Caged Heat – Bitches Behind Bars in Australia

Here are some wonderful old mug shots of women sent to prision in Australia in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.

These hot babes must have generated some major caged heat.

Elizabeth Ruddy, criminal record number 165LB, 5 January 1915. State Reformatory for Women, Long Bay, NSW.

Elizabeth Ruddy was a career criminal who was convicted of stealing from the house of one Andrew Foley. She was sentenced to 12 months with hard labor.

Eileen May O’Connor, criminal record number 710LB, 3 June 1927. State Reformatory for Women, Long Bay, NSW.

Convicted of stealing. Eileen O’Connor first appears in police records as a ‘missing friend’, or missing person. She is eventually arrested for stealing a wallet and is described by police with the odd epithet “inclined to be weak.”

Edith Florence Ashton, criminal record number 767LB, 29 August 1929. State Reformatory for Women, Long Bay, NSW.

Edith Ashton was a backyard abortionist who also dabbled in theft and fencing stolen goods. Described in the media as a “social somebody” and an “equestrienne” she was, however, not adept at performing abortions and was suspected of contributing to the deaths of at least two women.

E. Walker, criminal record number 605LB, 12 November 1923. State Reformatory for Women, Long Bay, NSW.

No information about E. Walker has been found. She may have been a vagrant: her clothes are dirty, she wears what appear to be army boots and her head has been shaved to eradicate head lice.

Dorothy Mort, criminal record number 518LB, 18 April 1921. State Reformatory for Women, Long Bay, NSW.

Convicted of murder. Mrs Dorothy Mort was having an affair with dashing young doctor Claude Tozer. On December 21, 1920 Tozer visited her home with the intention of breaking off the relationship. Mort shot him dead before attempting to commit suicide.

Doris Winifred Poole, criminal record number 639LB, 31 July 1924. State Reformatory for Women, Long Bay, NSW.

Doris Poole appeared before the Newtown Police Court charged with stealing jewellery and clothing. She had previously been convicted on a similar charge in North Sydney and so received a six-month sentence with light labor.

Clara Randall, criminal record number 609LB, 12 November 1923. State Reformatory for Women, Long Bay, NSW.

Clara Randall worked as a travelling saleswoman for a jewellery company. She reported to police that her Bondi flat had been broken into and a quantity of jewellery stolen. It was later discovered she had pawned the jewellery for cash.

Annie Matthews, criminal record number 634LB, 3 July 1924. State Reformatory for Women, Long Bay, NSW.

Criminal offence unknown.

Annie Gunderson, criminal record number 551LB, 20 September 1922. State Reformatory for Women, Long Bay, NSW.

Charged with stealing a fur coat. Teenager Annie Gunderson was charged with stealing a fur coat from a Sydney department store called Winn’s Limited, in 1922. Police records do not indicate whether the fur she is wearing is the stolen item.

Amy Lee, criminal record number 780LB, 30 January 1930. State Reformatory for Women, Long Bay, NSW.

Amy Lee was described in court as a “good looking girl until she fell victim to the foul practice” of snorting cocaine. Her dry, blotchy skin is testament to the evils of addiction.

Alma Henrietta Agnes Smith, criminal record number 766LB, 29 August 1929. State Reformatory for Women, Long Bay, NSW.

Alma Smith worked as an illegal abortionist in the northern NSW town of Tamworth. A young woman, who later died as the result of a botched abortion, identified Smith as the abortionist. Smith denied knowing the woman but was convicted and sentenced to five years behind bars.

Alice Sandford, criminal record number 661LB, 7 August 1925. State Reformatory for Women, Long Bay, NSW.

Many women, like Alice Sandford, capitalised on laws restricting the sale of alcohol after 6:00 PM by setting up “sly-grog shops”: premises in which alcohol was sold illegally at exorbitant prices.

Alice Clarke, criminal record number 270LB, 3 April 1916. State Reformatory for Women, Long Bay, NSW.

Convicted of selling liquor without a licence. Alice Clarke was an entrepreneur who took advantage of restrictive liquor regulations, which forced pubs to close at 6pm. As a “sly grogger” she sold high-priced alcohol from a private residence.

Alice Adeline Cooke, criminal record number 565LB, 30 December 1922. State Reformatory for Women, Long Bay, NSW.