SPEAKER_00
0:00
This is the world's smallest prison. Well, not according to Guinness, the world record is held by Sartre Prison, just a short boat journey away. But I think it's this one in Herm. I'm Molly and this is what we did before, and I am here on Herm Island to look around this tiny prison. And with the help of Guernsey tour guide Corin LePage, I'm gonna find out exactly what this kind of tiny little jail would have been used for.
SPEAKER_01
0:24
Yeah, if you were considering a life of crime in the Channel Islands, don't choose Sark or Herm, because you know those prisons will be pretty inescapable and not very salubrious.
SPEAKER_00
0:35
And if you don't know it, Herm is part of the bailiwick of Guernsey, which is a group of tiny islands in the English Channel. Today, Herm feels timeless. No cars, no crowds, just a small little island population with visitors who come here regularly, and times sort of stand still here. But actually, Herm over the years has lived many different lives. People first settled on this island thousands of years ago, leaving behind Neolithic tombs that still dot the landscape of the island. Later it became home to monks seeking solitude before turning into a private hunting ground for Guernsey's governors. Then in the early 1800s, everything changed. As the Industrial Revolution began gathering pace, Herm's granite became highly prized. Hundreds of quarrymen arrived, transforming the island almost overnight. Roads, a harbour, workers' cottages, a forge, a brewery, a bakery, and of course this tiny prison were all erected to support this booming community. So I'm joined by gold-accredited Guernsey Tour guide CorinnaPage. I've mentioned Sark Prison, but I've been at Herm Prison to have a look around. And in the Guinness Book of World Records, Sark Prison is listed as the smallest prison in the world, I think it is. But to me, Herm Prison is smaller, physically smaller, much more combined. Do we know why Sark's Sark's got the uh the record?
SPEAKER_01
2:09
Um it's because it's it's considered as the smallest functioning prison. And I think Herm Prison is is rarely used as a as a prison. I think it's just that the Sark prison is officially recognised as a prison.
SPEAKER_00
2:22
So is Sark Prison still used as a prison to this day? Yes, yes. It is.
SPEAKER_01
2:26
Yes. If someone comes to the island and they get unruly and drunk and you know, drunk and disorderly, they'll get thrown in there for the night.
SPEAKER_00
2:35
Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01
2:35
And then sober up the next day and sent off to Guernsey.
SPEAKER_00
2:39
And this prison was used to lock up people who were disrupting the peace on this now bustling community, usually petty crimes.
SPEAKER_01
2:48
If some of the granite workers had had too many to drink and a bit leery, that's where they would be put. They had to have a holding place for them. So they they wouldn't have been sentenced to go into the prison, it was a holding place. But in Sark, yes, if it was a minor crime, they might have been sentenced to be there for a week or something. Uh but also any locals that got drunk and disorderly too, uh, there was a more of an influx there with all the workers.
SPEAKER_00
3:14
Yeah, and it was hard work, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_01
3:16
Granite working. They needed to probably have a good drink at the end of it.
SPEAKER_00
3:20
Yeah, have have a few, yeah, yeah, exactly. And do you go too far, you spend the night in home prison, you probably wouldn't do it again uh given the confines of home prison. It must have been a very isolating, dark, tough place to be. Let me take you for a little tour inside. Usually this is locked to the public, but I've managed to get access, so come on in. So as you can see, it is absolutely tiny in here and extremely confined. So imagine being in here locked, room for one person, two at a stretch, I imagine, which would have been hugely uncomfortable. But inside here, you've got what look like uh granite stones which could potentially fall on your head. So kind of the threat of that happening um also slightly unnerving, I imagine, although this has stood for over a hundred years. But I have to say, this could be the prison with the best view in the world. Because if you look outside of these iron bars, you can see the site of Guernsey in the distance, and it looks absolutely stunning. So if you were locked up here in the summer sun, I think, well, there are probably worse places on earth that you could be held in prison.
SPEAKER_01
4:39
And there's um a story of a young girl who was put into the prison, she'd done something, uh something naughty, um, but she was terrified of the dark. So what they actually did was they let her stay in the prison with one of the well local ladies sitting outside. They kept the prison door open, and the local ladies would talk to her through the open door to stop her being afraid of the dark.
SPEAKER_00
5:02
That's quite sweet, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01
5:03
How many places in the world would they do that?
SPEAKER_00
5:06
Yeah, you you've done something bad, but also like we still kind of we still feel bad for you.
SPEAKER_01
5:10
Yeah, we still care about you. Yeah without you being frightened. But that was probably a bigger punishment for her than it might have been for somebody who wasn't afraid of the dark.
SPEAKER_00
5:18
Yeah. Herm's quarrying boom didn't last though. By the end of the century, the quarries had fell silent and this chapter of Herm's history had ended. Then the island turned back to normal, I guess, leaving behind nothing more than ruins, and of course, one of the world's smallest prisons. Well, Corinne LePage, it's been a pleasure. Thank you for joining me.
SPEAKER_01
5:40
My pleasure, thanks, Ollie.
SPEAKER_00
5:41
And if you want to find Corinne and you want to book one of her tours in Guernsey, it's GuernseyTourguide.co.uk. Uh Corin, thank you.
SPEAKER_01
5:48
It's my pleasure, thanks, Ollie.
SPEAKER_00
5:50
So, what do you think? Is this the world's smallest prison? Let me know in the comments. I'm Ollie, and this is what we did before. Thanks for watching.
