A
prisoner-of-war camp is a site for the containment of enemy
combatants captured by a
belligerent power in time of
war. It is similar to an
internment camp which is used for
civilians. Purpose built prisoner-of-war camps appeared at Norman Cross in England in 1797 and
HM Prison Dartmoor, both constructed during the
Napoleonic Wars and they have been in use in all the main conflicts of the last 200 years. The main camps are used for
soldiers,
sailors,
marines,
coast guards, and more recently,
airmen of an enemy power who have been captured by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. In addition,
non-combatants, such as
merchant mariners and civilian
aircrews, have been imprisoned in some conflicts. With the adoption of the
Geneva Convention on the Prisoners of War in 1929 and later superseded by the
Third Geneva Convention, prisoner of war camps have been required to be open to inspection by authorized representatives of a
neutral power. Not all belligerents have consistently applied the convention in all conflicts.