A+M - Industrial Period

• By the 1960s, over 90% of serious offenders went to prison
• There was a big focus on prison not only being a method of deterrent but also being an opportunity to reform characters
• Prisons were very grim and disgusting
• Men, women and children were all put in one room together
• Murderers were mixed with petty criminals
• There was no sanitation and overcrowding meant that disease was rife
• Illnesses such as jail fever which was a form of typhus caught from fleas as well as the usual killers like cholera and TB
• Gaolers were not paid and charged inmates for food
• Humanitarians started to campaign to clean up the prisons and to encourage prisons to focus on reforming the prisoner and improving their chances of life after prison


  By the late 1700s
• Numbers in prison were much higher due to the abolishment of the Bloody Code
• The government had been improving the quality of life in factories and mines already, so were becoming more interested in humanitarianism
• The Victorians started to think the main purpose of prison should be to reform the criminal
• John Howard


  In 1775, he journeyed to prisons all over Wales and England. He was shocked at the conditions people had to live with. He wrote a book on the state of prisons. He visited Caernarvon, Swansea and Wrexham. Caernarvon was derelict, lacking drainage and freshwater. Some things he suggested was that there should be more space, sanitary buildings, training programmes and regular vicar visits.
• A positive outcome (significance) was the passing of the Gaol Fever Bill which allowed for regular cleaning, ventilation, doctors and sick rooms
• The downside to it was that it didn't say how the law should be enforced and little was done. Lots of authorities ignored it and inspections didn't happen
• Sir George O. Paul

  He was concerned with the poor conditions in prisons. In 1784, he wrote a book on jail fever which led to the prison reform movement in Gloucestershire. Some things he suggested were exercise yards, chapels, workrooms, good ventilation and separating serious criminals from minor offenders.
• A positive outcome from his ideas was the passing of the Gloucestershire Prison Act 1785 which allowed for the building of new prisons he designed
• The only downside was the fact that this act was only in Gloucestershire and didn't affect everyone
• Elizabeth Fry


  She was a Quaker and was outraged at conditions for female prisoners in Newgate Prison. She visited Newgate Prison regularly. She suggested they prove clothes and bedding and to teach inmates skills such as knitting. Female warders were appointed. Schools were created for women prisoners and their children, focusing strongly on religious education and readings from the bible.
• The positive outcome is that it benefited life for women in prison
• Downsides to it was that it was slow and piecemeal and was only in Newgate Prison
• Overall, the reformers were significant because they brought attention to the state of prisons and put some pressure on the government to improve things. However, the change resulting from these actions were slow and haphazard. What was really needed was a complete overhaul of prisons led by the government
• Robert Peel


  He was Home Secretary in the 1820s, and started the process of having laws to help prisoners. Some things the Gaols Act of 1823 stated was that gaolers should be paid, doctors and chaplains should visit prisons, attempts should be made to reform characters and female prisoners should be kept separate from Male prisoners.
• A positive outcome of this was that it was the first step to bringing order in the prison system but only dealt with 130 London prisons to begin with
• A downside is that there were only 5 inspectors
• This was significant as it was a step in the right direction
• Between 1842 and 1877, 90 new prisons were built in Britain. One of the most famous was Pentonville in London 1842. Carmarthenshire jail was designed by John Nash and took the ideas of John Howard. The prison was ventilated, has a chapel and an infirmary. John Nash also worked on Cardigan jail separating prisoners into individual wings through windows of the octagonal observatory
• Once prisoners were in these new prisons there was a "Great Debate" about whether the aim of the prisons should be to reform the prisoners' character or should the focus be strict punishment
• Prison systems


  • The Separate System
  • The Silent System
• The Separate System


  Believed that solitary confinement would break the spirit of the prisoner so they would listen to the advice of the priest. Making boots and clothes were things they could do in their cell. They only left their cells to exercise or go to chapel. Masks were to stop them recognising and communicating with each other. They had to hold knots on a rope to keep them 4 metres apart. This system was very expensive and proven not to work. There was a high death rate. Pentonville Prison, in its first 8 years, had 3 suicides, 26 mental breakdowns and 22 were certified as insane.
• The Silent System


  Enforced silence and forced inmates to do hard, repetitive and pointless tasks such as passing a heavy cannonball or using the "crank". The aim was to make prisons so horrible that people wouldn't reoffend. It acted as a form of deterrence. They slept on hard beds and ate basic food like bread and drank water. This system was cheaper than the Separate System. The silence and fear of harsh punishment led to high rates of suicide and insanity and so the system was not effective.
• Critics argued that prisons were too brutal and did not reform criminals or reduce re-offending. Furthermore, the conditions had led to an increase in insanity and suicide
• Concerns led to a government investigation called the Gladstone Committee in 1895 which said:

  Long periods of isolation did not reform prisoners but badly impacted their mental health

  16-20 year olds should not be treated as badly as older people

  Education and training was needed to help them once their time was served
• The Gladstone Committee led to the Prisons Act of 1898 which said:

  Isolation time to be limited

  Prisoners given free time to communicate with each other

  Unproductive hard labour was abolished

  The first prison for young offenders opened in Borstal Kent 1902