4 - ‘At first she refused to say how she got it’

Summary

The historian can glimpse prison networks, and connections between incarcerated participant women, at points where their activities clashed with prison regulations. Evidence of prison exchange networks was revealed when collusion was reported to officials, when illicit material goods were discovered on bodies or in cells, or when gossip about another inmate or staff member reached staff ears. Chapter 4 interrogates information and material goods transactions to discover the workings of networks and relationships behind bars. It offers an insight into ways the prison economy could facilitate networks that enabled women of different ages, backgrounds and circumstances to connect. The chapter is divided into three distinct sections. The first examines the exchange of information in prison, the second focuses on material goods networks, and the third considers how exchanges of information and goods impacted power relations and hierarchies. Evidence of female networks and partnerships indicates convict ingenuity and enterprise, cooperation and collusion. The prison thus offers a snapshot of nineteenth-century Irish society and a glimpse of (predominantly lower-class) female networks and relationships. This chapter demonstrates that in prison, as on the outside, community networks and cooperation were vital for social and economic survival.