By Tim Lambert
Early Prisons
Before the 18th century prisons were not commonly used as a punishment. Instead, people were often held in prisons until their trial. The sentence was usually execution or some form of corporal punishment.
Early prisons for ordinary people were very dirty and extremely overcrowded. Diseases were rife and being sent to prison was often a death sentence because they were so unhygienic. Many prisoners died of typhus, which was called goal fever. The jailers were not paid a salary. Instead they were allowed to charge prisoners for things like food and bedding, which inevitably meant poor prisoners suffered terribly. They had to rely on charities. On the other hand rich prisoners could live in relative comfort.
One of the first prison reformers was John Howard (1726-1790). In 1773 he was made High Sherriff of Bedfordshire. As part of his job he oversaw Bedfordshire jail. He also went on a tour of prisons in Europe. In 1777 he published an influential book called The State of Prisons in England and Wales. The Howard League for Prison Reform was founded in 1866.
Elizabeth Fry, (1780-1845) was another prison reformer. In the early 19th century she campaigned for reform of women’s prisons. Her work led to improvements in conditions.
Jailers fees were finally abolished in Britain in 1815. In 1835 the government introduced salaried prison inspectors. In 1877 all prisons came under the control of the Prison Commission.
Modern Prisons
In the 19th century sanitary conditions in prisons became much better but the regime was very harsh. Convicts were made to do tedious and pointless tasks like turning a handle over and over again.
Before 1776 prisoners from Britain were sometimes transported to the North American colonies. However, in that year the colonies rebelled so the British government began to use old ships as prisons. They were called hulks. From 1787 prisoners were transported to Australia but prisoners were often held on hulks before they were transported. During the Napoleonic Wars, French prisoners of war were also held on hulks. Hulks were abolished in 1857.
The treadmill was invented in 1817 and was soon introduced to many British prisons. It was hard and very boring work. It was abolished in British prisons in 1898.
The crank was a handle that convicts had to turn again and again. Normally the prisoner had to turn the handle thousands of times before he could eat. It was hard and very monotonous work. The crank was abolished in British prisons in 1898.
In Britain from 1862 the courts could order whipping with the cat o’nine tails or birching (which meant hitting a man on the bare backside with a bundle of birch rods). Birching gradually replaced whipping, although cases of the latter were recorded in Britain until 1947. In 1948 whipping or birching civilian men was abolished but it was legal in prisons until 1967. The last birching in a UK prison was in 1962.
The first open prison in Britain opened in 1933. Open prisons hold category D prisoners, ones who can be trusted not to escape. The modern parole system was introduced in 1968.
Famous Prisoners
Among famous prisons Newgate prison in London was built about 1188. It closed in 1902 and it was demolished in 1904.
Dartmoor prison opened in 1809 to hold French prisoners of war. In 1813 it held American prisoners during the War of 1812. Following the end of the wars with France and the USA the prison closed in 1816. It opened again in 1850, this time for British felons. Wandsworth Prison opened in 1851. Strangeways Prison opened in 1869. It is now known as HMP Manchester. Wormwood Scrubs in London opened in 1891.
Holloway prison was built in 1852. In 1902 it became a woman’s prison. In 1945, Charity Taylor became the first woman governor of a prison in Britain. She was the governor of Holloway. She was the governor in 1955 when Ruth Ellis became the last woman to be hanged in Britain. She was executed in Holloway. However, Holloway closed in 2016.
Among modern British prisons Frankland maximum security prison for men, in Country Durham was built in 1983. Full Sutton maximum security prison in Yorkshire was built in 1987. Belmarsh prison in London opened in 1991. In Britain maximum security prisons hold category A prisoners, who if they escaped would pose a serious risk to the public, police or national security.
In the USA San Quentin State Prison was built in 1854. It is now called San Quentin Rehabilitation Center. Alcatraz was built for the army in 1850. It opened as a federal penitentiary on 11 August 1934. It closed on 21 March 1963.
Last revised 2026