The Horrifying Story Of The Victorian Alcatraz | How The Victorians Built Britain | Absolute History

Michael Buerk discovers how the Victorians instituted a revolution in law and order, created the first modern police force and built the prisons Britain still relies on today. He begins in Spike Island, County Cork, dubbed "Ireland's Alcatraz", where he learns about the terrible conditions endured by convicts awaiting transportation to Australia, and hears the stories of those who tried to escape. Next, Michael travels to Crumlin Road Gaol in Belfast, discovering why the Victorians embarked on the biggest prison-building programme in British history - and why their efforts at prisoner rehabilitation didn't always succeed. And in Glasgow, he discovers why the city became home to the country's first recognisably modern police force.

[thomashjatna]

This is my favorite YouTube history channel. I found it 1 week ago. Great works filming and presenting everything in this perfect manner.

[WaiferThyme]

In `1924 my Grandfather was arrested for picking an apple from a tree. He was 14. He was sentenced to weekends at the Dakeyne Boys Home and it was there that he was tricked into going to Canada as a home child. Because he picked an apple from a tree when he was hungry.

[christinacarr]

I really love this series. I have always enjoyed history. This series does an excellent job of bringing history to life in a very engrossing and entertaining way.

[adriengriffon]

Considering the political climate in the US now, I find it interesting how so many of the attitudes we'd find to be pretty out of date in the Victorians have been resurrected. Continuing to be hard on crime despite it not working, obsession with punishment, worry that the poor will take advantage if the workhouse isn't totally miserable...

[cynthiatolman]

That's what I was thinking. Hungry people in the midst of a poverty and stealing a little to eat was the equivalent of a major felony. The poor people were driven insane in the prison and I think death would have been more merciful.

[fqras]

This documentary sounds like “During the victorian age we English invented this humane jail system, invented the police force, invented detectives, invented mugshots… etc”. They didn’t. They implemented these systems that were already used in other countries.

[ptsdlmnop]

7 years for stealing a potato 🥔? Fight to the death if u ask me

[GrandmaCathy]

So, prison for homelessness and unemployment, and unpaid bills? How is that going to fix anything? You get out and your still going to be unemployed and homeless.

[Oleanderlullaby]

8 years in those cells.. 8 years.. people go insane in solitary NOW and they have books and windows and light and a bed… I can’t even wrap my head around the mental anguish these prisoners went through. The only crime I consider that a reasonable punishment for is harming a child or someone who’s helpless to stop you..

[cyber_cober]

5:22 In the picture there are two Finnish convicts, Antti Rannanjärvi is on the left and Antti Isotalo on the right. Both were famous for stabbing and mugging people in Ostrobothnian countryside in the 1800's.

[valorarise]

Best doc series ever. Hope it never ends

[paststeve]

So pleased I found and subscribed to this channel! Thanks so much!

[davidshepherd]

It sounds harsh, but the RN flogged until 1879 and the British army didn't ban flogging until 1881. The army used field punishment right into WW1. Being tied to a cannon wheel, and left in the elements. It a great show, and very well done, but many times its overlooked that life was equally harsh or perhaps worse as they weren't fed like the inmates were.

[j.b.]

@35:45, here in Louisiana, we have Napoleonic Law. Everyone else uses Common Law.

[Ihtiriekko]

The picture at 5:23 is Antti Isotalo and Antti Rannanjärvi. Two famous criminals in Finland 1869. So it is bit funny to see them in documentary about Victorian criminal system.

[veiledrecalcitrance]

This show should have been called “How the Victorians were awful to each other”, especially the aristocracy. Yeah, they invented a lot, but it was all out of greed and it was all built on the backs and lives of those considered “below” them. The Victorian era was fascinating to me, but it truly was horrible in a lot of ways. I’ve always wondered about Queen Victoria, you always hear about the era, her lover for Albert, but they never talk about if she was a good Queen, I mean, that last bit where she had the laws changed because she was mad the guy who tried to kill her got off wasn’t thinking about “the people”, that was almost a temper tantrum move on her part. The Victorian era has always seemed very much to be an era of selfish acts based on greed or class, I love learning about it, but wouldn’t want to live somewhere that was run the way it was in that era.

[TangibleBelly]

43:03 "It's the most majestic shithouse in the world." What a phrase to end this video on lol 😂😂

[katiegreen]

I've toured Alcatraz before but never seen the black cells. Those were off limits when i went.

[villetopi]

the criminals at 2:28 are two of the most famous Finnish criminals of the era... Antti Isotalo and Antti Rannanjärvi... Picture is from 1869

[kds]

In the early 2000's I worked for the state AG. WE had AFIS scanners - just lay your fingers on a glass plate and the scan prints out. Fascinating.