Imprisonment in early modern England : politics, debt and the origins of a carceral society / Richard Thomas Bell, University of Oxford.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bell, Richard Thomas, Author.

Series:

Cambridge studies in early modern British history .

Cambridge studies in early modern British history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Imprisonment--England--History--16th century.

Imprisonment.

Imprisonment--England--History--17th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xv, 314 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2026.

Summary:

Why and how did English society embrace the prison as an answer to social problems? This study uncovers an important part of this story, revealing the growing centrality of prisons in early modern England to everyday social relations based on credit and debt. Between 1560 and 1700, prisons became essential to disciplining economic and moral life, provoking growing anxiety over incarceration and loss of liberty. In turn, new ideas crystallised about prisons as tools of coercion, deterrence, punishment and rehabilitation, while novel abolitionist politics developed among prison activists. This came to a head during the English Revolution, when prisoners' longstanding antagonism towards state and legal institutions entered radical milieus and law reform movements, impacting debates over authority, tyranny and liberty. This study reveals how straining credit networks, swelling prison populations and socioeconomic upheaval reshaped early modern society and politics. In doing so, Richard Thomas Bell sheds new light on the development of carceral ideas that remain fundamental, yet increasingly controversial, in contemporary society.

Contents:

List of Figures

Abbreviations

Acknowledgements

Note on the Text

Introduction

Part I: State, Law and Society

1. Carceral State Formation

2. Debt and the Carceral Society

3. The Experience of Imprisonment

4. Compter's Commonwealth? Prison Communities and the Problem of Self Government

Part II: Politics, Radicals and Activism

5. Against Imprisonment for Debt, 1618-1624

6. Prison Publicity: Religious and Political Confinement in a Carceral Society

7. Freeborn Prisoners, 1640-1649

8. From Abolition to Reform, 1645-1691

Conclusion

Bibliography of Manuscript and Early Modern Print Sources

Index.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 12 Aug 2026).

ISBN:

1-009-75934-5