Woking Convict Invalid Prison was constructed in mid-19th-century England, primarily to hold male invalid convicts who previously had been billeted on hulks and had been moved to the temporary invalid prison at Lewes. The concept of a prison specifically for invalids was seen as progressive at the time. It opened its doors to the first prisoner, William Strahan, in April 1859 and formally received the first tranche of invalid prisoners in March 1860. The prison closed in 1889 due to a decline in the number of invalid prisoners.