WHERE MIS'RY MOANS: FOUR PRISON REFORMERS IN 18TH & 19TH CENTURY ENGLAND

By the dawn of the eighteenth century prisons, or gaols (jails), had been part of England’s criminal justice system for hundreds of years. Gaols were typically small, usually housing only a few prisoners at a time. They were rarely purpose-built, and were often in the remains of an ancient castle keep or a single room in a gaoler’s home. Oversight and inspection were lax, and conditions—often dark, filthy and harsh—were unseen or ignored by the vast majority of the populace. Prisoners had to pay fees upon entry and release, and for food, clothing, bedding, etc. while imprisoned as the gaolers often ran the gaols as money-making operations.

Imprisonment itself was rarely a sentence, except for very minor offences, such as vagrancy. Prisoners were generally in gaol because they were a) awaiting trial, execution or transportation to a penal colony; b) acquitted of a crime but unable to pay fees required for release; or c) debtors. In fact, by the eighteenth century fully half of the country’s prisoners were debtors. Regardless of the crime for which they were accused or convicted, prisoners were often housed in a single space, with men and women often together in the smaller gaols. Disease was rife and prisoners received scant, if any, medical attention. Gaols were often unheated; fresh water was not guaranteed, and prisoners were frequently kept in iron fetters. By the eighteenth century the need for prison reform was evident. Nineteenth century reformers built on earlier reforms to make gaols more humane and reformatory.