Built in 1819 and opened in 1820, HMP Brixton, formerly known as Surrey House of Correction, is located in Jebb Avenue, Surrey, on the infamous Brixton Hill[1]. It has held many roles in its time, including that of being the first women’s prison in the UK in 1853, and also performing as a military prison for a short period of time. The Governor Emma Martin was the first ever female governor who managed a staff made up of predominantly women. HMP Brixton is a men’s category C prison, holding a large number of sexual offenders[2].
The Treadmill
Brixton Prison became well known for its introduction of the treadmill, commonly referred to as the ‘shin-scraper’[3]. This sadistic form of punishment involved all inmates, who were deemed capable, walking for several hours a day on a huge wooden wheel fitted with steps which milled wheat to make flour.
William Cubitt, the engineer behind the machine, which is now ironically used willingly by gym goers, invented the treadmill in 1817 in an attempt to reform prisoners by suborning them with arduous and pointless work. Brixton’s penal treadmill was one of the largest and most notorious of the period, holding up to 24 prisoners at a time. Unsurprisingly, this had multiple negative consequences, causing an increase in the number of sick prisoners along with a parallel rise in premature deaths.
Punitive treadmills were eventually banned in 1902, but the invention remains a popular piece of cardiovascular equipment within gyms (perhaps still seen as a punishment for some). Below is a newspaper cutting and transcription, reporting on the ‘revolutionary benefits’ of the penal treadmill at Brixton Prison.
“O Word of fear, — Unpleasing to a Gomeker’s ear!”
A Description of The Tread-Mill
THE Tread-Mill at Brixton, that “terror to evil-doers,” has excited so much attention, that a correct view and description of it, cannot fail of being acceptable to the public. The Treadmill is the invention of Mr Cubitt, of Ipswich, and is considered a great improvement in Prison discipline; so much so, that since its beneficial effects have been experienced at Brixton, mills of a similar construction have been erected at Cold-Bath-fields, and several places in the country.
The above engraving exhibits a party of prisoners in the act of working the Brixton Tread-Mill, of which it is a correct representation. The view is taken from a corner of one of the ten airing yards of the prison, all of which radiate from the Governor’s house in the centre; so that from the window of his room he commands a complete view into all the yards.
To provide regular and suitable employment for prisoners sentenced to hard labour, has been attended with considerable difficult in many parts of the kingdom: the invention of the Discipline Mill has removed the difficulty, and it is confidently hoped, that as its advantages and effects become better known, the introduction of the Mill will be universal in Houses of Correction.”
‘Fraggle Rock’: Brixton’s Notorious F-Wing
Brixton was also infamous for its mental health unit, located in the F-wing of the prison and referred to, by the prisoners, as ‘Fraggle Rock’[4]. The wing had a high level of disturbance due to vast overcrowding, particularly in the 1880s, a time when Brixton housed over 1100 prisoners, 230 of which were to be found in Fraggle Rock. The F-wing at Brixton was known for its inhumane and egregious treatment of its most vulnerable prisoners, with only four to five prison staff for every fifty to sixty inmates, any hope of suitable care for the mentally troubled was unattainable. A typical day on the F-wing involved heavily medicating problematic prisoners, only for the sounds of their wailing and moaning, as they came back around, to be heard all through the night. The extent of neglect faced by the inmates in Fraggle Rock is evident in the 14 suicides that Brixton Prison saw between the years 1988 and 1990, explaining why the prison was branded the ‘suicide capital’ by the media. Thankfully, the F-wing was closed down in 1992 and replaced by an Acute Care Unit [5].
The First Female Convict Prison in the UK
Brixton made history in 1853 when it became home to the first women’s prison throughout the whole of the United Kingdom. Due to severe overcrowding in its early decades, Surrey House of Correction was moved to Wandsworth, leading to Brixton Prison’s rebirth in 1853 as a female convict prison, with an estimated capacity of around 700 to 800 female inmates[6]. To accommodate for this increased holding, two additional wings were constructed onto the prison, along with a new chapel and laundry. It was at this time that the prison staff was made up predominantly of women, another breakthrough in UK prison history, although this sparked debate over prison discipline with women being deemed the ‘softer’ sex and perhaps less capable of enforcing strict regimentation.
