Editing Prison reform (section)

====United Kingdom====
=====18th century=====
During the eighteenth century, British justice used a variety of measures to punish criminals, including fines, the pillory and whipping. Transportation to the American colonies was used until 1776. The death penalty could be imposed for many offenses.{{Citation needed|date=March 2019}}

[[John Howard (prison reformer)|John Howard]]'s book,  ''The State of the Prisons'' was published in 1777.<ref>{{citation |title=The State of the Prisons in England and Wales with an account of some foreign prisons|author=John Howard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4EhNAAAAYAAJ|year=1777}}</ref> He was particularly appalled to discover prisoners who had been acquitted but were still confined because they could not pay the jailer's fees. He proposed that each prisoner should be in a separate cell with separate sections for women felons, men felons, young offenders and debtors. The prison reform charity [[Howard League for Penal Reform]] takes its name from John Howard.

The [[Penitentiary Act 1779]] ([[19 Geo. 3]]. c. 74) which passed following his agitation introduced solitary confinement, religious instruction and a labor regime and proposed two state penitentiaries, one for men and one for women. These were never built due to disagreements in the committee and pressures from wars with France and jails remained a local responsibility. But other measures passed in the next few years provided magistrates with the powers to implement many of these reforms and eventually in 1815 jail fees were abolished.

Quakers such as [[Elizabeth Fry]] continued to publicize the dire state of prisons as did [[Charles Dickens]] in his novels ''[[David Copperfield (novel)|David Copperfield]]'' and ''[[Little Dorrit (novel)|Little Dorrit]]'' about the [[Marshalsea]]. [[Samuel Romilly]] managed to repeal the death penalty for theft in 1806, but repealing it for other similar offences brought in a political element that had previously been absent. The Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline, founded in 1816, supported both the [[Panopticon]] for the design of prisons and the use of the [[treadwheel]] as a means of hard labor. By 1824, 54 prisons had adopted this means of discipline.<ref>{{harvnb|Morris|Rothman|1995|p=97}}</ref> Robert Peel's [[Gaols Act 1823]] ([[4 Geo. 4]]. c. 64) attempted to impose uniformity in the country but local prisons remained under the control of magistrates until the [[Prison Act 1877]] ([[40 & 41 Vict.]] c. 21).

=====19th century=====
The American [[separate system]] attracted the attention of some reformers and led to the creation of [[Millbank Prison]] in 1816 and [[Pentonville (HM Prison)|Pentonville prison]] in 1842. By now the end of transportation to Australia and the use of hulks was in sight and [[Joshua Jebb]] set an ambitious program of prison building with one large prison opening per year. The main principles were separation and hard labour for serious crimes, using treadwheels and cranks. However, by the 1860s public opinion was calling for harsher measures in reaction to an increase in crime which was perceived to come from the 'flood of criminals' released under the penal servitude system. The reaction from the committee set up under the commissioner of prisons, Colonel [[Edmund Frederick du Cane]], was to increase minimum sentences for many offences with deterrent principles of "hard labour, hard fare, and a hard bed".<ref>{{harvnb|Fox|1952|p=46}}</ref> In 1877 he encouraged [[Disraeli]]'s government to remove all prisons from local government and held a firm grip on the prison system till his forced retirement in 1895. He also established a tradition of secrecy which lasted till the 1970s so that even magistrates and investigators were unable to see the insides of prisons.<ref>{{harvnb|Morris|Rothman|1995|p=153}}</ref> By the 1890s the prison population was over 20,000.

======1877–1914======
The British penal system underwent a transition from harsh punishment to reform, education, and training for post-prison life. The reforms were controversial and contested. In 1877–1914 era a series of major legislative reforms enabled significant improvement in the penal system. In 1877, the previously localized prisons were nationalized in the Home Office under a Prison Commission. The [[Prison Act 1898]] ([[61 & 62 Vict.]] c. 41) enabled the Home Secretary to and multiple reforms on his own initiative, without going through the politicized process of Parliament. The [[Probation of Offenders Act 1907]] ([[7 Edw. 7]]. c. 17) introduced a new probation system that drastically cut down the prison population while providing a mechanism for transition back to normal life. The [[Criminal Justice Administration Act 1914]] ([[4 & 5 Geo. 5]]. c. 58) required courts to allow a reasonable time before imprisonment was ordered for people who did not pay their fines. Previously tens of thousands of prisoners had been sentenced solely for that reason. The Borstal system after 1908 was organized to reclaim young offenders, and the [[Children Act 1908]] ([[8 Edw. 7]]. c. 67) prohibited imprisonment under age 14, and strictly limited that of ages 14 to 16. The principal reformer was Sir [[Evelyn Ruggles-Brise]]. the chair of the Prison Commission.<ref>R. C. K. Ensor. ‘’ England 1870-1914’’ (1937) pp 520-21.</ref><ref>J.W. Fox, ‘’The Modern English Prison ‘’ (1934).</ref>

