This is what the future used to look like. What is now HMP Lincoln opened at the end of the most significant period of prison construction in British history, when ninety prisons were opened or greatly expanded between 1842 and 1877. Here, the introductory essay observes, “was the Victorian faith in progress, rendered in bricks and mortar and applied to the challenge of remaking those who had set themselves against law and society”. Less than fifty years later, in their 1922 report, Stephen Hobhouse and Fenner Brockway argued that the only reform to which these buildings could usefully be subjected was dynamite. Despite the continued force of that critique, prisons such as Lincoln and Liverpool seem as permanent as ever: over thirty remain in use, together holding around a quarter of the prison population.

Aitchison has been working inside for more than twenty years. What is here is his exploration of how that Victorian infrastructure has persisted, and of what these old buildings mean for the people who live and work inside them.

“Honest but never dreary, these images are rich with a playful storytelling that takes us beyond prison cliches, to places that are delicate, tragic and beautiful.” — Andy West