Non-Criminal Prisons / English Debtor's Prisons and Prisons of War; French War Prisons; American War Prisons with References to Those of Other Lands

Prison Hulks at Portsmouth
Old hulks of English warships were first used as prisons when the American War of Independence closed the shores of the colonies to the convict-exile and rendered some additional prison space in England immediately necessary. Used as prisons of war: many American prisoners were confined there after the War of 1812,—loathsome places of durance from which escape was difficult. They were also used for temporary detention of prisoners sentenced to penal servitude in the colonies over seas.
ENGLISH DEBTOR’S PRISONS AND PRISONS OF WAR FRENCH WAR PRISONS AMERICAN WAR PRISONS WITH REFERENCES TO THOSE OF OTHER LANDS by MAJOR ARTHUR GRIFFITHS Late Inspector of Prisons in Great Britain Author of “The Mysteries of Police and Crime “Fifty Years of Public Service,” etc.
THE GROLIER SOCIETY

EDITION NATIONALE Limited to one thousand registered and numbered sets. NUMBER 307.

THE word prison connotes crime; a place of punishment and detention where misdeeds are expiated and penalties enforced. A certain sense of shame attaches to all who have been committed to durance; for according to the old law, the “natural inherent right of liberty cannot be surrendered or forfeited unless by the commission of some great or atrocious crime.” This doctrine was coeval in one country at least, England, with the foundation of the constitution. Yet the seclusion and detention of individuals who had done no wrong, was long the rule in most civilised countries, and many prisons, which are to all intents and purposes non-criminal, have existed and been constantly filled with unfortunate persons guilty of no real offence against the law.
Of these there have been two principal classes: The debtors—those who had become bound to others for the repayment of moneys lent or goods purchased—and the prisoners of war,—combatants captured in the field whom the conqueror was entitled to hold in diminution of his enemy’s strength while hostilities continued. In both cases the right exercised is that of the strongest and in neither is it defensible, nor has it been always carried out fairly or humanely. The full acceptance of the principle, however, has called many large prisons into being which have gained great notoriety, and a description of them and the methods pursued forms the contents of this volume.