Finally-a comprehensive set of pages describing and illustrating the old Holloway House of Correction, a building I am interested in because of the association with my novel, A Life Lived.
Hundreds of rare and never before published photographs, prints, maps and detailed architectural drawings plus structural details and descriptions.It is with a great deal of satisfaction that I am now in a position to offer this collection of documents to a wider audience, as I believe they should be. The tired old girl was pulled down in the Nineteen Seventies and while it was a useful ambassador to the British Criminal system, serving it steadfastly for about 123 years, officialdom eventually turned its back on what was really a spectacular and magnificent piece of architecture and put it to death.
Naturally, for any of those poor souls unlucky enough to have languished there for any length of time, I would hardly expect them to agree with me, however, be that as it may, there can be no denying that the society which built it, was quick to disown its memory. Quite surprising really, but then again, it did take me well over one year of digging around in London's most celebrated institutions (as you may read elsewhere on this site) to uncover as much as I have. And I have a feeling that there is a lot more to be found as well.
I aim is for this this to be a useful resource and an organic one as well, as there is very little 'out there' about the old Holloway Jail. So I do invite you to participate if you can by gifting what memories, photographs and anything else you may think other people might like to read about the old place. (Especially to do with any details which I have got wrong! Remember, I was never there!) Perhaps it may be cathartic and indeed, even freeing for yourself. To know that you have an expression for a memory. I'll leave it to you and perhaps you might pass the word along. Anything offered would be treated with respect and anonymously if that is needed. Or I'll proudly name you if you want. Also, apologies for any solecisms. The site is growing!
See to your right and down a little for the links.
The Model.
"The city prison, usually known as "Holloway Castle," was erected in 1854 at a cost of £92,650; occupies an area of about 10 acres, surrounded by a wall 18 feet high; has a castellated Gothic front, copied from Warwick Castle; comprises six wings, radiating from a central tower; contains accommodation for about 370 male and 65 female prisoners; is all warmed by hot water; and each cell measures 13 feet by 7 and receives a constant supply of fresh air by means of a ventilating shaft."
A history of the site.
1849 - 1852 Built to the designs of James Bunstone Bunning
1870 Debtors admitted
1881 - 1882 B & C wings extended to provide 340 new cells
1883 - 1884 A new hospital
1886 New treadwheel, male and female reception blocks & laundry
By 1890 51 additional cells in existing buildings
1891 - 1892 New female infirmary
1902 Became women only prison
1905 DX wing built
1913 Hospital cells added between C-wing & hospital
1970 - 1985 Demolished and rebuilt
By January 1843 the Court of Common Council and the Court of Aldermen of the City of London agreed that the existing Giltspur Street prison was inadequate and that a new house of correction was needed. A number of proposals for sites within the City were considered, including the enlarging of an existing prison (Giltspur Street, Newgate), a new prison on the site of a prison (Whitecross Street, the Fleet), a new prison adjacent to an existing prison (Whitecross Street) and a new prison on a new site (Goswell Street). However, these schemes were rejected and, for reasons of cost, space and salubrity, an area of land outside the City was chosen. The preferred site was at Holloway, where the City had purchased some land as a cemetery during a cholera epidemic in 1832. Two unsigned plans for a prison for 400 inmates at Holloway, dated March 1846, survive. They emanated from the Office of Works and may be by James Bunstone Bunning, the City Architect. One was for a gaol and house of correction with a half-cartwheel plan and detached female and juvenile wings linked by passages to the main prison. The prison had 96 dayrooms to allow the classification of 400 prisoners but could be converted to a separate prison for nearly 600 inmates. The other was for a cruciform radial prison with juvenile and female wings flanking the gatehouse. A series of undated drawings for a cruciform prison also survive.
The Holloway site was finally approved in 1847 and in June, Bunning was asked to prepare plans for a prison containing 400 separate cells. With the approval of Joshua Jebb, the surveyor-general of prisons, the new prison was to be adaptable to any system of discipline. On July 19th, Bunning produced a plan for a prison to contain 288 male prisoners, 56 women and 56 juveniles, at an estimated cost of £68,000 or between £72,000 and £75,000 with extra workshops. The prison had four three-story radial wings on a star plan with a cruciform administration wing and detached female and juvenile wings. The male wings had workshops at their outer ends, the female wing had a washhouse and the juvenile wing had a schoolroom. Bunning amended his plans in September and produced a scheme with the same accommodation in a saltire-plan of four male wings with an administration wing to which were attached the juvenile and female wings. This plan was approved by Captain Williams, an Inspector of Prisons, in October and later that month Jebb attended a meeting of the Sub Special Prisons Committee and suggested alterations to the plan. Bunning produced a new set of plans in December and these were submitted to the Secretary of State for his approval. The plans show a half-cartwheel prison with two wings of thirteen bays and two of twelve bays. A T-plan administration wing was flanked by detached twelve-bay wings for juveniles and women. Space was left for workrooms at the outer ends of four of the wings, while the male and female infirmary occupied a detached building at the outer ends of the two right-hand wings. The plans were approved by the Secretary of State on 29th January 1848.
