Prisons in the 18th century

• Incarceration of criminals for long periods of time was unusual before the 18th century
• Before the 18th century, medieval castles had dungeons where rebels or hostages would be kept - but criminals tended to be dealt with in other ways
• The idea of imprisoning criminals with a view of reforming them had begun with the development of houses of correction and bridewells in the 16th century - to reform criminals through hard work
• Houses of correction and bridewells were very small and only existed in a few places
• Most gaols by the 18th century were just places to temporarily hold criminals waiting for punishment , or people who had not yet had their trial
• In the 18th century , there were a number of gaols in large towns and cities , like London
• In the 18th century , people who debtors rather than criminals were imprisoned as a consequence of owing money - the time spent in gaol did not get the debtors out of the debt they owed
• Some debtors who were imprisoned could buy themselves better conditions than other prisoners
• In some places, debtors were mixed in the same cells as violent criminals
• The father of Charles Dickens the author was imprisoned as debtor in Marshalsea Prison
• The father of John Wesley the Methodist preacher was imprisoned as a debtor in Lincoln Gaol
• Gaolers charged prisoners , whether they were criminals or debtors, as they were not paid a wage
• Prisoners with money could buy themselves better food or bedding
• By the middle of the 18th century, there were about 4000 people imprisoned in Britain
• The number of people imprisoned in Britain was low , as most criminals were transported to the colonies in America
• In the 18th century, there were 3 major changes that put huge pressures on the old system of bridewells and gaols
• The American colonies prevented Britain from transporting their criminals to their colonies after war with them in 1776 , which led to their independence
• Most judges preferred transportation rather than execution , despite most crimes under the 'Bloody Code' technically being punished by death - so they chose to leave criminals in gaol rather than sending them for execution
• The number of criminals increased due to population growth combined with increasing urbanisation
• Conditions in prison had never been a concern as there were never many people in them , and if there were, they usually did not stay long
• The sudden pressure on the old system of gaols and bridewells highlighted a number of flaws
• There were no rules about how prisons should be run - Local responsibility could sometimes be unclear - Existing buildings were not fit for purpose and lacked proper sanitation
• In some prison buildings, there was no more than a single room that all prisoners (male, female, young, old) were all kept in
• Because some prison buildings only had a single room for all prisoners , they became overcrowded - as a result diseases like typhus ran riot amongst prisoners
• It has been estimated that in the late 18th century gaols , 25% of prisoners died every year