2-888-338 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Punishment Cell, Newgate Prison, [London], 1850. Extract from a '...report of the State of the Prison...There is another part of the prison that demands attention - the separate cells, which...are so intensely cold in inclement weather, that the pain which the prisoners suffer is almost to the full extent of human endurance...As we traverse these passages we note the iron character of the building. It is dark, close, confined; and in despite of the scrupulous cleanliness preserved in every part, foul smells are not unfrequently met in its lobbies. The great fault is the want of room, the height ot the walls, and the narrowness of the courts, giving them the appearance of wells rather than open spaces. Air and light are in consequence less plentiful than they should be'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.