A short history: 800 years of British prisons

The evolution of jails from Magna Carta to modern day

Eight hundred years ago if you wanted to survive in prison you had to have money to buy food, blankets and fuel. And for the following three centuries, death was the most likely sentence. Thankfully things have changed.

Below is a potted history of prisons stretching back almost a thousand years – first in the form of an interactive timeline followed by a detailed history full of fascinating facts.

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