Colton Robinson

Dr. Sommers

HI 203

3/15/16

John Howard: Prison Reformer

Prison reform is the attempt to improve conditions in prisons, enhance the performance of

the penal system, and suggest better alternatives than incarceration. John Howard had a large

influence on the prison reform of his time. John Howard had such an impact on prison systems

that in 1866 the oldest penal reform charity in the United Kingdom called the Howard League for

Penal Reform. There are many great things that Howard had done throughout his life to give

back to the community.

John Howard was born September 2, 1726 and passed away on January 20, 1790. He

was a philanthropist and social reformer. Howard dedicated his life to public health

improvements especially on the issue on prison reform. Born in Hackney, London, his father

was a partner in an upholstery business. His mother Ann Pettitt died when he was only five

years old. That is when they moved locations to Bedfordshire. When his father died in 1742

John inherited wealth and an estate in Bedfordshire. In 1755 an earthquake occurred in Lisbon

and shortly after he travelled to Portugal. He was captured and held for six days. He was

released when the British offered to release a French officer they were keeping captive. This

could have sparked Howard’s interest in prisons. He married to Henrietta Leeds in 1758 and had

one son, John. His son was sent to a Cambridge asylum for homosexual offenses. After giving

himself the position of sheriff in 1773, one of his many responsibilities was to supervise the

county jail. He was disappointed in the setup of the prisons and wanted to change that (BBC).

Being a sheriff and encountering the conditions of prison life, Howard tried to come up

with solutions to make living better for the more poor inmates. In 1774 he started two

parliamentary acts. One abolished the prisoners’ fees that were used for the prisoners that had

more money to spend on food and bedding. The other act was the purpose of improving the

system leading to better health. He tried to continue these two acts within the prison systems he

supervised but after a few years Howard complained that the rules were not be obeyed

appropriately (Howard 6).

Howard wanted to continue the expansion of prison reform. He travelled around Europe

to different countries to help improve prison systems on the prisoners living conditions. In 1775,

Howard went on a European tour visiting Scotland, Ireland, France, Holland, Flanders, Germany,

and Switzerland. After Howard was all said and done, he visited almost every country in Europe

including Russia. He travelled over eighty thousand kilometers on horseback spending over

thirty thousand euros of his own money to get to different prisons just because he wanted to

reform prison systems over the continent. When he reached a prison, he would disguise himself

so he was not noticed by the governments that feared his power in penology (John Howard pdf).

At one point, Howard was even captured by French pirates but in a riot he escaped without

help from others and earned the tribute of being “one of the greatest men in Europe” by John

Wesley who was an Anglican minister and theologian responsible for the movement of

Methodism (Brittanica). While traveling throughout the continent, Howard learned many things

about prison systems in many areas. He saw the conditions of people’s lives first hand to gain

some of the experience the inmates were living through. He may not have felt the same pain as

the actual jailers going through the tough times, but he definitely had sympathy for them and

wanted to help in any way that he could (Howard 13).

Prisons of the time had harsh living for the jailers. “The men at night are put into

dungeons, one seven square feet for three prisoners…” (True 52). In Memoirs of John Howard,

the Prisoner’s Friend, Charles True explained how the jail cells had minimal space for living

quarters. Seven feet is a very small area of coverage for one person let alone for three fully

grown men. The prisoners were pretty much is some physical contact and had no space to

themselves any time they were in the tiny rooms. In another instance there were six inmates in a

sixteen and a half by twelve feet room with only one small window. He also said when he saw

this, most of them were chained to the floor. (True 53). When Howard travelled to other jails, he

noticed that the living conditions were the same as in little food and poor shelter, but others were

even worse than the others. Some were not as bad, such as Newcastle. At the Newcastle prison

the above ground cells were decently lit from daylight, food, bedding, and clean. Other prisons

like Shrewsbury and St. Catherine’s did not have that luxury. These jails were so poor the jailers

did not have the amount of food for people to stay healthy. Many were getting sick from

malnutrition but they also did not have an infirmary. As for bedding, they did not even have the

privilege to sleep on straw. Meals throughout the prisons often were just boiled water with

bread and in small portions (True 54-56). Shelter and food were rough for any one that was

incarcerated, but there were other problems that took place within the prison walls that John

wanted a reformation of.

In The State of the Prisons in England and Wales by John Howard himself, he describes

other problems he witnessed were occurring. “I am not an enemy to diverting exercise: yet the

riot, brawling, and profaness, that are the usual consequents of their play.” (Howard 26).

Howard says that he is fine with the prisoners getting exercise as that is what many inmates do,

but he does not want the physical activing to be hurting others. John wants to reduce the riots

and attacking of other prisoners. Many of these incidents were from the cause of gaming.

Gaming consisted of the jailers to play cards, dice, billiards, tennis, Porto-bello tables, skittles,

etc. The jailers would gamble what they had left against others to try to improve their own

living. Some of the inmates would try to cheat others out of more profit or there were fraud

gamblers who would bet more than they had to offer. These problems amongst jailers would

cause such attacks and riots which would get officials involved and could lead to people getting

hurt or dying and as he said, some places did not have infirmaries to take care of the injured.

