aldington | open prison
23|10|05

Climbing up towards the north of the site was the Clothing Exchange and General Store. This was normally off-limits to prisoners, but they’d visit it twice during their sentence; once to give up all their belongings and once to collect them.







The Clothing Exchange and General Store had more bars and gates than any other part of the prison. Like many of the military sites I'd visited, its seems the state's 'guests' enjoyed nothing more than stealing food and supplies.



Upon entering the western door, the prisoner was required to strip, leaving clothing in the designated areas. Clothing was measured, inventoried and stored.

A lone Monopoly board had made its way from the Assocation rooms to the south, no doubt brought there by vandals. Its inclusion here was oddly startling.







The prisoner’s clothing and belongings were placed in boxes, and stacked in drawers, on these moveable trolleys. By pushing all the drawers together, more storage place could be created.

At this point, the prisoner would’ve allocated prisoner clothing. The sign on a toilet door confirmed their status: they were now an inmate.