The Health of Prisoners. Historical Essays.

In eighteenth-century Britain, gaols were places of temporary confinement, where inmates stayed while awaiting punishment. With the rise of the 'penitentiary' from the early nineteenth century, custodial institutions housed prisoners for much longer periods of time. Prisoners were supposed to be reformed as well as punished during their incarceration. From at least the time of John Howard (1726-1790), the health of prisoners has been part of the concern of philanthropists and others concerned with the wider functions of prisons. The Victorians established a Prison Medical Service, and members of the medical profession have long been involved in caring for the mental and physical needs of prisoners. For two centuries, prison overcrowding has been identified as a major cause of mortality and morbidity in prisons. Historical debates thus often have a modern ring to them, which make the essays in this volume particularly timely.

Richard Creese was Professor of Physiology at St. Mary's hospital Medical School from 1968 to 1982. He was President of the Section of the History of Medicine of the Royal Society of Medicine during 1992-1993.

W.F. Bynum is Director of the Academic Unit at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine and Professor of History of Medicine in the University of London. He is general Editor of the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine Series (with Roy Porter) and, since 1980, has been co-|Editor of the quarterly journal Medical History.

Joe Bean is a former Senior Lecturer in Anatomy at The Middlesex Hospital Medical School. He was Vice-President of the Section of the History of Medicine at the Royal Society of Medicine 1979-1982.