The Newgate Prison

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The idea behind prisons is to rehabilitate as well as punish offenders that have committed an offence which is deemed against the law. (Oxford dictionary, 2017). The stay at the prison varies depending on the severity of the offence that was committed and weather the offender is perceived to be likely to commit another crime if they were to be released, this is for the court to decide.
The first prison named The Newgate Prison, was built in 1166 by King Henry II and ran till 1902. This prison was set in dungeons that was mainly used by Army or Military Officers, eventually people who committed crimes were located at this prison which had poor conditions. In 1782 due to the poor conditions, it meant that a regeneration had to be done, the prison …show more content…

The penal reformists like Maconochie Alexander saw the wrong in the treatment of offenders and wrote a report ‘The state of Prison Discipline in Van Diemen’s Land’ 1838. The report stated the improvements that should be made in the prison service however it needed authorisation by the British Authority to take power in the UK. Maconochie made two main theories based on penal punishment and the sentence that offenders should get after being charged with an offence.
Firstly, Maconochie said that punishment should be a source of rehabilitation for the offender to get them back onto the right path in life. The second theory that was created is that a convict’s sentence should not be determined by the offence they committed but the behaviour and exertion when incarcerated. The report that was published, was sent to the Home Office by Franklin whom had knowledge of the severity of the prisons and was therefore published as a parliamentary …show more content…

This prison had strict rules such as the males and females being separated, different cell rooms for different severity of offences, uniforms were to be worn always and prisoners were taught to read and write. (VCP, 2017).
In 1990, Lord Woolf that worked for the criminal justice human rights committee argued that the prison service is still not providing justice for offenders, he stated “These themes must come together in the programmes provided for prisoners and in the way, they are treated in prison. They must come together also in what is expected of prisoners… were these proposals to be followed, then we believe that they would substantially influence the way that prisoners come to view the prison system.’’
In 1995, a prison reform charity was set up to help people work together in reforming the prison service and making it better for both the workers and the convicts. They introduced a behaviour scheme were convicts could be rewarded for good behaviour and punished if they done something wrong. (Prison Reform Trust, 2017). The Charity believed that the behaviour scheme will increase the discipline that is reinforced and allow staff to have a connection with the

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