RIPON Museums are gearing up for the new season with a series of exhibitions focusing on the experiences of women in the justice system.

The Workhouse Museum and Garden, Prison and Police Museum and the Courthouse Museum re-open on February 8 and all tell stories of desperate people – who were often led through being poor to a life of petty crime – and the punishments were cruel and severe.

In 2020, the venues will be holding exhibitions, events, talks and activities that acknowledge and celebrate the hidden and untold stories of the women who spent time in the institutions.

Leah Mellors, curator of Ripon Museum Trust explained: "The stories of the women who lived, worked, or were tried and incarcerated in our institutions have mostly gone untold in our museums.

"We want to redress the gender balance in 2020 by uncovering, researching and sharing the stories of women connected to our buildings and collections.

"Through a varied programme of exhibitions and activities, we will reveal what life was like for women in our workhouse, prison, police service and courthouse in the past and for those who are still affected by our themes today.”

The programme, '2020:Women in our Institutions', begins with ‘Prisoners on Prisoners’, an art installation by Faye Claridge, sharing the experiences of current and historic female prisoners through audio, textiles and photography.

Ms Claridge connects historic prison archives with inmates at HM Askham Grange, to explore similarities and differences in their lives and prison experiences.

Through prison workshops for participants to ‘adopt’ a prisoner from the museum’s Edwardian and Victorian criminal record books, Ms Claridge has made recordings of their comparisons and created portraits to link with archive mugshots.

The artwork gives prisoners a way to share their perspectives and for prison museum visitors to consider the individual lived experience of justice systems.

Neil Dembry, from HM Askham Grange spoke about the project and how it had affected the inmates to think about their connection and similarities with Edwardian and Victorian prisoners.

He said: “Askham Grange Prison are proud to work on this project which reflects on prison life during Victorian England with the emphasis upon punishment as a priority and how this compares to the modern prison system where a greater weight is added to rehabilitation.

"This demonstrates the distance travelled in how we treat offenders in custody."

Ms Claridge, artist in residence, said: “The participants at Askham Grange really connected with the museum archives.

"Their thoughts on how prison has changed their lives and what changes might have helped prisoners 100-or-so years ago are really moving.” Prisoners on Prisoners will be at the Ripon Prison and Police Museum from February 8 to September 6.