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The City Prison
GBR/G3/AG1 1844 (West to top)
In 1781, following an Act of Parliament, a new gaol for the use of the city only was built in Southgate Street, south of St. Kyneburgh's Hospital. This was needed because Gloucester Borough had its own Quarter Sessions separate from the County Quarter Sessions and so could arrest, try and imprison criminals on its own. The new building had separate cells along the lines advocated by the prison reformer John Howard – but it did have a ‘black hole’ (presumably an isolation cell) and a condemned cell. Around 1816, it was considerably enlarged to the west when a house of correction was built adjoining it and a treadwheel installed. By 1817 a ‘Police Office’ also existed in the building – presumably to house the city’s 12 Constables and the official city watch. Of note was the large garden to allow the prison to grow some of its own food.
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