Dagmar Šimková

Following the communist coup of February 1948 in Czechoslovakia, as many as 100,000 people were prosecuted for ‘political crimes’, most of whom were sentenced to lengthy periods in penal institutions and forced labour camps, including Dagmar Šimková, who later produced a detailed autobiographical account of her experiences in prison, Byly jsme tam taky [“We were there too”].

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Jane Franklin

When her husband was sent to Tasmania as Governor in the 1830s and 40s, she travelled widely, improved the wretched conditions that female prisoners endured, encouraged the building of schools for boys and girls, commissioned a temple, and founded a museum.

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