The estimated cost of building the prison in February 1848 was £80,000. In January 1849 the architect's sealed estimate was opened; his projected total cost of building the prison was £96,900. A tender of £92,290 from William Trego was accepted. A set of undated drawings signed by both Bunning and Trego survive. All four main wings have thirteen bays and there are slight differences in the layout of the basement and the administration wing compared with the plans approved by the Secretary of State. There is no detached infirmary, provision for sick male inmates being made at first floor level in the main prison. Linking blocks are shown joining the juvenile and female wings to the administration wing. These contain workrooms on the first floor and, on the second floor, a schoolroom and female infirmary respectively. The ground plan is very similar to that published H. Mayhew and J. Binny's book on the Criminal Prisons of London in 1862, although the layout of rooms in the administration wing is different.
The foundation stone was laid by the Lord Mayor, Sir James Duke, on 26th September 1849. The original contractor, William Trego, went bankrupt in October 1850, and between 1st November and 6th January 1851 all work on the prison stopped. Another builder, Samuel Grimsdell, offered to complete the contract, but he could not agree terms. The contract was finally taken up by John Jay in January 1851. The other contractors were:
'plumbers work - Messrs Pontifex & Mallory
‘gas fittings - William Strode
'bell-hanging - Samuel Thomas of Birmingham
‘locks - Messrs Bramah
‘pumps - Mr Bessemer
‘laundry - Messrs Haden
‘stoves - G Eckstein.
The clerk of works was Thomas Lawrie.
A certificate of approval for the prison (with the exception of eighteen punishment cells) was given by Captain Williams, an Inspector of Prisons, in July 1852 and the house of correction opened on 6th October 1852. The total expenditure for building it was £91,547 10s 8d The prison committee noted that the New Prison was in every respect suited for the punishment and reformation of offenders with a due regard to the preservation of health.
A plan and several engravings of the prison, together with a full written description of it, were published in The Builder in 1851 and in Mayhew and Binny's book in 1862. There were 436 cells, 283 for males, 60 for females, 61 for juveniles, eighteen refractory cells and fourteen reception cells. In addition, fourteen common workrooms occupied 96 cell spaces. The prisoners were classified according to the nature of their crime and whether it was their first or subsequent offence. In 1877, on the eve of the nationalization of the prison system, Col. A B McHardy visited fifty prisons, including Holloway, and reported on their accommodation. At Holloway he found, for male prisoners, 289 single cells, six punishment cells and eight reception cells; and for female prisoners, 60 single cells, one double cell, two punishment cells and four reception cells. Debtors had been admitted to the prison since 1870, and McHardy also found 64 single cells and four double cells for male debtors and two rooms for female debtors. A total of 362 cells were to be received by the Prison Commissioners in 1878.
A number of alterations and additions were made in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. In 1881-1882, B and C wings were extended to provide an additional 340 cells and by 1890 a further 51 cells had been created in existing buildings. A new male hospital was erected in 1883-1884, new reception blocks and a laundry were built in 1886 and a new female infirmary was constructed in 1891-1892. At the time of R G Alford's visits to Holloway, in and after 1902, there was accommodation for 949 women, although the daily average we 613; the prison became an all-female establishment in August 1902. In 1905 a new wing for 101 inmates, DX, was opened. Additional hospital cells were added between C-wing and the hospital in 1913.
By the 1930s, the prison was found to be inadequate and following the 1938 Criminal Justice Act a proposal was made to rebuild it on a new site at Heathrow. The proposal was reconsidered in the 1960s with the appointment of the Advisory Council on the Penal System in 1966. The Council, whose findings were published in 1968 (the Radzinowicz Report), concluded that the existing prison should be demolished and a new one built on the site. A comprehensive photographic record of the buildings was made by RCHME in August 1970 prior to demolition commencing. HMP Holloway was erected between 1970 and 1983.
Inventory
The City House of Correction was situated on the north-west side of Parkhurst Road at its junction with Camden Road. The prison was entered through two gatehouses, an outer one, which was set back from flanking houses for the governor and chaplain, and an inner one, at the south-east end of the administration wing. The prison had a radial plan with four cell blocks for adult males at nine o'clock (A wing), eleven o'clock (B wing), one o'clock (C wing) and three o'clock (D wing), and the administration block at six o'clock. On either side of the administration wing, parallel to A and D wings, was a cell block, that to the south-west (E wing) holding juveniles and that to the north-east (F wing) holding females. The buildings were constructed of brick, with the exception of walls visible from the road - the gatehouses, the front walls and outer ends of E and F wings and the central ventilation tower. These elevations also displayed crenulations, machicolations and buttresses reminiscent of a medieval castle. The doorways and windows had arched heads. All the wings had three stories and a basement, the basements being largely above ground level.
