New ideas, new buildings, same old Porridge? England’s 20th Century Prison Architecture

Speaker: Allan Brodie (Historic England)

Many Georgian and Victorian prisons were still in use in 2000, but during the preceding 100 years England’s prison estate had been transformed. At first this was due to low and falling numbers of inmates in the first decades of the 20th century, allowing new forms of imprisonment, and new types of buildings to be constructed.

However, since 1940 the numbers of inmates rose significantly and consistently, prompting initially the reuse of non-penal buildings and sites. However, from the 1960s onwards a series of new types of purpose-built prison was created and these demonstrate a range of approaches to penal architecture. Allan Brodie carried out a survey of England’s prisons at the end of the 20th century and will describe the key ideas and buildings that developed to meet the changing size and character of England’s prison population.

IHR Seminar Series: People, Place and Community