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© Courtesy of Claire Foley/Derby Museums and Art Gallery. |
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Improving a prisoner's lot in Derby |
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End of an era?
In 1833, John Leedham was the first person to be executed at Derby's new County Gaol on Vernon Street. He was also the last person to hang in Derbyshire for a crime other than murder. Convicted of bestiality, he was hanged on April 12th in front of a crowd of over 6,000. |
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From 1770 onwards, philanthropists such as John Howard and Elizabeth Fry had been calling for prison reform. In December 1817, an architect's report condemned the gaol as "insufficient and insecure". At the Summer Assizes in 1820, Judge Baron Garrow informed the Grand Jury that unless improvements were underway by the time of his next visit, he would "impose a heavy fine upon the County". The Corporation of Derby had no choice; plans for a new County Gaol were drawn up.
On announcement of the new County Gaol, the rate paying population of Derby exhibited little of the compassion felt by reformers for prison inmates. In a publication of 1823, assizes from across Derbyshire bemoaned the collection of rates to fund the new gaol.
Reform and discipline
© Courtesy of Derby City Council.
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However, the rate was collected and the new County Gaol at Vernon Street was opened in 1827. Designed by Francis Goodwin, the layout of this new gaol signalled a shift in the treatment and punishment of criminals. The approval of and alterations to the gaol's plans by the Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline must account for its authoritarian and dominating style. Huge entrance gates, Martello Towers and 25ft walls exuded a feeling of repression, strict control and severe penitence.
The gaol had 185 cells initially; this number increased to 228 in later years. Designed in the popular wheel layout, the central hub of the gaol was formed by the chapel and governor's house with seven cell wings. Uniformity and regularity replaced the confused mish-mash of rooms at Friar Gate.
At Vernon Street Gaol prisoners were excluded from law-abiding society in a very physical and visible way. The new gaol exemplified order and regularity - a big departure from the cramped feverishness of Friar Gate. Here was a gaol that's very design and layout attempted to instil discipline through confinement and strict regularity; a far cry from the haphazard, ill-conceived holding pen at Friar Gate.
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