LONDON in 1839 ( Prisons )

LONDON in 1839 ( Prisons )

 

LONDON IN 1839

 

Prisons

There are nine prisons for the confinement of offenders within the metropolis. These are :

1. The Gaol of Newgate in the City of London
2. The Giltspur-Street Compter  in the City of London
3. The Bridewell Prison in the City of London
4. The New Prison, Clerkenwell, Middlesex County Gaol
5. The Coldbath-fields, County House of Correction
6. The Westminster, County Bridewell
7. The Horsemonger Lane, Surrey County Gaol
8. The Borough Compter
9. The Penitentiary at Milbank.

The Gaol of Newgate is under the control of the Corporation of London, and is the principal prison appropriated to the reception of persons brought before the Central Criminal Court. This prison has at various times been stigmatised as one of the worst regulated in the kingdom, and although various reformations have been attempted, but little effectual good appears to have been thus accomplished. In the third Report of the Inspectors of Prisons, presented to Parliament in 1838, it is stated ' that this great metropolitan prison, while it continues in its present state, is a fruitful source of demoralization, and a standing reproach on the character of the Corporation of the City of London. ' The more heinous classes of offenders are placed in separate cells which are not warmed, have no privies, and are without stool or table, but in each of them is placed a Bible and a Prayer Book. The numbers of persons confined in this prison in the course of the year ending Michaelmas 1837, was 3,349, of whom 802 were females. The greatest number at any one time in that year was 342, of whom 123 females. The current expenses of the prison for the year amounted to £7,785, 15 shillings and 10 pence.

 

Old Towns is a resource of 19th century English historical data, extracted and digitized from articles written between 1833 and 1848 which were originally published in 'The Penny Magazine' by The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.