Centralisation and Local Autonomy: The Experience of English Prisons 1820–1877

Abstract

Abstract This article examines English prisons in the light of debates among historians about centralisation in the nineteenth century. The author argues that central state influence over prisons grew substantially from the 1830s onwards and that this was in line with the general view of administrative change advanced by such diverse writers as David Roberts and Philip Corrigan. However, the establishment of a central command structure under the 1877 Prisons Act was an extreme outcome which can only in part be explained by reference to general trends between 1820 and 1877. The takeover was also the result of manoeuvres by highly placed civil servants, intense pressure from particular interest groups, and guarantees given by the Conservative Party leadership to such groups.

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