Prisons in the 1700s had inhumane conditions. Dangerous prisoners were often chained, and men, women, and children were not segregated and could be imprisoned together. The filthiest prisons were old ships converted to floating prisons known as hulks, where prisoners were thrown into holds with boarded up portholes and hatches until their sentences.

1. Prisons in the 1700s

2. The conditions
• In all types of prisons, some of the more dangerous or more
important prisoners were kept in chains at all times. Some would also
be chained to the wall or other large object. If these prisoners
happened to have enemies in the cell with them they would probably
wake up dead the next day. This was most unfortunate but it was
something the authorities could live with.

3. An account…

4. The conditions…
• For the most part, prisoners were not segregated. Men, women and
children were often thrown into the same communal cell. To make
matters worse, those already convicted and sentenced were often in
the same cell as those awaiting trial. Only important prisoners were
placed in a cell alone. What this means is that a woman who was
awaiting trial for something like stealing a fish from the market could
be in the same cell with a man who was to be hanged for murder.

5. • Newgate- Victorian England Prisons

6. • However, the filthiest, most deadly
prison of all was the Prison Ship or
Hulk. From the early 18th century until
the American Revolution, Britain
transported convicts each year to
Maryland and Virginia. The North
American colonies declared their
independence in 1776 and closed their
ports to British prison ships. A crisis in
the British criminal justice system
followed.
• Britain started converting old merchant
ships and naval vessels into floating
prisons known as hulks. Port holes, were
boarded over, most hatches were bolted
shut or boarded over and they were
moored in a river or off shore in the
Thames, and at Portsmouth and
Plymouth. Prisoners were then thrown
into the hold and left to rot until they
were tried and their sentence carried
out. Those sent to them were
sometimes employed in hard labour
during the day and then loaded, in
chains, onto the ship at night.

7. • The Hulks