Žensko apseničko radilište u Požarevcu 1848-1852
Workhouse for Female Prisoners in Požarevac, 1848–1852

Summary/Abstract: The first penal institution in Serbia to have its own set of rules and a separate budget was founded in Požarevac in 1848, for imprisoned women. Prior to this, female convicts were held in separate rooms of district jails or housed in private homes of government officials, where they performed domestic chores for the duration of their sentence. In the Požarevac workhouse, they were subject to a strict regime of labour (manufacture of canvas for the army) and discipline. The number of prisoners at any one time varied from 15 to 30. The workhouse was opened in a disused military barrack, where living conditions were poor. Morbidity and mortality rates were high. In the doctor’s opinion, the underlying cause of all prisoners’ diseases was their „physical depravity“, innate to all women but exacerbated by enforced sexual abstinence in prison. „Physical depravity“ was further aggravated by „moral incitement to sin“ through prisoners’ conversations about „past habits“. To prevent this, it was proposed to restrict interaction among prisoners by restricting their number per bedroom and dividing them into smaller groups at work. The Požarevac workhouse was closed down in 1852, when the women were moved to a separate wing of the new correctional institution in Belgrade.

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