CONSTRAINT RESTRAINT
DEFINITIONS Constrain Compel or force (someone) to follow a particular course
of action. Severely restrict the scope, extent, or activity of. Something that controls what you do by keeping you within particular limits. Synonyms Compel, force, coerce, drive, impel, oblige, prevail on, require, restrict, limit, curb, restrain, regulate, contain, hold back, keep down.
Restrain Prevent someone from doing something; keep under control or within limits. Control a strong urge or emotion. Deprive someone of freedom of movement or personal liberty. Synonyms Control, keep under control, suppress, keep within bounds, limit, regulate, restrict, dampen, subdue, smother, choke back, stifle, bridle, leash, muzzle bottle up, cork, rein back, choke back, tie up, bind, strap, pinion, tether, fetter, shackle.
The objects displayed in this gallery are from the HM Prison Service Museum. The museum acquired this collection in 2005.
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CONSTRAINT RESTRAINT Welcome to a room full of art and objects that together, articulate ideas of ‘constraint’ and ‘restraint’. The exhibition grew from a series of conversations about objects in the museum collection that set people’s hearts and minds racing. Creative workshops and open discussions teased out a variety of thoughts and emotions and the theme of ‘restraint’ and ‘constraint’ began to emerge. Hundreds of people responded to the question “what constraints would you like to be free of?” Like the objects themselves the responses portrayed discomfort, frustration and surprise. They challenged our assumptions about the constraints people endure, embrace and fight in their daily lives. We’ve presented the museum objects in multiples to encourage scrutiny and comparison. Alongside the historic collection we’re delighted to introduce a compelling sequence of creative interventions. You’ll find gentle graphite rubbings, vigorous charcoal drawings, intricate sugar icing sculptures and a fascinating film by our creative partners Lisa Selby, Elliot Murawski, Liz Atkin, Feng-Ru Lee and Nisa Khan. Perhaps share a personal constraint of your own and leave it behind in the specimen jars.
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In response to the question ‘what constraints in your life would you like to be free of?’ people kindly shared their thoughts. From personal constraints including mental and physical health challenges to social media, and items of clothing. The objects in this case reflect some of the responses. “My sports bra – the choice between not breathing and black eyes.” “Calendars, timetables, holidays!” “ Time – I hate being tied to it. I’ve got one very small clock in my house.” “My allergies because they stop me eating nuts.” “Mental health, I wish I could relieve anyone from that pain.” “ Misogyny and oppression, especially in the guise of religion and culture.” “ Money – my adult life and career has been in austerity.”
The Scold’s Bridle The scold’s bridle or brank was a metal cage forced to be worn over a person’s head. It was designed to press down the tongue to silence the wearer. Some were designed to cause extra pain with spiked mouth pieces. It was predominantly women who were punished with the scold’s bridle. This included women who were considered loud, slanderous to their neighbours or accused of lowering the reputation of the town or village. The wearer would be led through the streets in front of the community to further humiliate them. This scold’s bridle is on loan from Leeds Museum and Galleries. We chose this object because women are still silenced unfairly and unnecessarily in today’s unequal society and this was a common response to our provocation. PAGE 3
SWALLOWED OBJECTS 1920 – 1950
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People in prison have been known to swallow objects for a variety of reasons. To smuggle something into the building to aid an escape, to make themselves ill and be sent to the safety of a hospital wing, or in an attempt to commit suicide. The objects you see here were removed from prisoners during surgery or were passed naturally!
Foxy Fowler’s Dentures William John ‘Foxy’ Fowler was imprisoned for robbery and possessing a gun. He was also a prolific escapee. ‘Foxy’ Fowler escaped from Dartmoor Prison and police around the country searched for him for over a month with no sightings. It was later discovered that Fowler had been living with two sisters who had no idea who he was. He later escaped again, this time from Parkhurst Prison. His freedom lasted just three days after being caught by a police dog.
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LOCKS AND KEYS
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Safety and security have always been of paramount importance for societies of people. In the context of prisons the choice to lock or unlock a cell is controlled by the prison staff. In one prison there has been a recent shift in this power. In HMP Berwyn Wales, the first super-prison built in 2017, some men are given their own door key and officers are required to knock on their cell doors. The history of mechanical locks started over 6,000 years ago in Ancient Egypt, where locksmiths first managed to create simple but effective pin tumbler locks entirely from wood. The locks you see here date from the 19th and 20th centuries. Look closely and see the intricate detail of the metal work on the wooden mortice lock.
