Legal History

Imprisonment in Early Modern England: Politics, Debt and the Origins of a Carceral Society

By Richard Thomas Bell
Coming Soon Cambridge University Press Available October 2026

Specifications

ISBN-13
9781009759380
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Publication
October 2026
Format
Paperback
Jurisdiction
U.K. ? Countri(es) for reference only

Details

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.

Table of Contents

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
HKD 520.00

Inclusive of HK delivery

Pre-order now
Delivery Time: around 4-5 weeks
Not yet published? ?
Extra 2-10 working days if shipping address outside Hong Kong
  • Free HK shipping over HK$1,000
  • International shipping to 35+ countries
Order Form
Save

Recommended

You may also be interested in these books:

More titles from Legal History

View all