Non-existent

Medium

Text

Form

Interview quote

Artist / Maker

Member of prison staff, HMP/YOI Lincoln

The pest control was non-existent then, there were cockroaches running round every bin, there were rats all over the place at night, pigeons… you only had to leave a window open and have an empty cell for two or three days, and when you went in there you had about fifty pigeons in. It was absolutely rammed with pigeons, and the amount of pigeon poo in one night, you just can’t believe what they can do to a cell. They even used to nest in the sinks. If you’d leave a cell open two or three days and come back to that cell thinking that cell is available, put that prisoner in there, when you open the door, about twenty pigeons shot out except the one sat on its eggs on its nest in the old basins.

– Member of prison staff, HMP/YOI Lincoln

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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