Medieval dungeons, remote islands and foreboding edifices are just some of the places of incarceration in Notorious Prisons. Tales of torture and woe, wrongful imprisonment, dangerous escapes and infamous inmates are accompanied by images of creepy cells and the dank chambers in these monuments to crime. As the archaic prisons of old gave way to progressive policies in the 19th century and eventually modern prison systems, stories of riots and reform, successes and failures continued. Notorious Prisons captures it all while filling in the history of penal institutions around the world.