atlantic Institution | |
| Location | Renous, Blackville Parish, Northumberland County, New Brunswick |
|---|---|
| Security class | Maximum security |
| Capacity | 331 |
| Population | 228 |
| Opened | 1987 |
| Managed by | Correctional Service of Canada |
It is in proximity to Moncton, with about a two-hour driving distance.[2]
History
It was opened in 1987 on the north bank of the Southwest Miramichi River;[citation needed] the property was formerly used as an ammunition depot,[2] by the Canadian Forces.[citation needed]
Renous was selected as the site for the new maximum security prison for Atlantic Canada during the early 1980s after the aging Dorchester Penitentiary was evaluated as being unsuitable for the changing focus of correctional services for repeat and violent offenders.
Following the opening of Atlantic Institution, the Dorchester Penitentiary was downgraded to handle medium security prisoners in conjunction with the Springhill Institution.
Notable residents
- Current
- Justin Bourque, perpetrator of the 2014 Moncton shootings.
- Randolph Brown, Ontario member of the Bandidos biker gang.[3]
- Christopher Garnier, murder of an off-duty Truro police officer he met in a bar in downtown Halifax.
- James Bernard Melvin, threatening jurist and assault[4]
- Morgan James McNeil, manslaughter in Cape Breton homicide[5]
- David Mylvaganam, conspirator in the killing of Bich-Ha Pan and attempted murder of Hann Pan masterminded by Jennifer Pan[2]
- George Pitt, convicted of rape and murder of 6-year-old Samantha Dawn Toole in Saint John, New Brunswick in 1993.
- Joshua and Dustin Preeper, brothers serving life sentences for the murder of Melissa Peacock[6]
- Former
- Ernest Guitare, served 23 years in federal custody with police not giving many details, although later also stabbing a prison nurse. Released in 2017.[7]
- Died in Prison
- Sofyan Boalag, Dangerous offender convicted of 3 rapes in St Johns. One victim was a 6-year-old girl. Was housed there until his death in November 2025.[8]
- Serial killer Allan Legere was housed here until his escape (during a hospital visit in Moncton for an ear infection) on May 3, 1989 and went on a year long terror spree in Miramichi, New Brunswick. Once caught, he was then moved to Canada's only super maximum-security prison Centre régional de réception in Quebec.