John Howard’s was trying to suggest a different purpose for prisons because they will know longer needed to hold but to rehabilitate through reflection and God.
Sir George Paul was a Gloucestershire born magistrate and he built his own prison in 1786 which cost £50, 000. He put John Howard’s ideas into action and many other reforms into prisons, which changed the way prisons, were built and ran. He gave good food, clothing and bedding to prisoners although they received good treatment they were still tret like prisoners. They did not pay for any of these items and the jailer was not to charge the prisoners as he was getting a salary. There were no irons or chains and there main punishments consisted of no visitors at all, and hard labour and probably the worst punishment of all solitary confinement. Each prisoner had their own cell and the chaplain and doctor visited regularly to check on the prisoners and try to reform them through God. The warden had to visit at least once a day to check on the prisoners and exercise them.
Sir George Paul although he only reformed one prison set the way for others to follow in his footsteps and reform other prisons.
Elizabeth Fry was the next reformer who formed an association called the ‘Association for the improvement of female prisons at Newgate.’ This was an association that fought for the rights of women in prisons.
She wanted the opportunity while women and children were in prison to try to teach them. She also wanted to try to bring the faith of Christianity into their lives in order to try to reform and turn them into better people. She also believed in segregation and women’s rights along with female jailors. She wanted this because she wanted to stop disease and corruption; female jailors were also suggested because she wanted the women to have privacy.
I have discussed what Elizabeth Fry wanted but she wanted all these changes because she believed that the way to change these people in to better members of society was to turn them to God. She believed that prayer was the way to reform prisoners.
As a result of these three reformers the government had to take note and do something. The thing that the government did was they introduced news laws or acts. There were four laws that each developed upon each other to help reform the appalling prison conditions.
The first act was ‘Pophams act of 1774’, which said that prisoners were to be kept clean and a doctor was to visit the prison regally. This is the same as john Howard’s idea that prisoners should be kept clean. The act also said that prisoners found innocent at their trial must have their irons taken off at once and be set free in the open court. This law was a start but it wasn’t, the law was not obeyed, as the prison owners didn’t bother as no one bothered to reinforce it. For the next act to work it must be reinforced and the way to dot his I believe is to pay the jail owner and he would then be on the pay role and have to obey the acts.
The next act was an act named the ‘Peels Gaol act 1823’. This act said that jails were to be secure, healthy and a big attempt was to be put into the reform of prisoners. A major thing that this act said was that the jailors were to be paid a salary and were not to charge fees or sell goods to prisoners. Peels act also said that women prisoners were to have female wardens and a chaplain and surgeon were to visit the prison regally. The prisoners were not to be put into irons unless the magistrate granted it.
This act follows Elizabeth Fry’s suggestions as it said female wardens were to be used it also followed George Paul’s ideas as the prison warden was to be paid and the reform of prisoners was also put into this act.
Once again this act was not followed, as once again there were no government inspectors or anyone to reinforce the act. Not even the local authorities took any notice. There were supposed to be prison inspectors but unfortunately there wasn’t.
The next act was the ‘Prison act passed in 1835’. This act was an encouragement for all prisons because the government offered grants for the upkeep of prisons and they appointed inspectors of prisons to see that all laws were obeyed to the letter. This was the better law as it appointed people to reinforce laws and it also provided an incentive to prisons to reform.
The final act was that called ‘The act of 1877’. This act put the home-secretary in direct control of prisons. This meant with one person in control they will all be of the same standard. This will ensure that all prisons are reformed and turned into better places.
To conclude prisons needed to reform prisons because ultimately the purpose of prisons was changing with help from reformers such as John Howard. The purpose was changing from detaining prisoners till death to trying to reform prisoners into better members of society. The purpose was changing because there were two hundred fewer offences that you could be hung for and as transportation ended in 1852 an alternative form of punishment had to be found. The alternative punishment was prison of which now prisoners were sent to prison to be rehabilitated.
