Throw Away the Key Exhibition

Professor Hilary Marland and Dr Rachel Bennett worked with the archivists of the University of Warwick’s Modern Records Centre to curate an exhibition exploring the impact of prisons on health.

The exhibition showcased several of the key research strands of our project. The display included a select range of images, records and artefacts exploring day-to-day prison life alongside testimony from prisoners of their experiences of health and ill health in prison. The exhibition focused in particular on women’s health and maternity care in prison, mental health, the wellbeing of juvenile prisoners, prisoners’ recollections of their confinement, prison doctors, governors and chaplains, and prison reform.

The Modern Records Centre (MRC) at the University of Warwick was founded in 1973 with the principal objectives of locating and preserving primary sources for modern British social, political and economic history. It holds a treasure trove of archival material relating to criminal justice and prison reform.

Throw Away the Key drew particularly on the MRC’s records of pressure and protest groups concerned with human rights, health, and social and welfare reform in prisons, including the Howard League for Penal Reform.

The exhibition ran from Monday 18 February to Friday 5 April 2019 at the MRC at the University of Warwick, with free entry