Kōrero: Prisons

This is (left to right) the courthouse, guardroom, stocks, jail and gallows at the corner of Queen and Victoria Streets in Auckland in the 1850s. The jail, little more than a large hut, is typical of those built in colonial towns. Colonial jails tended to be underfunded and overcrowded. The stocks and gallows illustrate the range of punishments available and the fact that imprisonment was seen as a deterrent or a means of retribution rather than a means to rehabilitation.