Tread-wheel and oakum-shed at the City Prison, Holloway

Book illustration of the tread-wheel and oakum-shed at the City Prison, Holloway, from page 422 of 'The criminal prisons of London and scenes of prison life' by Henry Mayhew and John Binny. The authors note that "the tread-wheel labour generally lasts from seven o'clock in the morning till four o'clock in the afternoon, with the exception of the hours spent in chapel, at meals, etc. The prisoners are employed at the wheel an average of four hours and a half per day." Working at the tread-wheel was alternated with oakum picking. "Each prisoner remains on the wheel for twenty minutes at a time, and alternately picks oakum in the seats in front for other [sic] twenty minutes."