The Act of 1778 passed by the British Parliament marks the beginning of prison reforms in England. The Act contained elaborate provisions relating to prison reforms. The entire working of prisons was remodelled. Under the new system, the inmates were put to work during day and kept in solitary cells during night.
Efforts were made to make them understand that despite their offensive acts, they still had a chance of rehabilitating themselves in the community after their release from jail. By 1833, the inmates could meet their friends and relatives more frequently at fixed intervals and outside visitors were also permitted to go around the prison and hear complaints from the inmates.
Some significant changes were further introduced in the prison administration in the later half of the 19th century. In order to ease the pressure on British prisons, the prisoners were released on ‘Ticket on leave’ on condition that they would not resort to criminality. By this time the prison administration was transferred from local municipal authorities to the national Government by the Act of 1877 which was a landmark change in the history of prison development in Britain.
In 1894, Gladstone Committee recommended the abolition of unproductive labour in prisons and emphasised the need for work in groups and improved classification of prisoners. The Committee also recommended separate reformatories for juvenile offenders. As a result of the Committee’s recommendations the Prison Act was enacted in England in 1898, which was followed by the Children Act, 1908.
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