The Prison Uniforms Collection at the Galleries of Justice Museum, Nottingham, UK

Abstract

An examination of prison clothing in the Galleries of Justice Galleries archive makes visible the prison reforms in the 1970s and 1990s when respectively women and later male inmates’ prison uniforms were abolished in British prisons. The collection of prison uniforms and everyday dress of inmates is critically investigated as an invaluable resource for charting the sensorial materiality of historical change in prison clothing provision in Britain in the late 20th century.