The 1955 advert for the Magdalene laundry in Dublin, Ireland reads like a tear-jerking charity appeal: “The Superioress and Sisters of The Magdalen Asylum … very earnestly beg the support of the liberal and kind-hearted to help them with the upkeep of the Institution for 130 Poor Penitents, who receive a home within its walls.” But the reality for many of the “penitents” — or repentant sinners — living in these institutions was very different from the ad’s beneficent tone.
