(Description) Figure 7 Separate cell at Pentonville Prison. The separate cells in model prisons such as Pentonville were designed for long periods of human habitation without damage to health. Prisoners had running water and toilet facilities. A thermometer monitored the temperature, as hot or cold cells could aid the spread of disease. Prisoners slept in hammocks with mattresses which could be rolled away. Reforms to convict and local prison discipline after 1863 were intended to make prisoners uncomfortable. Plank beds were introduced to disrupt sleep and reduced diets made prisoners hungry. At the same time, arcades and galleries designed to circulate air were filled in as the space was used for more accommodation. Built-in toilets were poorly maintained. Cell buckets increasingly resorted to in new separate prisons were unhygienic (Johnston, 2016, p. 50). These conditions would have had an impact on prisoners’ ability to learn in a system of cellular instruction.

Session 6: Education in a changing penal regime

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This is a drawing of a narrow cell with a curved ceiling and a high window in the rear wall. A narrow bed is slung between the walls in the foreground. A loom behind it fills the bulk of the space. A basin and a number of printed documents are mounted on the cell walls.