1. When was the best time in the 19th century for John Walker to go to prison? 3rd Jan – Complete revision sheets 3,4 and 5 using the VLE

2. Meet petty criminal John Walker from Beeton.
In 1873, John Walker was accused of stealing some onions from his previous employer. The value of the onions was roughly 6 shillings.

3. Walker’s case went to trial.
After hearing the evidence, including Walker’s previous form for theft and violence, the judge passed sentence.
What do you think was Walker’s punishment?

4. Walker was sentenced to 7 years in prison.
Transportation had ended in 1868.
The Bloody Code was abolished in the 1820s and 1830s.
Prisons became the main form of punishments in the mid 19th century.

5. Walker was sentenced to 7 years in prison.
Your need to:
Find out what prison life would have been like for Walker.
Decide when, if he had a choice, between , would have been the best time for Walker spend in prison.

6. A survey in 1777 there were only 4,000 people in prisons in England and Wales and 60% were due to debts – These were run locally with no rules – no government interference

7. When was the best time to go to prison 1700-1900?

8. Look at the source pack you have been given.
Read all the sources.
How might you make sense of the different sources?
What different ways could you organise them?
John Walker, 1873 convicted to 7 years in prison

9. What would his time in prison most likely be like?
Which sources do you think are the most relevant in telling us about John Walker’s prison experience?
What would his time in prison most likely be like?
John Walker, 1873 convicted to 7 years in prison

10. Record your ideas on the grid provided (w.s1)
You now need to decide when would have been the best time for John Walker to gone to prison:
Record your ideas on the grid provided (w.s1)
John Walker, 1873 convicted to 7 years in prison

11. Year
Pros
Cons
Pre reforms
Reforms
w.s1

12. Year
Pros
Cons
Separation
Silent
w.s1

13. People would pay lower taxes.
You could bribe a prison warden for better rations/rooms – even a pet?!
Might be locked up with a lunatic
Women not protected
Prison wardens unpaid didn’t care
257 lived in Newgate that was designed for 150
Had to pay to see a doctor
Gaol fever – dysentery killed many inmates
Had to pay to be released – jailers fee.
Criminals could learn tricks from each other

14. Hardened criminals separated from first offenders
Females had female wardens and kept separate
Were allowed to go to chapel
Magistrate would have to check up on you
Proper fresh water supply
Proper drainage
Prison wardens paid – better quality
Proper food
Only applied to the biggest 150 prisons
No pets

15. 90 new prisons built – focused on chance to reform
Spoke system meant easier management for guards
Avoided wicked influence of other inmates
Chance to reflect on immoral behaviour
Prisons given a hammock and useful work – up to them.
Kept apart by 4.5 meters of knotted rope. If it touched the floor you could be beaten.
Couldn’t even chat during chapel
Solitary confinement 22 went mad, 26 nervous breakdowns, 3 committed suicide in first 8 years at pentoville
Very costly to isolate everyone in their own cell.

16. Stopped Garrotters – deterrent
More stereotypes “criminal types – genetics” less evolved could not be reformed
Silent at all times breaking this law would result in being whipped or died of bread or water
Hard wooden beds pre laced hammocks deliberately uncomfortable
Food “hard fare” adequate but monotonous, same every day, every month, every year
Expected to take part in hard labour – pointless work for several hours a day – turn crank handle twenty times a minute, 10,000 times a day for over 8 hours, guard could make it harder “screws” giant treadmills or unpick lengths of tarred rope to make string

17. Revision

18. The punishment pendulum
In the case of prison reform in the 19th and 20th century the idea behind the punishment kept changing.
At certain times the authorities thought that prisons could reform criminals.
At other times they thought the idea of prison was simply to deter criminals.
Your job is to decide for each date you have looked at where the pendulum would have swung.
Draw a pendulum line between the reform and deterrent line for each date on w.s 2, then justify your choice by adding annotations.
Reform
Deterrent