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Text
Form
Interview quote
Artist / Maker
(Prisoner, HMP Liverpool, 2023)
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I’ve got many a Scouse mate, and their family is like “yeah, Walton, drive past…” when I was up on the fives, people drive past beeping their horns. Like say ten cars will go past, five of them will beep their horn […] It’s just part of the city, isn’t it? Walton, HMP Liverpool. Same as Manchester, HMP Manchester, that’ll be a part of it. If it was knocked down, it mostly wouldn’t be the same, would it?
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.