This is a qualitative study about the prisoners at the central prison Långholmen during 1922. The focus will be on the prisoners lives before they were convicted. To learn about the prisoners earlier lives the author has read prisoners biographies, which you can find in the Swedish archives. The study includes a text analysis and a discourse analysis, which has been combined with Michael Foucault’s disciplinary theory and a class perspective to be able answer the questions as clearly as possible. The study has focused on finding patterns among the inmates to see what lead them to a life of crime and to see how the” typical” prisoner was described and perceived by the preacher at the prison. The result shows that some of the prisoners lives has been quite different and it is clear to see that their earlier life has played a part in what type of crime they have committed. You can also see clear patterns between the prisoners earlier life, for example the difficulty of finding a job. The study can be made quite bigger and to be able to do that more source material has to be analysed.