Outer Gatehouse, Governor's House and Chaplain's House
The outer gatehouse was set back from the road. It had two stories with a central arched gateway and flanking turrets. The porter's rooms were on the ground floor and the chief warder's accommodation was on the first floor. On either side of the gatehouse, on the street frontage, were houses for the governor and chaplain.
Inner Gatehouse and Administration Block
The inner gatehouse was at the outer (south-east) end of the administration block. The gateway was flanked by carved stone griffins which remain at HMP Holloway. The griffins were carved in Caen stone by John Hemmings in 1852. The outer end of the administration block, which lay between E and F wings, was wider than the inner end which linked the block to the central hall. At the outer end, on the ground floor, were the main entrance hall and a spacious staircase, offices for the governor, reception warder and clerks, and the magistrates committee room. At the inner end were visiting rooms, a waiting room and offices for the deputy governor and surgeon. The reception facilities for new prisoners were located in the basement. At the time of McHardy's visit in 1877, reception was still in the basement and the offices were on the ground floor. On the first floor were the chapel and rooms for the chaplain and matron, and there was a room for lady visitors on the second floor. On both the second and third floors there were rooms for female debtors.
Cell Blocks
The cell blocks all had three stories and a basement in which there were also cells. The wings were open to the roof and the cells on the upper floors were reached from galleries. Wings A to D housed adult male prisoners, E wing was for juveniles and F wing was for females. The wings contained separate cells of the same dimensions as those at Pentonville (13' x 7. x 9' high) but whereas in the Model Prison, work was undertaken in the cells, at Holloway there were associated rooms in the male wings where inmates worked together in silence. The prisoners were also classified.
At the outer end of A-wing there were workshops for the manufacture of mats, and in B-wing there was a school-room for adult males and a workroom for tailors and shoemakers. C Wing contained the infirmary. The kitchen was located in the basement of D-wing. There were originally punishment cells in C and D wings, but by 1862 those in C wing had been converted into a workroom. The accommodation remained similar in 1877, with a mixture of cells and workshops in A, B and C wings. Originally all four wings were thirteen bays long, but B and C wings were extended by sixteen and nineteen bays respectively in 1881-2. An additional cell block, X-wing, was built in line with the end of D wing in 1905. It had three floors and a basement and was eighteen bays long. The cells were smaller than the existing ones and measured 10' 6'' x 7' x 9' high. It was to house 100 ‘star’ offenders.
E and F wings lay south-east of the main prison on either side of the administration block to which they were linked. They were both twelve bays long. E wing, the juvenile prison, and F wing, the female prison, both contained their own reception facilities and school room. F wing also incorporated the prison laundry. After debtors were admitted to the City House of Correction in 1870, they were housed in E wing, and McHardy found in 1877 twenty single cells and two double cells on the ground and first floors and 24 cells on the second floor together with a kitchen for the debtors at first-floor level and an infirmary over it on the second floor. F wing in 1877 contained the matron's quarters, punishment cells, reception cells and laundry in the basement; sixteen cells on the ground floor; twenty single cells, one double cell and a schoolroom on the first floor and twenty-four cells and an infirmary on the second floor.
Mayhew and Binny describe the original appearance of the cells. They contained a water closet, a copper basin, a folding table and a triangular corner cupboard with three shelves. On the top shelf was kept the hammock and bedding; on the Middle shelf were a plate, jug, spoon and wooden salt-cellar; and on the bottom shelf were a Bible, prayer book, hymn book, combs, brush and a rubber for cleaning the cell floor. In a small drawer under the shelves were window-cleaning materials.
Convicted and Remand Receptions (formerly Men's and Women's Receptions)
New reception facilities for men and women were erected in 1886. The male reception block was located at the outer end of A wing. After 1902 it was used for convicted prisoners but a new reception was being planned for 1908. The female block was on the north-east side of the outer gatehouse, attached to F wing. It had two stories and contained an examination room, baths, clothing store, medical officer's room, and cells measuring 9' x 5' x 9'. After 1902 it was used for remand inmates.
Remand & Convicted Hospitals (former Male & Female Infirmaries)
Work on a new male infirmary was underway in 1883 and it had opened by 1885. It had two stories and contained eight cells, three padded cells and two wards. After 1902 it became the remand hospital. In 1891-2 a new infirmary for 23 female inmates was erected.
It had two stories with, on the ground floor, six cells, two padded cells, a ward for female officers, a surgery, a medical officer's room and a kitchen; and on the first floor, two wards, a lying-in ward and a nurses room. A former isolation ward was converted to a crèche. After 1902 the hospital was used by convicted prisoners. In 1913 some hospital cells were built joining C wing to the convicted hospital.
