“Having an Immoral Conversation” and Other Prison Offenses: The Punishment of Convict Women

Farrell, Elaine

doi:10.1007/978-1-137-49494-8_6

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…97 Published works on the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by Rena Lohan, Christina Quinlan and Farrell focus on the imprisonment of women deemed serious offenders. 98 Lohan has also examined female prison staff, while Luddy has considered women visitors to prisons in her examination of philanthropy in nineteenth-century Ireland. 99 Further study of local jails, like Geraldine Curtin's assessment of women in Galway, 100 would offer an opportunity to assess survival strategies, responses at a local level, and allow for the tracing of women between prisons and other institutions.…”

Section: Farrell Mccormick and Redmond-exploring The Ordinarymentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the ordinary: migration, sexuality and crime, and the progression of the ‘Agenda’ in Irish women's history, 1850s–1950s

2022

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This article reflects on some developments in women's history based on the 1992 ‘An agenda for women's history in Ireland, 1500–1900’, particularly responding to the section authored by Maria Luddy, incorporating work grounded in the nineteenth century up to the first half of the twentieth. Specifically, it considers developments in Irish women's social history over the past thirty years on the period from the 1850s to 1950s. The focus is on themes of poverty and migration, crime, and sexuality, which were touched on in the ‘Agenda’ and identified as areas for future research. Analysis on these subjects allows for an insight into lived realities for ‘ordinary’ women. These are areas which reveal the growth and development of historical research and its impact on public narratives and policy. Taking its cue from the ‘Agenda’, this article also identifies other fruitful research topics that could be further explored in future scholarship.

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Section: Farrell Mccormick and Redmond-exploring The Ordinarymentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the ordinary: migration, sexuality and crime, and the progression of the ‘Agenda’ in Irish women's history, 1850s–1950s

2022

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“…More common punishments such as close confinement in the penal cell, or a bread and water diet, could not be imposed. 56 Johanna Joyce, whose case was mentioned at the outset, gave birth to a son, Michael, on 16 November 1893. 57 Thereafter, she continued to breach prison rules as she had during her pregnancy.…”

Section: Mothering In Prisonmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Poor prison flowers’: convict mothers and their children in Ireland, 1853–1900

Farrell

2016

Social History

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Pregnant women and mothers were among the thousands of individuals who were sentenced to at least three years' penal servitude and admitted to the nineteenth-century Irish female convict prison. While some babies were born behind bars, others were permitted to accompany their convicted mothers into the prison after the penal practice of transportation had ceased. Other dependent children were separated from their convicted mothers for years, cared for by family members or friends, or accommodated in Ireland's growing web of institutions. Using individual case studies, this paper focuses on convict mothers and their young offspring. It draws attention to the increasing restrictions on the admission of infants that were imposed as the nineteenth century progressed, the problems that children of various ages in the penal system seemed to pose for officials, and the difficulties faced by incarcerated mothers who wished to maintain communication with their offspring. This article argues that while there were benefits to parenting within the confines of the prison, sentences of penal servitude had a significant impact on the lives of dependent offspring by dislocating families, separating siblings, or initiating institutional or other care that broke familial bonds permanently. In so doing, the article reveals attitudes towards motherhood as well as female criminality and institutionalisation generally during this period and sheds light on an aspect of convict life unique to the women's prison.

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“Having an Immoral Conversation” and Other Prison Offenses: The Punishment of Convict Women

Cited by 2 publications

References 11 publications

Exploring the ordinary: migration, sexuality and crime, and the progression of the ‘Agenda’ in Irish women's history, 1850s–1950s

Exploring the ordinary: migration, sexuality and crime, and the progression of the ‘Agenda’ in Irish women's history, 1850s–1950s

‘Poor prison flowers’: convict mothers and their children in Ireland, 1853–1900

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