Session 1: The origins of prison education

Introduction

The late 1700s to early 1800s was a time of significant social change in the four nations of the British Isles which created tensions and crises. Revolutionary ideas from America and France threatened the social hierarchy and encouraged an uprising in Ireland. There were struggles between workers and their employers, and disputes between slave owners and anti-slavery campaigners.

Between 1793 and 1815, Britain was almost continuously at war with France. Criminal statistics suggested that crime was increasing. A debate about the benefits of imprisoning criminals, rather than executing them, developed. Interest grew in building prisons where prisoners might learn remorse and self-improvement.

Figure 1 Newgate Gaol in London, sacked by rioters during the Gordon Riots of June 1780. The prison had only just been rebuilt and the repairs took several years to complete.

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This is a black and white illustration of a group of rioters setting a building alight. Flames leap from the windows of the brick-faced prison building, and a cloud of smoke rises in front of it. Onlookers in the foreground raise their arms, some of them brandishing weapons.

Figure 1 Newgate Gaol in London, sacked by rioters during the Gordon Riots of June 1780. The prison had only just been rebuilt and the ...

The first session of this course places the origins of prison education within the context of these major changes in society. The following sessions will explore how prison education evolved in the four nations during the 1800s.

Most of the evidence and examples in this course come from England, because that country has received the most attention from historians of prison education. However, schemes to educate prisoners could be found in all four nations of the British Isles – England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland (i.e. present-day Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland combined) – from the beginning of the 1800s. In 1801, the nations which comprised Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland) were brought together with Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Despite this, both Scotland and Ireland continued to have their own systems of criminal justice, including prisons.

Over the next eight sessions you will encounter examples of education in many different UK prisons, including gaols, bridewells, penitentiaries, local prisons and convict prisons. However, you will keep returning to one: Lincoln Castle Gaol. Now a prison museum, Lincoln Castle Gaol provides both a captivating backdrop and a fascinating case study for your exploration of the history of the prison and of prison education. In Sessions 1–7, Rosalind Crone, Senior Lecturer in History at The Open University and one of the authors of this course, will present a new chapter in the history of Lincoln Castle Gaol.

Watch the first video now, in which Rosalind Crone uses the history of Lincoln Castle Gaol to explain the birth of the modern prison and how it has been conceptualised by historians. If you can, write some brief notes about the ideas being presented. You will return to these later in the session.

Download this video clip.Video player: boc_pre_1_week1_birthofmodernprison.mp4

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Transcript

[GENTLE MUSIC]

ROSALIND CRONE

This is Lincoln Castle, a fortress built in the wake of the Norman invasion of England in the 11th Century. Its construction included a dungeon just underneath me, where enemies of the crown were imprisoned.

From about the 14th century, a county gaol was located in the grounds of the castle, to hold those who had been accused of crime and were awaiting trial, those who had been convicted of crime and were awaiting punishment, which was not typically imprisonment, and debtors, who couldn't or wouldn't pay their creditors.

The penal reformer John Howard visited the prison in the 1770s and wrote about the conditions he found there. The criminal prisoners were confined in dungeons beneath the debtor's wards. There was some straw on the floor for bedding, but there was no water and no sewer. The smell, he declared, was offensive.

Howard's report led to the construction of a new county gaol, completed in 1788, which meant all prisoners were now accommodated in two wings, each of three storeys, divided into day rooms and sleeping rooms. The new prison was clean and the prisoners were healthy. But by the 1830s, concern began to be expressed about the degree of association that the prisoners had. They occupied the same rooms, day and night, often in idleness, with plenty of opportunity for corruption.

In the mid 1840s, this extension was added to the prison for the accommodation of those awaiting trial and those awaiting punishment, namely hanging or transportation. With its cellular accommodation and separate chapel, Lincoln Castle Gaol was at the cutting edge of prison design.

In just 60 years, Lincoln Castle Gaol, like many other British local prisons, had been transformed from a dungeon into a clean and healthy, and finally, a well-ordered institution.

At the same time, the use of imprisonment as a punishment expanded, replacing bodily punishments such as whipping and branding, and eventually, transportation. Early historians of the prison describe this transformation of the prison as an institution and as a punishment as progress, driven by humanitarian concerns for the welfare of prisoners.

In the 1970s, a new generation of historians argued that it was merely the product of a new form of state power or social domination, a way to control both bodies and minds. More recently, penal historians have highlighted the gap that existed between the intentions of reformers and the reality on the ground. Bringing the provision of education in prisons into play complicates that story even further. But it also offers the real possibility of a deeper understanding of the function and purpose of the modern prison.

So, Lincoln Castle Gaol provides an excellent backdrop for our exploration of the history of the prison, and especially, the history of prison education in the UK.

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Did you enjoy that introduction to the history of the prison? Was there anything that struck you as unusual, or which was unexpected? Perhaps you were intrigued to learn that historians interpret events or processes in different ways. Don’t worry if any of the ideas presented were difficult to grasp; you will revisit them in detail.

By the end of this session, you should:

• be able to outline the development of the prison from dungeon and lock-up to purpose-built penitentiary
• have a sense of the wider political and social events and ideas which framed the rise of the prison and prison education
• be aware of the types of sources historians use to gain a sense of what happened in the past.

The Open University would really appreciate a few minutes of your time to tell us about yourself and your expectations for the course before you begin, in our optional start-of-course survey [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] . Participation will be completely confidential and we will not pass on your details to others.