Kilmainham Gaol is a former prison in Kilmainham, a suburb of Dublin, Ireland. Originally built in 1796, there was no segregation of prisoners at first, with men, women and children being incarcerated with up to five in each cell and a single candle for light and heat. In an 1809 report, an inspector observed that male prisoners were supplied with iron bedsteads, while females "lay on straw on the flags in the cells and common halls". Thirty female cells were added in 1840 in an attempt to relieve overcrowding of women prisoners, but shortly thereafter, the prison was overwhelmed by an increase in prisoner numbers resulting from the Great Famine. Kilmainham Gaol was decommissioned by the government of the Irish Free State in 1924, and is now a prison museum run by the Office of Public Works, an agency of the Irish government.Photograph credit: Colin