A key aspect of Brixton as a female prison was the addition of a convict nursery, a ward for the children of the female inmates serving a sentence in not just Brixton prison but other prisons across the UK[7]. This aspect of the penal system for women highlights the central aim in retributing the female prisoner. It was believed that the industrial revolution, which took Britain by storm in the 19th century, took women away from their domestic duties and provoked an increase in female crime rate. Therefore, whilst in confinement, it was hoped that women could be realigned with their domesticated values and, hence, re-enter society ready to contribute within the restrictions of the household. Rather than subjugating female inmates to the arduous labour that male convicts typically faced during imprisonment, women in Brixton prison spent the majority of their time in solitary confinement, with little attempt being made to adjust their criminal behaviour or attitudes. In 1869, the female inmates were relocated to Woking Prison and Brixton Prison returned to a prison for men.
Prisoners You Might Know
Throughout its duration, Brixton Prison housed many famous names.
Oswald Mosley (1940), a British politician, was interned in Brixton Prison in May of 1940, after pleading for the British to accept Hitler’s offer of peace during World War Two. An authoritarian and founder of the British Union of Fascists, Mosley spent less than a year in Brixton prison before being moved to Holloway to join his wife Diana in 1941.
John Christie (1953), an English serial killer, necrophile and murderer of at least 8 people. After vacating his home in 1953, 6 of his victims were found, 3 in an alcove hidden in his kitchen, 2 in the garden and his own wife beneath the floorboards. Huge controversy was provoked by the prosecution and hanging of Timothy Evans who was convicted of murdering his wife and daughter, only later discovered to be 2 of Christie’s victims. A total of 7 psychiatrists examined Christie during his time in Brixton prison, all of which identified his hysteria and dissociative personality[8].
Mick Jagger (1967), singer/songwriter and key member of the Rolling Stones, was sentenced to three months in Brixton prison for possession of amphetamine tablets following a raid of his home in West Sussex. In the end, he only served one night of his three-month sentence, although it is rumoured that he wrote some of the lyrics to his famous songs We Love You and 2000 Light Years from Home in this time. He was released on a £7000 bail[9].
[1] Prison History, ‘Brixton House of Correction’, [online] available at https://www.prisonhistory.org/prison/brixton-house-of-correction/, [accessed on 8th July 2020]
[2] Impey, Christopher, The House on the Hill: Brixton’s Oldest Prison, Tangerine Press, (May 2019)
[3] BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking, 2020, ‘The Dark History of the Treadmill’, [online] available at https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4w8bVrKRqQDP4fKl0b8XzdW/the-dark-history-of-the-treadmill, [accessed on 8th July 2020]
[4] Smith, Noel, ‘The House on the Hill, Brixton, London’s Oldest Prison’, Inside Time: The National Newspaper for Prisoners and Detainees, (July 2019)
[5] Somasundaram, Dr V., Director of Health Care for HMP Brixton, ‘Good-bye Fraggle Rock’ in CJM: Criminal Justice Matters, No. 21, (Autumn, 1995)
[6] Davie, Neil, ‘Business as Usual? Britain’s First Women’s Convict Prison, Brixton 1853-1869’, Crimes and Misdemeanours, Vol 4, No. 1, (2010)
[7] Mayhew, Henry and John Binny, ‘The Female Convict Prison at Brixton’ in The Criminal Prisons of London and Scenes of London Life (The Great World of London), (1862)
[8] Brixton Blog, 2019, ‘New Book Marks 200 Years of Brixton Prison’, [online], available at https://brixtonblog.com/2019/05/new-book-marks-200-years-of-brixton-prison/?cn-reloaded=1, [accessed on 8th July 2020]
[9] The Guardian, 2013, ‘Mick Jagger Sentenced to Three Months in Prison’, [online] available at https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/picture/2013/jun/29/mick-jagger-prison, [accessed on 8th July 2020]
Written by Danielle Yates