Alfred James Connor, Harry St. Clair Dean , John Whitley Nicolle. The prison was built from until , but had already begun incarcerating prisoners there in It had a maximum capacity for male prisoners, 49 female prisoners, and a section for juvenile male prisoners. These NN prisoners were part of a secret hostage program devised by the Nazis as a means of controlling potential resistance in occupied territory. For this purpose, by 22 July at least 56 transports of NN prisoners had been deported to Bochum Prison.
These NN prisoners in Bochum were exclusively male prisoners in pre-trial detention. By 8 May , the decision was made to evacuate all of the NN prisoners out of Bochum due to allied bombing and the potential danger to the Reich from prisoners who could escape under such circumstances. Five days later, Bochum Prison had is first extensive damage from allied bombs. There were, as was usual in the Nazi prison system, no air raid bunkers for the prisoners, and they were ordered to stand fully clothed with their eating utensils and cell number cards in their possession during air raids.
The living conditions and medical treatment at Bochum were probably typically substandard; a report made by a doctor at Emsland Concentration Camp stated that of NN prisoners who had arrived there on 22 May from Bochum Prison, only were actually healthy. Islander Harry Dean appears with the date 12 June in Bochum prison, but there is no indication in the record if this is an arrival or departure date. His length of time there remains unknown.
When John Nicolle was transported to Dortmund Prison on 12 August , the medical report stated that he had pneumonia and was only fit to perform light duties. He died there on 14 February The death certificate, issued in April , does not list the cause of death, but his widow stated in in her compensation application that her husband died from wounds to his legs caused during an RAF bombing raid on Dortmund. German political prisoner Werner Eggerath experienced Bochum Prison thus when he arrived in We were received with mocking grins.
One hour later they had completely plundered us of all of our belongings, to the last cigarette and the last handkerchief, they took everything away from us. For three months we had no proper clothing and nothing was washed. We were brought to the upper floor of the prison and not let out during bombing raids.
