1857 ENGLISH PRISON LIFE TRUE FACTS CRIME LAW RARE WORK

REVELATIONS
OF
PRISON LIFE

WITH AN INQUIRY INTO
PRISON DISCIPLINE AND SECONDARY PUNISHMENTS
BY
GEORGE LAVAL CHESTERTON
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS GOVERNOR OF THE HOUSE OF CORRECTION, AT COLD BATH FIELDS.

THIRD EDITION, REVISED.

LONDON:
HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS,
SUCCESSORS TO HENRY COLBURN,
18, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.
1857

There has been a prison at Coldbath Fields since the 17th century. It got its name because in the early days the prison was surrounded by fields near an important well. Coldbath Fields Prison was rebuilt in 1794 and was enlarged during the 19th century. By the time the building was completed, the jail could house over 1,000 prisoners.

The prison was a House of Correction which meant it was a jail run by local magistrates and that most of the prisoners served short term sentences. The prison contained men, women and children until 1850 when it was decided to restrict it to male offenders over 17.

In the 19th century Coldbath Fields Prison, like other jails, adopted the Silent System whereby prisoners were forbidden to communicate with each other. Hard Labour was also introduced. The idea being that prisoners should be forced to carry out unproductive work. Those on the tread-wheel for six hours climbed the equivalent of 8,640 feet. Hard Labour was not officially abolished until 1948.

This is an important and scarce work on prison life in the reign of William IV and the early reign of Queen Victoria in England between 1829 and 1854 the period of Chestertons rule as governor.
With references to :prison reformers, plans to escape, treadwheel labour, political prisoners, gentleman prisoners, discipline, transportation, suicides, female prisoners, and electro-phrenological experiments.

388 Pages in total.

CONDITION
Original cloth binding color faded and dusty, top 1½ inch of spine cover torn (repaired), contents are good.

Size is 8 by 5 inches.

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