Cell Door, Pentonville Prison

Cell Door

1843

Steel engraving[?]

Pentonville Prison

Illustrated London News 2 (7 January 1843): 1

Other illustrations of the Prison

A Distant View across the Heath

Plan of the Prison

Interior of the Chapel

Interior of the Model Prison

Gateway

Interior of cell

Scanned image and text Philip V. Allingham

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The Inhumanity of the Silent System in Pentonville

"As the silent system is the main ingredient in the discipline of the NEW MODEL PRISON the humane public cannot do better than to discourage it in warm and fervent terms, and to seek to procure its explosion by every earnest and legitimate means. Remonstrate with the authorities, petition the legislature, appeal to the gentler and nobler sympathies of society, and do not leave unprobed for mercy and pity the generous bosom of the Queen. The press will aid the public in its truly Christian crusade against cruelty; and these new model experiments upon the endurance of nature will cease to degrade the sacred name of justice, to make the law monstrous, and its retribution a disgrace and sin."

Last modified 9 September 2007