magistrates and investigators were unable to see the insides of prisons. By the 1890s the prison population was over 20,000.

1877-1914

The British penal system underwent a transition from harsh punishment to reform, education, and training for post-prison life. The reforms were controversial and contested. In 1877-1914 era a series of major legislative reforms enabled significant improvement in the penal system. In 1877, the previously localized prisons were nationalized in the Home Office under a Prison Commission. The Prison Act 1898

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