Titel: Långholmens
Skrivet av: Allan Hansson skrivet 2005-03-12, 17:25
Karen, are you sure about the 1880's? The Långholmen spinning house was transformed into a prison, exclusively for men, in 1825, and there were no female prisoners there in the 1880's. The Långholmen spinning house was established 1724, and a couple of hundred persons were spinning wool there (and preparing fresh wool for spinning). It was both a prison and a forced labour institution. At that time a person could be arrested and sent to a correction institution like Långholmen for vagrancy, i.e. if he or she was poor and unemployed, or if someone had escaped from an employment. There were a lot of other reasons too - loose living, drunkenness and disordered living, begging (mostly disabled old people, but also children from the age of nine). There are examples of noblemen, who sent their servants there, if they were considered lazy.
The vagrants at Långholmen were both male and female. But since there was no prison for women in Sweden, also female criminals were serving their sentences there. There were many cases of unmarried women, who had given birth to a child, which she had killed. Another crime was theft, and there are other, more rare examples. A number of women were religious dissidents (which was a crime, since there were no freedom of religion at all). There was also a noblewomen, who had plotted against the government, but she was very privileged and did not have to spin.
The term “spinnhus” was synonymous to woman prison long after the spinning labour had disappeared.
I have compiled this information from a book by Gunnar Rudstedt: Långholmen. Spinnhuset och fängelset under två sekler (printed 1972)
There is a picture of the island Långholmen here: http://www.langholmen.com/indexEn.html The prison is located in the middle of the island. At least some of the buildings are from the 18th century. It is now used as a hotel, so you can pay for sleeping in the cells which the prisoners wanted to escape from!
Best regards/ Allan (who has just returned home from an afternoon walk around the prison buildings at Långholmen).