PAST CRIMESBy the end of the eighteenth century, the state of prisons was causing some
concern; measures were introduced to require regular inspections, money was
raised for new buildings, accommodation was segregated, solitary cells were
introduced, arrangements were made for work to be provided for prisoners, for
religious instruction and basic medical care. Even so, conditions could be
unpleasant–Tothill Fields prison in Westminster held 110 prisoners in three
day rooms and seven night rooms in 1777, with no proper infirmary.
Conditions in provincial gaols were often worse than in London. Prison
improvements continued in the nineteenth century, fuelled in part by the
notion that prison could reform criminals, specifically through putting
convicts to hard labour. More and more people were sentenced to prison, and
new prison buildings were built across the country. Individual cells for solitary
confinement were introduced, so that prisoners could spend time in reflection
on their sins and salvation. Conditions were improved, especially hygiene, to
reduce the spread of disease within prisons, and more work was provided to
keep the inmates busy.
In recent years, a number of archaeological excavations have looked for
traces of the prisons from this era in Britain, the USA, Ireland and Australia in
particular. Examples include the gaols of Oxford where foundations and walls
of the late eighteenth century rebuild of the castle prison were unearthed. The
central structure and its two wings were sited next to the castle motte, and a
number of burials were found at the gallows site, including some showing
evidence of being subjected to dissection by members of the university.
Another Oxford prison, the Bocardo, which was an octagonal building
surrounded by a six metre high wall, was built in around 1789.
Lincoln Castle gaol was rebuilt to accommodate the‘separate system’in
the early nineteenth century. This was a regime which aimed to keep each
inmate remote from any human contact, locked in a solitary cell, allowed no
conversation with other inmates, and when brought out of the cell for any
purpose, including attending church services in the prison chapel, being made
to wear a hood which concealed their identity. According to Charles Dickens,
inDavid Copperfield, this had the effect of‘the reduction of prisoners to a
wholesome state of mind, leading to sincere contrition and repentance.’
Lincoln is the best surviving example of a ‘separate system’ prison, with its
chapel, cells and exercise yards, and may be visited today.
Pentonville Prison was the first in Britain purpose-built to house the
‘separate system’ in 1842, with radiating wings from a central hub typical of
this style (Figure 27). The human cost of the isolation policy pursued in the
‘separate system’ was high – large numbers of prisoners went insane, suffered