ABSTRACT
Thus, within seventy years of its foundation, Bridewell, one of the most momentous social innovations of the Tudor period, was sufficiently notorious and established to be celebrated in the doggerel of John Taylor, Bridewell was an attempt to entrust imprisonment with reformatory and punitive objectives, which were to be secured by a closely regulated regime. This use of prison was a radical departure from existing practice where, as has been shown, if imprisonment was imposed for penal reasons the goal was thought to be achieved purely and simply by the deterrent and retributive loss of liberty, and the pressure on the prisoner of the expense and danger entailed. Against this background Bridewell can truly be treated as the first example of modern imprisonment - certainly in Britain and probably in Europe. 2 Bridewell and the system of houses of correction to which it gave rise have a central place in the history of English penal philosophy and administration.
