From Lewes to Woking: The development of an invalid convict prison

By the mid nineteenth century, it was acknowledged by penal administrators that some prisoners were unable to endure the full rigours of penal servitude (long-term imprisonment). One such group were prisoners labelled as invalids; those who through physical or mental disability had an adapted or modified prison regime (for example, light rather than hard labour). The developing convict prison system sought to group these prisoners together, establishing Woking invalid convict prison, which opened in 1860. In the years leading up to the opening of Woking, invalids had been held on an invalid hulk and then temporarily at HMP Lewes. This British Academy funded research explores the establishment of Woking prison and the responses to the invalid prison population. It interrogates a range of archive material exploring the experiences and the administration of this institution, which at the height of its use held over 1500 male and female convict prisoners.