ABSTRACT
The assumption by the National Government of the duty of establishing and maintaining prisons arose from the sudden stoppage of the transportation of criminals to North America by the outbreak of the American War in 1776. From 1821 onward the National Government had therefore, in addition to the hulks, its own “model” prison for convicted criminals; and, as we may here note, from 1842 onward another at Pentonville. In 1811, select committee got to work, under the chairman-ship of George Peter Holford, who was destined to become one of the ablest and most persistent of prison reformers. For nearly another century the maintenance of the prisons continued to be the duty of the local authorities; and it was no alteration in theory that led to the establishment of a few national prisons. The death rate was appalling, even for the prisons of the period.
