Punishments - developments in prisons in the later industrial period
Gradually the government took over the organisation and running of prisons. There were ongoing debates about whether prisoners should be kept separately or together in silence, and whether they should complete useful or pointless work. All of these methods were used to try to reform prisoners.
New prisons
In 1811, the government began construction of a new national prison at Millbank on the River Thames. However, its cost spiralled out of control and it didn’t open until 1816. It had severe discipline problems and there was a riot in 1817. There were also issues with the design and the running costs. It was eventually shut down in 1890.
In the 1840s there was another surge of national prison-building after the use of transportation slowed down. This began with Pentonville prison in London, which opened in 1842. By 1850, 50 new prisons had been built or reconstructed, and the number had risen to 90 by 1877. In 1877, the government took control of all prisons.
Different systems
The separate system
Some reformers believed that prisoners should be kept completely apart from each other, as mixing freely enabled criminals to pass on experience to others. In the 1850s, Pentonville and around 50 other prisons operated the separate system, where prisoners were kept in individual cells. Here they were supposed to work, pray and reflect on their crimes. They were only permitted to leave the cell for exercise and religious services.
The separate system was criticised for its cost as well as for being too harsh. Prisoners suffered mental breakdowns and there were high suicide rates.
The silent system
From the 1850s onwards, some prisons used the silent system instead. Prisoners were allowed to work together but in silence. They were expected to be always silent and were whipped if they broke this rule. This was cheaper than the separate system, but in order for the prison system to be effective discipline was needed.
Work for prisoners
There was also disagreement about the type of work that prisoners should carry out.
Useful work
Prison reformers tended to argue that prisoners should do work that would help them find and keep a job once they were released, such as making boots or sewing mail sacks.
Pointless work
However, by the 1860s, the government encouraged the use of pointless tasks for prisoners. This was because they thought that if criminals hated the work, they would be less likely to reoffend and prison would be a more effective deterrent. Pointless work included:
- Picking oakum - this was pulling rope apart, usually a metre each day.
- Walking the treadmill or treadwheel - prisoners walked on a huge wheel to make it turn around.
- Turning the crank - prisoners turned a crank handle 20 times a minute, thousands of times a day. Warders were able to tighten the crank so it was harder to turn.
- Moving cannonballs from one side of a room to the other.
Reduced sentences
By the 1850s, it was generally accepted that serious criminals serving over four years in prison would have their sentence reduced after a four-year period of good behaviour.
The return of hard labour
The crime rate began to fall after 1850. However, the new, reformed prison system came under heavy criticism during the Garrotting Crisis of the 1860s, when a number of people were choked and mugged in the street. The press helped to spread a moral panic and blamed the failure of a ‘lenient’ prison system for putting criminals back on the streets.
The panic led to politicians bringing in new legislation on prisons. These made conditions in prisons substantially harsher:
- A punishment that involves a public beating, usually with a flexible stick. had been abolished in 1861 but was brought back in 1863.
- The 1865 Prisons Act was passed. It promoted regimes based on ‘hard labour, hard board and hard fare’ in local prisons. It increased the amount of hard, pointless labour that prisoners undertook. It also introduced punishments such as a diet of bread and water and more use of solitary confinement.
This harsh system continued for the next 30 years.
