Relics of a Desperate Act: Escape and Containment in J Ward

The paper interrogates implied and explicit narrative aspects of the standard guided tour taken by tourists visiting the former Centre for the Criminally Insane, 'J Ward' (closed in 1991), in the Victorian country town of Ararat. Of particular note are tour guides' accounts of certain routine procedures of inmate management and containment, including the punitive administration of 'shock' treatment, and anecdotal depictions of escape attempts by notorious prisoners, especially Garry David. The reality of inmate experience is found to be grossly euphemised and historically distorted in the retelling, rendering intrinsically shocking and disturbing episodes entertaining and acceptable, even in some cases amusing. It is argued that this process, along with the sale, as souvenirs, of artefacts purportedly associated with an escape attempt, both commodifies the suffering of inmates and in some ways perpetuates the 'containment' imperative of those charged with their incarceration.