The Prison Service in Britain

Conditions inside our prisons have vastly improved since the days when prisoners worked out their sentence at the crank or the treadwheel, in total silence or in solitary confinement. From nineteenth-century mugshots to the aftermath of the Strangeways riot, this book captures more than two centuries of crime and punishment.

Featuring detailed histories of prisons such as Wandsworth, Holloway, Pentonville and Wormwood Scrubs, this collection examines prison life in all its complexity. Archive images of prisoners and 'screws' at the turn of the last century - mothers and babies exercising together in the yard, the Govenor of HM Prison Gloucester - are presented alongside the institutions of the cell, school room, chapel and hospital ward to give an in-depth insight into the conditions and daily routine of prison life.

Containing more than 200 photographs from the HM Prison Service Collection, this fascinating book is a comprehensive guide to the history of the penal service, from the medieval prison cell to the modern institutions of today, and offers a unique glimpse into the prisons of the past.