Newgate was a prison in London from about the 1200s until it closed around 1900. The name comes from a gate in the old city wall — a “new gate” that was new a very long time ago. The prison became famous for how hard life was inside, and for holding some of the best-known criminals in British history before trial or punishment. Writers used Newgate in stories the way people today might use the name of a notorious jail: it stood for crime, dirt, and fear. The building is gone; the old site sits by London’s main criminal court. You will meet the name in history and in older books, not as a street word for “prison” in general.