Elizabethan Houses of Correction

Abstract

In 1589 the bench of aldermen of Amsterdam objected to pronouncing the usual death sentence for theft on a sixteen year old boy. They urged the burgomaster to find a better way to deal with juvenile offenders. They suggested that they be compelled to labor, to give up their evil habits and amend their lives. Finally it was ordered that a house should be established for the confinement of vagabonds and criminals. Here they should be imprisoned and put to work for as long a time as the magistrates ordered. An old convent was set aside for the purpose and the Amsterdam house of correction was opened, in 1596, with twelve inmates.' We have the regulations for this establishment.2 Their probable date is between 1599 and 1602. From the regulations we find that a board of regents consisting of four burghers met regularly each week to supervise the government of the institution. There were to be likewise two towns-women who were responsible for the diet and household economy. There was a resident warden whose wife assisted by two servants performed the housework. There were two spinning-masters, a rasping-master, a school teacher, and a medical man. These regulations laid down by the founders and regents outline a detailed routine of work, education, and worship. The inmates were to do a required amount of work for their maintenance and if they did more than that they were to receive additional remuneration. Punishment for lack of discipline might be extra work, fetters, or a lengthened sentence. If the inmate obstinately continued in his defiance, branding and finally the death penalty were prescribed. The inmates were of two classes: those imprisoned