When loss of liberty is extended long after leaving a prison cell

While men sentenced to death were more likely to be executed, Ian O’Donnell finds that women who found their sentences commuted were often sent to another institution such as a convent after they had served time in prison.

OVER the past 10 years, I have spent countless hours examining dusty files relating to dreadful deeds.

The purpose of this exercise was to learn as much as possible about the men and women who were sentenced to death between the end of the Civil War in 1923 and the abolition of the death penalty in 1990.