ABSTRACT
The Gladstone Committee submitted its report in the dying weeks of the Liberal government. The Report was released at a time when the resignation of the government was daily expected and wished, not only by its opponents, but also by many Liberals dissatisfied with Rosebery’s leadership. Several thousand civil servants worked in the prisons, and one might have expected the Report to stimulate their comments. Their interest was very narrow, however, and almost entirely concerned with their own interests and grievances. Critics had irresponsibly accused the regime of causing insanity, but the Committee had itself disposed of that canard; the suggestion that too much severity had provoked offences and therefore multiplied punishments had also been refuted. The Commissioners had to give a full response to what had been the most comprehensive report on the local prisons in over thirty years. Prison land would be taken into cultivation and government departments canvassed for more orders.