Keys Symbolically keys can represent knowledge, success and growing up. They are also a symbol of freedom and liberation. The keys presented here were used to lock and unlock doors in prisons, providing individuals temporary liberation from the confinement of their cells. Keys feature loudly in prisons with the sounds of doors being locked and unlocked. ‘Locking Up’ Listen to the soundscape of the museum being locked at the end of a day, created by Ben Cope, Customer Services Co-ordinator. Improvised and Legitimate Keys The keys displayed here are a mixture of legitimate keys used by prison staff and improvised keys made by people in prison to aid their escape. Can you tell the difference between them? For the duration of the exhibition an improvised key that unlocked four prison doors will be featured on our object walk around the museum. PAGE 7
PRISON DOORS
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Prison doors control the flow of people living and working in prison. The majority of prisons lock the cell doors at around 6pm at night and they remain shut until 8am the following day. Solid doors may have a window that allows the prisoner to be observed from the outside by staff. If prison rules have been broken someone can be locked in a cell on their own for up to 35 days. This is called cellular confinement. Any person considered for this has to be checked by a doctor to ensure that they can cope with such isolation.
Prison Doors Prison doors were studded with metal to join the sections of wood together. Some prison doors would be lined in the center with metal to prevent the prisoners from setting them on fire. Notice the food hatch on the black door from the 19th century, and the layers of chipped paint on the 20th century blue door. The metal door is over 300 years old.
early all separated children spent long periods of time N in their cell without any meaningful human interaction. We found children who were unable to access the very basics of everyday life, including a daily shower and telephone call. In the worst cases children left their cells for just 15 minutes a day. Thematic report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons Separation of children in young offender institutions: A thematic review by HM Inspectorate of Prisons January 2020
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BODY BELTS
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Body belts fall into a category of objects called mechanical restraints. These body belts would have been fitted around the waist of a person in prison, with hands placed in the handcuffs attached either side. Similar body belts are still used today to prevent a violent prisoner causing self-injury, injuring another prisoner or member of staff, or damaging property.
Body Belts These body belts date from the 19th century to the late 20th century. Notice the leather body belt with leather padded cuffs, this type of belt would generally be used on women and young offenders in prison. Today there are rigorous guidelines for using a body belt. They can only be used on prisoners over 18 years of age and when all other options have failed or are considered unsafe. Prison staff must check the prisoner every four hours. Someone from the Independent Monitoring Board (the people who check prisons to make sure they are run in a good and fair way) should visit the prisoner within one day of the belt being applied. Authorisation for use of body belts remains with the Governor in charge of the prison.
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PRISON FURNITURE
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Cell furniture must conform to a strict set of parameters, considering the confined living conditions within prisons, and the potential for self-harm. Designs avoid sharp edges and make it impossible to dismantle into pieces that could be used as a weapon. Comfort is less considered, but if you view incarceration as rehabilitation, would you focus on giving inmates comfortable and uplifting chairs.
Solitary Confinement Toilet and Seat The use of solitary confinement became common practice in prisons during the first half of the 19th century. It was an to attempt to reduce recidivism and re-educate prisoners instead of merely punishing them. It was an unintentionally cruel development. In order to achieve total isolation a new type of prison was designed with one person to each cell. The cells were designed with little comfort and the toilet being the most striking feature. This simple commode provided prisoners the privacy of going to the toilet in their cell. However, the separate system was seen by many as an expensive failure with high rates of mental illness being caused by isolation. Isolating individuals has changed significantly since then but is still used in most prisons to maintain
order, as a disciplinary punishment or an administrative measure for prisoners who are considered an escape risk, or a risk to themselves or others. Mugshot Chair In March 1870 photography was introduced into all prisons as a means of identifying criminals. Strict guidelines were laid down by the Home Office as to how these portraits should be taken. The now familiar convention of full-face and profile portraits was adopted in the mid-1890s. Many prisoners violently resisted having their identity recorded. A chair with raised central ridge secured to a heavy iron and wood turntable was introduced to stop prisoners from moving about and blurring the image. This particular mugshot chair is from Holloway Prison, which closed in 2018.
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LEG RESTRAINTS
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Leg irons are metal rings that wrap around the ankles with a lock connected by a chain. They are used to restrict movement and limit walking pace. Unlike handcuffs, which are not designed to inflict pain, leg irons can cause pain and damage to the prisoner’s ankles, and so are banned in some countries.
Chain Gang Irons These irons were used to restrain prisoners, and to bond them to others in a work party. The chain gangs were used in the 18th and 19th century to carry out public works such as building sea defences or new roads. The chains would be used when the prisoners were outside the prison buildings. The restraints allowed the prisoners limited movement whilst minimising the risk of escape. It is a form of restraint no longer used in the UK but is still in use in the United States of America. Electronic Tag Electronic monitoring (known as tagging) is used in England and Wales to monitor curfews and conditions of a court or prison order. It will usually be attached to the offender’s ankle. A monitoring unit will also be installed in a place stated in the offender’s court or prison order, usually their home. If the person wearing the tag breaches their conditions they could be taken back to court and placed in custody.
