Infestation

Medium

Text

Form

Interview quote

Artist / Maker

Former staff member, retired 2012

In the late ‘80s, there was a big infestation in a lot of jails of cockroaches. Because they obviously improved the boilers and they were a lot warmer, you produce cockroaches. And it was nothing to walk along the landing at night and feel the crunching of cockroaches underneath your shoes, because these things were running around all over the place…. anyone who refurbishes an old Victorian building would tell you, you improve one thing, you have an effect on the other because of the way they were built. And that effect was you had an infestation of rats. The only problem with that was prisoners used to throw a lot of food outside the windows, so, you know, rats would eat the food. We had a real priority on cleanliness and bringing these guys in to get rid of these infestations. You never cure cockroaches, you never cure rats, but you can obviously control them, and that’s what they did.

– Former staff member, retired 2012

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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