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SAHARA Highlights: Prisons and Jails

Aug 6, 2018 by Jacqueline Spafford and Jeffrey Klee, SAHARA Co-Editors

This month we look at the architecture of incarceration, and again can see the breadth of interests and scope of travel of SAHARA contributors. This is a small selection of the images of jails, prisons, sanitoria, and detention centers in the SAHARA collection.

To see more, visit SAHARA: http://sahara.artstor.org/library/portals/SAHARA/rloginSAH.html 

To learn more about contributing to SAHARA, visit:http://www.sah.org/publications-and-research/sahara

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The doors to slave cells at Elmina Castle, Ghana. Elmina Castle was built ca 1482 under the Portuguese and was a hub of the West African slave trade. Photo by Louis Nelson, 2010.

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Allegheny County Courthouse and Jail, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Detail of Grant St. entrance. Designed by H.H. Richardson, 1888. Photo by J.W. Taylor, ca. 1890s (photo from the Ryerson & Burnham Archives at the Art Institute of Chicago).

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Jail, Tin Cup, Colorado, ca 1880s. A site of seasonal mining until lode deposits were discovered in 1878; by 1880 the town had 1,495 residents, and by 1918 when the mines were exhausted it was virtually closed down. Photo by Dell Upton, ca. 1980.

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Calton Gaol at Governor’s House, Edinburgh, Scotland. Designed by Archibald Elliot, 1815-17.Photo by Hollyamber Kennedy, 2017.

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Bathurst Gaol, New South Wales, Australia. Designed by James Barnet and opened in 1888.Photo by Dell Upton, 1990.

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Kings County Jail (aka The Bastille), Hanford, California.The jail was built 1897-98, and used until 1964.Photo by Dell Upton, 2008.

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Robben Island Prison, Namibian political prisoners’ mass cell.The prison, off Cape Town, South Africa, was established in the 17th century to confine political prisoners; it later served as a military base and leper colony, and again as a prison from 1963 to 1996.Photo by Dell Upton, 1997.

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Interior of Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin, Ireland. The jail opened in 1796 (the wing pictured opened in 1861) and closed in 1929; it was restored in the 1960s. Photo by Lara Otis, 2007.

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Convict Mess Hall at Cockatoo Island, Sydney Harbor, Australia.The prison was active 1839 through 1869, when it was converted to an industrial school and reformatory for girls; it also served as a shipbuilding yard from 1869 until its closure in 1992.Photo by Dell Upton, 2015.