The big house

Medium

Text

Form

Poem

Artist / Maker

N.K. HMP Liverpool

It’s your home, innit?
While you’re here, it is though.
Like a block of flats.
And the screws think it’s nothing
and they come in and tear it all apart
because they don’t respect you.
Like your pictures are all
torn off at the corners
Pictures of your kids and your family
with their footprints all over
It’s a matter of respect.

I feel like a sheep
Your door gets open and I
Walk around the way I’m supposed to
I know it’s meant to happen:
You’ve been naughty and its
meant to learn you
But I don’t think it learns you
at all
It’s never gonna change

– N.K. HMP Liverpool

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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