Inmates - Victorian Crime and Punishment

Inmates

An Inmate

This section provides general information on how prisoners were classified and treated and what daily life was like. It also includes contemporary accounts of prisoners.

Types of Prisoners

An Overview of Prisoner Types As prisons became the chief place of punishment for a wide variety of crimes, prisoners were...
Debtors Until 1970 it was technically possible to be imprisoned for being in debt and unable to pay. During...
Untried prisoners Prisoners who were accused of "indictable" (serious) offences were "remanded in prison" after...
Infants or Juveniles Until 1838, when Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight was opened there was no prison in the country...
The Sick In Bedford the magistrates employed a surgeon to look after sick prisoners who often arrived at the...
Women Conditions for women changed considerably as the 19th century progressed.
The Condemned Those under sentence of death were kept in a special condemned cell away from the other prisoners....
Habitual Criminals Habitual criminals were those that had committed more than one offence.

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Prisoner Poetry and Grafitti

The Ballad of Reading Gaol Oscar Wilde's famous poem shows the effect on prisoners of a condemned man at Reading Gaol. It was...
Autobiography of a Thief in Thieves' Slang With this preface I transcribe, and interpret, the following autobiography, which is both authentic...
Prisoner Poem These rhymes were written by a prisoner at Maidstone gaol and found in his cell on 26th October...

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Contemporary Accounts

Convict Life or Revelations Concerning Convicts and Convict Prisons The author was a gentleman who had received 7 years penal servitude and was released on licence in...
Literacy amongst the prisoners -1898 A descirption of classifying prisoners according to literacy. The account is mainly a straight...
Babies in Prison Jottings from Jail Notes and Papers on Prison Matters 1887 by Rev. J W Horsley Chaplain of Her...
Backslang A description of Backslang from 'Jottings from Jail' Notes and Papers on Prison Matters 1887 by...
Women in Prison
Some Observations on Young Offenders Some observations on Young Offenders by J.W. Horsley (1850-1910) , a prison chaplain at...
Thieves A Treatise on Thieves, written by W.- a prisoner in the care of George Laval Chesterton, Governor...

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Mental and Phyical Health

An Overview of Mental and Physical Health Prison could take a high toll on the health of inmates. In the early years of the 19th century this...
Quarter Session Report Huntingdonshire (Extract) Michaelmas 1869 An Extract of the Surgeon's report to the Quarter Sessions commenting on the health of prisoners...
Reports on Prisoner Health at Bedford New House of Correction 1840-1 Extracts from reports on the Health of Prisoners and the Bedford New House of Correction 1841 and...