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),
Horsemonger Lane Gaol Road), being renamed Surrey County Gaol (although its alternative name, the New Gaol, the gaol should not be confused with the New Prison, located north of the River Thames in Clerkenwell). The gaol was demolished in 1881 and the site is today a public park, Newington Gardens, adjacent to the present Inner London Crown Court, opened in January 1921. In 1849, Charles Dickens attended the public hangings outside the gaol of husband and wife Frederick and Maria Manning, who had killed a friend for his money and buried him under the kitchen floor. Dickens wrote to "The Times" condemning such