In order to reform idle convicts and combat crime that plagued the Victorian era ... use of treadwheels was abolished in Britain by the Prisons Act of 1898. So the next time you finish a grueling ...

Britain's old-fashioned Victorian "hell hole" jails are set to be replaced with a new generation of "super prisons" under plans being considered by Prisons Minister Beverley Hughes, she said today.

Take them to the transportation ships. 1880, a Police man in the traditional uniform of the Victorian period. Prison discipline,1884. A Dartmoor prisoner turning the crank as solitary punishment.

This short film explores Victorian punishments through the eyes of John, a young offender who was sent to prison for six months in January 1876. John, who was 14, was accused of forging letters ...