The prison system in the Victorian Age was "a place of confinement for persons labeled as unfit to live in normal society" (Smith 1). The prison system contained courts, hulks, prisons, debtor's prisons, and consequences. Each of these went through a remarkable transformation during this time period. Charles Dickens described the poor conditions of the prisons in his book Great Expectations. The detailed descriptions of the 1850's came from his own "experience in debtors' prison as a child" (Smith 1).

Old Bailey was a notorious court; it might even have been the most famous criminal court in the whole world. Between 1674 and 1834 more than 100,000 individual trials were recorded on approximately 60,000 pieces of paper (Old 2). It was originally designed in 1593 to be a Session House. Old Bailey was rebuilt in 1774, and it became known as the Central Criminal Court. In 1902 Old Bailey was consumed, and today it stands...