While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style Copy Citation Share to social media Give Feedback External Websites Thank you for your feedbackOur editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.
External WebsitesWhile every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style Copy Citation Share to social media External Websites Thank you for your feedbackOur editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.
External WebsitesProfessor of Prison Studies, King's College School of Law, London. Founding Director, International Centre for Prison Studies.
Andrew G. Coyle Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Last Updated: Sep 9, 2024 • Article History Table of Contents
Ask the Chatbot a Question
Ask the Chatbot a Question
prison, an institution for the confinement of persons who have been remanded (held) in custody by a judicial authority or who have been deprived of their liberty following conviction for a crime. A person found guilty of a felony or a misdemeanour may be required to serve a prison sentence. The holding of accused persons awaiting trial remains an important function of contemporary prisons, and in some countries such persons constitute the majority of the prison population. In the United Kingdom, for example, generally about one-fifth of the prison population is unconvicted or unsentenced, while more than two-thirds of those in custody in India are pretrial detainees.
Until the late 18th century, prisons were used primarily for the confinement of debtors, persons accused of crimes and awaiting trial, and convicts awaiting the imposition of their sentences—usually death or transportation (deportation) overseas. A sentence of imprisonment was rarely imposed—and then only for minor crimes.
As the use of capital punishment began to decline in the late 18th century, the prison was increasingly used by courts as a place of punishment, eventually becoming the chief means of punishing serious offenders. The use of imprisonment subsequently spread worldwide, often by means of colonial empires that brought the practice to countries with no indigenous concept of prisons. By the early 21st century a majority of countries had abolished the death penalty (in law or in practice), and imprisonment was consequently the most severe form of punishment their courts could impose.
During the 16th century a number of houses of correction were established in Europe for the rehabilitation of minor offenders and vagrants; they emphasized strict discipline and hard labour. Over time, imprisonment came to be accepted as an appropriate method of punishing convicted criminals. Poor sanitation in these institutions caused widespread disease among prisoners, who were generally held unsegregated, without any consideration for gender or legal status. Outbreaks of epidemic typhus, known as “jail fever,” occasionally killed not only prisoners but also jailers and (more rarely) judges and lawyers involved in trials. The modern prison developed in the late 18th century in part as a reaction to the conditions of the local jails of the time.
The concept of the prison as a penitentiary (that is, as a place of punishment and personal reform) was advocated in this period by the English jurist and philosopher Jeremy Bentham, among others. The appalling conditions and official corruption in many local prisons of late 18th-century England and Wales were exposed by the English prison reformer John Howard, whose works The State of the Prisons in England and Wales (1777) and An Account of the Principal Lazarettos in Europe (1789) were based on extensive travels. The public outrage that Bentham and Howard helped generate led to a national system of inspection and the construction of “convict prisons” for those serving longer sentences. Consequently, in the early 19th century, penitentiaries were established in the U.S. states of Pennsylvania and New York.
As use of the new type of prison expanded, administrators began to experiment with new methods of prisoner rehabilitation. Solitary confinement of criminals came to be viewed as an ideal, because it was thought that solitude would help the offender to become penitent and that penitence would result in rehabilitation. In the United States the idea was first implemented at Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia in 1829. Each prisoner remained in his cell or its adjoining yard, worked alone at trades such as weaving, carpentry, or shoemaking, and saw no one except the officers of the institution and an occasional visitor from outside. This method of prison management, known as the “separate system” or the “ Pennsylvania system,” became a model for penal institutions constructed in several other U.S. states and throughout much of Europe.
A competing philosophy of prison management, known as the “silent system” or the “ Auburn system,” arose at roughly the same time. Although constant silence was strictly enforced, the distinguishing feature of this system was that prisoners were permitted to work together in the daytime (at night they were confined to individual cells). Both systems held to the basic premise that contact between convicts should be prohibited in order to minimize the bad influence inmates might have on one another. Vigorous competition between supporters of the two systems followed until about 1850, by which time most U.S. states had adopted the silent system.
The concept of personal reform became increasingly important in penology, resulting in experimentation with various methods. One example was the mark system, which was developed about 1840 by Capt. Alexander Maconochie at Norfolk Island, an English penal colony east of Australia. Instead of serving fixed sentences, prisoners were required to earn credits, or “marks,” in amounts proportional to the seriousness of their offenses. Credits were accumulated through good conduct, hard work, and study, and they could be withheld or subtracted for indolence or misbehaviour. Prisoners who obtained the required number of credits became eligible for release. The mark system presaged the use of indeterminate sentences, individualized treatment, and parole. Above all it emphasized training and performance, rather than solitude, as the chief mechanisms of reform.
Further refinements in the mark system were developed in the mid-19th century by Sir Walter Crofton, the director of Irish prisons. In his program, known as the Irish system, prisoners progressed through three stages of confinement before they were returned to civilian life. The first portion of the sentence was served in isolation. After that, prisoners were assigned to group work projects. Finally, for six months or more before release, the prisoners were transferred to “intermediate prisons,” where they were supervised by unarmed guards and given sufficient freedom and responsibility to demonstrate their fitness for release. Release nonetheless depended upon the continued good conduct of the offender, who could be returned to prison if necessary.
Many features of the Irish system were adopted by reformatories constructed in the United States in the late 19th century for the treatment of youthful and first offenders. The leaders of the reformatory movement advocated the classification and segregation of various types of prisoners, individualized treatment emphasizing vocational education and industrial employment, indeterminate sentences and rewards for good behaviour, and parole or conditional release. The reformatory philosophy gradually permeated the entire U.S. prison system, and the American innovations, in combination with the Irish system, had great impact upon European prison practices, leading to innovations such as the Borstal system of rehabilitation for youthful offenders in the 20th century.
There are a number of accepted reasons for the use of imprisonment. One approach aims to deter those who would otherwise commit crimes (general deterrence) and to make it less likely that those who serve a prison sentence will commit crimes after their release (individual deterrence). A second approach focuses on issuing punishment to, or obtaining retribution from, those who have committed serious crimes. A third approach encourages the personal reform of those who are sent to prison. Finally, in some cases it is necessary to protect the public from those who commit crimes—particularly from those who do so persistently. In individual cases, all or some of these justifications may apply. The increasing importance of the notion of reform has led some prison systems to be called correctional institutions.
This description of imprisonment applies mainly to the countries of Europe and North America. In China imprisonment was historically used as a means of reforming the minds of criminals, and it obliged prisoners to work in support of the state. Imprisonment in the Soviet Union similarly became a method of forcing so-called enemies of the state to labour on its behalf and, in so doing, to recognize the error of their ways. Developing countries faced a different challenge as they confronted prison systems that in many cases symbolized a legacy of colonial domination. Given the difficulty of replacing the structure and organization of an existing prison system, many countries consequently struggled to implement effective forms of punishment that were also decent and humane.
