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‘Unfit for reform or punishment’ : mental disorder and discipline in Liverpool borough gaol in the late nineteenth century
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Cox, Catherine and Marland, Hilary (2019) ‘Unfit for reform or punishment’ : mental disorder and discipline in Liverpool borough gaol in the late nineteenth century. Social History, 44 (2). pp. 173-201. doi:10.1080/03071022.2019.1579977 ISSN 0307-1022.
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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/03071022.2019.1579977
Abstract
This article examines how Liverpool Gaol, opened in 1855 as one of the largest local prisons in England to adopt the separate system, categorized and dealt with mental distress and disorder amongst its prison population in the late nineteenth century. High prison committal rates in Liverpool, alongside high levels of recidivism, especially among female prisoners, led to severe overcrowding and encouraged a harsh disciplinary regime. Exacerbated by the poor physical and mental condition of the prisoners, this produced a challenging environment for maintaining the separate system of confinement and prisoners’ mental wellbeing. While official figures for the rates of mental disorder in local prisons are not readily available, Liverpool Gaol’s diverse and under-exploited archives and official reports indicate that insanity caused prison officials and visiting justices great concern, and many prisoners were declared unfit for the rigours of prison discipline. Our article also explores the implications of the ever more punitive, deterrent and physically taxing penal policy implemented in the late nineteenth century on the minds of prisoners. Despite the heavy toll on prisoners’ mental wellbeing, such cases were often retained by prison medical officers reluctant to acknowledge the failure of the prison to deter, reform and redeem.
Item Type: | Journal Article | |||||||||
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Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform | |||||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Arts > History Faculty of Arts > History > Centre for the History of Medicine |
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Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Prison discipline, Mental health | |||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Social History | |||||||||
Publisher: | Routledge | |||||||||
ISSN: | 0307-1022 | |||||||||
Official Date: | 10 May 2019 | |||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 44 | |||||||||
Number: | 2 | |||||||||
Page Range: | pp. 173-201 | |||||||||
DOI: | 10.1080/03071022.2019.1579977 | |||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | |||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | |||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | |||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 17 August 2018 | |||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 14 May 2019 | |||||||||
RIOXX Funder/Project Grant: |
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