The Harsh Living Conditions Within the Debtors Prison and Interesting 17th and 18th Century Criminal Slang

Crowded, inhumane, corrupt and dangerous, the Compter (London's Debtor's prison) reigned supreme. Split into two sites the ancient prison sat in Cheapside, on Wood Street and the Poultry.

It was built to last and fit to bursting in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries with people unable to pay their debts. It supplied wretched accommodation ranging from the 'Hole' to the 'Master's Ward'. Dictated by the amount you could afford, your sentence could mean surviving in a  damp overcrowded dungeon or life in your own cell with blankets and food.

 
Conditions in this debt recovery institution were appalling. One of the lowest 'wards' was described as a cellar with a curved brick ceiling rising to 9 ft. It boasted a 18in funnel in the ceiling allowing light and air to circulate. These wards were breeding pens for disease, violence and abuse. Inmates lived on wooden bunk beds that can only be described as shelves, according to one historian, up to five people would live on one bunk bed. It was not uncommon for some inmates to live out their days in such squalor unable to pay their debts.

Life continued in a circle of misery for the poorer prisoners, women gave birth, children grew up and people died. Starvation and gaol fever killed off hundreds of inmates. Any chance of assessment of these conditions and change was hindered by the fact that Parliamentarian officials were barred access to the wards. However, a Parliamentarian commission was established and in 1725 and it estimated that an average 4 to 8 inmates died a week in the Wood Street Compter.

Within the corrupt walls of the prison 'garnishes' -the legal fees imposed by the gaol officials- were handed out. Anyone refusing to pay the 'garnish' persecuted and abused. Victims were refused food, thrown into cess pits and beaten.

In theory the offender would continue his trade in order to pay off his debts; however for many this was not possible and the majority of the inmates were allowed to beg outside of the prisons walls in chains. Release was only sanctioned by the repayment of debts and for the majority of the inmates their incarceration only made them poorer, creating a circle of poverty inescapable. To halt this continual spiral in to poverty and inability for the inmate to pay their debts 'The Relief of Insolvent Debtors Act' was introduced in 1712 to release prisoners 'utterly disabled to satisfy and pay all their several debts'. However, this was in 1712 and the conditions noted in 1725 illustrates that it did not function. The Compter were a cruel and corrupt system to prevent debt, it did not prevent debts, as many of the inmates were poor to begin with. Imprisonment at the Compter was just a punishment, there was no real opportunity to work towards release and pay their debts, the inmates were just removed from society.

17^th and 18^th Criminal Slang.

'Buttock & file': Pickpocket-whore.

'Rats': Public nuisances, i.e drunks, street walkers and stray children.

'Milkens': Burglars.

'Autem Divers': Church pickpockets.

'Rufflers': Strong arm men.

'Adam Tilers': Look outs.

'Stags': Informers.

'Sneaking Budges': Sneak thieves.

'Faytors': Forgers of documents.

'Vulcans': Picklock experts.

'Rattling Lay': Stealing from coaches.

References:

Cox,E. (1868) Reports of Cases in Criminal Law. London: Horace Cox.

Howsen,G. (1985) Thief Taker General. New Brunswick: Transaction Inc.

Leigh,S. (1827) Leigh's New Picture of London. London: Baldwin, Cradock and

Joy.

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