Prison Papermaking: Colonial Ideals of Industrial Experimentation in India.

This article questions the economic rationale of colonial experimentation and prison labor, arguing that for many administrators a prison-based experiment's success mattered less than its existence. It examines the position of convict labor and penal discipline within colonial industrial experiments in colonial India, where convicts performed experiments for what one administrator described as "the most penal" form of labor, papermaking. The belief that Indian fibers could open a new export market for global papermaking meant that prisons became prominent sites of experimentation with new pulps. Regional prisons gained state monopolies for handmade paper, often decimating local independent producers. Yet prison and industrial officers counterintuitively positioned the frequent failures of papermaking experiments as a continuing potential source for industrial improvement. They argued that the failures demonstrated the need to improve discipline and supervision. Prison experiments slotted convicts into repetitive, mechanized roles that served European investigations into the utility of Indian products.

Historia de los Servicios de Salud Penitenciarios en Costa Rica / History of Prison Health Services in Costa Rica

La historia de los servicios médicos penitenciarios se remonta hace aproximadamente medio siglo, en la extinta Penitenciaria Nacional, donde al igual que, durante mucho tiempo estuvo a cargo de personeros de la Caja Costarricense del Seguro Social (CCSS). No es, hasta que al finalizar la década de los 80's, con el cierre del centro penal ubicado en la Isla San Lucas, se logra concretar la creación de plazas de salud propias del Ministerio de Justicia y Paz (MJP). En 1993 se logra el primer convenio interinstitucional entre la CCSS y el MJP, actualizado en 1998, el cual aún se encuentra refrendado por la Procuraduría General de la República. Actualmente, el MJP cuenta con 87 plazas asignas a puestos relacionados con servicios de salud a lo largo y ancho del territorio costarricense.

The history of prison medical services goes back approximately half a century, in the now extinct National Penitentiary, where, for a long time, it was in charge of representatives of CCSS. It is not, until at the end of the 80's, with the closure of the penal center located on San Lucas Island, the creation of health centers belonging to the Ministerio de Justicia y Paz (MJP) is achieved. In 1993, the first inter-institutional agreement between the CCSS and the MJP was reached, updated in 1998, which is still endorsed by the Attorney General's Office. Currently, the MJP has 87 positions assigned to positions related to health services throughout the Costa Rican territory.

"It Has Made Me Think": Engaging the Public with the History of Health in the Modern Irish Prison.

Since the establishment of the modern prison system in the early nineteenth century, prisons and prisoners have been construed as sites of moral, social, and biological contagion. Historic and contemporary studies show that most prisoners experience severe health inequalities, higher rates of addiction and mental health issues, and lower life expectancy than the rest of the population. They also come from deprived social strata. Yet, these aspects of Irish penal history have been largely neglected in academia and popular histories. Our article discusses two public history projects-an art installation, The Trial, and a museum exhibition, Living Inside-that engaged different publics with the long history of health and welfare in Irish prisons. Developed by the research team on the Wellcome Trust Investigator Award "Prisoners, Medical Care and Entitlement to Health in England and Ireland, 1850-2000," based at University College Dublin, the projects adopted different methodologies to engage their audiences and explore the experience and management of health and welfare in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Irish prisons. We further examine the different methodological approaches of each project, their varied aims and audiences, and the impacts reported by audiences and participants. The article also considers some of the challenges of doing this kind of public history, both in terms of working with marginalized communities and presenting research about difficult subjects to various audiences.

Changes and challenges of the archives: researching early-twentieth century lesbianism in United States prisons during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Changes and Challenges of the Archives" is based on a still-in-progress master's thesis that I will complete by May 2021 at Sarah Lawrence College. The purpose of this article is not to come to any conclusions about the challenges of researching lesbian history during the COVID-19 pandemic but, rather, to explore how these world circumstances have further complicated the labor required of a lesbian historian. Many elements of this thesis and research are still in flux, including my investigation of the role race played in creating and developing a sexually deviant, criminalized definition of lesbian(ism). My ultimate hope is that this paper provides some valuable knowledge for my queer historian comrades and sparks a dialogue that can benefit historians who are continuing their research through debilitating circumstances.

