The Magdalene Laundries were institutions run by Roman Catholic orders in Ireland from the 18th to the late 20th centuries. They were primarily laundries and needlework businesses that subjected women and girls to severe psychological and physical maltreatment. The women and girls who suffered in the Magdalene Laundries included those who were perceived to be ‘promiscuous’, unmarried mothers, the daughters of unmarried mothers, those who were considered a burden on their families or the State, those who had been sexually abused, or had grown up in the care of the Church and State. The nuns who ran the Magdalene Laundries have not contributed to a State fund to compensate the survivors. Survivors have spoken out about their experiences of being sent away as young girls with little or no idea of what awaited them, sometimes as a result of domestic and sexual abuse, for which they themselves were made to pay a desperate price. The nuns punished escapees, in many cases, by transferring them to a different Magdalene Laundry. If and when a girl or woman was released, it was invariably without warning, without money, and with only the clothes she was wearing. The last Magdalene Laundry ceased operating on October 25th, 1996.