In 1561, a little-known charter granted the University of Cambridge the power to arrest and imprison any woman “suspected of evil”. For nearly 350 years, the university used this law to incarcerate young working-class women found walking with undergraduates after dark in Cambridge.
The women were considered prostitutes and could be forcibly taken to the university’s private prison and sentenced to weeks of confinement by the vice-chancellor. More than 5,000 were arrested in the 19th century alone.
