Review of Let Him Have It (1991) by Will D — 17 Apr 2011

Pretty good though a few goofs...

Wandsworth Condemned Cell wasn't quite right. The removeable panels aren't depicted correctly. In Wandsworth the prisoner would be lead through a normal but sound proof door to a lobby area (the size of a standard cell) and then through a large doorway where the panels would have been removed that morning and placed to the sides. The panels were to give the lobby area the impression of a cloak room and they also had coat hooks fixed on panels because the prisoner used the lobby to go to excercise outside. He would go through the sound proof door then turn left in the lobby area and go through a door and down stairs. The gallows room was straight ahead behind the removeable panels hence the coat hooks. If the prisoner was suspicious of what might be behind the panels they would be told it was a store room standardly.

Each prison uses the same concept but modified slightly. Most prisons used double doors rather than removeable panels and sometimes the door leading into the lobby area would be concealed by a wardrobe on wheels.