Separate system

It was originally constructed as the National Penitentiary and for part of its history served as a holding facility for convicted prisoners before they were transported to Australia.

Pentonville Prison in the Barnsbury area of North London had a central hall with five radiating wings, all visible to staff at the center.

When the separate system was first introduced, prisoners were required to be in solitary confinement even during exercise; as a result panopticon-style structures were erected inside these yards, in which a guard post was surrounded by tiny, cell-like, one-person exercise "yards".

Designers of these penal institutions drew heavily on monastic solitary confinement to both destroy the identity of the inmate (and thus make him easier to control) and to crush the "criminal subculture" that flourished in densely populated prisons.

The guards and warders charged with overseeing these prisoners knew neither their names nor their crimes, and were prohibited from speaking to them.

Prisoners were hooded upon exiting a cell, and even wore felted shoes to muffle their footsteps.

The result was a dumb obedience and a passive disorientation that shattered the "criminal community.