Table of Contents

Introduction: Bringing up the bodies 11
1: Feculent hovel: 1841–1865 21
2: Paste-board gaol: 1855–1876 53
3: Stone Jug: 1877–1909 91
4: Brutal Bastille: 1910–1922 125
5: Rock College: 1923–1946 149
6: The Meccano Set: 1947–1962 183
7: ‘Burn, burn, burn’: 1963–1969 223
8: Death on remand: 1970–2011 259
Epilogue: Releasing the ghosts 295
Notes 309
Bibliography 345
Acknowledgements 353
About the author 354
Index 355

About the Author

Mark Derby is a New Zealand writer and historian whose work has also been published in Britain, Spain and the US. His previous publications include Ragnar Redbeard: The Antipodean Origins of Radical Fabulist Arthur Desmond (Steele Roberts, 2017), Petals and Bullets: Dorothy Morris: New Zealand Nurse in the Spanish Civil War (Sussex Academic Press/Potton & Burton, 2015), White-collar Radical: Dan Long and the Rise of the White-collar Unions (Craig Potton Publishing, 2013), The Prophet and the Policeman: The Story of Rua Kenana and John Cullen (Craig Potton Publishing, 2009), Kiwi Compañeros: New Zealand and the Spanish Civil War (Canterbury University Press, 2009; Spanish-language edition published 2011 in association with the University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain). He has been jailed but never imprisoned, and lives on Wellington’s south coast with three generations of his family.

Reviews

‘If you want to know what it’s like inside that place, this book is the next best thing to a ten-year stretch’
*James ‘Diamond Jim’ Shepherd, former inmate of Mount Eden Prison*

‘A major contribution to New Zealand’s penal history’
*Sir Kim Workman, penal reform advocate*

‘This is truly a detailed history of an unsavoury subject, the scope of which is quite remarkable.’
*Otago Daily Times*

‘Derby’s tendency to keep the narrative local and lead with the stories of people and events helps make the book an incredibly engaging read. Derby does a great job developing the kind of thick description of penal practice and life inside that is nearly impossible to find in existing published work. I consider Rock College a must-read’ 
*New Zealand Journal of History*