Pandemics in New South Wales prisons: the more things change .

BACKGROUND: The current COVID-19 pandemic is not the first time New South Wales prisons have faced contagion. This paper examines the current responses in New South Wales prisons to the threat of COVID-19 to prisoner health, by contrasting contemporary activities with actions and policy developed during two historical epidemics: the influenza epidemic of 1860 and pandemic of 1919. METHOD: Epidemiological information relating to cases of disease in NSW prisons during the 1860 and 1919 influenza epidemics was obtained from the Comptroller-General's reports for the specific outbreak years and for the preceding and succeeding five-year periods. Additional archival sources such as digitised newspaper reports and articles available through the National Library of Australia were analysed for closer detail. The management of these outbreaks was compared to current strategies to mitigate against risk from the COVID-19 pandemic in the NSW prison system. RESULTS: Interesting similarities were discovered in relation to the management of the historic influenza outbreaks in NSW prisons and in the management of the current COVID-19 pandemic. An outbreak of influenza in mid-1860 impacted seven penal institutions in Sydney and Parramatta. Infection rates at these institutions were between 3.1% and 100%; the mean rate was 41.8%. The public health measures employed at the time included allowing 'air circulation freely night and day', and treatments that were 'tonical and stimulatory'. DISCUSSION: While the past 100 or more years have brought huge progress in scientific knowledge, public health approaches remain the mainstay of outbreak management in prisons; and, as in 1919, the opportunity for Australia to observe the rest of the world and plan for action has not been wasted. Prisons pose a potential risk for pandemic spread but they also present a unique opportunity for reducing disease risk by ironic virtue of the 'separate system' that was recognised even 100 years ago as characteristic of these institutions.

Salud en Penitenciaria: acerca de un Documento Inédito de la Historia de la Salud en Chile, 1853 / Health in Penitentiary: about an Unpublished Document on the History of Health in Chile, 1853

El presente artículo presenta un documento inédito de la historia republicana de Chile donde se muestra el estado de la Penitenciaría de Santiago, principal centro de reclusión nacional en el siglo XIX y que da a conocer la vida y labor de los reos como, asimismo, del quehacer del personal administrativo.

This article presents an unpublished document of the republican history of Chile showing the state of the Penitentiary of Santiago, the main center of national detention in the nineteenth century and that publicizes the life and work of the ins and outs, as well as the work of administrative staff.

[From the Hospício de Pedro II to the Hospital Nacional de Alienados: a hundred years of records (1841-1944)]. / Del Hospício de Pedro II al Hospital Nacional de Alienados: cien años de historias (1841-1944).

This research note lays out methodological approaches, documentary sources, historiographical inscription and reflections that arose from an ongoing research study entitled "From the Hospício de Pedro II to the Hospital Nacional de Alienados: a hundred years of records (1841-1944)." A group of researchers and students involved in the project have analyzed the history of the first psychiatric institution in Brazil for the period from the second half of the nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth century. They are also committed to the ideal of contributing to the organization and conservation of the documentary sources of this institution. Here we present the innovative nature of the project, especially due to its methodological approaches in combination with its focus on preserving historical documents.

Esta nota de investigación expone perspectivas metodológicas, fuentes documentales, inscripción historiográfica y reflexiones que surgen de la investigación en curso, titulada "Del Hospício de Pedro II al Hospital Nacional de Alienados: cien años de historias (1841-1944)". Un grupo de investigadores y estudiantes asociados al proyecto han analizado la historia de la primera institución psiquiátrica de Brasil en el periodo comprendido entre la segunda mitad del siglo XIX y mediados del siglo XX. También están comprometidos con el ideal de contribuir a la organización y conservación de los fondos documentales de esta institución. Aquí presentamos el carácter innovador del proyecto, especialmente por sus perspectivas metodológicas en combinación con enfoques de preservación de documentos históricos.

