Abstract
This chapter examines the evolution of the idea in the period of 'prison reform', from the 1770s to the early 19th century. It discusses one of the most famous 19th-century fictional criminal creations, Magwitch – the escaped convict, loose on the Kent moors, who terrifies the young boy Pip into stealing food and equipment to aid his flight. The image evoked by Dickens has endured in the popular imagination: when people think of prison history, they tend to think of the convict prisoner, the dangerous, long-term criminal, clothed in the broad arrowed uniform, put to long hours of hard labour in the mid-Victorian prison. The chapter examines the realities of this image. In the decades leading up to the 1770s, serious offenders tended to be dealt with either by the death sentence/through transportation. The contrast between the unregulated gaols and bridewells of the 18th century and the timetabled, orderly and functional prisons of the early Victorian period is marked.
Published Version
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