Exhibition of ‘harrowing and humane’ episodes from past

Michael Alexander speaks to those behind a new exhibition which explores the hidden histories of prisoner-patients in Victorian Scotland

The hidden histories of prisonerpatients locked up in Perth during the Victorian era is explored in a new, free exhibition by National Records Scotland which opens today.

Prisoners Or Patients? Criminal Insanity In Victorian Scotland uses never-before-displayed records and photographs to reveal tragic stories of crime and treatment, but also recovery and release.

Guest curator Professor Rab Houston of St Andrews University has selected an array of images and objects from the trials of people accused of murder and other serious crimes at the High Court of Justiciary and the Criminal Lunatic Department in Perth.

These include photographs, personal notes and petitions of prisoner-patients, a prison register, crime scene map, court papers and medical reports.

The exhibition, which runs at General Register House in Edinburgh for the duration of the Fringe, provides an insight into historic penal policies and the infancy of psychiatry, revealing the stories of people – occasionally dangerous, often vulnerable but always severely disturbed – who experienced mental health problems and impairments in the most extreme circumstances.

Professor Houston explained how the Criminal Lunatic Department at Perth Prison was the “Carstairs of its day”.

He explores how those labelled as criminal lunatics and afflicted by mental health issues at the time were treated.

He was inspired to pull the exhibition together after running a Face To Face exhibition about Liff at Dundee University Tower Extension a few years ago, and taking it on a tour of prisons.

“The records are amazing because most of the people are from backgrounds of the type that just don’t appear in history,” he said.

“It’s fascinating. Harrowing at times, humane at others.

“It’s completely wonderful,” he added.

Perth Prison dates from the 1810s when it was built by Napoleonic French prisoners.

The Criminal Lunatic Department, which served the whole of Scotland, opened in 1846.

A mirror building for women lunatics opened in 1881. This doubled the capacity from around 50 to 100.

He explained that a criminal lunatic was somebody who was accused or convicted of a serious criminal offence and detained indefinitely at Her Majesty’s pleasure until deemed as “no longer a threat to themselves or society”.

But while padded cells and restraints were used when required, Professor Houston said he was surprised when researching how much help was given to prisoners before the facility closed in 1957.

“The big difference now is we have a full range of drugs to manage mental health symptoms,” he said when contrasting today’s approach to psychotic prisoners.

“In the 19th Century, up until the 1950s-’60s, there were very few treatments. But it shows that efforts were made for criminal lunatics to be helped.

“That’s one thing that struck me about the whole thing. These people weren’t hanged. They did their best to look after them and did their best to get them out.”

Professor Houston said the case studies he found “most affecting” were the women, many of whom killed their own children. “It’s those that stand out for me,” he added.

But another case that strikes a chord with him is the story of Alexander McKinnon – the youngest person in the exhibition – who was just 18 when admitted to Perth. He received a seven-year sentence in May 1880 after being caught red-handed in a shop in Glasgow wearing eight stolen items of clothing. He was looking at himself in the mirror when the police arrived.

“He’s not violent,” added Professor Houston, “but he’s very disturbed and very sad. Looking at these people’s faces...they really speak to you.”

Most of the people are from backgrounds of the type that just don’t appear in history. PROFESSOR RAB HOUSTON