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The Origins of Late Eighteenth-Century Prison Reform in England

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The Origins of Late Eighteenth-Century Prison Reform in England The Origins of Late Eighteenth-Century Prison Reform in England Philippa Hardman SlfýýFrezCý Submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of Ph. D. Department of History September 2007 Abstract Previous research into prison reform in England has tended to assert that the late eighteenth century marked an important and unprecedented turning point in penal practice. Building on recent work which has complicated teleological understandings of the history of English penal practice, this thesis considers the origins of late eighteenth-century prison reform in England through an analysis of reform ideas and discourses over the period 1515 -1800. The thesis is divided into three stages of analysis: first, it considers the in England during penal reform ideas which circulated the sixteenth, demonstrating seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, continuities over time in the arguments advanced in favour of institutionalised hard labour. The thesis then analyses the reform discourse used by eighteenth- century penal reformers, first on a national level, and secondly on the local level through a comparative case study of reform activity in Gloucestershire, Lancashire and Middlesex. The cases made for reform in each of these counties shared some remarkable and important similarities, as did the reform language used at the national and the local level. The final stage of the thesis examines the implementation of reform in Gloucestershire, Lancashire and Middlesex, identifying what late eighteenth-century reformed prisons were designed to achieve and how reform was presented to the wider public audience. The main argument of the thesis is that the prisons which were built at the end of the eighteenth century were the product, on the one hand, of the revived resonance of a penal reform discourse which first emerged in the sixteenth century, and on the other, of a sense of alarm and belief in improvement generated by local level reformers' strategic use of language. The main findings of the thesis are, first, that late eighteenth- century prison reform ideas and discourse formed part of a tradition which stretched back to the sixteenth century and, secondly, that language and culture played a decisive part in making late eighteenth-century prison reform happen. 2 Acknowledgements First, I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Bob Shoemaker, for his unwavering support and encouragement throughout the course of this and indeed my other academic projects. I would also like to express gratitude to my family - particularly Joy, Carl, Bob and Edna - for their continued support throughout my research, and also to my friends for providing essential light relief and welcome distractions. Thanks also to Chris, without whose technical support this project would have been far more protracted. Finally, I would like to thank my partner Pippa for her relentless support, encouragement, patience and good humour and without whom this would not have been possible. 3 Contents Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................. 6 1) Late eighteenth-century prison reform ..................................................... 6 2) The foundations the history of of punishment .......................................... 7 A 3) radical re-evaluation? ......................................................................... 13 4) Beyond the dichotomy ........................................................................... 20 Rethinking the history 5) prison reform ...................................................... 24 6) The late eighteenth-century 30 origins of prison reform .............................. The Counties Chapter 2: ............................................................................. 41 1) Introduction 41 ............................................................................................ Gloucestershire 2) ...................................................................................... 46 3) Lancashire ............................................................................................. 54 4) Middlesex ............................................................................................... 63 5) Conclusion ............................................................................................. 73 3: The History Prison Reform Ideas Chapter of ........................................ 75 1) Late eighteenth-century prison reform ................................................... 75 The history 2) of prison reform ................................................................... 76 i) The sixteenth century ................................................................ 76 ii) The seventeenth century .......................................................... 88 iii) The early eighteenth century ................................................... 97 iv) The to late mid eighteenth century ........................................ 103 4: The Language Prison Reform Chapter of ........................................... 118 1) The late eighteenth-century study of prison reform .............................. 118 Prison in 2) reform practice ...................................................................... 121 Promoting 3) prison reform ...................................................................... 129 I) Introduction ............................................................................. 129 ii) The language of medicine ...................................................... 133 iii) The language of utility ........................................................... 140 Chapter 5: The Language of Reform Local Level at ...............................146 Introduction 1) ..........................................................................................146 4 2) Urging local level 148 reform at .................................................................. 3) The language 152 of necessity ................................................................... i) Introduction 152 ............................................................................. ii) Gloucestershire 155 ...................................................................... iii) Lancashire 166 ............................................................................. iv) Middlesex 174 .............................................................................. 4) Conclusion 178 ........................................................................................... The Penitentiary the House Correction 181 Chapter 6: and of ..................... 1) Introduction 181 .......................................................................................... 2) The departure? 182 penitentiary: a new ..................................................... 3) The 193 penitentiary: operation .................................................................. 4) The language 203 penitentiary: and perception .......................................... Conclusion 211 Chapter 7: .............................................................................. 1) Introduction 211 .......................................................................................... 2) Findings 212 ............................................................................................... Wider implications 215 3) ................................................................................ Further 216 4) research .................................................................................. Concluding thoughts 217 5) ............................................................................ 219 Bibliography ............................................................................................... Primary Sources 219 1) .................................................................................. i) Acts 219 ......................................................................................... ii) Manuscripts 219 ............................................................................ iii) Printed 221 material ..................................................................... iv) Internet 227 sources .................................................................... 2) Secondary Sources 227 ............................................................................. i) Books ...................................................................................... 227 ii) Articles ................................................................................... 232 3) Dissertations 236 ........................................................................................ 5 Chapter 1: Introduction 1) Late eighteenth-century prison reform During the last twenty years of the eighteenth century a wholesale reform of England's penal institutions was accomplished. These institutions were not the ad hoc buildings of the preceding period but expensive and unprecedented types of institution - reformed prisons. Over the course of the 1780s and 90s sixty new penal institutions were built and numerous existing prisons reformed on a plan offered by the Penitentiary Act passed in April, 1779.1 Under the stipulations of the Act, criminals found guilty of all but the most serious offences could 'be ordered to solitary imprisonment accompanied by well-regulated labour, and religious instruction... not merely to deter others from the commission of like crimes, but also to reform the individuals in question. s2Although the two national penitentiaries that it proposed
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