Treadwheel House
The treadwheel house was situated between C- and D-wings. The treadwheel was divided into two compartments, one for sixteen adults and the other for eight juveniles. There were also 28 boxes for picking oakum and prisoners would alternate between the two activities. The treadwheel was used to pump water for the prison and could be supplemented by an attached pump house with 21 pumps.
A new treadwheel was erected in 1886.
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Bibliography
R G Alford, Notes on the Buildings of English Prisons (1909-10), 1, pp.19-28
J Camp, Holloway Prison. The Place and the People (1974)
A E J Hollander & W Kellaway, Studies in London History Presented to Philip Edmund Jones (1969), pp.447-74
H Mayhew & J Binny, Criminal Prisons of London (1862), pp.533-87
J L E Oliver, The History and Development of Holloway Prison (HMP Holloway, December 1990)
The Builder, Vl, 1848, p.94
The Builder, 9, 1851, pp.376-8
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A description of Holloway’s House of Correction about 1862
"As we approached the outer gate of the prison by the enclosed entry flanked on our right hand by the chaplain's house, and on the left by that of the governor, both uniform in appearance and of elegant construction, the battlements and lofty tower of the prison rose conspicuously before us, reminding us of some noble castle of the olden feudal times. On our knocking at the outer iron bolted gate, an elderly, modest-looking officer appeared at the grating, and admitted us within the walls of the prison. He was attired in the prison uniform, consisting of a surtout and trousers of dark blue cloth and cap with peak, with a dark shining leather belt, from which was suspended an iron chain with the keys of the prison attached.
The Outer Gate and Courtyard.
We first inspected the lodge occupied by the gate warder, consisting of a small room on each side of the gateway. The one on the right hand is furnished with an oaken table and a large oaken case set beside the wall as we enter, containing an assortment of rifles, pistols, cutlasses and bayonets, tastefully arranged. Alongside is a cupboard, in the interior of which is a series of hooks to contain the keys of the prison.
Over the mantle-piece is a letterbox, where letters are deposited to be sent to the post-office and for delivery to the prison; opposite to it is a time indicated, surmounted by a dial-plate. On the wall are suspended a City Almanac, giving a list of all the different Court, and a list of the magistrates at the Central Criminal Court, Guildhall, and the Mansion House.
The chief warder called our attention to a book deposited on a desk, where the visitors to the prison are required to sign their names, and requested us to enter our name in it. The desk contained a visiting book for the prisoner's friends; also a book for visitors who have received orders from the magistrates to visit the prisoners; another for solicitors who visit the prison; and a fourth records the attendance of ladies who aid female prisoners on their liberation, by getting them into institutions or providing them with situations in the Metropolis.
The gate warden handed us several other books and added "There is a book to record the visits of the chaplain and surgeon to the prison; also a book to note the labourers and tradesmen employed with the establishment."
He further showed us a volume in which the vehicles entering the prison gate are recorded with the number of the cabs, carriages, etc and the non-resident officers attendance book, specifying the precise time they are occupied in duty; and one containing the names of the male and female prisoners, alphabetically arranged, with the date of their discharge.
At the time of our visit a cheerful fire was burning in the grate, with a comfortable rug on the hearth, and a neat cocoa-nut mat at the door, made by the prisoners. There are several bells here; one communicating with the reception ward, another with the chaplain's house, and a third with that of the governor.
We proceeded to the small room on the opposite side of the archway where the warder at the gate generally sits and takes his meals, while the one we left is generally occupied at his office. This small apartment in construction and dimensions is exactly similar to the other we have already described and is neatly furnished with an oaken table and several oaken chairs. There is here a comfortable fireplace and gas jet and also a bell communicating with the governor's house. On the wall is affixed a copy of the Rules relating to the treatment and conduct of the prisoners.
Leaving the porter's lodge, we enter the pointed arch, which is thirteen feet in breadth and twenty-nine in length and at the upper extremity, sixteen feet high. The chief warder called out attention to the outer folding-gate of the prison, about eleven feet square. It is composed of solid oak four inches thick, riveted with strong bolts of iron, with a small iron grating about eight inches square, occasionally closed with a wooden trap.
There is a narrow wicket gate in one of the folds of the large gate for the ingress and egress of the visitors, which is fastened, as in the case of the large gate, with a patent lock. The top of the arch over the prison gate is fenced with strong massive iron bars. The chief warder has a suite of apartments over the porter's lodge consisting of a kitchen, pantry, parlour, two bedrooms, with scullery, sink and water -closet attached.
Leaving the porter's lodge we enter the courtyard, where the prison has a very imposing appearance, with its castellated front and the lofty wide extended range of buildings forming the female wing on our right, and the juvenile wing on our left hand, each consisting of three floors.
