prison reforms

• what were prisons mainly used for before the 18th century?


  holding a suspect in the run up to their trial.
• what caused the use of prisons to increase?

  the decline of the bloody code, and concern about transportation
• what were prisons believed to both act as?

  as a deterrent and to make society safer
• what was a common form of hard labour?

  the treadwheel
• key governments interventions to reorganise the prison system

  • 1815, it said gaolers had to be paid out of local taxes
  • 1823, prisoners were divided into categories
  • 1835, the Gaol Act introduced inspection
  • 1865, the Prison Act said all prisons had to follow national rules
• who are the two campaigners that wanted prisons to be for rehabilitation?

  John Howard and Elizabeth Fry
• when did Howard begin campaigning to parliament?


  1774
• what did howard write that argued for prison reforms and in what year?


  The State of Prisons in England and Wales, 1777
• what did howard recommend for prisons to make it better?


  decent water and food, Christian teaching, private cells, and a wage for prison work.
• when and why did fry trying to help rehabilitation in prisons?


  she visited Newgate prison in 1813 and was shocked by the conditions
• what did fry do to encourage rehabilitation?


  she started teaching sewing and Bible studies to prisoners
• what did fry help ensure?


  that female wardens were employed to work with female prisoners, provided prisoners with furniture and clothing, and wrote letters campaigning for wider prison reform.
• what did fry help set up to campaign for better conditions, and in what year?


  the Association for the Reformation of Female Prisoners, in 1817