Development of Punishments & Prisons
1820
Law passed banning the flogging of women in prison
1823
Robert Peel’s Gaol Act is passed stating prisons should be healthy and that men
and women should be kept separate
1833
Prison inspectors appointed by the government
1836
Prisoners on trial for felony are allowed a defences layer for the first time
1838
Parkhurst Prison is opened – young offenders are to be kept separate from
hardened criminals
1842
Pentonville Prison opens heralding a new approach to prison design and
approaches to prisons such as the ‘Separate’ and the ‘Silent’ systems
1852
Transportation is ended as a punishment for female prisoners. Sixteen years
later it ends for men as well.
1853
Brixton prison opens solely for women & reformatory schools are set up for
children
1857
The government stops using hulks as prison ships
1864
Penal Servitude Act introduces tougher sentences and punishment in prison due
to increasing crime rate
1868
Last public execution for hanging takes place
1877
All prisons become HMS and are controlled by the government
1900
By now only two crimes are punishable by hanging – murder and treason
1900
First borstals introduced as an alternative for juvenile offenders
1907
Introduction of probation service to reduce prison population
1938
The age of criminal responsibility was increased to 8 and then thirty years later to
10
1953
The execution of Derek Bentley for murder of a policeman, although he did not
commit the crime but was with a juvenile who did provokes outrage
1955
The execution of Ruth Ellis – the last woman in Britain to be hanged
1965
The abolition of capital punishment