NCJ Number
122389
Journal
Social Policy & Administration Volume: 23 Issue: 2 Dated: (August 1989) Pages: 161-170
Date Published
1989
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This article argues that English prison administration policies changed substantially between 1895 and 1939.
Abstract
The Home Office and Prison Commission became more receptive toward reforming certain groups of prisoners, and severities of the late Victorian era were greatly reduced. In the early 1890's, there was considerable criticism of English prison administration which, at the time, was controlled by a commission established by the Prisons Act of 1877. This commission pursued a policy of collective severity. A departmental committee was appointed in 1894 to investigate the prison system, and it called for reform efforts to focus on younger prisoners, improved general education facilities, more effective aftercare, trade training rather than severe penal labor, decreased cellular isolation, preventive lengthened sentences for unreformable habitual offenders, and staff training. A new liberalism gathered strength between 1890 and 1910 which affected prison administration. Reformatory and preventive measures were formulated, and an elaborate system of outside educational advisors, classes, and lectures was instituted in adult prisons between 1895 and 1939. Voluntary organizations were increasingly used for educational purposes. The desire to reduce the suffering and promote the potential of prisoners led to reforms which generally made the English prison system less harsh. 65 references.