Del Hospício de Pedro II al Hospital Nacional de Alienados: cien años de historias (1841-1944) / From the Hospício de Pedro II to the Hospital Nacional de Alienados: a hundred years of records (1841-1944)

Resumen Esta nota de investigación expone perspectivas metodológicas, fuentes documentales, inscripción historiográfica y reflexiones que surgen de la investigación en curso, titulada "Del Hospício de Pedro II al Hospital Nacional de Alienados: cien años de historias (1841-1944)". Un grupo de investigadores y estudiantes asociados al proyecto han analizado la historia de la primera institución psiquiátrica de Brasil en el periodo comprendido entre la segunda mitad del siglo XIX y mediados del siglo XX. También están comprometidos con el ideal de contribuir a la organización y conservación de los fondos documentales de esta institución. Aquí presentamos el carácter innovador del proyecto, especialmente por sus perspectivas metodológicas en combinación con enfoques de preservación de documentos históricos.

Abstract This research note lays out methodological approaches, documentary sources, historiographical inscription and reflections that arose from an ongoing research study entitled "From the Hospício de Pedro II to the Hospital Nacional de Alienados: a hundred years of records (1841-1944)." A group of researchers and students involved in the project have analyzed the history of the first psychiatric institution in Brazil for the period from the second half of the nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth century. They are also committed to the ideal of contributing to the organization and conservation of the documentary sources of this institution. Here we present the innovative nature of the project, especially due to its methodological approaches in combination with its focus on preserving historical documents.

Producing food in English and Welsh prisons.

Most prison food research focuses on aspects of consumption rather than production yet farming, horticulture and gardening have been integral to the prison system in England and Wales for more than 170 years. This paper explores the interplay between penological, therapeutic and food priorities over the last fifty years through an examination of historical prison policies and contemporary case studies associated with the Greener on the Outside for Prisons (GOOP) programme. Findings are discussed in relation to how joined-up policy and practice can impact positively on whole population health and wellbeing within and beyond the prison setting.

'Close confinement tells very much upon a man': Prison Memoirs, Insanity and the Late Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Prison.

This article explores prisoners' observations of mental illness in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century British prisons, recorded in memoirs published following their release. The discipline of separate confinement was lauded for its potential to improve prisoners' minds, inducing reflection and reform, when it was introduced in the 1840s, but in practice led to high levels of mental breakdown. In order to maintain the integrity of the prison system, the prison authorities played down incidences of insanity, while prison chaplains lauded the beneficent influence of cellular isolation. In contrast, as this article demonstrates, prisoners' memoirs offer insights into the prevalence of mental illness in prison, and its poor management, as well as inmates' efforts to manage mental distress. As the prison system became more closed, uniform and penal after the 1860s, the volume of such publications increased. Oscar Wilde's evocative prison writings have attracted considerable attention, but he was only one of many prison authors criticizing the penal system and decrying the damage it inflicted on the mind. Exploration of prison memoirs, it is argued, enhances our understanding of experiences of mental disorder in the underexplored context of the prison, highlighting the prisoners' voice, agency and advocacy of reform.

Evidence of infectious disease, trauma, disability and deficiency in skeletons from the 19th/20th century correctional facility and asylum «Realta¼ in Cazis, Switzerland.

