Harry Stopes is a writer, journalist and historian born and raised in Manchester (UK), now living in Berlin where he has made his home since 2018. He completed his PhD at University College London in 2017, specialising in British and French 19th century social and cultural history. He now works as a freelance writer
and journalist, writing widely on social issues, culture, the law, criminal justice and the prison system in the London Review of Books, Guardian, Columbia Journalism Review, Economist, Financial Times, TLS, and Berliner Zeitung. He is interested in finding ways to share academic historical research with the widest possible audience.

The Age Of Incarceration
The Age Of Incarceration (2025) is a history of the prison since the late 18th century. For Stopes, understanding this institution in its long historical context is vital if we are to reform it today, and furthermore, prison has always been a failure when measured against its purported justifications of creating a safe society or helping prisoners to change their behaviour. Instead, the prison has been primarily an instrument of social control, particularly in moments of socio-economic transformation. At Camargo, Harry
will work on a chapter about the prison in Marseille in the 1930s, with the city as a case study for broader questions around race, migration and criminal justice.