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RESTRAINTS
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Prisoners who are behaving violently are sometimes restrained to protect themselves and others around them. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries chains, handcuffs and leather body belts were used to restrain men, women and even children. Some of these restraints are still used today.
Handcuffs
Restraint Jacket
Handcuffs are one of the oldest forms of restraint, dating back to nearly 4000 years ago. The old names were manacles, shackbolts, or shackles, gyves and swivels. They are a device for shackling the hands, and used by the police on offenders under arrest. Most modern handcuffs are made of steel, adjustable to the wrist size, and equipped with an automatic locking device. Have you noticed the leather handcuffs that were used specifically on female prisoners.
These jackets are only used on medical grounds and authority must be given in writing by a medical office. They are not used as a form of punishment. A prisoner under restraint must be visited by the governor at least twice in twenty-four hours, and by the medical officer at least twice, and more frequently as may be necessary. They must be observed by an officer at least every fifteen minutes.
Body Belt is only used in A extreme circumstances when all other options have failed or are considered unsafe, to prevent a violent or refractory prisoner engaging in lifethreatening behaviour, either towards another person or him or herself.
The restraint jacket on display was used to restrain violent adult male convicted prisoners. It is an armless jacket with pockets for arms sewn into the inside back. It has two leather strips down the centre front to which buckles and straps are sewn. The garment is stamped with broad arrows. c.1920.
Prison Service Standing Orders, 2006
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PRISON ROUTINE AND SAFETY
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Pegging Clocks Pegging clocks were worn by all prison night patrol officers. They were used to monitor the movements of the officer and provide evidence that the officer had undertaken the necessary patrols. Pegging safes were located around the prison and contained a key which, when placed into the pegging clock, left a record on a paper disc to indicate that the officer had been in a specific place at a specific time. The system enabled the prison management to check that all the patrols had been undertaken.
Blunderbuss Guns were sometimes employed to ensure people in prison didn’t escape. Dartmoor prison kept a detachment of professional soldiers and civil guard on hand to hunt down and, if necessary, shoot any escapees. The blunderbusses on display were particularly vicious weapons, designed to fire more than one bullet at a time from a wide muzzle. The funnel shape of the muzzle was designed to spread the shot widely. They were extremely loud guns with a name derived from the Dutch word ‘Dunderbuss’ which means ‘Thunder Gun’.
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WHAT CONSTRAINTS IN YOUR LIFE Power
authority
Medication
Mental health
trapped, helpless Medication
Claustrophobia Feeling
Chronic illness
Expectations of other people
A society that is not accepting of different races and individuals
The limits of my
body – both in terms of legality with my transness, and literally with my disabilities Freedom to pursue learning what you wanna learn without worrying about how useful it’s gonna be in the workforce
Too many
opinions influences to make up your own mind
Freedom to travel without
having to worry about money/paperwork/ law
Being too afraid to walk home
from work late at night
‘False News’
World government politics – listen to PAGE 20
WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE FREE OF? the people!
The constant fear that
the world could easily be invaded by aliens and we could be put in cages like the animals we are.
Cycling on pavements
Lack of money to do things many take for granted, i.e. Holiday abroad and/or home improvements – despite working full time at 63
Not enough time for me, family,
friends
Elderly parents
relationships
Periods
Committed Social media
and the image it portrays how we should be
Pouting selfies and massive
eyebrows
Domination and submission
Constraints encourage creativity – Use the tools you’re given to create something
I would like to be able to fly PAGE 21
‘GILT’
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Feng-Ru Lee ‘Gilt’ Icing sugar, flour, rice flour, gold leaf, edible spray, edible paint, food preservative 2020
‘Gilt’ represents a collection of works inspired by conversations and interactions at a series of workshops at the National Justice Museum during 2019. The pieces reference the museum’s collection of objects swallowed by prisoners. I reworked these objects to draw parallels with gold as an expression of wealth, a medicinal object in many cultures with alchemical properties. By gilding the sugar sculptures I revisited the objects story and explored the wider cultural significance of inanimate objects.
Feng-Ru
www.fengrulee.co.uk
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RUBBINGS
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Lisa Selby and Elliot Murawski Rubbings Prison paper and graphite 2018 Lisa asked Elliot to take rubbings of his surroundings in prison, so she could visualise the things he spoke about; the air vent in his cell, the lumpy toothpaste on brickwork used to stick photographs to the wall, the worn away floors, the shower drain. Lisa longed to be with Elliot and wanted to build a collage in her head, from his scented letters, calls, drawings and rubbings. She wanted to be near him and this was the closest she could get to him during their times apart. I wanted him to recreate the whole cell but he said his arm hurt during the process. We laughed because he’s a big man and works out at the gym all of the time, then moaned about holding a piece of paper to the wall and rubbing over it with his pencil.
he keyhole is an important T rubbing for me. This was the door to the group room for Turning Point, the charity that helped me to get clean in prison, I then went on to become a peer mentor there. Now I’m released from prison and I’m almost three years clean. The air vent rubbing reminds me of the times I stood near the window, breathing in the air through the tiny holes, dreaming of freedom and feeling the wind on my face.