As a reaction to widespread poverty, a system of coercive welfare developed in Switzerland during the 19th century. Poverty was often thought to result from an individual's misconduct rather than from structural, economic or political circumstances. People whose lifestyle deviated from the desired norm or who were unable to make a living for themselves were subjected to so-called administrative detention at institutions such as workhouses and poorhouses. The excavation of the cemetery of the correctional facility/workhouse and asylum «Realta¼ in Cazis offered the opportunity to gain insight into the living conditions of a marginalized group of people and to shed light on aspects of coercive welfare that have hardly been addressed in historical studies. A comprehensive study of pathological alterations was used to assess possible physical causes and effects of administrative detention. Skeletal samples from regular contemporaneous cemeteries provided data for the general population and thus allowed us to detect peculiarities in the «Realta¼ assemblage. Possible cases of Stickler Syndrome, microcephaly, congenital syphilis, endemic hypothyroidism and disabilities secondary to trauma may have been the reason for the affected individuals' institutionalisation. The high prevalence of tuberculosis was linked to the socioeconomic status and the living conditions at the facility. Several cases of scurvy and osteomalacia may have resulted from various risk factors such as poverty, alcoholism, mental illness or institutionalisation. The fracture rates, especially of ribs, were extremely high. A large proportion of the fractures were incompletely healed and most likely occurred during detention due to interpersonal violence. Underlying diseases further contributed to the high fracture rates. This first study on skeletons from an institution of administrative detention in Switzerland demonstrated how pre-existing health conditions and the socioeconomic background contributed to the chance of being detained, and how detention led to further deterioration of health.

Showers: from a violent treatment to an agent of cleansing.

In the early nineteenth century, physicians designed the first manufactured showers for the purpose of curing the insane. Sustained falls of cold water were prescribed to cool hot, inflamed brains, and to instil fear to tame impetuous wills. By the middle of the century showers had appeared in both asylums and prisons, but shower-related deaths led to their decline. Rather than being abandoned, however, the shower was transformed by the use of warm water to economically wash the skins of prison and asylum populations. In stark contrast to an involuntary, deliberately unpleasant treatment, by the end of the century the shower was a desirable product for the improvement of personal hygiene and population health.

"He Must Die or Go Mad in This Place": Prisoners, Insanity, and the Pentonville Model Prison Experiment, 1842-52.

The relationship between prisons and mental illness has preoccupied prison administrators, physicians, and reformers from the establishment of the modern prison service in the nineteenth century to the current day. Here we take the case of Pentonville Model Prison, established in 1842 with the aim of reforming convicts through religious exhortation, rigorous discipline and training, and the imposition of separate confinement in its most extreme form. Our article demonstrates how following the introduction of separate confinement, the prison chaplains rather than the medical officers took a lead role in managing the minds of convicts. However, instead of reforming and improving prisoners' minds, Pentonville became associated with high rates of mental disorder, challenging the institution's regime and reputation. We explore the role of chaplains, doctors, and other prison officers in debating, disputing, and managing cases of mental breakdown and the dismantling of separate confinement in the face of mounting criticism.

'From Defensive Paranoia to Openness to Outside Scrutiny': Prison Medical Officers in England and Wales, 1979-86.

This article examines how a branch of medicine based within the criminal justice system responded to a society which by the 1970s and 1980s was increasingly critical of the prison system and medical authority. The Prison Medical Service, responsible for the health care of prisoners in England and Wales, was criticised by prison campaigners and doctors alike for being unethical, isolated, secretive, and beholden to the interests of the Home Office rather than those of their patients. While prison doctors responded defensively to criticisms in the 1970s and 1980s, comparing their own standards of practice favourably with those found in the NHS, and arguing that doctors from outside would struggle to cope in the prison environment, by 1985 their attitudes had changed. Giving evidence to a House of Commons committee, prison doctors displayed a much greater willingness to discuss how the prison system made their work more difficult, and expressed a pronounced desire to engage openly with the rest of the profession to address these problems. The change of attitude partly reflects a desire by the Home Secretary William Whitelaw to make the Prison Service more open, and an acceptance of a need for greater accountability in medicine generally. Most important, however, was a greater interest in prison health care and appreciation of the difficulties of prison practice among the wider medical profession, encouraging prison doctors to speak out. This provides a case study of how a professional group could engage openly with criticisms of their work under favourable circumstances.

