Glimpses of An Irish Felon's Prison Life

By

Thomas Clarke

The cruelty of the British prison system in the later 19^th Century is well known. The filthy food, unbearable cold or heat depending on the season, solitary confinement, constant abuse from warders, and frequent punishments for the most trivial offences were bad enough. But the "Silent System" was the worst. Prisoners were forbidden to speak to one another under any circumstances. They could not speak to warders without asking permission, and then only on the business of being a prisoner – no casual of friendly conversations. Any breach of these rules resulted in punishment for the prisoner, and for the warder if he showed any humanity towards his charges. For political prisoners, such as Tom Clarke, the Irish rebel and author of these reminisces, things were even worse. Many of these prisoners died or went insane. However, despite the oppressive regime,  Clarke was able to stay steadfast and to circumvent these rules to an extent the authorities could not even imagine. These reminisces were written long afterwards, a few years before Clarke was executed for organising the 1916 Rising.,

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