Lauren, Incarcerated

     Three days ago, I went to jail, along with three of my accomplices.

     To be more precise, I visited Kilmainham Gaol on the outskirts of Dublin.  We four adventurers woke early on Saturday morning and walked for what seemed like forever but was really only about three miles.  (Still too long for an early morning, I say).  We ran the last bit in order to make the 11:30 tour, but we arrived just as the tour left and had to be consoled with the noon tour.  So we wandered around the prison museum and learned all sorts of pleasant things, like what length of rope will allow a man's neck to be instantly snapped when hung.  It was actually very interesting; I didn't know anything about Irish history before, and it was quite a nice introduction to the struggles the nation has had with the Evil Land of England.
     Our tour proved similarly helpful.  We learned a lot about Kilmainham Gaol.  Built in the late 1700s, the jail was an experiment in prison reform.  The prison was designed so that each prisoner was kept in his or her own cell, whereas the older prisons crammed men, women, and children in dirty rooms.  The plan didn't quite work, though, as the prison became overcrowded.  During the Great Famine, the prison was one of the few places you could get three meals a day, so many people committed petty theft just to get into the prison. At its most crowded, 9,000 people inhabited the jail--for only 125 cells!  The jail was closed in the early 1900s when a new prison was built in Dublin, and re-opened just six years later when the revolution produced many political prisoners.
     The earlier wings of the jail were damp and pretty miserable. The cell doors had peepholes so that the guards could look in on the prisoners and make sure they were keeping out of trouble.

A peephole into a cell.

One of the earlier wings.  It's very cold in here.

The inscription reads, "Beware the risen people that have harried and held, ye that have bullied and bribed."

     The newer Victorian wing may look familiar to some people.  In the Name of the Father, Michael Collins, and other movies were filmed here.  The acoustics are so good in the hall that many bands have recorded here, including U2.

One of the political prisoners that stayed here was Grace Gifford, widow of fellow revolutionary Joseph Plunkett.  When in prison, she painted the Madonna and Child on her cell wall.

    Afterwards, we visited the War Memorial nearby.

     Then we popped into the National Museum for just over an hour until we headed home. My camera had died by this point, but I did manage to snap a picture of this gem.

Supposedly a soldier's helmet.  Almost definitely designed by Lady Gaga.

    In other news, we leave for Belfast on Thursday! IFSA-Butler is taking the whole group for four days to the northern country.  Until then, slán a fhágáil!