The convict nursery at Brixton

Book illustration of the convict nursery at Brixton prison, from page 245 of 'The criminal prisons of London and scenes of prison life' by Henry Mayhew and John Binny. The authors wonder how the children of convicts stand any hope of leading honest lives themselves: "Is this so-called Christian country sufficiently enlightened and charitable yet, think you, to allow such as they the same chance of success in the world as honest men's children? Will they meet with no gibes in years to come, for their felon extraction? Would you, reader, like to take them into your household and your family, when they grow up, to tend your own little ones?"