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History · Crime and punishment in Britain, c1700-c1900
Prisons and Prison Reform
From filthy, corrupt gaols to the silent cells of Pentonville - how prison became the main punishment, and what reformers like John Howard and Elizabeth Fry changed.
Learning Objectives
- 1Describe conditions in eighteenth-century prisons.
- 2Explain the work of John Howard, Elizabeth Fry and Robert Peel in reforming prisons.
- 3Explain how the separate system worked at Pentonville, and assess whether it succeeded.
Setting the Scene
In the 1700s prisons were mainly used to hold people awaiting trial, and debtors. They were run for profit by gaolers, who charged prisoners for food and bedding. As the Bloody Code and transportation declined, prison became the main punishment for serious crime, and reformers pushed for prisons that would change criminals rather than simply hold them.
- 1777 John Howard publishes The State of the Prisons.
- 1813 Elizabeth Fry first visits the women's section of Newgate Prison.
- 1823 Robert Peel's Gaols Act reforms prisons.
- 1842 Pentonville Prison opens, using the separate system.
- 1865 Prison Act introduces harsher conditions: "hard labour, hard fare, hard board".
- 1877 The government takes control of all prisons.
Prisons Before Reform
Eighteenth-century gaols were dirty, crowded and corrupt.
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Profit
Gaolers were not paid a wage; they charged prisoners fees for food, bedding and even for being released.
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Mixing
Men, women, children, debtors and murderers were often kept together.
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Disease
Gaol fever (typhus) spread quickly in filthy, crowded conditions.
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Schools of crime
First-time offenders learned from hardened criminals.
The Reformers
Three people who changed how prisons were run.
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John Howard
A sheriff in Bedfordshire who inspected prisons across Britain and Europe and published The State of the Prisons in 1777.
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Elizabeth Fry
A Quaker who from 1813 worked with women prisoners at Newgate, teaching them reading, sewing and the Bible.
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Robert Peel
As Home Secretary he passed the Gaols Act of 1823, putting some of the reformers' ideas into law.
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Howard's ideas
Gaolers should be paid a wage, prisons inspected, and prisoners kept clean and healthy.
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Fry's ideas
Women warders for women prisoners, education, useful work and religious teaching.
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Peel's Gaols Act
Paid gaolers, regular visits by chaplains, women warders, and education for prisoners.
The Separate and Silent Systems
Two competing ideas for how to reform prisoners.
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Separate system
Prisoners were kept in their own cells almost all the time, so they could reflect on their crimes and could not be corrupted by others.
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Silent system
Prisoners worked together but were forbidden to speak, and were punished if they did.
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Hard labour
Prisoners did pointless, exhausting work such as the treadwheel, the crank or picking oakum.
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The aim
To make prison hard enough to deter, while giving prisoners the chance to reform.
Pentonville Prison
Pentonville opened in London in 1842 as a model of the separate system. Each of its 520 prisoners had his own cell, where he ate, slept and worked alone.
Life at Pentonville
- Cells Each prisoner had a cell with a toilet, a hammock and work such as weaving or shoemaking.
- Masks Prisoners wore masks or peaked caps outside their cells so they could not recognise each other.
- Chapel Prisoners sat in separate cubicles in chapel.
- Effects Long isolation caused mental illness and suicides.
The chapel at Pentonville: separate even in church.
Did Pentonville Succeed?
Successes
- Cleaner and healthier than eighteenth-century gaols.
- Kept first-time offenders away from hardened criminals.
- Gave prisoners work, religious teaching and time to reflect.
- Became a model for dozens of new prisons.
Failures
- Isolation caused mental illness and suicides.
- It did not clearly reduce reoffending.
- It was expensive to build and run.
- The separate system was gradually abandoned later in the century.
Summary & Exam Focus
- Eighteenth-century gaols were dirty, mixed and run for profit.
- John Howard and Elizabeth Fry campaigned for cleaner, fairer prisons.
- Peel's Gaols Act of 1823 put reform into law.
- Pentonville (1842) used the separate system - with mixed results.
Exam focus
Explain why there were changes to prisons in the period c1700-c1900. (12 marks) (12 marks)
Link the changes to causes - reformers, the decline of the Bloody Code and transportation, new ideas about reform.
Key terms
The vocabulary this lesson expects you to use. Each one is linked from the first place it appears above.
- Gaoler
- The person who ran a prison.
- Gaols Act
- Peel's 1823 law reforming how prisons were run.
- Separate system
- Keeping prisoners alone in their cells to reflect and reform.
- Silent system
- Prisoners worked together but were not allowed to speak.
- Hard labour
- Exhausting, often pointless work such as the treadwheel or the crank.
- Treadwheel
- A large wheel prisoners had to walk on for hours.
- Pentonville
- The model prison opened in London in 1842.
Downloads
Free to keep, print and annotate.
- Prisons and Prison Reform.pptx Built from the lesson script on 23 September 2026. View
- Prisons and Prison Reform - Completed Notes.docx The full notes for the lesson, every gap filled in - to check against, or to revise from. Built from the lesson script on 23 September 2026. View
- Prisons and Prison Reform - Exam Questions.docx Built from the lesson script on 23 September 2026. View
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