The local prisons of the latter half of the 19th century refined systems of punishment so harsh that one judge considered the maximum sentence of two years local imprisonment to be the most severe punishment known to English law: "next only to death." The punishment inflicted on prisoners was often carried beyond the limits of health and sanity.
"English Local Prisons" examines how private perceptions and concerns became public policy. It also traces the move in English government from the rural and aristocratic to the urban and more democratic. The book follows the rise of the powerful...