Penal Discipline, Reformatory Projects And The English Prison Commission, 1895-1939

Erscheinungsjahr 1991
ISBN: 978-0-85989-344-2
Verlag: University of Exeter Press

Buch, Englisch, 264 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 550 g

In the early 1890s there was a prolonged criticism of conditions in English prisons and in 1895 new policies of relaxation of severity and commitment to individual reformation were recommended by the Gladstone Committee on prisons. This study examines the ideological foundations and the operational history of these new policies up to 1939. The author depicts the conditions in all sectors of the English prison system and carefully reconstructs the experience of prisoners and staff. The work of the two very influential Prison Commissioners, Sir Evelyn Ruggles-Brise and Sir Alexander Paterson, is assessed and related to the debates and policies of the Edwardian and inter-war eras.

Bill Forsythe suggests that most of the new policies must be seen within the context of a strong contemporary commitment to classical notions of jurisprudence and to ideas of social cohesion inherent in the New Liberalism of Thomas Hill Green. He argues therefore that the revisionist thesis advanced by Michel Foucault and others that modern Westerns penality has developed as a new kind of totalitarian order based on selective intervention, scientificity and expanding mental and physical control is only partly applicable to prisons of this period. More importantly, those who managed and governed prisons clung to traditional ideas of limited deterrence and moral reformation based on a plain view that criminality was, in the main, the result of moral failure and they also worked vigorously and successfully for the reduction of the prison population.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Forsythe, W.J.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Europäische Länder
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Arbeit/Sozialpädagogik Resozialisierung
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kultur- und Ideengeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations in References

Introduction

The Transformation of Reformatory Theory 1820-1910

The End of an Era

Sir Evelyn Ruggles-Brise and the Prison Committee

Juvenile Adults and the Borstal System 1895-1921

Penal Servitude 1895-1921

Preventive Detention - A Tale of Disappointment 1895-1921

The Local Prisons 1895-1921

Chaplains, Educators and Visitors in English Prisons 1895-1921

Staff and Prisoners 1895-1921

Mental and Social Diagnosis in English Prisons 1910-1939

Relaxation and Reformation - A Radical Policy 1921-1939

Conflicts and Problems 1921-1939

Prisons and Prisoners 1921-1939

The Aid Societies 1895-1939

Conclusion

Index

Über Autor(innen)

W.J. Forsythe was formerly Professor of Social Work at the University of Exeter and previously worked for ten years as a field and senior probation officer. He is a well-known authority on the history of the British prison system.