Depraved Little Felons

A few weeks ago we went to Port Arthur, which was a colony, and prison for the convicts sent to Australia. There was one specific section about the children who were sent there for crimes called “depraved little felons”. That section talked about how the children were treated in prison. The children were most likely part of gangs, many being orphans, and some having convict parents as well. The reason they started sending convicts to Australia was because the prisons were very overfilled in England, and they needed more space, so they sent the convicts to Australia, forced them to build their own prisons, and then put them in it.

The children were put in a different prison than the adults, however I will also say a bit about one of the other prisons for adults, called the SeparatePrison. Inside, nobody was allowed to talk except the guards, and they were only called by numbers, never their names. They were kept in solitary confinement, not allowed to even make signs to each other. That, of course did a number on the convict’s mental health and many went into a state of near insanity.

The Prison for boys was a little bit less strict, allowing the children play time, and they even developed friend groups while inside. However, it wasn’t all good. The children could also be put in solitary confinement, a wooden box, pretty much, and forced to stay in there for up to 48 hours without peeing, or talking to anybody. It was a cruel punishment, also considering that the solitary confinement was the only part of the prison that was “child sized”.

After the children got out of prison, many went on to live long and eventful lives, though some continued in crime and died young. There was also a riot in the adult prison, when they were no longer allowed utensils, and four guards were killed. Port Arthur was very interesting to learn about, however sad. I’m glad that we got to go, as we learned so much interesting history.