Joan Henry sentenced to 12 months imprisonment. She served eight months, the majority at Holloway prison, and also at Askham Grange open prison. Before her imprisonment, Henry earned a living writing romance novels. She came to prominence in 1952 with the publication of "Who Lie in Gaol" (the title was taken from a line in Oscar Wilde's "The Ballad of Reading Gaol"), based on her experiences in prison, which became a best-seller. Henry was critical of Holloway prison, giving accounts of brutal treatment and neglect she had witnessed. The book was the basis for the film "The Weak and the Wicked" (1953),
Cork County Gaol would be executed at Victoria Barracks. Republican (anti-treaty) prisoners were held in the Gaol during and after the Irish Civil War (1922-23). On 25 September 1922, a Republican prisoner, Volunteer Patrick Mangan (a veteran of the War of Independence from Lismore), was shot by a sentry as he tried to escape from Cork County Gaol. At 08:00 on 13 March 1923, the Free State Government executed a Republican prisoner named William Healy (born in Lackabawn, Donoughmore in 1900) at Cork County Gaol. On the evening before he faced the firing squad he wrote to his father telling him, "If I