The higher up you go

Medium

Text

Form

Interview quote

Artist / Maker

Prisoner, HMP/YOI Lincoln

The higher you go up, the more of a view you’ve got. I’m on the ones, my view is absolutely terrible. I get to see the exercise yard, which is enclosed. But I do get to see the chapel and the observation tower, so I do get a very nice view for me. For me personally. Would I like to be higher? Yes, I would, because then I’d get a better view. But then I like being low because I think sometimes the higher you go up in a prison and the more of a view you get, the more it reminds you of what you’re missing. When I was on the fours, having worked in a hospital, I could see the hospital and it took me back thirty years, and that was actually quite upsetting.

– Prisoner, 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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