A talk on the history of high security hospitals, from Broadmoor to modern secure units.

In this talk, historian Jade Shepherd looks at the history of Broadmoor Hospital and nurse and historian Chris Hart outlines the more recent experiences of nurses in secure mental health settings.

This event was recorded at the Royal College of Nursing in October 2025.

An online talk on the history of drug use in prisons and creative interventions to explain its dangers.

Substance misuse is widespread in prison settings. Find out about the history of drug misuse in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, alongside recent creative interventions to explain the dangers of drug abuse to young offenders and beyond. Speakers include Janet Weston and Denise Lyons.

This event was held online in September 2025.

An online talk on the history of women in the police service and the role of nursing in forensics.

In this online talk, Louise Jackson outlines the history of these nurses (and others) in the police service, while Gethin Rees explains the recent development of Forensic Nurse Examiners in Britain and Karen Swinson explores the introduction of custody nursing from 1999. The event was chaired by Claire Chatterton.

This event was held online in June 2025.

An online talk on the history of maternal health and women campaigners in the prison system.

It was the poor standards of maternity care in women’s prisons that led to the introduction of the first trained nurses to Holloway Prison in 1919. In this talk, Rachel Bennett outlines the history of maternal health in the prison system, while Ian Miller explores another side of women’s health: the experience of women’s rights campaigners and others on hunger strike in prisons.

This was an online event held in May 2025.

This panel discussion was part of the launch event for our new exhibition on the history of prison nursing, from the early nineteenth century to the present day.

It features chair Liz Walsh and speakers Ann Norman, Sobanan Narenthiren and Donna Goddard who discuss the past, present and future of prison health.

This event was held in-person and online in April 2025.