In the red
GETTY IMAGES/JENI NOTT
Any mention of debtors’ prisons immediately makes me think of Charles Dickens. His father’s incarceration devastated the family – a humiliation later immortalised by the writer in Little Dorrit. But, as Alexander Wakelam explained on the podcast, Dickens’ experience was far from unusual. In fact, imprisonment for unpaid bills was a common part of life in a society built almost entirely on credit. But was the archaic system actually successful in reclaiming funds and deterring debtors? You’ll have to listen to find out. historyextra.com/debtors-prisons-pod
Captured in the castle
Not many places can rival Alcatraz’s reputation for escape attempts, but Castle Colditz could certainly give it a run for its money. As author Ben Macintyre told us, this Gothic schloss witnessed more escape attempts than any other WW2 PoW camp – partly because of the assortment of well-known troublemakers interned there. But it wasn’t all jolly japes. As Macintyre revealed, there’s also a darker side to the Colditz story, including racism, class divisions and mental breakdowns. historyextra.com/colditz-castle-pod
Floating hell
In 1776, the British authorities came up with a plan to ease prison overcrowding – vast, floating prison hulks. These “wicked Noah’s arks” became infamous for deprivation, disease and decay. By 1842, more than 4,000 of England’s inmates were believed to be held in these ships, many of them children. As Anna McKay revealed on the podcast, it was a system of incarceration “as rotten as the wooden timbers” of the hulks themselves. historyextra.com/prison-hulks-pod