Write a Research Paper on Prison Reformer John Howard

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Prison reformer John Howard
John Howard was born in Hackney, in east London in 1726. His father was a partner in an Upholstery business. After completing school, John worked as a trainee to a wholesale grocer in order to learn business methods, but he was not contented. On his father’s demise in 1742, he inherited substantial wealth and settled on an estate in Bedfordshire. Having been left a comfortable affluence and all the family property he was charitable and kind to the tenants of his estate at Cardington in the county of Bedford, England. His love of adventure saw him travel to various places including France and Italy. At the age of 40, interested to see the effects of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, he set out for Spain in spite of the fact that England and France were engaged in the Seven Years War. The French confined the ship in which Howard took passage and he was jailed in Brest, France, for six days before being relocated to a different prison on the French coast. It took two months before an exchange of prisoners obtained his discharge. However, he was later exchanged for a French officer held by the British, and he hastily travelled to the Commissioners of Sick and Wounded Seamen in London to request for assistance on behalf of his fellow captives. It is commonly believed that this individual experience created Howard's interest in prisons. Nevertheless, despite this experience, the most significant event for John Howard was when he was appointed as High Sheriff of Bedfordshire in 1773. John accepted the post and saw it as a way of serving God. It is argued that after the death of his wife, John resumed to travelling and while in Naples, Italy, he had a thoughtful spiritual experience, and he made a pledge to God that he would make some significant contribution to the world. John took the responsibilities of the appointment sincerely and embarked on his inspection of prisons (The John Howard Society of Canada).
John travelled thousands of miles by horse and carriage and visited numerous prisons across the Great Britain. He further made several trips to the continent including Moscow and Constantinople. John was surprised by the conditions he found in the various jails he visited in England. He noted that jailers were not remunerated but relied on fees paid by prisoners for food, bedding, and other facilities. This system made poorer prisoners to live in appalling conditions. Furthermore, several jailers demanded compensation before prisoners were released, which led to some prisoners staying in jail even if they were declared not guilty by court or had completed to serve their sentences. Prisons were used to confine people held, either for debt, or those waiting for trial. The prisons were dark, damp, and airless and bred contagious diseases, such as small pox and typhus. There was lack of government funding to build and maintain prisons; therefore, England practiced a system of transporting criminals, first to America and later to Australia (New World Encyclopedia).
In the year 1774, John convinced the House of Commons to approve two acts that would help to reform the prison system. The first act stated that released persons should be set at liberty in open court and the release payments should be eradicated. Moreover, John recommended that the jailers should be employed and paid by the county. This suggested a policy where the functions of prisons should be a charge on the public pursues and not a charge on the incarcerated. On the other hand, the second act stipulated that magistrates should take care of the health of prisoners. However, after some years, John protested that the acts were not firmly implemented (BBC).
John published the first edition of The State of Prisons in 1777 that included comprehensive descriptions of the prisons he had visited, as well as plans and maps, together with exhaustive instructions on the required upgrading. Moreover, his book provided this information truthfully, in accurate and uncomplicated vocabulary, avoiding all decoration and exaggeration. John further published The State of the Prisons in England and Wales in 1777 that resulted to a one-dimensional observation of Hanoverian prisons grounded in their filth, petty corruption, and insecurity and as places of communicable ethical deterioration. Legislation in 1700s permitted magistrates to impose county rates to meet the expenditure of building new prisons, which resulted to random prison rebuilding agendas. John commented positively on local prison construction in Hertfordshire where local magistrates utilized their authority to raise county rates to erect a new prison that was opened in 1779 and on the efforts of Lancashire magistrates in the 1770s that resulted in the renovation of Lancaster prison. In addition, the late eighteenth century witnessed a dynamic local lobby groups for transformations led by local magistrates that resulted in development of both the administration and structure of local prisons funded by ratepayers (Duhaime). 
John in his quest to reform the prison system, he advocated several reforms that wo...