More information : Please see source for details. (1)
In 1843 a Gaol Building Committee approached the architect Joshua Jebb for advice regarding the building of a new gaol in Aylesbury. In November Jebb submitted a design to accommodate 300 prisoners (235 adult males, 25 females, 20 juveniles and 20 debtors). He also recommended James Peirce as architect. In April 1844, the committee requested that Peirce's plan be altered before being sent to the Secretary of State for approval, these included the addition of day rooms. In the event, the wrong set of plans was sent to the Secretary of State and they did not include the alteration approved by the committee. A number of plans of the new gaol are deposited in the Buckinghamshire Record Office. These are similar in their general outlines and they bear a close resemblance to Jebb's general plan of a prison for 250 inmates published in 1845. The Aylesbury plans differ from Jebb's in two main respects: the shape of the central hall and the function of the wings. At Aylesbury, the central block is half-octagonal, not octagonal; and the left-hand single-sided wing was for debtors not juveniles. In a number of respects, Reading county gaol was used as a model for Aylesbury, including, concerning discipline. The decision of the committee was to introduce the separate system for both remand and convicted prisoners. Following disagreements regarding certain aspects of Peirce's design, the Reverend Whitworth Russell, an Inspector of Prisons,was prepared to give the prison its certificate of approval by April 1847. It opened in spring 1847, although not completed until November, providing accommodation for 285 inmates. In 1895-6 Aylesbury became a female convict prison remaining so until 1918. In 1902-05, a State Inebriate Reformatory for women was established. From 1912-1933 part of the former reformatory was used for women undergoing preventative detention. In 1929 the prison was a convict prison and borstal. In 1960 the borstal closed. It now now holds young offenders. (2)
Aylesbury Prison served as the county gaol from when it opened in 1847 until 1890 when it was converted to a women's prison. In 1902 two additional wings were constructed and functioned initially as an Inebriates Centre but later became a girls' borstal in the 1930s. It housed solely adult male prisoners from 1959 and in 1961 it became a young male offenders prison for those aged between 17 and 21. It was designated a long term young offender institution in 1989. (3)
During the militant campaign for women's suffrage which began in 1905, around 1085 women served time for the cause in prisons such as Aylesbury. They carried out acts of militancy such as arson and window-smashing to draw attention to the campaign which, along with mass demonstrations, could lead to their arrest.
In July 1909, Marion Wallace-Dunlop was the first suffragette to carry out a hunger strike in protest for being sentenced to the second division of Holloway Prison, rather than the first where political prisoners were held. She was the first of many women to undertake hunger strikes in prisons around the country, some of whom were forcibly fed by prison officials. In April1913, what became known as the 'Cat and Mouse Act' was granted Royal Assent, enabling the Home Secretary to release a hunger-striker temporarily. The women were required to sign a form giving the date of their return to prison, however in reality very few attempts were made to re-arrest the 'mice'. Following the outbreak of the First World War, all suffragette prisoners were released, having been granted an amnesty by the government. (4)
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