The porch of the prison with the inner gate projects a considerable way from the main building in front as seen in one of the engraving, and the pillar on each side is surmounted by a large winged griffin rampant facing the doorway. One of them has a key in one of his talons, and a large dark leg-iron in the other. Ad the other has one of his talons extended as though he were aiming to seize hold of his prey, while the other clasps a set of massive leg-irons.
The courtyard in front of the prison is graveled and carefully drained, and bordered with flowers and shrubs, such as wallflower, hollyhock and evergreens of different kinds. At the back of the lodge, on each side of the arch, is a small grotto, ingeniously erected by the gate warder, with a miniature fortification beside one of them.
Office and cells etc of the Reception-ward.
We were admitted by the inner warder, an intelligent Scotchman, into the main prison. On entering by the wicker-gate, similar to the one in the outer lodge, already described, we found ourselves in a spacious hall, beneath the glazed roof of the porch, which sloped upward towards the lofty turrets in front of the prison. The reception ward is situated on the basement; and an ample stone staircase, on the right hand of the reception ward, leads to the central hall and the corridors of the adult prison. The staircase is enclosed by a massive chiselled stone balustrade, which extends across the hall above, on the first floor, in the direction of the office of the clerk and storekeeper, and elegantly fences the extremity of the wide passage entering into the main prison.
The hall of the reception ward on the basement is about forty-eight feet in length and twenty-one in breadth, with cocoa-nut matting, leading to the reception warder's office on the left hand and to the reception cells in front.
We accompanied the reception warder into his office, about eighteen feet by fifteen; a comfortable apartment, well lighted and ventilated, provided with several writing desks, like a lawyer's office, suited for four clerks, surmounted with brass fittings, on which the books of the prison are conveniently deposited, with a gas jet over it. On a side table, several books were laid. "Here," said the reception warder, opening a large book, "is the register in which we enter the descriptions of the male prisoners and there is a similar one for the female prisoners. There is another book, termed the clothing and trinket book in which a record is kept of the various articles belonging to the prisoners and here is an index to them."
Pointing to standard measures, which stood near he window, "There. " said the warder. "We take the height of the various prisoners and also their weight."
The office of the reception warder is floored with wood and arched with brick, supported by iron girders. The walls are painted of a light colour and tastefully penciled to resemble large carefully hewn blocks of stone, as in the outer walls of the reception ward.
There are two bells here; one of them communicating with the front gate, and the other with the reception or inner gate. The windows are secured, on the exterior, with strong iron bars.
We then proceeded along the hall of the reception ward. At the further extremity, before we reached the cells, we observed a narrow metal grating extending across from one side of the floor to the other, which contained the hot-air pipes. "This hot-air flue," said the chief warder, "extends along the center of the reception ward and gives warmth to the various cells. It extends to the female wing on the right hand and to the juvenile wing on the left"
There is a board over the door leading to the reception ward, intimating that "Silence is to be strictly observed" by the prisoners.
The reception warder told us that the dark passage on the left lead to the juvenile, and that on the right to the female branch of the prison, passing through an archway between them on each side; over which was another communication from the main passage on the floor above. At the further end of the reception hall there is a tap to draw water for the use of the ward and a water-closet adjoining.
We entered the apartment containing the prisoner's own clothing, on the right side of the reception ward. There we found a large quantity of prisoner's garments carefully packed in bundles and deposited in racks around the walls, arranged according to their sentences, each of them labeled with the name, register, number and sentence of each. There is a stove for the airing of the clothes in the centre of the room.
Many of the bundles contained ragged and soled clothing, with a large proportion of respectable and fashionable garments. "Some bundles." said the warder. "belong to rogues and vagabonds, pickpockets and burglars, others to sailors and soldiers. We have several returned convicts imprisoned for picking pockets and for receiving stolen property. A good number of prisoners have been clerks in lawyer's offices and travelers and warehousemen in commercial houses, brought here for embezzling their master's property; And some have been in a good position in society and are now under sentence for fraudulent bankruptcy. In addition to these, we have had many tradesmen and mechanics for various offenses. Some of the prisoners have been convicted for uttering base coin, others for lead stealing, some for swindling and may for petty felonies."
"At present." said the reception warder, "a good deal of the prisoner's clothing requires to be fumigated. I attribute this to the fact that a great mass of people are at present out of employment and many are driven to the low lodging-houses of the metropolis for shelter. Many of out prisoners are covered with vermin and in a most deplorable condition. A great number of them have very respectable clothing, which does not require to be fumigated. We generally find the most expert thieves are respectably attired and cleanly in their persons."
There is a small apartment adjoining this store-room where the prisoner's cloths are fumigated.
We passed on through a door at the extremity of the reception hall. fronting the inner gate of the prison, to the reception cells. This door has a plate-glass inserted into the upper panels which gives the interior a more cheerful appearance. The passage between the cells is sixty-nine feet in length and a portion of it twenty-one feet in breadth and about ten feet in height; the remainder being as narrow as ten feet.
