‘A Want of Order and Good Discipline’

Rules, Discretion and the Victorian Prison

Richard Ireland

Major changes took place in the nineteenth century regarding the practice of punishment of criminals, as older measures of a capital and corporal nature gave way to the dominance of prison as a penal measure. Increasingly crime came to be presented as a national rather than a local problem, meriting a national solution. By investigating in detail the operation of Carmarthen Gaol in the period c.1840-1877, this book explores the reasons for and resistances to these general trends, and for the first time provides an account of the relationship between a local gaol, its staff and its prisoners, and the community in which it was situated. The result challenges traditional accounts of penal change and argues for the importance of an appreciation of Welsh experience in providing alternative accounts. As well as concentrating on the issues arising from Carmarthen Gaol, the book also provides a theoretical discussion on the broader issues of state and penal development.

Dr Richard Ireland is a senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Wales Aberystwyth. He has written widely on the history of crime and punishment, and has appeared as an expert contributor on the subject in programmes on BBC Radio 4 and on Channel 4 television.