======Winston Churchill======
Major reforms were championed by The Liberal Party government in 1906–1914. The key player was [[Winston Churchill in politics, 1900–1939|Winston Churchill]] when he was the Liberal [[Home Secretary]], 1910–11.<ref>Jamie Bennett,  "The Man, the Machine and the Myths: Reconsidering Winston Churchill’s Prison Reforms." in Helen Johnston, ed., ''Punishment and Control in Historical Perspective'' (2008) pp. 95-114. [https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230583443_6 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180601232527/https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057%2F9780230583443_6 |date=2018-06-01 }}</ref> He first achieved fame as a prisoner in the Boer war in 1899.  He escaped after 28 days and the media, and his own book, made him a national hero overnight.<ref>{{cite book |author=Candice Millard |authorlink= |title=Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill | others= <!--Переклад з англійської: ім'я перекладача--> |url= |accessdate= |year=2016 |publisher= Random House Large Print |location=London |isbn= 9780804194891 |page= 563 |series= |volume= |language=en}}</ref>  He later wrote, "I certainly hated my captivity more than I have ever hated any other in my whole life... Looking back on those days I've always felt the keenest pity for prisoners and captives."<ref>{{cite book|author=Paul Addison|title=Churchill: The Unexpected Hero|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fa2h24pcwAUC&pg=PT59|year=2005|page=51|publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=9780191608575|access-date=2019-05-19|archive-date=2023-02-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205075857/https://books.google.com/books?id=Fa2h24pcwAUC&pg=PT59|url-status=live}}</ref> As Home Secretary he was in charge of the nation's penal system. Biographer [[Paul Addison]] says. "More than any other Home Secretary of the 20th century, Churchill was the prisoner's friend. He arrived at the Home Office with the firm conviction that the penal system was excessively harsh." He worked to reduce the number sent to prison in the first place, shorten their terms, and make life in prison more tolerable, and rehabilitation more likely.<ref>Addison, p. 51.</ref> His reforms were not politically popular, but they had a major long-term impact on the British penal system.<ref>Edward Moritz, Jr., "Winston Churchill - Prison Reformer," ''The Historian'' 20#4 (1958), pp. 428-440 {{JSTOR|24437567}}</ref><ref>Victor Bailey,  "Churchill As Home-Secretary--Prison Reform." ''History Today'' vol 35 (March 1985): 10-13.</ref>

======Borstal system======
During 1894–95, [[Herbert Gladstone]]'s Committee on Prisons showed that criminal propensity peaked from the mid-teens to the mid-twenties. He took the view that central government should break the cycle of offending and imprisonment by establishing a new type of reformatory, that was called ''[[Borstal]]'' after the village in [[Kent]] which housed the first one. The movement reached its peak after the first world war when [[Alexander Paterson (penologist)|Alexander Paterson]] became commissioner, delegating authority and encouraging personal responsibility in the fashion of the [[Public school (UK)|English Public school]]: cellblocks were designated as 'houses' by name and had a ''[[housemaster]]''. Cross-country walks were encouraged, and no one ran away. Prison populations remained at a low level until after the second world war when Paterson died and the movement was unable to update itself.<ref>{{harvnb|Morris|Rothman|1995|pp=157–161}}</ref>  Some aspects of Borstal found their way into the main prison system, including [[open prison]]s and housemasters, renamed ''assistant governors'' and many Borstal-trained prison officers used their experience in the wider service. But in general the prison system in the twentieth century remained in Victorian buildings which steadily became more and more overcrowded with inevitable results.