Welcome to one of the rare PBase images that seems to show up in Google searches, and which as a result has received an unusually high number of hits. (Unusually high for PBase, at least.) And not a single person has left a comment on it. But anyway, that's PBase. (Unless of course you're viewing this on of my other sites.)

I offer you the latest fashion accessory for prisoners who are being "reformed" under the Pentonville system of "Silence and Separation"; the calico hood. It was worn by all prisoners who were in solitary confinement to isolate them from other prisoners.

According to a page that I found on the State Library of Victoria site:
In the exercise yards, they wore masks so that they couldn't recognise each other. When talking to the warden, they used their prison number, not their names."

The intent of this and other accoutrements that we'll see shortly was to prevent pretty much any form of human contact with others (or even themselves in some cases; image 13198), which would cause them to, I don't know, turn inward and reflect on their soul or something. In reality it probably sent some of them completely mad.

This hood dates from 1875.