Prisons in the 1700s

The conditions

• In all types of prisons, some of the more dangerous or more important prisoners were kept in chains at all times. Some would also be chained to the wall or other large object. If these prisoners happened to have enemies in the cell with them they would probably wake up dead the next day. This was most unfortunate but it was something the authorities could live with.

An account…

The conditions…

• For the most part, prisoners were not segregated. Men, women and children were often thrown into the same communal cell. To make matters worse, those already convicted and sentenced were often in the same cell as those awaiting trial. Only important prisoners were placed in a cell alone. What this means is that a woman who was awaiting trial for something like stealing a fish from the market could be in the same cell with a man who was to be hanged for murder.

• Newgate- Victorian England Prisons

• However, the filthiest, most deadly prison of all was the Prison Ship or Hulk. From the early 18th century until the American Revolution, Britain transported convicts each year to Maryland and Virginia. The North American colonies declared their independence in 1776 and closed their ports to British prison ships. A crisis in the British criminal justice system followed.

• Britain started converting old merchant ships and naval vessels into floating prisons known as hulks. Port holes, were boarded over, most hatches were bolted shut or boarded over and they were moored in a river or off shore in the Thames, and at Portsmouth and Plymouth. Prisoners were then thrown into the hold and left to rot until they were tried and their sentence carried out. Those sent to them were sometimes employed in hard labour during the day and then loaded, in chains, onto the ship at night.

• The Hulks