Imprisonment (redirected from immurement)

Imprisonment

See also Isolation.

Alcatraz Island

former federal maximum security penitentiary, near San Francisco; “escapeproof.” [Am. Hist.: Flexner, 218]

Altmark, the

German prison ship in World War II. [Br. Hist.: Brewer Dictionary, 27]

Andersonville

in southwest Georgia; imprisoned Union soldiers died under wretched conditions. [Am. Hist.: NCE, 99]

Attica

well-known prison in Attica, New York; remembered for its riot (1971). [Am. Hist.: NCE, 182]

Bajazeth

Turkish emperor confined to a cage by Tamburlaine. [Br. Drama: Tamburlaine the Great in Magill I, 950]

ball and chain

originally penological, now generalized symbol. [Western Folklore: Jobes, 176]

Bastille

Paris prison stormed on July 14, 1789. [Fr. Hist.: Worth, 21]

Birdman of Alcatraz

Robert F. Stroud (1890–1963), convicted murderer, became ornithologist in prison. [Am. Culture: Misc.]

Black Hole of Calcutta

Indian dungeon in which overcrowding suffocated prisoners. [Br. Hist.: Harbottle, 45–46]

Bok, Yakov

held in prison for two years under dreadful conditions. [Am. Lit.: Bernard Malamud The Fixer]

Cereno, Benito

captain held captive by mutinous slaves. [Am. Lit.: Benito Cereno]

Count of Monte Cristo

Edmond Dantes; wrongly imprisoned in the dungeons of Chateau D’If. . [Fr. Lit.: The Count of Monte Cristo, Magill I, 158–160]

Denisovitch, Ivan

struggles to stay alive in a Soviet prison camp. [Russ. Lit.: Solzhenitzyn One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch]

Devil’s Island

Guiana island penal colony (1852–1938); Alfred Dreyfus among famous prisoners there. [Fr. Hist.: NCE, 754]

Droma

chain forged to fetter wolf, Fenris. [Norse Myth.: LLEI, I: 326]

Enormous Room, The

portrays three months behind bars in France. [Am. Lit.: The Enormous Room]

Falconer

prison where former professor Farragut, who had killed his brother, witnesses the torments and chaos of the penal system. [Am. Lit.: Cheever Falconer in Weiss, 151]

Fortunato

walled up to die in catacomb niche. [Am. Lit.: “The Cask of Amontillado” in Portable Poe, 309–316]

Fotheringay

Mary Stuart’s final prison and place of execution (1587). [Br. Hist.: Grun, 260]

Hogan’s Heroes

incarcerated in Stalag 13, unlikeliest of POW camps. [TV: Terrace, I, 357–358]

House of the Dead, The

account of four years in the fortress-prison of Omsk. [Russ. Lit.: Dostoevsky The House of the Dead in Benét, 480]

Ibbetson, Peter

imprisoned for life, spends all his nights in blissful dreams of existence with his beloved. [Br. Lit. & Am. Opera: G. du Maurier Peter Ibbetson in Magill I, 736]

Leavenworth

the oldest military prison (est. 1874); also the name of a state penitentiary. [Am. Hist.: NCE, 984]

Little Dorrit

born and grew up in the prison where for twenty years her father is incarcerated for debt. [Br. Lit.: Dickens Little Dorrit]

Man in the Iron Mask

mystery prisoner; legendary contender for Louis XIV’s throne. [Fr. Hist.: Brewer Note-Book, 460, 555]

Manette, Dr.

lost memory during 18-year term in France. [Br. Lit.: A Tale of Two Cities]

Marshalsea

ancient London prison, long used for incarcerating debtors. [Br. Hist.: Benét, 640]

Newgate

famed jail of London in centuries past. [Br. Hist.: Brewer Dictionary, 754]

Pickwick, Mr

. (Samuel) imprisoned for refusing to pay dam-ages in a breach-of-promise suit. [Br. Lit.: Dickens Pickwick Papers]

Prisoner of Chillon, The

poem by Lord Byron; based on imprisonment of François de Bonnivard. [Br. Lit.: Benét, 817]

Rubashov, Nicholas

political prisoner held in isolation and brutally questioned. [Br. Lit.: Arthur Koestler Darkness at Noon in Magill I, 187]

San Quentin

famous western California prison (established in 1852); the subject of many songs. [Am. Hist.: NCE, 2419]

Sing Sing

notoriously harsh state prison at Ossining, New York. [Am. Hist.: Flexner, 219]

Torquilstone Front

de Boeuf’s castle, where he imprisoned Rowena, Rebecca, and Isaac. [Br. Lit.: Walter Scott Ivanhoe]

Tower of London

famed as jail. [Br. Hist.: Brewer Dictionary, 1094]

Ugolino

treacherous 13th-century count of Pisa, imprisoned and starved to death with his sons and grandsons. [Ital. Poetry: Inferno]

Valjean, Jean

spent nineteen years in prison for stealing loaf of bread. [Fr. Lit.: Les Misérables]