Assessing Contemporary Imprisonment through the History of 19th Century Prisons

Assess what can be learned
about contemporary
imprisonment from the
history of the 19th century
prison

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
TASK...............................................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
The behaviour of the criminal as well as the crime can be studied by the help of
criminology based on various related factors. Criminologist in order to come to on
conclusion studies various aspects such as their reason behind the commitment of such
act, characteristics of the people who commit crime, the probable effects as well as
different methods for the prevention of the same. Moreover criminology is just an study
of crime whereas on the other hand the application of the aspects of criminology is
addressed as criminal justice. The criminal justice helps in ascertaining whether the
concerned person stands accused or not and accordingly one is being subject the
punishment where one of the common way is of the imprisonment and fines(Calkin,
2021). The following essay is based on the contemporary imprisonment from the history
of the 19th century prison along with the comparison with current prevailing system.
TASK
The term prison has been acquired from Latin term which in simple terms means to
seize. Further as per the dictionary of Oxford English, the term has been defined as the
any place which stands efficient for the receipt of the individuals who by the due
process of the law has been subjected to certain imprisonments or are asked to be put in
safe custody till the pending of the punishment. The prison system of the United
Kingdom has made a great progress with the evolution of the time and most importantly
with the emerging categories of the crimes. Earlier in nineteenth century the prison
system of the country was very much complicated. Mainly the prisons were bifurcated
into two major heads which are the local prisons and the convict prisons. Where the
convict prisons were subjected under the direct control of the home office. Whereas the
local prisons were managed and controlled by the whole host of different local
authorities from countries until the Act of 1877 Prisons Act(Clark, 2021. Furthermore
in the convicts prisons the types included are the public works prisons, penitentiaries
and the prison hulks whereas on the other hand the Goals, lock-ups and the bride wells
are included in the local prisons. Because of this specific categorisation, the historians
had confined the scope to only two heads. Also one in order to have a brief knowledge is