Freemantle Prison, Australia 2024

A must read. About 10,000 convicts populated Freemantle Prison during 30 years starting in the mid 1800s. Britain used the system to expand its world influence, punish criminals, and make its homeland a safer place.

It is Western Australia’s only World Heritage Site.

Convicts were those who took the three-month journey from Britain. Prisoners was the name for locals who were incarcerated.

By the end of the century, it was home to less than 100 convicts  and converted to a local prison needed due to the local gold rush which greatly increased the local population.

Conditions were brutal. All criminals started with 9 months solitary where they were in their cells for 23 hours daily. Their cells were also home to cockroaches, mice and rats.

Those who disobeyed rules were flogged with a cat ‘o nine tails which was so severe that a doctor was needed to temporarily call off the beating so the prisoner would not die. The flogging would continue after the wounds healed enough. Additionally they endured the actual pouring of salt on the wounds.

44 people were hanged here. Murder was the only crime that could receive that sentence.

Here they had to toe the line when they arrived.

The built a women’s section and posted their rap sheets.