"Voluntariness of Exposure": Life in a Convict Station

• NCJ Number: 230617
• Journal: Prison Journal Volume: 90 Issue: 2 Dated: June 2010 Pages: 203-219
• Author(s): Lawrence A. Sawchuk; Lianne Tripp; Michelle M. Mohan
• Date Published: June 2010
• Length: 17 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined life profiles of convicts at Gibraltar's Convict Station between 1860 and 1873.

Abstract

Convict Stations were commonplace during the 19th century. Despite the fact that thousands of prisoners of the British Empire served out their sentences under deplorable conditions, scant information exists on the health of these men. Using Gibraltar's Convict Station as a case study, a profile of life of the convicts is documented. An examination of the health profile of the prisoners for the period from 1860 to 1873 suggests that their overall health status was similar to that of the military, another transient group resident on the Rock. However, during the cholera epidemic of 1865, the health of the convicts was severely compromised with significantly higher attack and mortality rates. Factors responsible for the higher rates can be attributed to a cluster of vulnerabilities that were intrinsic to the convict way of life where exposure to a host of risk factors played out during a compressed period of time. Figures, notes and references (Published Abstract)