UK considers return of 'prison hulks' [audio 8min @19:45]

Rumours that Britan's Home Office is contemplating buying a prison ship to ease overcrowding in UK prisons led the"Making History" team to look at the history of these vessels -- often, grimly, referred to as prison hulks. The programme consulted Professor Sean McConville of Queen Mary, University of London, author of a 4-volume history of Britain’s penal history published by Routledge. McConville recently published Volume 3 of his history of imprisonment, Irish Political Prisoners 1848–1922: Theatres of War. His previous books in this series have dealt with 18th- and 19th-century penal policy and prison administration, History of English Prison Administration (1981), and English Local Prisons, 1860-1900: Next Only to Death (1995); 2 further volumes are planned.