Penal tourism and a tale of four cities: Reflecting on the museum effect in London, Sydney, Melbourne, and Buenos Aires
| Author | Michael Welch |
| DOI | 10.1177/1748895812474660 |
| Published date | 01 November 2013 |
| Date | 01 November 2013 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Criminology & Criminal Justice
13(5) 479 –505
© The Author(s) 2013
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DOI: 10.1177/1748895812474660
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Penal tourism and a tale of
four cities: Reflecting on the
museum effect in London,
Sydney, Melbourne, and
Buenos Aires
Michael Welch
Rutgers University, USA; University of Sydney, Australia
Abstract
The resurrection of former prisons as museums has caught the attention of tourists along with
scholars interested in studying penal tourism. This work expands on previous research on prison
museums in Buenos Aires, Melbourne, and Sydney to include London. The analysis advances a
cultural sociology of punishment by throwing critical light on three thematic couplings: prisons/
economics; religion/governance; and pain/penal progress. While reflecting on those unifying
subjects, the discussion addresses the manner by which prison museums tell a historical tale about
their host city with respect to punishment and social control. Observations and interpretations
are situated within a growing literature on museum studies, penal spectatorship, and dark tourism.
Keywords
Argentina, Australia, cultural sociology of punishment, museum studies, penal tourism
Introduction
The resurrection of former prison as museums has caught the attention of tourists along
with scholars interested in studying that particular pastime (Brown, 2009; Huey, 2011;
Strange and Kempa, 2003; Walby and Piche, 2011; Welch, forthcoming a). Unsurprisingly
due to their grim subject matter, prison museums tend to invert the ‘Disney’ experience,
becoming the antithesis of ‘the happiest place on earth’ (Williams, 2007: 99). With that
observation in full view, it is fitting to situate penal tourism within a larger phenomenon
Corresponding author:
Michael Welch, Criminal Justice Program, Rutgers University, 54 Joyce Kilmer Avenue, Piscataway,
New Jersey 08854, USA.
Email: Retrowelch@aol.com
474660CRJ13510.1177/1748895812474660Criminology & Criminal JusticeWelch
2013
Article
480 Criminology & Criminal Justice 13(5)
known as dark tourism whereby visitors gravitate to sites associated with war, genocide,
and other tragic events for purposes of remembrance, education, or even entertainment
(Lennon and Foley, 2010; Rojek, 1993). In the realm of punishment, dark tourism has
been examined from the standpoint of penal spectatorship involving bystanders who
gaze at the spectacle of pain and suffering. Brown (2009) explains that penal spectators
are subjected to various techniques of positioning intended to establish certain perspec-
tives and perceptions (see Welch, 2010). For instance, by keeping penal spectators at a
safe social distance from the realities of cruelty (e.g. torture), interest in dark tourism is
strategically managed (Walby and Piche, 2011; see also Piche and Walby, 2010).
This work expands on previous research on prison museums in Buenos Aires,
Melbourne, and Sydney (Welch, 2012a; Welch and Macuare, 2011) to include London.1
By incorporating the Clink Prison museum (at London Bridge), our comparative analy-
sis benefits from having an earlier starting point. Beginning in 1144 until 1780, the
Clink could be described as a dungeon, or a pre-modern prison. As we shall see, evi-
dence of the prison as a modernizing project can be found later in Sydney’s Hyde Park
Barracks. Built between 1817 and 1819, the Barracks served as secured accommoda-
tions for convicts arriving after the First Fleet (1788). Still, the penitentiary in its mod-
ern form is witnessed at the Melbourne Gaol. Constructed between the 1840s and the
1860s, that institution borrows heavily from Eastern State Penitentiary (Philadelphia)
and Pentonville (London). Attending further to narratives on the emerging modern
prison, the Argentine Prison museum offers a story of reform and progress. Whereas its
history is steeped in religious tension – much like the Clink – the museum in Buenos
Aires shows visitors how a more secular penal sphere eventually eclipsed a theological
regime.
Using a technique of thick description (see Geertz, 1973; Smith, 2008),2 this analysis
advances a cultural sociology of punishment by throwing critical light onto three prevail-
ing themes in the prison museums examined here. In the first segment, we delve into the
role of economics in shaping specific penal practices. Next, the interchange between
religion and governance is considered, especially since those dynamics greatly influence
not only how punishment is dispensed but also who is targeted. Finally, we contemplate
on the obvious realization that prisons serve as institutions aimed at imposing misery. A
prominent feature in penal tourism is the display of devices for maltreatment, torture, and
execution. Reflecting on penological history, this work observes how the prison tapped
into ‘science’ for the purposes of inflicting – and managing – calibrated degrees of pain
(Welch, 2009, 2011a; see also Becker and Wetzell, 2007).
Each of these thematic couplings also serves to illuminate a key critique of dark tour-
ism. Lennon and Foley (2010) propose that dark tourism posits questions and doubts
about modernity and its consequences. Likewise, the case studies herein decipher the
narratives told through the prison museums, including claims to progress, rationality,
technology, and science. Toward that end, discussion reflects on the manner by which
prison museums – as story-telling institutions – in London, Sydney, Melbourne, and
Buenos Aires issue a historical tale about their host city with respect to punishment and
social control. Of course, the persuasiveness of those stories depends largely on tech-
niques of positioning and distancing as well as the overall force of the museum effect.
Setting the stage for an interpretive exploration, we turn to a brief overview of museum
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