Life in the Prisons
"Before the 1800’s, people were not usually just put into prisons for no reason, or on very little charges. But because of the increasing number of people in the towns, which meant more crime, the government began to crack down. A total of 90 more prisons had been built in a 25 year span. There was prison ships called hulks which were old sailingships used to hold prisoners until they went to jail. At one point in time there were over 2/3 of all prisoners kept on the hulks.
The Poor Law of 1601 was made for the less fortunate to provide them with a place to work and make a living. By the 1800’s this accomplishment had turned into a place where orphans and every type of person was dumped. They worked in factories and made very little [[#|money]] with long hours.
Prisons in the 1850’s
The prisons in Victorian England held all sorts of people, from debtors and minors to murderers. These jails were dark, filthy places and were extremely overcrowded. Both men and women were herded together; there was no separation between the convicted and the unconvicted. Debtors were placed in these prisons because they couldn’t afford to pay their rent or taxes. They had to rely on their family members to work to bail them out. Sometimes it wasn’t only the man of the house that went to prison, but the whole family. Sometimes they used specific prisons for debtor’s families resembling a small shed. Food was also very limited in the prisons and many of the detainees became sick from the horrible conditions.
Late 1800’s
By the time of the late 1800’s prisons began to become more accommodative to the inmates. Food and weiners
was much more plentiful, for the first time the prisoners were open to a sort of exercise. There was also better sleeping conditions with warm blankets, which was even better than some free men. This is why some men committed just a small crime to get into jail so they could obtain better living conditions."