A Prison Within a Prison A dilemma faced by the authorities of the early NSW penal colony was how to punish crimes perpetrated in the colony. As a penal colony, the whole British settlement was considered a prison of sorts. Nevertheless it was believed that both convicts and free-settlers who committed a crime in the Colony needed to face a separate retributive process. For recalcitrant or recidivist convicts, transportation remained a favoured punishment: convicts from Botany Bay were shipped to Fort Denison (Pinchgut), Norfolk Island, Port Philip or Moreton Bay or (most fearsome) to Van Diemen’s Land, as a means to intensify their punishment. For free settlers, a dedicated local prison was felt to be more appropriate. NSW’s first purpose-built prison emerged in 1798 in George Street Sydney with a matching prison in Parramatta. Made of wood (provided by the free settlers) both prisons were soon burnt to the ground. Replacement prisons made of more durable (and secure) stone soon replaced them. Setting a pattern that would last well into modern times, these prisons were crowded, insanitary and a threat to the health of inmates. As Thomas Macquoid, High Sherriff of Sydney in the 1830s noted of the George Street gaol, “At one stage, one hundred and ten male prisoners shared a dormitory 32 feet [9.7m] by 22 [6.7m], and 40 women with ten children shared the other dormitory of 27 feet [8.2m] by 22 feet!” Both prisons were replaced in the 1840s with the large imposing structures in Parramatta and Darlinghurst that remain standing today. Right: close detail of George Street gaol from below depiction of Sydney
Caring for the Incarcerated Exhibition Guide
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