Prison Life in the 1800’s

1. Prison Life in the 1800’s By Tad Shearman

2. Prison Work • After 1839 all physically fit prisoners had to work in the cells for up to 10 hours a day. • Most male prisoners made herring nets or picked oakum. Some with special skills were employed at shoemaking, tailoring or joinery work. • Female prisoners picked oakum, knitted stockings or sewed. • Prisoners were punished if they didn’t do the required work per week, records were kept to make sure of this.

3. Hard Labor • Life in prison was made much more unpleasant with hard labor tasks. Such as the Crank Machine. • The Crank Machine: “a form of useless labor, was introduced in the middle of the last century to make prison life tougher for those prisoners sentenced to hard labor. Male prisoners had to turn the handle 14,400 times a day forcing four large cups or ladles through sand inside a drum”. • Shot drill, another form of hard labor, was “The drill consisted of stooping down without bending the knees, picking up heavy cannon-ball, bringing it up slowly until it was on a level with the chest, taking three steps to the right, replacing it on the ground and then stepping back three paces to start the procedure all over again.”

4. The Treadmill

5. Food in Prison • The food was cooked in the courthouse kitchen by the matron, and served to the prisoners in their cells. • The quantities of food provided for the different classes of prisoner were strictly laid down in the prison rules. • Prisoners were provided with a spoon, a 2 pint zinc dish for their broth or soup and a 3 gill zinc bowl for their milk.

6. Cell Life • Prisoners slept, ate and worked in their cells and were only allowed out for exercise once a day or to go to the washroom or WC. • In their cell, they were provided with a hammock, mattress, blankets, sheets, a pillow, towel, comb, spoon and salt cup. Each cell had a stool, box and chamber pot with lid. On the wall hung a copy of the prison rules. • In the middle of last century, it was felt that prison life had become too easy. To make life less comfortable, wooden "guard beds" with wooden pillows were introduced

7. Punishments • Working on the Shot drill, treadmill or Crank Machine, these all involved extreme hard labor and resulted in excruciating pain. • If they didn’t do their required work per day they would have to do hard labor. • If they did an extreme crime it would result in an execution of the individual usually being beheaded.

8. Bibliography • http://www.umich.edu/~ece/student_projects/crime/prisonlife.htm • http://ourwardfamily.com/1800's_britain.htm • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison • http://www.inverarayjail.co.uk/the-jails-story/life-in-jail.aspx