Annual Report of the Prison Commissioners (1937), p.30.

Medium

Text

Form

Official report

Artist / Maker

N/A

For many years the Commissioners have drawn attention to the unsuitability of many of our prisons for the development of reforms on modern lines. Within the limits of the funds at their disposal they have carried out a continuous policy of alteration and adaptation of their old buildings and when space allowed workshops, gymnasia, class rooms and other necessities of the modern prison have been provided. In recent years the Commissioners have seized every opportunity that offered of acquiring land adjacent to existing prisons either for cultivation or to enable much needed extensions to be made. But this is not everywhere possible, since many prisons, though originally built on the outskirts of large towns, have long since been engulfed by the rising tide of suburban development. Whatever may be done the old prisons will always represent a monument to the ideas of repression and uniformity which dominated penal theory in the nineteenth century rather than a medium for the ideas of training and reformation which have for many years been the guiding principles of English prison administration.

– N/A

Why have we collected this work?

We want to understand what these prisons are like to live and work in, and how has this changed over time. We are examining the ways that these prison buildings carry traces of the past, while operating in the present day.

The project considers how and why these buildings have survived for so long, and asks how we will know when they have reached the end of their operational lives. We consider the significance of the Victorian prison in shaping public and professional ideas of what prison should be like. Crucially, this project explores the implications of the continued operation of Victorian-era prisons for the contemporary prison service, and aims to inform policy development.

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