Huellas dactilares a través del mundo transatlántico: las vidas paralelas de Juan Vucetich y Federico Olóriz / Fingerprints across the transatlantic world: the parallel lives of Juan Vucetich and Federico Olóriz

Se estudia la adopción de las huellas dactilares como método de identificación en Argentina y España durante los primeros años del siglo XX. A través de su epistolario conjunto se analizan los intercambios entre Juan Vucetich (1858-1925), creador del sistemaargentino, y Federico Olóriz Aguilera (1855-1912), principal impulsor de la dactiloscopia en España. Se reconstruye a continuación la llegada de las clasificaciones de Vucetich a España a partir de 1906. Se estudian los factores que facilitaron su adaptación al nuevo escenario, debido a la posición privilegiada de Olóriz a caballo entre el mundo académico y profesional. También se examinaron las primeras propuestas de extensión de las huellas dactilares más allá del entorno policial a uno y otro lado del Atlántico. Se analizan de forma comparada las resistencias a la implantación de las huellas dactilares por parte de académicos, identificadorese identificados. A continuación se revisan las campañas de propaganda y legitimación que emprendieron ambos protagonistas a través de cartas, viajes, congresos, publicaciones, cursos y experimentos públicos. El artículo se cierra con la visita de Vucetich a España, lo que permite conocer los múltiples escenarios y personajes interesados en las nuevas técnicas de identificación alrededor de 1913. Pretendemos mostrar que, más allá de los usos policiales y coercitivos, sobre los que se han centrado la historiografía anglosajona, las huellas dactilares fueron percibidas también como herramientas para acceder (o limitar) derechos sociales y para realizar (o denegar) actividades administrativas y económicas, dando lugar a una variedad de estrategias de legitimación, controversias y respuestas (AU)

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Pacientes «penales» en instituciones psiquiátricas: cien años del Manicomio Nacional de Leganés (1852-1952) / «Penal» patients in psychiatric institutions: a hundred years of the National Asylum of Leganés (1852-1952)

A pesar de que, desde el siglo XVIII, surgieron en Europa las críticas y los debates sobre la convivencia de enfermos mentales y delincuentes sanos, a lo largo del siglo XIX no se crearon instituciones específicas en España. En el Manicomio Nacional de Leganés ingresaron pacientes dementes procesados desde su inauguración en 1852, la mayoría de ellos, tras la publicación del Real Decreto de 15 de mayo de 1885. El objetivo de este trabajo es estudiar la población «penada o procesada» hospitalizada en esta institución de carácter estatal, durante los primeros cien años del establecimiento. Se han revisado las historias clínicas de todos los sujetos con causas penales ingresados entre 1852 y 1952, realizando un análisis de variables sociodemográficas y clínico-terapéuticas con el paquete estadístico SPSS v21, además de estudiar cuestiones de carácter administrativo-judicial. Se observa que durante el primer siglo de existencia del Manicomio fueron internados poco más de un centenar de enfermos con causas pendientes (3,6% del total de pacientes), casi la mitad entre 1886 y 1896, generando problemas organizativos y económicos en el hospital (AU)

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Delincuencia femenina y desistimiento: factores explicativos / Female Delinquency and Withdrawal: Explanatory Factors

Resumen En este estudio de corte cualitativo, se entrevistaron 94 mujeres que estaban o habían estado en la cárcel. Se analizaron sus relatos de vida, con el fin de responder a la pregunta: ¿por qué las mujeres delinquen y por qué desisten del delito? Del análisis de contenido temático se hallaron tres categorías principales: violencia de género, vínculos afectivos y cuidado. Se encontró que haber sufrido violencia de género puede ser un factor explicativo del delito, los vínculos afectivos y el cuidado del otro pueden ser factores movilizadores hacia el delito y hacia el desistimiento del mismo. Los hallazgos sugieren que las mujeres han estado encarceladas desde antes de entrar a la prisión.

Abstract In this qualitative study, 94 women who were or had been in prison were interviewed. Their life stories were analyzed in order to answer the question: why women commit crime and why they give up crime? From the analysis of the thematic content were found three main categories: gender violence, affective bonds and care. It was found that having suffered gender violence can be an explanatory factor of the crime, the affective bonds and the care of the other can be motivating factors towards the crime and towards the abandonment of the same. The findings suggest that women have been incarcerated since before entering prison.