ABSTRACT
Maidstone convict prison was established in 1909 as a dedicated star-class establishment, and star men were transferred there from Portland and Parkhurst. The prison’s 1911 census return allows a detailed examination of its population, revealing a distinct ‘white collar’ cohort, alongside a majority convicted of killing, wounding or sexually assaulting women. The prison became associated with ‘sexual offenders’, an unwieldy category that included both men convicted of rape and others sentenced for consensual sexual acts with other men. During the First World War, they were joined by military prisoners and from 1919 by convicts transferred from Ireland and a cohort of court-martialled Irish mutineers. After 1923, Maidstone accommodated star men aged below 21 (later 24) in a segregated block. Its main industries were tinsmithing and printing; former professionals and businessmen were normally assigned to the latter. Daily life in the prison carried on beneath a civilized veneer; its star-class population was largely docile and easy to control. With the help of informers, troublesome elements were regularly purged. Prison sex and homosexual relationships appear to have been fairly widespread. By 1930, Maidstone’s absence of outdoor work and exercise for long-term prisoners had come to be seen as its major shortcoming.