The bathroom of this ward is on our left hand. It is about twenty feet long, nine feet wide and ten in height, at the top and nine feet at the bottom of the arch. There are two baths in this room, separated from each other by a wooden partition. They are comfortable and commodious and are supplied with hot water from a cistern in the furnace-room and with cold water from a tank at the roof of the prison.
Adjoining the bath-room is a small store of prison-made clothing, carefully arranged on the shelves, consisting of dark gray jackets, vests and trousers, with braces, stocks and shoes. There is also a large chest-of-drawers containing linen, stockings, flannel-shirts, and drawers, etc for the use of prisoners. The walls of the bath-room are tastefully penciled, similar to the office of the reception warder. It is provided with a fireplace to air the garments and a cocoa-nut matting in the centre of the floor for the comfort of the prisoners when undressed.
We followed the chief warder into one of the reception cells which was thirteen feet long and seven feet wide and nine feet at the bottom and nine feet six inches at the top of the arch. It is ventilated by a grating over the door, connected with hot-air flues, extended throughout the building and also by a trap in the window. The window of the cell is three feet six inches wide and eighteen inches high and slightly rounded at the top.
"The furniture of the cell." said the reception warden, "consists of a small deal table, attached to the right-hand side of the cell" which he folded down, like the leave of a table; "also a water -closet, fixed into one of the further corners of the cell, which has a wooden lid and serves as a set to the prisoner; a wash-hand basin and a tub for washing the feet."
Above the table is a gas-jet, over which the prisoner has no control. The chief warder observed, "It is lit at dusk and extinguished at nine o'clock at night, when the prisoners retire to rest."
A copy of the rules and regulations of the prison and of the dictary are suspended in each cell so that the prisoners know how to conduct themselves.
On the right-hand corner, beside the door are three triangular shelves. The bedding, rolled firmly up and fastened with two leather straps, is generally laid on the upper one; containing a pair of blankets, a rug, a pair of sheets, a horse-hair mattress and a pillow, which at night ate put into a hammock, suspended on two strong iron hooks on each side of the cell. "On the second shelf. " Added the governor, who had just entered the cell, "is a plate, together with a tin jug for gruel, a wooden salt cellar and a wooden spoon. On the lower shelve are deposited a Bible, prayer-book and hymn-book; two combs and a brush, a cocoa-nut fiber rubber for polishing the floor and underneath the lower shelf is a small drawer, containing the materials for cleaning the window of the cell.
"On the right-hand side of the door," continued the governor, "there is a small handle of easy access to the prisoner, by which he is able to ring at any moment when he requires the attention of an officer." This handle communicated with a bell outside which is in hearing of the officer in charge. On the officer coming to the door of the cell he opens this wooden trap, which is about nine inches by seven.
"Above the trap, you observe" Said the governor, "a small circular inspection opening, covered with glass on the exterior and fine wire in the interior by which the officer can inspect the cell from the outside, without knowledge of the prisoner. After six o'clock in the evening the officers put on list shoes so that they are able to patrol the corridors in silence and the prisoner is not aware when he is vi sited."
The walls of the reception cells, like those in the corridors above, are whitewashed. There are six altogether, ranged on both sides of the ward. In the wide passage between these cells we saw a number of ladders, placed along the wall on our right hand which are used in cleaning the windows and repairing the prison. On a stand in the centre is a long ladder, set on wheels, resembling a fire escape. We were informed it is used for cleaning he windows in the upper galleries of the prison.
There is a wooden machine in the same ward to which boys are fastened when whipped by order of the magistrates. The governor observed to us, "I am happy to record that no prisoner has been flogged in this prison for the last ten years since its opening. None have been punished except those ordered by the magistrates at the police courts."
When the prisoners arrive they are taken down to the reception warder into his office and the prison rules are read and explained to them. They are examined by the Medical Officer in the office of the Reception warder, who certifies as to their state of health and notice is taken of any ailment as to their ability to perform the labour enjoining their sentence.
The prisoners are again placed in the reception cells, where they are carefully visited by the governor in his daily inspection of the prisoners are which they are removed into the body of the prison to undergo their sentence. They are then committed to the care of the principal warder to undergo their sentence. They are then committed to the care of the principal warder in charge at the central hall when they are again examined by the chief warder and appointed to their respective cells in the various corridors.
"At the expiry of their sentence," continued the reception warder, "they are paced in the reception cells where they are stripped of the prison clothing and their own garments are returned to them. They are weighed in the weighing machine and their weight duly entered, to ascertain if they have gained of lost during their imprisonment."
They are afterwards examined by the governor in the reception office in the manner we have recorded in the presence of the chief warder and the clerk of the prison when their case is carefully considered and clothing and money given to them as the case may require. They are sometimes sent to a home in the metropolis or employment is found for them and an outfit supplied at the expense of the city.
