This is a brief guide to help you find records of prison administration and policy. Before 1839 prison records are among the correspondence of various government departments held at The National Archives. These records are not yet catalogued and can be difficult to search. Many records after 1839 can be searched by the name of the prison. Many prison records are in local record offices. For individuals see Looking for records of a prisoner.
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What records can I see online?
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Parliamentary Papers (1801-2006)
Search Parliamentary Papers (institutional subscription required). These are an important source of information about prison policy, covering issues such as the efficacy of transportation and the diet of convicts.
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What records can I find at The National Archives at Kew?
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Records of the Home Office, Prison Commission, King's Bench, Fleet and Marshalsea prisons, and Treasury (1628-2006)
Search the Catalogue in HO, PCOM, PRIS and T by name of prison, and by date range. Not all the records in this series are fully catalogued. If you don't find what you are looking for with this online search, browse the Catalogue to find out what other records we hold.
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To access these records you will either need to visit us, commission research (£there will be a charge) or, where you can identify a specific record referencea unique set of letters and numbers identifying a document in The National Archives, order a copy (£there will be a charge).
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What records can I find in other archives and organisations?
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Records held locally
Search the Access to Archives (A2A) and National Register of Archives (NRA) databases to find records held in local archives, such as papers of individual politicians or campaigners.
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What other resources will help me find information?
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Books
Read Prison by Edward Marston (The National Archives, 2009).
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Prisoners
Criminal trials and convictions
Transportees