Prisons of London

Prisons varied in treatment of prisoners, but ultimately it hardened these criminals and made them even worse. There were some prisons that were kept clean and were rather spacious such as Pentonsville Model Prison in London; however, for every good, there is bad. Many prisons were poorly maintained and the facilities were much less accommodating, “The cell in Giltspur Street Compter is little more than half the size and is either now ventilated at all, or is ventilated very imperfectly,”(Household Words Vol I, 251). In essence this shows, how the prisoners were attended to and almost treated as animals. Furthermore, when prisoners acted up they would be sent to dark cells. These cells were especially gruesome with nearly no sunlight and very bare. The prisoner was only given bread and water to survive. This demonstrates that London’s prisons were not any more humane than nations the English thought more savage such as Russia or China(Household Words Vol I, 251). This just shows how London was blind to the truth of the treatment of prisoners. The dark cells and the treatment of the prisoners led them to extreme actions, to try and get their hearts desire. They would do many things to attract medical attention, eating pounded glass commonly lead to internal hemorrhage and would solicit the doctor sending them to the infirmary(All the Year Round Vol VII, 492). Another trick would be pricking their gums to make it appear they were spitting up blood. All of these facts show that the prisons were corrupt and ill managed forcing criminals to go to even more extreme measures. They would serve their term and would leave the prison in worse shape than they entered. -Michael Uhl