3-077-829 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Centenary of John Howard, Prison Reformer: John Howard visiting an English prison, [18th century,] (1890). 'In 1770 Mr. Howard [1726-1790] was appointed High Sheriff of Bedfordshire. He at once proceeded...to fulfil the duties of his office...[and] commenced a series of visits to jails in neighbouring counties, an effort which revealed such revolting cruelties that he determined to visit every prison in England and Wales, and bring all their iniquities to the light of day. With the exception of the division in some prisons of felons and debtors, no separation was made between old and young, hardened criminals and first offenders: even men and women were often confined in the same apartment. Jails were in consequence seminaries of vice, and, as if to spread the mischief as quickly as possible, prisoners were allowed to have their families with them, and the public, with scarcely any restriction, to walk in and out. The overcrowding was horrible: so that, with no sewerage and with all cleanliness forgotten, the atmosphere of most prisons was pestiferous; and Howard soon found that he could not endure the stench of his clothes after coming out of a jail; and his very notebook was so tainted that he had to put it before the fire for some hours'. From "Illustrated London News", 1890.