Synopses & Reviews
One of the largest and most destructive prison riots in British history occurred in Dartmoor Convict Prison in 1932. Between 1932 and into the 1960s the Dartmoor 'mutiny' was the most widely-known outbreak in British prison history. This was partly due to the attention it attracted but also to the notoriety attached to Dartmoor as holding offenders convicted of the most serious crimes. It was impossible for the prison authorities to deny the seriousness of the outbreak when smoke and flames could be seen for miles around billowing from buildings set alight by rioting convicts. Press reporters besieged Princetown, the village next to the prison, and a Daily Mirror airplane took dramatic photographs that helped to make this riot a national media event and one of the most dramatic stories of the 1930s.
Review
To come
Synopsis
An exploration of the 1932 prison riot in Dartmoor Convict Prison. One of the most notorious and destructive in English prison history, it received unprecedented public and media attention. This book examines the causes, events and consequences to shed new light on prison cultures and violence as well as penal policy and public attitudes.
About the Author
Alyson Brown is a Reader in History at Edge Hill University, UK. She has conducted extensive research into the history of crime and penal history. Her book, English Society and the Prison (2003) was well received and widely reviewed. She has also published numerous articles and chapters on this subject area.
Table of Contents
1.Acknowledgements
2. Introduction
3. The Dartmoor Convict Prison Riot 1932: "wild happenings on the moor"
4. A Man Seeking Closure: Alexander Paterson, Du Parcq and Inter-war Penal Policy
5. Dartmoor Gaol Battle: The Dartmoor Riot as a National Media Event
6. The Elephant and Castle Gang and Criminal Careers of Dartmoor Prison Inmates
7. Microhistory and the Modern Prison
Conclusion