VPRS 10867 Alphabetical Index to Central Register of Male Prisoners

This series consists of volumes containing indexes to the central register of male prisoners, and provides entry to VPRS 515 Central Register of Male Prisoners. Details recorded include the prisoner number, the prisoner name, and the register number and folio number for VPRS 515.Prisoner numbers were allocated to prisoners upon reception at the prison. From c. 1860 Pentridge became the central prison for the Melbourne area and unless the prisoner passed through Pentridge it is unlikely that there will be any reference to them in VPRS 515 Central Register of Male Prisoners or this series.The series was most likely to have been located at Pentridge Prison but was part of the Chief Secretary's Department (and from 1871 the Penal and Gaols Branch) recordkeeping system and should not be considered a Pentridge record. It was created by the Department for ease of accessing the information on prisoners from the Central Registers as part of its responsibility for the management of prisons.Research Note:In the 19th and early 20th centuries it was common practice for a prisoner to be soent from the court to the local prison (eg, Ballarat, Beechworth and Geelong). It is therefore very important for researchers to know where the trial took place. It the trial took place in Melbourne the prisoner is likely to have been registered in VPRS 515, but if the trial took place outside of the metropolitan area the prisoner was most probably sent to the local prison. Researchers should check the records of local prisons in such instances.In the prison system there was no state-wide registration of prisoners (both male and female) until the introduction of the computerised Prison Information Management system (PIMS) in 1985.