Prison Gallery

Libby Prison, Richmond, Virginia, April 1864. Creator: Alexander Gardner

Libby Prison, Richmond, Virginia, April 1864. [Confederate prison which gained a reputation for the overcrowded and harsh conditions under which officer prisoners from the Union Army were kept during the American Civil War]. Albumen print, pl. 89 from the album "Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War, volume ii" (1866).

© Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Glimpses of Old Newgate - Interior of Newgate showing the Galleries, c1900

Glimpses of Old Newgate - Interior of Newgate showing the Galleries, c1900. Newgate Prison, dating back to the 12th century, was originally located at the site of Newgate, a gate in the Roman wall around the city of London. Public hangings, of both men and women, took place outside the prison from 1783 and continued until 1868, when executions were carried out on gallows inside Newgate. In total, 1,169 people were executed - publicly or otherwise - at the prison. Many types of criminals were imprisoned at Newgate, and their offences varied from petty crime and theft, breaking and entering, highway robbery, to serious crimes such as rapes and murders meriting the death penalty. The prison closed in 1902, and was demolished in 1904

© Shirley Markham Collection/Heritage Images

Tower of London. St. Thomass and the Bell Tower, c1910. Creator: Unknown

Tower of London. St. Thomas's and the Bell Tower, c1910. View of part of the Tower of London - historic palace, prison, fortress and armoury - which dates from the 11th century. The twelve Towers of the Inner Ward were at one time all used as prisons. St. Thomas's Tower stands above the Traitors Gate, and both of them date from the reign of Henry III. The Bell Tower was the prison of Princess Elizabeth [later Queen Elizabeth I], and previously of Cardinal Fisher and Sir Thomas More, who were put to death in 1535. Postcard. [Raphael Tuck & Sons]

© The Print Collector/Heritage Images