Inter-war Penal Policy and Crime in England : The Dartmoor Convict Prison Riot, 1932

An exploration of the 1932 prison riot in Dartmoor Convict Prison. One of the most notorious and destructive in English prison history, it received unprecedented public and media attention. This book examines the causes, events and consequences to shed new light on prison cultures and violence as well as penal policy and public attitudes. One of the largest and most destructive prison riots in British history occurred in Dartmoor Convict Prison in 1932. Between 1932 and into the 1960s the Dartmoor 'mutiny' was the most widely-known outbreak in British prison history. This was partly due to the attention it attracted but also to the notoriety attached to Dartmoor as holding offenders convicted of the most serious crimes. It was impossible for the prison authorities to deny the seriousness of the outbreak when smoke and flames could be seen for miles around billowing from buildings set alight by rioting convicts. Press reporters besieged Princetown, the village next to the prison, and a Daily Mirror airplane took dramatic photographs that helped to make this riot a national media event and one of the most dramatic stories of the 1930s Front Matter....Pages i-ix Introduction....Pages 1-9 The Dartmoor Convict Prison Riot, 1932: Wild Happenings on the Moor....Pages 10-43 A Man Seeking Closure: Alexander Paterson, Du Parcq and Inter-war Penal Policy....Pages 44-70 Dartmoor Gaol Battle: The Dartmoor Riot as a National Media Event....Pages 71-95 The Elephant and Castle Gang and Criminal Careers of Dartmoor Prison Inmates....Pages 96-128 Microhistory and the Modern Prison....Pages 129-143 Conclusion....Pages 144-154 Back Matter....Pages 155-191