HMP Haphonia

HM Prison Haphonia is an Ibaglian correctional facility, located in the city of Haphonia.

Until the abolition of capital punishment in Ibagli, the prison was the site of hangings. Though executions were, by law, supposed to be conducted in private, the gallows were located across Astor Street from the main building of the prison in an outdoor courtyard surrounded by a fifteen foot high wall. The street was closed while executions were being conducted, but crowds still gathered nearby (and sometimes on rooftops) in order to catch a glimpse of the condemned being walked across the street. The enclosure was constructed so as to limit the possibility that executions could be seen from nearby rooftops, but in 1950 a third storey was added to a nearby building. From the roof, the top of the gallows could be seen, along with the heads of people on the scaffold. The owners of the structure are rumored to have charged for admission on the date of the first execution after the completion of the building. A retractable canopy was later added to the gallows enclosure. In 1962, the Privy Council ruled that the outdoor enclosure violated Ibaglian law. An execution facility was built inside the prison, which greatly expedited the execution process. Before, the condemned had to be led from the cell, outside, and up a flight of stairs to the gallows. After the construction of the new gallows, the prisoner could be taken in seconds from a door in a special cell directly into the upper portion of the gallows.