Långholmens spinnhus

From 1723 onward, any unmarried homeless woman who did not have an employer, a legal profession or personal property, were labelled as defenseless, a status which was considered criminal at the time, and were subsequently sent to this prison.

Once built, products from the jail were to be sold to wool factories and also used to fill the clothing needs of the defence forces.

However, due to lack of state funding, the builders accepted an offer to use Johan Spalding's estate at Alstavik, Långholmen instead.

The elderly and sick who were unable to work processing wool were given the task of spinning linen instead.

Alstavik was expanded on all sides and the former malmgården became a secluded building within the bigger compound at Långholmen.

[clarification needed][13] During the latter half of the 1700s, a hospital, church, administration building, lighthouse and petty officer accommodations were built at Långholmen.

One of the prisoners during that time was Hanna Hansdotter from Scania, the last person in Sweden to be sentenced to death for witchcraft.

Another well-known inmate at the place was Magdalena Rudenschöld, considered to be the first political prisoner held there.

Afterwards, new space was provided to accommodate additional crafts such as shoemaking, sock production and blacksmithing, increasing the employment opportunities of the prison population.

[7] In 1825, the spinnhus was put under state control following the establishment of the Swedish Board for prisons and work institutions.

[23] Another inmate at Långholmen was Anna Maja Holmström who in 1813, at the age of 31, was given a life sentence for child murder.