Queen Victoria Appoints a Royal Commission to Investigate Inhumane Conditions in Leicester Prison

Victorian prisons were supposed to act as a deterrent to crime, and convicts in them faced awful conditions of every kind. They were put to work at tedious and difficult labor, including picking oakum. Prisoners picked oakum (old tarred ships’ ropes from an inch upwards in thickness) apart into strands for the formation of new rope, a tedious process that left them covered in tar; prisoners could almost never pick the daily weight quotas assigned for oakum, and would thus try to weigh it down with water or small found items (nails, etc). Moreover, many also endured hard labor such as operating a treadwheel, which would grind grain or pump water; depending on the particular treadwheel a prisoner could climb more than half the height of Everest (16,630 feet) in a single shift  of 6 – 10 hours. Other forms of hard labor included breaking rocks for public construction projects. Prison guards and officials punished prisoners for the smallest infractions of prison rules, the silence rule arguably being one of the harshest. The silence rule prohibited not only speaking, but also gesturing or communicating in any other way.

Leicester Gaol was considered to be a “hell on earth.”?It was set up on the Separate System theory which held that complete isolation – essentially confinement – plus the constant ministrations of a minister, promoted correction and repentence. When prisoners were taken into common areas, they often had caps put over their heads to prevent any human contact. The dank cells had cranks that had to be turned, to no purpose, 14,400 times a day at the rate of 1,800 turns an hour. Complaints about Leicester Gaol began to circulate, and in 1852 a prison inspector filed a report critical of the situation there. In 1853, the outcry had reached Parliament and the Queen, who determined to appoint a commisson to look into the conduct, management and discipline of the gaol, and to investigate the Separate System and find whether the conditions at Leicester Gaol were inhumane. Looking past deterrence to inmate conditions was an important departure, and one that would have an impact on penal corrections generally.

Document Signed, London, August 30, 1853, the original document appointing that historic Royal Commission. “Whereas we have thought it expedient for diverse good causes and considerations that a commission should forthwith the issue for the purpose of inquiring into what has been and now is the condition and treatment of prisoners confined in Leicester County Gaol and House of Correction, and the conduct, discipline and management of the said Leicester County Gaol and House of Correction. Now know ye that We, considering the premises, and earnestly desiring that such an inquiry should be made as speedily as possible, and reposing great trust and confidence in your fidelity, judgment and ability, have authorized and appointed and by these presents do authorize and appoint you the said William Newland Wellsby, William John Williams, and William Baly, to make a diligent and strict inquiry by all the lawful ways and means whatsoever into the matter heretofore mentioned, and to report to us in writing…whether any and what abuses have existed or do exist in the management of our county jail and house of correction, or in the treatment of the prisoners therein confined, and if any such abuses shall be found to exist, what regulations or provisions may be necessary or proper for the correction of the same, and for the prevention of similar or any other abuses in future.” The document is countersigned by the Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston.

The commissioners took evidence for 22 days and reported on January 25, 1854. It found that “The enforcement of this system is altogether unwarranted by the law of England…and we have little doubt that it is highly objectionable, and ought never again to be tolerated.” This commission helped expose problems and bring advances in prison reform, and gained fame as a result. But it was not until decades later that the Separate System was actually abolished.