What was the Separate Prison at Port Arthur?
The Separate Prison at Port Arthur was a building opened in 1849 where convicts were kept in silence and isolation. It reflected a new belief that solitude and reflection would reform prisoners.
The design was based on Pentonville Prison in London. Four wings radiated from a central hall, so a few guards could watch many cells. Prisoners spent 23 hours a day alone in their cells.
Prisoners wore hoods when outside their cells so they could not recognise each other, and guards wore slippers to keep the prison quiet. In the chapel, each prisoner sat in a separate stall where he could see the preacher but not other prisoners.
Mental harm
The system caused serious mental illness among some prisoners. Port Arthur later built an asylum nearby.
The Separate Prison is one of the best-preserved buildings at the Port Arthur Historic Site, and its corridors give a strong sense of how lonely and oppressive the system was.
Visitors can step into a dark punishment cell, where misbehaving prisoners were locked away in total darkness, sometimes for days. The idea of separate confinement spread through prisons in Britain, the United States and Australia in the nineteenth century, before it fell out of favour.
Did You Know?
The punishment cells were so dark and silent that prisoners lost track of time.