Stores
We were introduced to Mr. C.A. Keene, the clerk and steward, who wished us to inspect his stores before proceeding to the main prison. He first conducted us to the clothing department situated at the basement on the left of the female prison in close proximity of thee kitchen. This apartment is twenty-four feet long and twenty-one feet broad, lighted with two windows, four feet ten by three feet six the panes of glass set in iron frames, similar to the other cells. it is floored with wood and roofed with brick and iron girders, the walls being painted of a light colour and tastefully penciled like the Reception Hall.
On the right hand as we enter is a number of presses or cupboards containing male and female prison-clothing, officer's uniforms and bedding, systematically arranged. On the top of these presses is a large number of shining tins for the use of prisoners. There is also a chest of drawers, with small goods, such as needles, thread and ironmongery ware over it is a rack covered with tines, different in size and shape to prevent their being mixed together in the various branches of the prison. On a table in the center of the room is ranged an assortment of clothing for the children of the Emmanuel hospital all of which is made in the Holloway Prison. Their dress consists of corduroy trousers and brown jackets and vests. The clothing of the male prisoners consists of jackets, vests and trousers of grey army cloth and stocks, braces and caps. The caps are made of blue indigo-dyed worsted and the stockings of a grey worsted knitted by the female prisoners.
Main Passage
Leaving the reception ward, we proceeded with the chief warder up the staircase, which is elegantly matted and leads us to the main passage, communicating with the central hall seen through the glass-paneled doors directly in front of us. The hall at this extremity is about twenty feet wide.
On our right is the governor's office and alongside is a handsome cheerful apartment for the convenience of the board of magistrates when inspect the prison. The latter is tastefully furnished with a Turkey carpet and a long mahogany table with a writing-desk at one end and an ample supply of mahogany chairs. On the left is the clerk's office with an anteroom also attached. On each side is a staircase, leading to a suite of upper-rooms in the two floors above.
There are two doors with panes of glass in the upper panels between the governor's office and the central hall which are generally kept locked. The one is situated about thirty-five feet in the interior and the other at the farther end, opening into the various corridors. On the outside of the first door referred to, the walls are tastefully penciled, the passage is paved with York slab and the roof is arched with seven immense iron girders. At the extremity of the outer hall, bounded by the latter door, is a door leading, on the right hand, to a small room, with several stalls, erected alongside of each other, for relatives and friends communicating with the prisoners. They are roofed with wire to prevent anything being thrown over or conveyed to the latter who are stationed in similar stalls on the other side. The wire-screen also extends on the side of the visiting boxes facing the prisoners. A copy of the prison rules relating to the conduct and treatment of the prisoners, certified by the Secretary of State, on the of June 1860 is hung up on the walls.
On the left of the outer hall is the record office and the solicitor's room and also a room for visitors visiting the prisoners, exactly similar to the one already described.
The outer hall is furnished with a bell communicating with the officers of the clerk, chief warder, chaplain and other surrounding apartments.
We passed onwards through on of the folding doors into the inner passage. One the right hand, was we enter, are two doors, communicating with the prisoner's visiting room. One of them leading into a narrow passage, between the stalls, of about five feet wide where an officers is stationed during the interview between the prisoners and their friends and the other into the stall where the prisoners is admitted, which are covered with a wire-screen similar to the other stalls alluded to. On the same side of the inner passage is the office of the deputy governor with a waiting room attached to it.
On the opposite side of the passage are two similar doors, leading into the other apartment, where the prisoners meet with those relative and friends who visit the; another leads to the surgeon's room with an anteroom attached. The inner hall is floored with asphalt, shining black as ebony. We accompanied the chief warder into his office and was shown the general receipt book of male prisoners incarcerated in the prison; the general report book and the prisoners misconduct book; the latter of which, by the way, had unusually few entries inserted, there not having been lodged a single complaint against any prisoner for four days previously. We also saw the thermometer journal, in which the temperature of sixteen portions of the prison is recorded three times a day.
Having enquired of the chief warder as to the manner in which the prisoners are disposed over the various corridors and in reference to the work allotted them, he gave us the following information;-
"After the prisoners are bathed in the reception ward, they are inspected by the surgeon on the following morning, who certifies as to their fitness for labour, independent of what their sentence may be. I then receive them from the reception warder. I find if the register number put on their arm corresponds with the number in the receipt book for male prisoners, together with their name, age, occupation, previous conviction (if any), with the date of their discharge. I insert the whole of this on a card, which is given to the prisoner and is hung up in his cell, together with a copy of the prison rules and dietary" The prisoners are allotted to their respective wards according to their criminal character, sentence and occupation.
Inside the main prison, the walls are of a light colour, resembling the entry hall and similar penciled in a tasteful manner. The central hall rises in the form of a lofty dome, surmounted by a glass roof in the form of a sexagon, set in a massive iron frame several tons in weight, with a large grating for ventilation.
