This is the Richmond General Penitentiary as it exists today | |
Location | Grangegorman, Dublin 7 |
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Coordinates | 53°21′16.97″N 6°16′41.22″W / 53.3547139°N 6.2781167°W |
Status | Currently in use as the offices of the Grangegorman Development Agency (http://ggda.ie/) and DIT Campus Planning |
Opened | 1820 |
Closed | 1831 |
The Richmond General Penitentiary was a prison established in 1820 in Grangegorman, Dublin, Ireland as an alternative to transportation. It was part of an experiment into a penitentiary system which also involved Millbank Penitentiary, London. Richmond and Millbank penitentiaries were the first prisons in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to specialise in reform rather than punishment. The building was designed by the architect Francis Johnston and decorated by George Stapleton. The building ceased to be a penitentiary in 1831, and later became part of the Richmond Asylum.[1][2]