The metal table spoon, discovered in fill overlaying the foundations of C Division, has the letter C punched into the handle and likely was part of the division cutlery set. Although found in fill it can be linked to the prison*.

The stamp is slightly off centre and at an angle suggesting that it was made

with a hand held ‘punch’ style stamp. (...) it seems that commercial objects were brought into the prison and adapted for prison contexts.

Maintaining a track of all eating utensils was no doubt an important safety

consideration in prisons, where a knife, fork or even a spoon could be used as

weapons by inmates on themselves, each other or the prison staff.

It is very likely that all but the table spoon stamped with a C were used by members of the prison staff.

C Division*

C Division was a separate cell block complex in the heart of Pentridge where inmates

spent most of their sentence. Built at the same time as A and B divisions C Division

consisted of six cell blocks, three courtyards, a guard house/ administration building

and a multipurpose space used for laundry and religious services amongst other

uses. The whole was surrounded by a high stone wall. Inmates worked at the various

prison industries or on the prison farm. The cells were small and lacked any services,

windows or ventilation.

In the 1880s inspectors decried the primitive and often unsanitary conditions of C

Division and declared the division unfit for human occupation and recommended that

the cell blocks be demolished. C Division remained in use up until the late 1970s.

The division was demolished in stages firstly with the eastern blocks (blocks C.6 and

C.5) removed to make way for a centralised catering building in the late 1960s. The

remaining blocks demolished over the following decade.

As previously mentioned, the lack of in situ artefacts on the Pentridge sites is most

likely a result of a number of taphonomic processes as well as the fact that inmates

did not have many possessions.

*The Former HM Prison Pentridge, Report on 2014 Archaeological Excavations.

The archaeological excavations took place in 2014 and were conducted by DIG

International Pty Ltd.

The project team was led by Project Director Adam Ford.