History of Prisons
Several tactics are combined with imprisonment, which has historically been a key tool in social control. Although they go by many names, such as penitentiary, correctional facility, jail, diagnostic and treatment centres, prison facilities serve the same purposes, which include:
• Inmate custody, protection, and defence against external aggression
• Punishment
• Maintenance of prisoners' health
• Reformation of prisoners through various methods, such as religious instruction, solitude, work, academic and vocational instruction, and therapy
• Systematic supervision of both prisoners and their keepers
• Prevention of corruption of prisoners as a result of their association with one another
The First Prisons
The first structures used to house criminals by providing sanctuary were temples. Confucius observed jail construction in a compendium of Chinese poetry, history, and philosophy written circa 2000 B.C. In the eleventh century, the Greek historian Herodotus described an Egyptian pharaoh who employed forced labour and incarceration.
Until the 14th or 15th centuries, incarceration was not regarded as punishment in and of itself; rather, jails served only as places of detention while individuals awaited trial, the application of corporal punishment, or exile. Prisons were used to house people who had lost the favour of the ruling class (political prisoners), common criminals, slaves, POWs, debtors, and treasonous defendants. Prison time served as a tool for debt collection and trial-waiting detention and provide a venue for the exhibition of prisoners prior to mutilation.
Early prisons had appalling living conditions, and many inmates did not make it out alive. Numerous prisons were constructed underground with scant or no lighting. Some of them had trapdoors that allowed inmates to be dropped to the cell below and were carved out of the bedrock. Men, women, and children were hardly ever kept apart. Some prisons started dividing inmates according to offence and gender in the 13th century. Criminals and significant wrongdoers, for instance, were typically imprisoned underground, but debtors, political detainees, and prisoners of war were housed in larger quarters above ground. There is not much evidence left from these ancient prisons.
Castle Prisons
The fact that so many of these structures are still intact allows for the study of much more information regarding the jails constructed in castles and fortresses between the 12th and 17th centuries. Wooden prisons were frequently constructed inside of stone castles, which also served as the lord's residence. A "keep" or "donjon" was often a defensive building constructed many levels above the inner yard (similar to today's dungeon). Along with criminals, political prisoners were housed in this location. Prisoners were housed in iron cages that were suspended from the ceiling of some castles. Others had different levels of confinement, with the lowest level—often referred to as "the pits"—reserved for the worst criminals or people with low social standing.
The prison chambers had a few things in common despite the fact that there was no "standard" castle construction. Since the walls were often more than 10 feet thick, the tiny slit windows offered little to supply light or breeze. They were frequently higher than seven feet above the floor. The sewage was usually dumped into the moat through a floor hole or bucket used as a latrine.
The most well-known jail of this sort is undoubtedly the Tower of London, one of the oldest towers in all of Britain. It has four floors, with the lowest level (known as the vaults) serving as a jail for insurrectionists, pirates, and Jews who were the targets of religious persecution up until the end of the 15th century. Throughout the ages, the Tower of London has also housed political prisoners as well as POWs from World Wars I and II. The window slots of tower jails are 2 inches wide by 44 inches tall, making them good for arrow shooting but unsuitable for escaping.
The jail keepers and their attendants were normally placed on the ground floor of tower prisons, noblemen who were being imprisoned and their families were kept in large apartments on the second story, and the imprisoned noblemen's servants lived on the upper floor.
Rich prisoners did not experience much suffering; they had plenty of food, and occasionally they could pay to have their families remain with them. In Ireland, the Kilmainham Gaol had windows down the street so that the prisoners could beg for food or liquor from passersby.
0 Comments