page_title: Långholmens spinnhus
section_title: Expansions in 1808
hierarchical_section_title: Långholmens spinnhus / Expansions in 1808
caption_attribution_description: Utsikt mot Spinnhuset på Långholmen i Stockholm. Litografi av Adolf Hård ca 1850.
context_page_description: Långholmens rasp- och spinnhus, commonly known as Långholmens spinnhus, was a women's prison in Långholmen, Stockholm, Sweden. The prison was established in 1649 when the Malmgården in Alstavik at Långholmen was erected, and was closed in 1825. The building became state property in 1724 and was used as a spinnhus. Malmgården was later expanded to increase its capacity. In 1825 the spinnhus was relocated to Norrmalm. After the move, the Långholmen Prison started to operate on the grounds.
  The Långholmen Prison was modelled after the rasp and spinnhus in the Netherlands. It was created mainly as a means of controlling the numbers of beggars, the homeless and the unemployed. From 1723 onward, any unmarried homeless woman who did not have an employer, a legal profession or personal property, were labelled as defenseless, a status which was considered criminal at the time, and were subsequently sent to this prison. The incarcerated women were divided into different groups depending on their ages and abilities. Amongst the better known prisoners were the Gråkoltarna, religious dissenters who were imprisoned in 1733.
context_section_description: In 1808, the board for the protection of the poor assumed the administration of the spinnhus. New expansion work was undertaken aiming at increasing the capacity of the institution, which stood at 290 prisoners. By 1818 more than 500 prisoners were held at Långholmen. An additional 127 prison cells were created by enlarging Långholmen's west wing. Until then, the prisoners had slept in bunk beds in dormitories with 12-16 beds in each hall. Prior to the expansion, it had proven difficult to provide the prisoners with enough work to keep them occupied. Afterwards, new space was provided to accommodate additional crafts such as shoemaking, sock production and blacksmithing, increasing the employment opportunities of the prison population.
  In 1825, the spinnhus was put under state control following the establishment of the Swedish Board for prisons and work institutions. The spinnhus' status was subsequently changed to a work and correctional facility. The women prisoners were removed and were replaced by a male population. The same year, the women's spinnhus was moved to the central prison in Norrmalm, which was also run by the new Prison Board.
  One woman imprisoned at the Långholmens spinnhus was Anna Birgitta Törnberg. She was born in 1800 in Stockholm. She was arrested in Uppsala in 1813, and at age 13 was placed as a prisoner at the Långholmens spinnhus. She remained there until she was given a work assignment two years later. During her time at the spinnhus, she also attended occupational-instruction workshops. Another inmate at Långholmen was Anna Maja Holmström who in 1813, at the age of 31, was given a life sentence for child murder. She died at the spinnhus on 7 July 1818 at the age of 36.
caption: Långholmens spinnhus in the 1850s
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