Wakefield Prison

A little about the history of Wakefield Prison, buildings & conditions can be found online at:

www.wakefield.gov.uk/CultureAndLeisure/HistoricWakefield/Buildings/WakefieldPrison/History

but better details at

freepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wakefield/prison/histpris.html

which includes the following:

"...At this period [early 1800s], although the prison had accommodation for only 110 prisoners, it frequently held over 300, and as many as fifty of these were kept in irons. A new chaplain in the year 1817 told the Governor that "he had never before such an idea of the infernal regions". By 1830 the prison had enlarged to accommodate 410 prisoners but in 1832 when the prison "was the scene of a fearful visitation by the Cholera" there were 450 in custody. In order to combat this disease all prisoners who had completed half their sentences were released. Twenty prisoners died, as did the Governor, Mr. Thomas Shepherd. The diet of the inmates at this time consisted of 1½ lbs. Bread, 1 pint of ale, 5 ozs. boiled beef, 1 quart of porridge and 1 quart of broth..."

Port Arthur, Van Dieman Land

The penal settlement of Port Arthur, Van Dieman's [sic] Land from a sketch by Captn. Hext, 4th, The King's Own Regiment; C. Hutchins, lithographer.
Image courtesy of the National Library of Australia.