Here we found two principle warders in attendance, in their uniforms, with keys suspended from their dark shining belts and three gold laced stripes on their right arm. On the right as we enter the central hall is a neat writing office set in a glass framework where one of the principal workers is frequently on duty and supervises the various corridors.
There are two skylights in the flooring of the central hall 4 ft 6 in wide by 6 feet long consisting of very thick glass supported on iron bars giving light to the kitchen beneath. There is also a trap with a lifting machine on either side of the hall, between corridors A and B and corridors C and D, communicating with the kitchen by which trays of provisions are hoisted up on cradles to the different cells, along conducting rods of bright steel about 40 feet in height.
In the central hall is a corkscrew metal staircase leading from the basement to the different galleries which is surmounted with a dial; and also a large bell which summons the prisoners to their labour and calls them to chapel.
While we lingered in the central hall with the chief warder we saw several of the prisoners in their dark gray prison dress engaging in cleaning the various corridors around us. They had a cheerful appearance and proceeded about their work with great alacrity; some were sweeping the dark floors with long brooms and others were kneeling down and scrubbing them with energy until the asphalt shone with a bright polish. Several of the officers in their dark blue uniforms were stationed in the different galleries attending to their wards. We noticed a detachment of prisoners walk in single file through the central hall with their hands behind their back, giving a military salute to the chief warder as they passed on from the exercising ground and treadmill to their different cells.
We also saw the schoolmaster moving from cell to cell in one of the galleries, attended by a prisoner who carried a basket of library books to be deposited for the use of the prisoners.
We inspected several of the corridors which are about 133 feet in length from the central hall and are lighted from the roof by two large skylights which have openings at the side for ventilation. A and B wings in addition to those are lighted by large windows at the extremities provided with fluted glass. At dusk, each of the corridors is lighted with gas. There is a staircase at the extremity of corridors B and C leading to the galleries above; with one nearer to the centre in A and D wings. There is also a staircase leading to the basement of each.
In passing from the central hall on the right of corridor A is a small storeroom about the size of two cells, for the convenience of the various corridors of the adult male prisoners. We noticed on a rack a large pile of prisoner's clothing of various sizes, consisting of trousers, jackets, vests, caps, handkerchiefs, flannel shirts and drawers. Above this was placed an assortment of brooms and brushes for cleansing the prison while beneath there was a row of drawers in which was deposited sundry other articles used in the cells. A prisoner-an active young man- who has been warehouseman to a firm in the city, was in attendance at the time we entered.
Cells
We entered one of the adjoining cells which is 7 feet wide and 13 feet long at the top and 9 feet at the bottom of the arch. It is floored with asphalt as all the other cells are and carefully polished and whitewashed. The furniture consists of a small folding table attached to the sides of the cell, a copper basin and water closet and a water tap covered with pipes inside, communicating with the water closet and wash basin, a soap-box with soap, a nail brush and a small piece of flannel for cleansing. In a corner beside the door is a small triangular cupboard with three shelves on the top of which is the hammock trolled up and bound together by two strong leather straps. The furniture here is exactly the same as in the cells in the reception ward except that here there are several library books for the use of prisoners. In the cell we entered we saw two or three volume.
There is a hot-air flue over the door. At the opposite end of the cell, nearly on a level with the asphalt flooring, there is an extraction flue while under the window is a ventilator admitting pure air at the pleasure of the prisoners. The deputy-governor opened the ventilator when a current of fresh air was admitted to the cell.
We were introduced to the engineer of the prison who gave us a fuller explanation of this ventilating apparatus. He stated, in front of the cell doors, under the asphalt flooring, is a flue enclosing four pipes on each side. It is connected with the main flue and conveys the warm air through the iron grating over the cell door. The iron grating at the back of the cell, near the floor, conveys the air into an extraction flue leading to the roof of the building discharging it into a ventilation shaft situated at the angle of the C and D wing and a portion of the kitchen.
"You observe" said the engineer, "that on the right side of the door there is a small dark iron handle. When turned round by the prisoner in his cell, it communicates with a gong in the centre of the corridor which gives notice to the warder in charge and at the same time a small metal plate is thrown out at the exterior of the cell by which he is able to learn which of his prisoners has struck the gong."
The window of the cell is 3 ft 6 in. by 18 in. similar to those in the reception ward. On the wall is suspended a card containing the prisoner's registered number, his age, etc as already referred to and alongside is a copy of the prison regulations as to the disposal of his time from 5.45 am to 9 pm, specifying how he is to be occupied in his cell, as well as out of it, in chapel, at school, on the exercise ground, etc. Corridor A is divided into four wards. No’s 1,2,3, consist of felons guilty of their first offense and number 4 of parties tried summarily."