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‘He must die or go mad in this place’ : prisoners, insanity and the Pentonville model prison experiment, 1842-1852

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Cox, Catherine and Marland, Hilary (2018) ‘He must die or go mad in this place’ : prisoners, insanity and the Pentonville model prison experiment, 1842-1852. Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 92 (1). pp. 78-109. doi:10.1353/bhm.2018.0004 ISSN 0007-5140.

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1353/bhm.2018.0004

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Abstract

The relationship between prisons and mental illness has preoccupied prison administrators, physicians, and reformers from the establishment of the modern prison service in the nineteenth century to the current day. Here we take the case of Pentonville Model Prison, established in 1842 with the aim of reforming convicts through religious exhortation, rigorous discipline and training, and the imposition of separate confinement in its most extreme form. Our article demonstrates how following the introduction of separate confinement, the prison chaplains rather than the medical officers took a lead role in managing the minds of convicts. However, instead of reforming and improving prisoners’ minds, Pentonville became associated with high rates of mental disorder, challenging the institution’s regime and reputation. We explore the role of chaplains, doctors, and other prison officers in debating, disputing, and managing cases of mental breakdown and the dismantling of separate confinement in the face of mounting criticism.

Item Type: Journal Article
Subjects: D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain
H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare
Divisions: Faculty of Arts > History
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): Pentonville Prison, Prisons -- History -- England, Mentally ill prisoners -- History -- England
Journal or Publication Title: Bulletin of the History of Medicine
Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press
ISSN: 0007-5140
Official Date: March 2018
Dates:
DateEvent
March 2018Published
9 December 2016Accepted
Volume: 92
Number: 1
Page Range: pp. 78-109
DOI: 10.1353/bhm.2018.0004
Status: Peer Reviewed
Publication Status: Published
Access rights to Published version: Open Access (Creative Commons)
Date of first compliant deposit: 27 January 2017
Date of first compliant Open Access: 19 July 2018
RIOXX Funder/Project Grant:
Project/Grant IDRIOXX Funder NameFunder ID
103341/Z/13/Z Wellcome Trusthttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100010269
103351/Z/13/Z Wellcome Trusthttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100010269

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