The Circle
In June 1899, the Government Architect designed a 32 unit radial "exercise yard". The concept of continuous unseen inspection from a central point was already a century old. Jeremy Bentham's late eighteenth and early nineteenth century propaganda for the panopticon design of his brother Samuel finally found developed expression in the radial exercise yards of the Pentonville model prison, London, built in the early 1840s and it inspired a number of colonial examples from the 1850s on. The Parramatta "circle" or "bullring", as it was variously known, was the largest and, on its completion in 1901, almost the last example built in Australia.
Prisoners' entry and departure was via ground level passages from the surrounding wings and, in the early days of use, was so ordered that they did not see one another's faces. The central tower was occupied by a warder who kept the prisoners under surveillance. Four upper level radial galleries or bridges extended the warder's view to the associated corner yards outside the circle. The bridge to the north was extended to the upper floor of the workshop range to facilitate the warder's escape in an emergency.
Prisoners' entry and departure was via ground level passages from the surrounding wings and, in the early days of use, was so ordered that they did not see one another's faces. The central tower was occupied by a warder who kept the prisoners under surveillance. Four upper level radial galleries or bridges extended the warder's view to the associated corner yards outside the circle. The bridge to the north was extended to the upper floor of the workshop range to facilitate the warder's escape in an emergency.