Central Register of Male Prisoners
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Central Register for Male Prisoners 1 - 517 (1850-1853)
VPRS 515/P0000, Central Register for Male Prisoners 1 - 517 (1850-1853)
1850-01-01 - 1853-12-31
Open, Physical
PROV, North Melbourne, Online
The Central Register of Male Prisoners (VPRS 515) at the Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) is a key resource for researching male prisoners, particularly those who passed through Pentridge Prison.
This register, covering the years 1850 to 1948, contains detailed information such as prisoner number, name, photograph (for longer sentences), personal description, sentence details, offence, trial information, identifying marks, and previous criminal history.
The register was maintained by the Chief Secretary's Department, which was responsible for managing prisons.
All records in this series that are open to public inspection have been digitized and can be viewed online.
To find information on individual prisoners, researchers can use the VPRS 10867 Alphabetical Index to Central Register of Male Prisoners (1868 - 1947).
Public Record Office Victoria (PROV)
This series commenced as a register of prisoners received at Melbourne area prisons, including the Collingwood, Carlton and Williamstown stockades, the Eastern Gaol, the Hulks and Pentridge. It is uncertain where the record was located from 1850 c.1860, possibly Melbourne Gaol.
From c.1860 Pentridge became the central prison for the Melbourne area and unless the prisoner passed through Pentridge it is unlikely that there will be any reference to them in VPRS 515.
From this date the series was likely to have been located at Pentridge but was part of the Chief Secretary's Department (and from 1871 the Penal and Gaols Branch) record keeping system and should not be considered a Pentridge record. It was created by the Department as part of its responsibility for the management of all prisons.
In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries it was common practice for a prisoner to be sent from the court to the local prison, e.g., Ballarat, Beechworth and Geelong. Therefore it is very important for researchers to know where the trial took place. If the trial was in Melbourne the prisoner is likely to be registered in VPRS 515 but if the trial took place outside the metropolitan area the prisoner was most probably sent to the local prison. Researchers should check the records of local prisons, see PROV finding aids for details of PROV holdings of prison records.
In the prison system there was no state-wide central registration of prisoners (both male and female) until the introduction of the computerised Prison Information Management System (PIMS) in 1985.
The subsequent series is VPRS 11508 Male Prisoner Registration Cards (Sequential Number Series).
Photos commenced c. 1872 for prisoners sentenced longer than 6 months. Prisoners sentenced for shorted terms were not photographed. Photos were routinely taken when the prisoner was first received by the prison and just before release.
Details record in the Register include:
- prisoner number
- name
- photo (if long term)
- personal description (height, weight, hair colour)
- sentence
- date of conviction
- offence
- where and before whom tried
- particular marks
- previous history (e.g. whether married, known associates)
- prison
- when received
- offences, sentences
- extension to sentence.
How to use the records
All records in this series which are open to public inspection or closed to inspection due to fragility have been digitised, and can be viewed online.
Browse consignment P1, or search the entire series using a given name, surname or registration number of a prisoner as your search term.
The register is arranged in prisoner number order. Prisoner numbers were allocated to prisoners on reception at the prison. To locate details of individual prisoners refer to VPRS 10867 Alphabetical Index to Central Register of Male Prisoners (1868 - 1947).
Recordkeeping system
Prisoners were registered sequentially within a single number system (i.e., 1, 2, 3, etc.) in the course of being sent to gaol. The numbers were allocated from the register. Prisoners retained their prisoner registration number and if re-sentenced the original entry in the register was updated.