Aims And Development Of The Penal System Within The Uk Over The Past 200 Years.

Discuss the aims and development of the penal system within the UK over the last 200 years.

In this essay I will be looking at the key developments of the British penal system since the early nineteenth century. I will also discuss how the main objectives of the prison system have changed over this period of time.

The earliest origins of imprisonment was the use of holding defendants prior to trial and dates back to the 9th century. This early form of incarceration was not designed as a form of punishment, rather it was reserved for individuals unable to provide surety for loans or behaviour. The majority of these individuals were held within country gaols, although there were some purpose built gaols such as Tower and Fleet (McLaughlin et al, 2001, p.159).The stocks, flogging, mutilation and execution were all commonplace public spectacles used frequently when dealing with criminals. It was not until the mid 16th century that methods of punishment began to change.

The possibility of using 'houses of correction' was now to be considered as a form of punishment. These were primarily factories producing low cost commodities due to their cheap labour. A small minority of criminals (mainly beggars and vagrants) now found themselves being forced to work in these houses of correction. Their main purpose was to combine punishment with individual reformation, whilst ridding towns of tramps and vagabonds (McLaughlin et al, 2001, p.161). Towards the end of the 17th century houses of correction became largely merged with gaols and were under the control of the local Justice of the Peace. This in turn presented fewer problems for penal administration, and so by the 18th century prisons returned to being both custodial for those awaiting trial and to provide for the coercion of debtors. (McLaughlin et al, 2001, p.161).

At this time there was no segregation of prisoners. Men, women, children the tried and the untried were housed together. The sale of alcohol was freely permitted and disease and extortion were commonplace (McLaughlin et al, 2001, p.164). Many who were found not guilty were unable to pay the discharge fees to the gaoler in order to secure their release. The government was not even aware of how many prisons existed within Britain at this time. In 1773 the High Sheriff of Bedfordshire, John Howard, inspected the gaols within his county. On discovering the dirty and overcrowded conditions he decided to carry out an inspection of all the prisons in England and Wales and in 1777 he published a report of his findings. Howard recommended that prisoners required more space and better food along with segregation according to gender and type. He also recommended that gaolers should be paid by the government. (Todd, 2002, p.116).

By the early 19th century reforms of the penal system had started to take place. In 1813 Elizabeth Fry, philanthropist and Quaker, visited Newgate Gaol in London in order to distribute clothing. She was shocked to discover that conditions had hardly changed since Howard's inspection and very few of his recommendations had been implemented. Together with other women Fry devoted herself to improving the moral and physical welfare of women prisoners along with providing them with education and ensuring the segregation of the women and children from the men (McLaughlin et al, 2001, p.170).

Along with other energetic reformers, Fry was beginning to influence ideas about penal reform. By 1823 the Gaols Act was introduced dealing with prisons in London, the large towns and counties - a total of 130 prisons in all. Some of the main points of the Act included the payment of gaolers, prisons to be made secure and healthy, women prisoners to be looked after by women wardens and the reform of prisoners to be attempted through education, religious instruction and work. However the terms of the Act were often ignored and they only covered the main prisons and not the smaller gaols or debtor's prisons (Todd, 2002, p.118).

By now the number of prisoners was increasing partly due to the decline in other forms of punishment, such as the stocks and branding, which were now viewed as outdated. Nevertheless many people still believed that prison should be concerned with punishment and deterrence, rather than the rehabilitation of criminals which was viewed as costly (Todd, 2002, p.119). In 1842 Pentonville prison was built using the panopticon design. This meant that each prisoner was now held in their own individual cell. Pentonville operated on the 'separate system' which involved almost total solitary confinement and elements such as education and work were largely ignored (www.howardleague.org/studycentre/historyofprison.htm).

Support for the separate system declined