448 LEGAL HISTORY 1783 Security for traiM- lx>rtation. State of the gtuola. Howard. Gftol fevers and escupes. The hulks. Crowded gaols. The contractors were to give security for the transportation of the convicts, and to procure certificates from the Governor, or Chief, or Custom-house Officer in the colony, of their having been duly landed. On the cessation of transportation to the American colonies, the gaols became so crowded with prisoners that active measures became necessary for the purpose of preventing the evils with which society was threatened. The condition of the gaols and the sufferings of their inmates formed one of the great public questions in English politics during the last quarter of the eighteenth century. Howard's investigations on this subject extended over the years 1773-4-5, and his evidence before the House of Commons at that time led to several amendments of the existing law ; but it took at least twenty years of continuous agitation to bring about the desired change for the better. During that period the state of the gaols, which threatened the community with outbreaks of pestilence as well as escapes of prisoners, formed a subject of the gravest importance, and the public interest in it seems to have reached its climax at the time when the projected expedition to Botany Bay was under considei'ation.* One of the first measures adopted by the Government was the Act of Parliament passed in the year 1783t for the purpose of authorising the removal of convicts from the gaols to the hulks on the Thames, pending their transportation. The system of penal discipline known as " the hulks " was originally adopted in 177*5, when an attempt was made to substitute that method of punishment for transportation. During the following fifteen years some 8,000 convicts were sentenced to hard labour on the hulks. The system was carried on by contract, the contractors providing the hulks and all necessaries for their management, as well as pro- visions and clothing for the convicts, at the rate of £22 16s. 3d. for each convict The preamble of the Act referred to recited that, "from the unusually great number of offenders now under sentence or order of transportation, in the gaols within England and Wales, there is such a want of convenient and sufficient room in many of such gaols that very dangerous consequences are to bo apprehended.
- It was in 1789 that Howard published his principal work on prison
management, — The State of the Prisons in England and Wales. A fourth edition was published in 1792. t 24 Geo. Ill, c. 12. Digitized by Google
