A Private Execution

Eighteen Months' Imprisonment

by Donald SHAW ( - )

This is an absorbing memoir of an inmate's experiences and impressions while in a London prison. He describes himself as "a man of education and worldly experience" and weighing "19 stone 13 lbs" (279 lbs), a stone being 14 lbs, at the beginning of his imprisonment but not upon his release. The author writes with a reporter's keen perception and a talented novelist's ability to engage and at times amuse the reader. - Summary by Lee Smalley

Listen next episodes of Eighteen Months' Imprisonment:
Burglars “I Have Met” , Coldbath Fields , “Corpulency” , Criminal Lunatics , Gardening , “Justice Tempered With Mercy” , “Newgate Etiquette” , “Oakum” Let Us Sing , Prison Celebrities , Prison Trades , Retrospect , The Central Criminal Court , The Church Militant in Prison , The Convalescent Ward , The Hospital Dead-House , The Outer World , The Titled Convict , The Tread-Wheel , The Visiting Justices