Lisa
www.instagram.com/bluebaglife
Elliot
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BOUNCING OFF WALLS
Photo Credit: Mahmood Khan
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Nisa Khan Bouncing off Walls Film of durational performance 2019 Bouncing Off Walls’ was a live three-day durational performance which took place at the National Justice Museum. Four thousand metres of jute twine were bounced off the cell wall and as the reels of twine unravelled, they filled the cell with an abundance of knotted material. This seemingly ‘never-ending’ task demanded time, persistence, patience and focus to be processed back into an organised state. Despite the silence in which I perform these monotonous tasks, my mind wondered, conversations and arguments occurred which despite the outward silence, screamed internally. The work responds to the prisons historical culture of hard labour. In performing monotonous tasks which challenged and impacted their physical and mental well-being, prisoners were stripped of comfort, conversation and creativity. I explored the concept of time from what is simultaneously considered endless and precious, something we all have the luxury of yet many of us partake in tasks which are monotonous we lose the value of time. The work encourages the audience to become a slow viewer, to occupy a momentary shared space in time. Nisa
www.instagram.com/nisakhanart/
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CONSTRAINT / RESTRAINT TRIPTYCH
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Liz Atkin Constraint / Restraint Triptych Willow charcoal on paper 2020 This potent triptych of charcoal drawings was commissioned to stimulate a dialogue around restraint and mental health. Liz took inspiration from the textured surfaces of the three prison doors exhibited, capturing scratches, dents and fractures with a density and momentum that illustrates the feelings she experiences.
Anxiety Drawings Digital 2018 – 2020 his compulsive series of digital drawings was created to refocus T my uncomfortable inner sensations of anxiety. These artworks are fuelled by an internal menace, unease and turmoil that can be hard to explain in words.
Liz Atkin is a visual artist based in London. She has Compulsive Skin Picking, a complex physical and mental disorder, but reimagines the body-focused repetitive behaviour and anxiety into drawings, photographs, and performances. She is a mental health advocate and speaker, raising awareness for the disorder around the world, and has exhibited and taught in the UK, Europe, Australia, USA, Singapore and Japan. She has given away more than 17,000 free #CompulsiveCharcoal newspaper drawings to commuters on public transport in London, New York, San Francisco, Singapore, Cologne and more. Her work is held in Wellcome’s permanent collection.
www.lizatkin.com
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NTU MA MUSEUM STUDIES
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NTU MA Museum Studies Students’ Work
Students from Nottingham Trent University’s Museum & Heritage Development MA have created a series of two minute films as creative responses to the theme of constraint/restraint and to extend the exhibition online. These films form part of the students assessed work for their MA and are available via the National Justice Museum’s YouTube channel from the end of March 2020.
The exhibition and its theme provide a fantastic opportunity for students to develop creative practice that is such an important feature of the contemporary museum and heritage profession. The Museum’s YouTube channel is an exciting new platform for them to engage audiences locally and globally and we’ve all been excited to see how their ideas have developed.
Dr Duncan Grewcock
Principal Lecturer, Museum & Heritage Studies
School of Arts & Humanities
Nottingham Trent University
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CREDITS A heartfelt thank you to the wonderful people who volunteered time, energy and skill to this project. An extra special thank you to Cinzia Greta Astrid Marrocco, Claire Balchin, Lynn Smith, Rosemarie Nightingale, George Dunbar Liz Atkin Lisa Selby and Elliot Murawski (bluebaglife) Feng Ru Lee Nisa Khan Feng-Ru Lee Leeds Museum and Art Gallery Russell Jenkins Steve Ingham John E Wright Nigel Garbett Nottingham Women’s Centre Peer Support Group Priya Mistry Ben Cope Rose Ventiroso Lorraine Pulman All of the artists and participants who explored constraint and restraint in the Make it Yours workshops and object walks.
This exhibition has been made possible through generous funding from Arts Council England PAGE 32
R estraint is deemed to make civilised life possible, although as Sigmund Freud and many others have recognised, this comes at a cost. Loss of restraint was and is often considered one of the defining characteristics of “madness”, as the Victorians called it. Its loss rendered the unfortunate person either bad or mad. If they could not restrain themselves, institutional solutions beckoned: the prison or the “madhouse”. High walls, but also the possibility of physical restraint. Sedating drugs from the late 19th century offered a mental numbing, an internal chemical restraint.
The Lancet, April 16, 2016
A Gallery Guide