The present Dorchester Prison was completed in 1795. It was built on the site of the old medieval castle built in 1154 but disused from about 1290. The previous gaol was situated in High East Street. Prisoners were segregated by their sex and the type of conviction. The prison buildings are of a typical Victorian design with wings radiating from a central area with landings.
Elizabeth Martha Brown a green grocer aged 45 and mother of two was the last woman to be hanged in public in Dorset and was executed outside Dorchester Prison in 1856. She was convicted of the murder of her second husband when she attacked him with an axe after he had taken a whip to her.
James Seale was the last person to be hanged outside gates of Dorchester prison on 10th August 1858. He was tried and found guilty of murder and his name went into the history books as the last man to be hanged in public in Dorset.
