• The purpose of this essay is to look at Nottingham prison in the 18th and 19th century and compare it to other prisons in Britain at that time, measuring its typicality. However, due to the wide variation of prison sizes, styles and conditions this will be very difficult to measure. There are also obstacles in the way, such as the galleries making claims of untypicality in order to increase interest and income and motives of other sources to change details to benefit them selves or others. It will be necessary to evaluate all sources therefore, before it is possible to make any valid conclusions regarding the galleries of justice and Nottingham prison’s typicality.

An introduction

• One area of prison life which was explored quite comprehensively at the Galleries of Justice, was the treatment and punishments that all prisoners were subject to. Their information boards claimed that irons and fetters were used in order to “restrict inmates so preventing them from escaping”.

However, Nottingham was by no means the only prison to use such abominable methods of restraint. At Ely gaol for example, they “chained victims down” (John Howard 1755). What’s more, in his highly regarded book “The State of Prisons” (1777) he stated that at Launceston Prison, Cornwall, their “prisoners were chained in twos or threes”.

The fact that many other prisons used similar techniques seemingly depicts Nottingham as typical of British gaols.

Comparing Nottingham with similar

• Elizabeth Fry had lots to say with regards to 17th/18th century prisons. After meeting American Quaker, William Savery, Fry decided to “devote her energies to those in need”. After hearing of the horrors of Newgate, she began visiting regularly and soon had established “school and chapel”. Additionally, Fry received royal approval as Queen Victoria spoke of her in her journal as being a “very superior person”. The fact that she went to many prisons, particularly in the north of England and Scotland puts her in a very respectable and knowledgeable position in order to compare and make appropriate judgements on prisons.

• Unfortunately these judgements were probably biased by her strong motives. All her work was in an attempt to prove the necessity for a reformation in Victorian prisons and an obliteration of the capital punishment system.

• As a result I feel it is important we are a little cautious when studying Fry’s work, but down to the sheer amount of work she put in, and the substantial extent of her travels and visits I feel we must ultimately conclude Fry’s information to be reliable, and therefore a strong insight into the standards of Victorian prisons.

Evaluation

Nottingham prison standards compared with like

• Paragraph on standards in Nottingham using galleries staff talk, information boards and booklet.

• In comparison to Nottingham prison, Durham prison was heavily similar. Details……

• Launceston prison in Cornwall was also very similar to Nottingham. Details….

• Furthermore, Source I shows a single cell…which mirrors Nottingham jail’s single cells.

Evaluation from previous paragraph

• As the origin of the source is unknown, we cannot measure it for reliability because it depends who drew it and what their motives were. Details in the picture such as the window letting in light might suggest that the artist has not tried to make the cell look worse than it is, so perhaps we can trust it.

Nottingham - differences

• In source 3 from Newgate jail 1723, a prisoner is being pressed with weights for not pleading. This would have happened until they changed their mind or died, the prisoner would only be given scraps of bread and water for days. To a substantially high extent the source portrays Newgate to be greatly worse than Nottingham, making it very typical. In Ely gaol, prisoners were “chained to the floor” by the gaolers, with iron bars over them and an iron collar with “spikes about their necks”. (written by John Howard 1755). To a lesser extent than Newgate, punishments were indeed worse than Nottingham jail, yet Ely jail does not state that they physically hurt prisoners by punishments such as whipping, like Nottingham did. I think that we can perhaps trust John Howard for reliable evidence as he appears to have no motive to exaggerate aspects of the prisons, and tells the truth in a straightforward way.

Possible sentence starters…

• The Galleries appears to be fairly typical• It makes it appear extremely unrepresentative• Appears to be considerably worse• Far worse• This is in great contrast• Relatively untypical• The differences are evident• Largely untypical• Seemingly more pleasant than• Much more humane• To a massive extent• In conclusion, Nottingham prison was to a significant extent a

worse prison but was also, to a minimal extent, a better prison

Conclusions• After gathering all the evidence, I think that in this case it is extremely

hard to measure whether Nottingham jail is typical or not. The evidence given cannot be fully trusted, such as the religiously motivated Elizabeth Fry. She was determined to help the improvement of prisons, but her work was “focused” on religious education, which makes her unreliable. We know that other prisons did provide religious education, which makes Nottingham more representative. However, I think that overall Nottingham jail is in fact more untypical, but it was not the “second worst” in England as a Galleries lecturer stated. An example of its untypicality was its punishments towards men, as I found that other prisons did not inflict physical abuse on their prisoners but their punishments in the means of restricting prisoners was much harsher. The untypicality of Nottingham prison is portrayed much heavier than typicality, and therefore the typicality is outweighed. But there are still elements of it being representative so we cannot say that Nottingham jail was definitely the second worse in Nottingham