Description

Book Synopsis

In 1860, Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote that The degree of civilisation in a society can be judged by entering its prisons'. He meant not only that a society can be judged by how it treats its prisoners, but by who it chooses to incarcerate. 66 years earlier, Britain's newest prison had opened its gates in Clerkenwell, north London. Built on the principles of John Howard, the most vocal and committed prison reformer of the eighteenth century, the new Coldbath Fields House of Correction was intended to be a flagship for the humane improvements that Howard championed. Instead, within just a few years, it would become notorious for its cruelty and injustice. The history of the prison and the stories of its inmates, including not only thieves, vagabonds and prostitutes, but political reformers, mutineers, writers and clergymen, provides an extraordinary new insight into the forces of radical change shaking Georgian England to its core.

Londons Bastille

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    A Hardback by Stephen Haddelsey

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      Book details

      Publisher The History Press Ltd
      Published 1 January 1900
      ISBN-13 9781803998879
      978-1803998879
      ISBN-10 1803998873
      Also in:
      Penology and punishment

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      In 1860, Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote that The degree of civilisation in a society can be judged by entering its prisons'. He meant not only that a society can be judged by how it treats its prisoners, but by who it chooses to incarcerate. 66 years earlier, Britain's newest prison had opened its gates in Clerkenwell, north London. Built on the principles of John Howard, the most vocal and committed prison reformer of the eighteenth century, the new Coldbath Fields House of Correction was intended to be a flagship for the humane improvements that Howard championed. Instead, within just a few years, it would become notorious for its cruelty and injustice. The history of the prison and the stories of its inmates, including not only thieves, vagabonds and prostitutes, but political reformers, mutineers, writers and clergymen, provides an extraordinary new insight into the forces of radical change shaking Georgian England to its core.

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