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Representations
The System
Famous Crime
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The years 1820-1840 were considered
the Golden Age for penology in France. Within these two decades arose
numerous reform movements sparked during the July Monarchy. The common
goal of all reformers was to eliminate crime and improve current prisoners
by rehabilitation. Some of the means to achieve this goal were...
- Discontinue confiscation
of property of convicted criminals
- Reduce long term sentences
to a maximum of fifteen years
- Suspend the Provisional
Courts
- Change judges and public
office position toelected positions as opposed to inherited or bought
- Seperate convicted criminals
from those who are awaiting trial (so as to avoid the corruption of
the young and possibly innocent)
- Prisons inspected at least
two time a week for the maintenance of a clean and healthy environment
- Guards chosen possessing
"irreproachable morality"
- Do away with life sentence
- Imprison convicts near the
scene of their crime as a constant reminder of what they had done
- Public exposure of prisoners
in chains and tied to stakes
- Solitary
confinement to take the place of the death penalty
- Education
of prisoners
To understand the desired changes,
previous conditions of the system need to be known. During the 18th century
prisons were primarily used only as places of transition: prisoners only
remained in the prisons while awaiting their trials, or were on their
way to the galleys, banishment, or execution. The prison was not the punishment,
but with the beginning of extended sentences, it became apparent that
these previous institutions were not suited for long term convicts.
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Old-Regime
Galley convicts, by Roger Viollet
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This image
illustrates the conditions of prisons during the 18th century. As
can be seen, men, women and children are all held in the same cell.
This was one of the major reform issues discussed, especially because
of the affect adult convicts had on the young offenders. It can also
be seen that these prisoners are not staying for a long time. There
are no beds (which prisons of the 19th century had) and there are
about ten people in the one cell (prison cells in the 19th century
for the most part held only one). Perhaps half of these prisoners
will be gone by the next day, either to the galleys, or to their death. |
Under the new prison systems,
prisoners would go to prison not to wait for their real punishment, but
to be rehabilitated. Prisoners were to be under constant surveillance
and live by a controlled, regimented schedual, including moral and physical
labor. Reformers also believed in the education of prisoners, both religiously
and literally, with reading and writing. Whether all of these practices
were carried out is questionable. Although some ideas did effect the prison
system, most did not effect it for the better. There is a drastic dividing
line between this reform and its reality. Read on to see what it really
was like for the inmates in prisons of Revolutionary
France.
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