Story perspectives

UK Opens HMP Lincoln, Replacing Victorian-Era Prison System

8/18/2026

Summary

Story summary

United Kingdom opened HMP Lincoln, ending a Victorian era that built 90 prisons between 1842 and 1877.
A 1922 report by Stephen Hobhouse and Fenner Brockway warned that only dynamite could reform those prisons.
More than 30 Victorian prisons still operate, holding roughly one-quarter of the UK’s prison population.
In 2004 a photographer entered HMP Wandsworth and noted suicide netting, equipment searches, and photographing inmates required Ministry of Justice permission.

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Story summary

United Kingdom opened HMP Lincoln, ending a Victorian era that built 90 prisons between 1842 and 1877.
A 1922 report by Stephen Hobhouse and Fenner Brockway warned that only dynamite could reform those prisons.
More than 30 Victorian prisons still operate, holding roughly one-quarter of the UK’s prison population.
In 2004 a photographer entered HMP Wandsworth and noted suicide netting, equipment searches, and photographing inmates required Ministry of Justice permission.