VPRS 515 Central Register of Male Prisoners

Full description

This series commenced as a register of prisoners received at Melbourne area prisons, including the Collingwood, Carlton and Williamstown stockades, the Eastern Gaol, the Hulks and Pentridge. It is uncertain where the record was located from 1850 c.1860, possibly Melbourne Gaol.

From c.1860 Pentridge became the central prison for the Melbourne area and unless the prisoner passed through Pentridge it is unlikely that there will be any reference to them in VPRS 515.

From this date the series was likely to have been located at Pentridge but was part of the Chief Secretary's Department (and from 1871 the Penal and Gaols Branch) record keeping system and should not be considered a Pentridge record. It was created by the Department as part of its responsibility for the management of all prisons.

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries it was common practice for a prisoner to be sent from the court to the local prison, e.g., Ballarat, Beechworth and Geelong. Therefore it is very important for researchers to know where the trial took place. If the trial was in Melbourne the prisoner is likely to be registered in VPRS 515 but if the trial took place outside the metropolitan area the prisoner was most probably sent to the local prison. Researchers should check the records of local prisons, see PROV finding aids for details of PROV holdings of prison records.

In the prison system there was no state-wide central registration of prisoners (both male and female) until the introduction of the computerised Prison Information Management System (PIMS) in 1985.

The subsequent series is VPRS 11508 Male Prisoner Registration Cards (Sequential Number Series).

Photos commenced c. 1872 for prisoners sentenced longer than 6 months. Prisoners sentenced for shorted terms were not photographed. Photos were routinely taken when the prisoner was first received by the prison and just before release.

Details record in the Register include:
- prisoner number
- name
- photo (if long term)
- personal description (height, weight, hair colour)
- sentence
- date of conviction
- offence
- where and before whom tried
- particular marks
- previous history (e.g. whether married, known associates)
- prison
- when received
- offences, sentences
- extension to sentence.