I was first going to blog about this but it is interesting enough for a dicsussion on the forum.
I live nearby a campus of a college of art & design which once used to be one of the many Magdalene Laundries in Ireland - it operated until 1994! The last Magdalene Laundry in Ireland was closed only in 1996 so this is not as historic as one might think. They were named after Mary Magdalene, who was said to had been a prostitute who later repented her sins and became one of Jesus’ close disciples.
They were basically asylums/institutions for “fallen women” i.e. women who had sinned, such as prostitutes, girls who had sex and/or became pregnant out of wedlock, girls who disobeyed their parents etc etc! The asylums also took in women who were going through unfortunate circumstances such as unemployment, abuse by families etc and even girls who were thought to be too beautiful!! They were supposed to rehabilitate such women back into the society but that never happened and the asylums took a prison-like character.
In most asylums, the inmates were required to undertake hard physical labour, including daily household chores, laundry and needle work. They also endured a daily regime (starting as early as 5 AM) that included long periods of prayer and enforced silence. Supervising nuns (cruel ruthless characters) were instructed to enact strong measures that would discourage women from leaving. The asylums contained physical, psychological, sexual and emotional abuse and the inmates were made to believe that they deserved these punishments because of their own sins.
Despite the cruelty, these asylums were socially accepted in Ireland in the 20th century and women were actually admitted to these asylums by the request of family members! The existence of the Irish asylums was little thought of until, in 1993, an order of nuns in Dublin sold part of their convent to a real estate developer. The remains of 155 inmates, who had been buried in unmarked graves on the property, were exhumed and reburied in a mass grave. This triggered a public scandal and became local and national news. In 1999 many asylum inmates gave accounts of their treatment.
The 1997 Channel 4 documentary Sex in a Cold Climate as well the 2002 film* The Magdalene Sisters* are good to watch.
In May 2009, the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse released a 2000 page report recording claims from hundreds of Irish residents that they were physically, sexually or emotionally abused as children between the 1930s and the 1990s in a network of state administered and church-run residential schools meant to care for the poor, the vulnerable and the unwanted. The alleged abuse was by nuns, priests and non-clerical staff and helpers. The allegations of abuse cover many Catholic and State run Irish Industrial schools, including the Magdalene asylums. The price that Ireland is having to pay now in the form of enormous compensation deals has reached well over a billion euros.
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