The Scotch Cap was a leather cap that fitted over the head to obscure the face of the prisoner. This meant that they could not make eye contact nor make any signal to any other prisoner. They were anonymous as they were taken out of their cells, usually for exercise, or on the way to Chapel - where the prisoners sat separated by wooden partitions, again so that they could not make contact. It was one more way to de-humanise the prisoner and control them, robbing them of identity outside the confines of their cell.
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