The Persistence of the Victorian Prison: Alteration, Inhabitation, Obsolescence and Affirmative Design

Twenty-two thousand, or over a quarter, of the custodial population of England and Wales currently reside in 32 prisons with Victorian-era accommodation, and since most of these are 'local' prisons (i.e. holding those awaiting trial or sentencing), very few of the remaining sixty thousand will NOT have spent time in one. Media reports describe their continued operation as a 'scandal', and frequent calls to 'tear down the Victorian prisons' echo a 1922 report claiming that 'the only reform to which the buildings can be usefully subjected is dynamite'. A century on, despite politicians' frequent promises to close these outdated 'relics', they remain an integral part of the prison estate.

What are the implications of their continued operation? How can we understand the tension between the capacity of old buildings to carry (or not) new ideas and experiences, versus their capacity to carry the traces of their own past and the past lives they contained? This project asks how and with what implications Victorian-era prisons continue to operate despite their apparent obsolescence, and whether their operation should continue.

The 'persistence' of Victorian prisons means that despite being considered 'outdated' in the 1920s, many have operated for a further century, and their permanence is reinforced through numerous intertextual loops in the collective consciousness. Through multiple methodologies, this project traces the fabric, function, feel, 'framing' and 'fallout' of these prisons - the ways in which the buildings have changed over time; the influence of the buildings over prison management across their period of operation; what it was and is like to be incarcerated in these buildings over time, and the implications of their continued operation. What we mean by 'framing' and 'fallout' is the ways in which the survival of these buildings influences wider transformation in the prison estate, both in terms of potentially hindering broader progress in the contemporary prison estate, and influencing both contemporary design and construction processes, and notions of what prison should be 'like'.

In partnership with the UK's oldest penal reform organisation The Howard League for Penal Reform, this interdisciplinary project combines archival research, oral histories, discourse analysis of literary and media sources, interviews, creative methodologies with prisoners and staff, and a public engagement and co-production strategy - engaging both incarcerated and 'free' populations - to understand these prisons' material and conceptual solidity. A series of interactive multimedia exhibitions (both inside and outside prisons) builds cumulatively and reflectively upon diverse materials (e.g. archival records and photographs, oral histories, prisoner poetry and artwork), culminating in a conference addressing the critical policy question of the future of these Victorian establishments.

By tracing these prisons through time, the project critically reinterprets notions of obsolescence in the built environment, explores the UK's enduring cultural attachment to a particular (arguably archaic) material manifestation of punishment, and informs contemporary policy development around these contentious issues.

Beneficiaries of this research will be policymakers (e.g. Ministry of Justice, HM Prisons and Probation Service); third sector organisations (e.g. the Howard League for Penal Reform, the Prison Reform Trust); prisoners and prison staff, and the general public.

These beneficiaries will learn of the research via a range of pathways to impact, including the Howard League for Penal Reform (who will promote findings and co-organise the project conference); the expert Advisory Board who will comprise (and act as a conduit to further) key stakeholders; exhibitions in prisons, local to prisons and supporting the project conference; a project website; email updates; (social) media; the project conference, and a final report co-published with the Howard League.

By addressing a live policy question about the ongoing operation of Victorian prisons, the project directly addresses the knowledge needs of *policymakers* tasked with making critical decisions about the prison estate, and it has the potential to influence both the future operation of these facilities, and the extent to which the rest of the prison estate is influenced by them. By engaging a range of stakeholders (current and former prisoners and staff, exhibition visitors from local communities, and visitors to the project website, it also also provides a 'barometer' of public opinion about the operation of these facilities.

By generating a diverse, multimedia dataset, the project addresses the needs of *third sector organisations* such as prison reform charities to better understand the living conditions inside Victorian prisons, and changes in their experience over time, in relation to their aspirations to support the development of a just, humane and effective prison system.

The project benefits prisoners and prison staff - both directly, by providing a means to engage with and reflect upon their own experiences in Victorian prisons in comparison with those of the past, and to express their responses via a range of media; and indirectly, via the outcomes of policymakers' decisions and third sector organisations' campaigns, which aim to improve prison conditions for both prisoners and staff. The public engagement elements of this project uniquely bring exhibition materials *into* prisons, as well as taking creative materials *out*, and the intention is that prisoners (including those on Release on Temporary Licence (ROTL)) will be as engaged as possible in all stages of the work.

The general public benefits from this research by virtue of the opportunity to engage, during Stage 2&3 exhibitions and the project website, with a range of materials about, and from inside of, prisons, which aim to prompt reflection and critical thinking about their operation - ultimately funded by the public purse. Since most members of the public, including those living close to one of the case study prisons, may never have seen inside one of them, many base their opinions about such facilities on media reporting. This project is an opportunity to present accessible, stimulating and thought-provoking information about these establishments, to enable members of the public to form opinions which they can then express during the exhibitions or online, and which will be integrated into the project itself, informing other beneficiaries such as policymakers and third sector organisations.