Eventually this lead to prohibiting the gaming of various forms (Howard 26).

Besides gaming, other problems were the prisoners had to pay if something was wrong.

Most inmates did not have much money to give if they did something they were not

supposed to even if they had not meant to complete that action which was prohibited.

The new demand set by the Clerks of Assize “…upon the gaoler for the Judges certificate

of acquitment was six shillings and eight-pence for the first prisoner acquitted; and a

shilling for each of the rest: or wo shillings for every one.” (Howard 32). At one point John

Howard was informed that at a prison in Durham, Judge Gould fined fifty pounds on the gaoler

for detaining some acquitted prisoners, for the fees of the Clerk of Assize.” (Howard 32). As

you could see, there was a fee for detaining and acquitting jailers and Howard did not feel like

that was good custom to keep in the system.

Another conflict Howard had with the prison customs was the fact that some gaolers were

considered private property. “In these keepers, protected by proprietors, and not so subject as

other gaolers to the control of magistrates, are more apt to abuse their prisoners, when a

temptation offers.” (Howard 34). By this, John means that the prisoners could basically be

owned as a slave. They were private property of officials such as magistrates or judges. In some

cases, this would actually allow protection from other inmates because they would have to suffer

if they came into contact with the official’s “property” but this also let the officials to torment

them even more than they were already for their behavior or for a reason such as them wanting to

the their bad day out on someone else. When the jury took this case, Howard had the account

from a friend of his and he also referred back to evidence and fact (Howard 35).

In section three of Howard’s book, he focuses on improvements that he proposed. The

first reformation that he suggested was that the prison should be built in and “airy” area. By this

he thinks it is best for prisons to be kept near an open field and maybe close to a river. He says

this as he has observed prisons near a river and ones not so close to a river and realized that the

ones close are usually more clean and healthy. Howard would make many small rooms for each

prisoner to sleep alone. Having separation from one another and silence in the night has the

potential for repentance. The jailers being away from one another may help reduce with attempts

of an escape. Speaking of separation, John proposed that females be in difference areas at all

times. Debtors and felons should also be separated as best as possible. This is to secure

protection of debtors for cleanliness, peace, health, and morals from being mixed with the felons

(Howard 40-46).

Other than dividing the prison properly and providing the right housing, the prison should

have the right accommodations and services within. A pump and pipe system should be

installed. This would provide a small stream of water constantly running through the yard. And

near the pump and pipe system, there can be a shed with a bath, if not possible to be in each

room, for jailers to wash off before coming back inside the prison. Another great idea of

Howard to improve the system is making sure that every prison contains an infirmary. In jails,

inmates get hurt all the time whether from an accident, riot, or just not healthy and they have the

right to be taken care of to better their health rather than suffering. Ventilation would be ideal.

This would allow for more fresh air to be circulated and create a healthier environment. A work

shop being installed could be progress too. This would allow those who wanted to, to work.

They can make shoes or chairs and this would let jailers to be employed and make trades to earn

money or services for a better support while incarcerated. Lastly, have a chapel within prison

walls. The prisoners can go there to pray or make peace. They can talk to God and get through

their time there (Howard 44-48).

A third portion of Howard talking about proposing ideas to reform the prisons he has

visited is more focused on the inmates themselves. Earlier I mentioned that he said there should

be small rooms possibly with a bath in each, for every jailer separately. Now he seems to take

up the suggestions to watch over their health. He says there ought to be a surgeon on duty. This

way there is someone there in the profession to work in the infirmary to evaluate what is wrong

with a patient and can distribute medications if needed. Bedding is also an important value. At

the least each prisoner has the right to a bed made of straw if they cannot receive any material

better. Finally, proper food is needed to stay healthy. Some people are living off of just drinking

water, but this does not give them the nutrients they need. They should acquire foods of bread,

meat, fruits, and vegetables maybe with a Sunday Dinner each week (Howard 56-62).

After reading about John Howard, I think he was a great influence on society. He passed

away January 20, 1790 Kherson, Ukraine. Studying ways to prevent diseases and plagues but

ironically became infected with camp fever at a military base. All he wanted to do was help

others and give back what he could. After one experience with being in a prison he realized no

one should live in such horrible conditions. Then he witnessed other experience this pain and

wanted to reform the system to make it better for everyone. He improved and enhanced

performance at many prisons he has travelled to all over Europe for the better. John Howard was

a philanthropist that deserved to be recognized by the oldest penal reform charity in the UK.

Works Cited

http://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Howard-British-philanthropist-and-social-reformer

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/howard_john.shtml

https://d19ylpo4aovc7m.cloudfront.net/fileadmin/howard_league/user/documents/Students/Fact_sheets/John_Howard.pdf

The State of the Prisons in England and Wales by John Howard

Memoirs of John Howard, the Prisoner’s Friend by Charles True