Case Study: Pentonville Prison

What was Pentonville Prison?

Between 1842 and 1877 the government built 90 new prisons in Britain. The first of these was Pentonville, which provided the model for the others.

What was the purpose of Pentonville Prison?

The building of Pentonville had 3 main purposes:

• ❖ It was built to deal with the increased number of serious criminals who were no longer being transported or executed for their crimes.
• ❖ It was set up not simply to deter; it aimed to reform the inmates.
• ❖ The changes to Pentonville prison represent the changes in attitudes to punishment.

How was Pentonville Prison designed?

Pentonville had an innovative new design.

• ❖ It had a central area with the 5 prison wings running out from it as spokes, so fewer guards were required to run the prison.
• ❖ Each wing was made up of dozens of individual cells.
• ❖ The prison also featured heating and a mechanical ventilation system.
• ❖ Altogether the prison could accommodate 520 prisoners.

What was the separate system in Pentonville Prison?

The separate system, tested in Pentonville, was intended to achieve 4 key things.

• ❖ Under this system, prisoners were kept apart as much as possible. They lived in separate cells and stayed there for up to 23 hours a day.
• ❖ It gave prisoners solitude to encourage reform through religious faith and self-reflection.
• ❖ It ensured prisoners were not influenced by other criminals who might encourage them to commit even worse crimes.
• ❖ The strength of the separate system was that it ended the fear prisons were acting as 'schools for crime'.

What were the problems with Pentonville Prison?

There were 2 key serious problems with the separate system in Pentonville Prison.

• ❖ It led to many prisoners going mad, having nervous breakdowns and even committing suicide.
• ❖ In addition, the system's requirement that inmates be housed in separate cells, made a separate prison extremely costly to build and maintain.

What were the cells of Pentonville Prison like?

The cells in Pentonville Prison were very small and had 4 key features:

• ❖ Each cell had a floor area of just 4 metres by 2 metres.
• ❖ There was a small, high window at the end to allow some natural daylight.
• ❖ The windows had thick glass and were fixed with iron bars for extra security.
• ❖ The cells also had piped water, a small basin for washing, and a basic toilet.

What were living conditions like in Pentonville Prison?

Living conditions in Pentonville were highly disciplined in 3 key ways:

• ❖ Prisoners were allowed out for a short period of exercise or to go to chapel.
• ❖ They had to wear face masks while exercising to stop them from speaking to each other.
• ❖ In chapel they sat in individual cubicles wearing masks made of brown sacking.

What kind of work did prisoners do in Pentonville Prison?

Pentonville prisoners had to engage in 6 main types of work:

• ❖ Some work in Pentonville was 'useful' work that would hopefully help prisoners find honest employment when they were released.
• ❖ Useful work included making clothes on a weaving loom in their cell.
• ❖ Some work, however, involved pointless tasks that were deliberately boring and repetitive.
• ❖ Pointless work included oakum picking, which involved unravelling and cleaning old rope.
• ❖ Prisoners might spend their time pointlessly walking a giant treadwheel.
• ❖ Prisoners might also have to turn a crank handle 10,000 times a day.

How did people view the work in Pentonville Prison?

Reformers believed useful work was better for prisoner rehabilitation. However, by the 1860s governments preferred prisoners to do pointless work because they believed it was more of a punishment.

How did the purpose of Pentonville Prison change?

The purpose of Pentonville Prison changed in 3 key ways:

• ❖ The 1860s saw attitudes to prison move from reform back to retribution. This harsher system continued for the next 30 years.
• ❖ Prisoners now faced more hard labour and minimum 5-year sentences for a second offence.
• ❖ Punishments became harsher.

What punishments were used at Pentonville Prison?

After the 1860s, punishments at Pentonville Prison became harsher in 4 key ways:

• ❖ Whipping.
• ❖ Electric shocks for those who didn't work hard enough.
• ❖ Bread and water diets.
• ❖ More time in solitary confinement.

Why did attitudes on punishment change in Pentonville Prison?

Attitudes to punishment changed during this period in 3 main ways:

• ❖ People's fear of crime was increasing, even though the crime rate was falling. This was due to some highly publicised crimes, such as the Garrotting Crisis of the early 1860s, which the press blamed on the failure of the new reformed prison system.
• ❖ Critics said prisons were not reforming criminals but simply sending them back to the streets to commit more crimes.