Terry Prone: Kilmainham echoes with centuries of cruelty but remains relevant

Kilmainham Gaol is now a museum which records the lives and deaths of prisoners over the centuries, including those involved in the Easter Rising.

You might not think of visiting a prison as a cool trip for a bank holiday weekend, but it can be. Kilmainham Gaol alone attracts almost half a million visitors every year, even though much of the tour is remarkably grim, culminating in the yard where 1916 prisoners were executed. Coming up to this weekend, the place was crowded.

Some of the factors leading to incarceration are familiar, including violence driven by alcohol and although not in the 18th and 19th century, drugs. Vandalism. And homelessness, which led to savvy use of the Vagrancy Act, which was “designed for the Punishment of idle and Disorderly Persons, and Rogues and Vagabonds”.