Gender and Release From Convict Prisons in Late 19th Century England

• In Event: On the Way Out: Re-Entry and Post Release Experiences

Abstract

This paper draws on two related research projects to demonstrate the gendered differences of convicts released on licence from sentences of long-term imprisonment in England in the mid- to late- nineteenth century. The first project studied the lives and prison experiences of convicts released on licence; and the second project studied the system of post-release support provided for women. The first project showed that the experiences of men and women differed whilst in prison but the most striking contrast was in the way men and women were treated on release from prison. The vast majority of convicts were released early on licence, even those committing very serious offences, but female convicts were released earlier and under different conditions than men. Several refuges were established in the south of England specifically to receive women on 'conditional' licence for six to nine months prior to being released by the Directors of the Convict Prisons on a licence with similar terms to men. This paper will therefore present some of the major findings of those two research projects in relation to gender and crime in particular with regard to the release of female convicts from long-term imprisonment.

Author

• Joanne Turner, University of Chester