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Prisons

Part of
Correctional institutions

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  • Images from the collections
  • Works from the collections
  • Related topics

Images from the collections

Images about Prisons

73 images from works
  • A prisoner is sitting on straw in a cave with his feet chained to the wall, there are a few provisions on a small shelf in the rock. Etching by R. Blyth after J.H. Mortimer.
  • Turkish prisoners sitting in a cell with a barred window; two of them are racing cockroaches. Process print by Meisenbach after H. Lanos after W.T. Maud.
  • Old Bridewell, New York. Coloured lithograph by H.R. Robinson.
  • Blackwell's Island Penitentiary, New York: (left) prisoners are walking in a long file leaving spoons in a bowl as they go  past; (right) prisoners stand in line to receive a loaf of bread. Wood engraving by W.J. Palmer, 1876, after F. Régamay.
  • A gaoler, wearing a Phrygian cap, reading out summons for executions to distressed prisoners of the French Revolution. Line engraving by W. Greatbach after A. Johannot, 1881.
  • John Howard bringing water and fresh air into a prison in order to improve the conditions for the inmates. Watercolour.
  • Krishna freeing his parents (Vasudeo and Devki) from prison. Chromolithograph by R. Varma, 1907.
  • The family of Jean Calas sit listening to Alexandre Lavaysse reading a letter from Calas after his execution. Engraving by J.B. Delafosse, 1765, after L.C. De Carmontelle.
  • Coldbath Fields Prison, London: view from the north west to the south east, with St Paul's Cathedral beyond. Engraving, 1798.
  • Construction work in front of Bridewell prison and the jail governors house, Edinburgh, Scotland. Steel engraving by W. Tombleson, 1829, after T.H. Shepherd.
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Works from the collections

136 works

    • Books
    • Online

    Discourses and essays on subjects of public interest / by Stevenson Macgill.

    MacGill, Stevenson, 1765-1840. | Date: 1819
    • Books
    • Online

    To the Legislature : in the matter of the insane in the prisons and poorhouses of Pennsylvania : letters of Dr. J.A. Reed, Dr. D.D. Richardson, Dr. George Cook.

    Reed, J. A. (Jospeh Alison), 1823-1884. | Date: 1874
    • Pictures
    • Online

    A convicted thief sits in prison with his distraught sister who has been acquitted. Coloured etching by G. Cruikshank, 1848, after himself.

    Cruikshank, George, 1792-1878. | Date: 1848 | Reference: 26040i
    Part of: The drunkard's children
    • Pictures
    • Online

    Prison, Philadelphia: side view. Coloured engraving by Fenner Sears & Co., 1831, after C. Burton.

    Burton, Charles, active 19th century. | Date: 1 January 1831 | Reference: 22225i
    • Pictures
    • Online

    People huddled together within prison walls edged with barbed wire with a lone figure bottom right suggesting the social isolation of someone who has AIDS; an advertisement for the information line for those affected by AIDS in prison by Deutsche AIDS-Hilfe e.V. Colour lithograph.

    | Date: [between 1990 and 1999] | Reference: 674214i
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Related topics

Prisoners
Imprisonment
Prisons
Prisoners
Women prisoners
United States
Women
Prisons - United States
Coldbath Fields Prison (London, England)
Punishment

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