The development of the prison
The development of the prisonPrisons were virtually non existent before the 1700s; prison was not considered a serious punishment for crime, and was seldom used. Instead, governments imprisoned people who were awaiting trial or punishment whereupon they would receive the more common capital or corporal types of punishment. Common punishments at that time included branding, imposing fines, whipping and the death penalty (capital punishment). The authorities punished most offenders in public in order to discourage people from breaking the law; this falls under the theory of deterrence. Some prisoners were punished by being made to row the oars on ships called galleys.
However, English and French rulers kept their political enemies imprisoned in such prisons as the Tower of London and the Bastille in Paris. In addition, people who owed money were held in debtors' prisons. In many such cases, offenders' families could stay with them and come and ago as they pleased. But the debtors had to stay in prison until their debts were settled. Despite these two exceptions, these ‘early prisons’ bore virtually no exception to the modern prison system.
During the 1700s, many people criticised the use of executions, mutilations and other harsh punishments. This was the beginning of the early prison reform. These critics included the British judge Sir William Blackstone. As a result, governments turned more and more to imprisonment as a serious form of punishment.
Early prisons were dark, dirty, unhygienic and overcrowded. They locked all types of prisoners together, including men, women and children, plus dangerous criminals, debtors and the clinically insane. During the late 1700s, the British reformer John Howard toured Europe to observe prison conditions. His book, the State of the Prisons in England and Wales influenced the passage of a law that led to the construction of the first British Prisons designed partly for reform. These prisons attempted to make their inmates feel penitent(sorry for doing wrong) and became known as penitentiaries; this is where the origins of the ‘theory of rehabilitation’ are found.
One form of imprisonment was transportation to a penal colony. During the 1700s, British Convicts were sent to North America to work in cotton fields. This ceased in 1776, when the United States achieved independence. After 1789, convicts were sent to Australia. The first convicts were sent to work as servants. If they misbehaved, the government took them back and put them in chain gangs to break stones and build roads. Eventually purpose built penal colonies were established, such as the one at Port Arthur, Van Diemens Land (now Tasmania), founded in 1833.
At the beginning of the 1800s, prison reformers began to emphasise the importance of keeping prisoners alone. It was thought that if they had time to reflect in solitary confinement, prisoners would see the error of their ways and become reformed. Prisons were built consisting of many tiny cells where the prisoners lived and worked alone. Each cell had its own exercise yard. Prisoners were separated...
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