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116-528: Named after the village of Hawkhurst , the gang was first mentioned as the Holkhourst Genge in 1735. The gang was based in the "Oak and Ivy Inn", Hawkhurst. A secondary headquarters was The Mermaid Inn in the town of Rye , where they would sit with their loaded weapons on the table. Many local legends and folklore are based on the alleged network of tunnels built by the gang. However, many hidden cellars and remote barns could have been used for storage so it

232-584: A Roman road which crossed the Weald here. A railway station was built in Hawkhurst in 1892, to the west side of the Cranbrook Road, on the northern edge of the village. It was rarely busy except during hop picking time, when up to 26 special trains per day, each carrying up to 350 Cockneys from London, would arrive at Hawkhurst – up to 10,000 people per day. As this declined, the station became uneconomic, and it

348-406: A prison uniform . The levels of security within a prison system are categorized differently around the world, but tend to follow a distinct pattern. At one end of the spectrum are the most secure facilities ("maximum security"), which typically hold prisoners that are considered dangerous, disruptive or likely to try to escape. Furthermore, in recent times, supermax prisons have been created where

464-527: A "jail". The use of prisons can be traced back to the rise of the state as a form of social organization. Some Ancient Greek philosophers, such as Plato , began to develop ideas of using punishment to reform offenders instead of for retribution. Imprisonment as a penalty was used commonly for those who could not afford to pay their fines. Eventually, since impoverished Athenians could not pay their fines, leading to indefinite periods of imprisonment, time limits were set instead. The prison in ancient Athens

580-564: A Kentish family, was a lawyer and historian. He died at Hawkhurst on 16 November 1678, at age 74. Kilburne is buried in the chancel of the church at Hawkhurst under a flat stone inscribed with Latin declaring him "an ornament and an honor to his country." Hawkhurst was the birthplace of the Rootes car empire. Another leading local businessman was Charles Eugene Gunther, head of the Liebig Meat Extract Company, later known as Oxo . He

696-549: A convicted criminal to reoffend, known as the rate of recidivism, is unusually high for those with the most serious disorders. Analysis of data in 2000 from several forensic hospitals in California, New York and Oregon found that with treatment the rate of recidivism was "much lower" than for untreated mentally ill offenders. Some prisons provide educational programs for inmates that can include basic literacy, secondary education, or even college education. Prisoners seek education for

812-563: A cost of 53 shillings, to keep communicants from the altar, the first parish church in England to have done so. In 1944 a German flying bomb fell in the churchyard, causing considerable damage, and the church was put out of action until 1957. Part of the flying bomb can be seen on the south side at the back of the church. There is a Roman Catholic church in the High Street, dedicated to St Barnabas, but, apart from Sunday, services are now held at

928-537: A decentralized "campus" pattern. A small number of prison officers, sometimes a single officer, supervise each pod. The pods contain tiers of cells arranged around a central control station or desk from which a single officer can monitor all the cells and the entire pod, control cell doors and communicate with the rest of the prison. Pods may be designed for high-security "indirect supervision", in which officers in segregated and sealed control booths monitor smaller numbers of prisoners confined to their cells. An alternative

1044-415: A fair trial or due process ; this use is illegal under most forms of international law governing fair administration of justice . In times of war, belligerents or neutral countries may detain prisoners of war or detainees in military prisons or in prisoner-of-war camps . At any time, states may imprison civilians – sometimes large groups of civilians – in internment camps . In American English ,

1160-512: A form of rehabilitation or moral reform , was based on religious ideas that equated crime with sin, and saw prisons as a place to instruct prisoners in Christian morality, obedience and proper behavior. These later reformers believed that prisons could be constructed as humane institutions of moral instruction, and that prisoners' behavior could be "corrected" so that when they were released, they would be model members of society. The concept of

1276-547: A healthy diet and reasonable living conditions. The prison reform charity, the Howard League for Penal Reform , was established in 1866 by his admirers. Following Howard's agitation, the Penitentiary Act was passed in 1779. This introduced solitary confinement, religious instruction, a labor regime, and proposed two state penitentiaries (one for men and one for women). However, these were never built due to disagreements in

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1392-425: A holding state until trial or hanging, was at the time revolutionary. His views influenced the establishment of the first prisons used as criminal rehabilitation centers. At a time when the implementation of capital punishment for a variety of relatively trivial offenses was on the decline, the notion of incarceration as a form of punishment and correction held great appeal to reform-minded thinkers and politicians. In

1508-455: A large institutional kitchen. There are many security considerations, however, that are unique to the prison dining environment. For instance, cutlery equipment must be very carefully monitored and accounted for at all times, and the layout of prison kitchens must be designed in a way that allows staff to observe activity of the kitchen staff (who are usually prisoners). The quality of kitchen equipment varies from prison to prison, depending on when

1624-609: A longer-term alternative to the death penalty, which could theoretically be imposed for the growing number of offenses in Britain. The substantial expansion of transportation was the first major innovation in eighteenth-century British penal practice. Transportation to America was abruptly suspended by the Criminal Law Act 1776 (16 Geo. 3 c.43) with the start of the American Rebellion . While sentencing to transportation continued,

1740-497: A prison depends upon factors such as the size of the prison, how many inmates the prison has, and how much funding the prison gets. Staff may include: Prisons are normally surrounded by fencing, walls, earthworks, geographical features, or other barriers to prevent escape. Multiple barriers, concertina wire , electrified fencing , secured and defensible main gates, armed guard towers , security lighting, motion sensors , dogs and roving patrols may all also be present depending on

1856-613: A significant role in helping prisoners reorient their lives and become successful after reentry. Many prisons also provide a library where prisoners can check out books, or do legal research for their cases. Often these libraries are very small, consisting of a few shelves of books. In some countries, such as the United States, drastic budget cuts have resulted in many prison libraries being shut down. Meanwhile, many nations that have historically lacked prison libraries are starting to develop them. Prison libraries can dramatically improve

1972-487: A signifier of who possessed power or authority over others. Another common punishment was sentencing people to galley slavery , which involved chaining prisoners together in the bottoms of ships and forcing them to row on naval or merchant vessels. The French philosopher Michel Foucault , especially his book Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison (1975), energized the historical study of prisons and their role in

2088-589: A steady income. In 1875, the Victoria Lecture Hall was built by Henry Maynard "for the good of the village". It now houses Kino, a digital cinema. Hawkhurst has several churches. The parish church of St Laurence stands at the south end of the village known as The Moor , which is the older part of Hawkhurst. It falls within the Diocese of Canterbury , and has as patron the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church, Oxford . It

2204-636: A variety of names. "Prison" is officially used for some facilities in South Australia , Victoria and Western Australia . Youth prisons in Australia are referred to as "youth correctional facilities" or "youth detention centres" among other names, depending on the jurisdiction. In Canada , while the terms "jail" and "prison" are commonly used in speech, officially named facilities use "facility", "correctional centre", "penitentiary", or "institution". A number of facilities retain their historical designation as

2320-859: A variety of reasons, including the development of skills for after release, personal enrichment and curiosity, finding something to fill their time, or trying to please prison staff (which can often secure early release for good behavior). However, the educational needs of prisoners often come into conflict with the security concerns of prison staff and with a public that wants to be "tough on crime" (and thus supports denying prisoners access to education). Whatever their reasons for participating in educational programs, prison populations tend to have very low literacy rates and lack of basic mathematical skills, and many have not completed secondary education. This lack of basic education severely limits their employment opportunities outside of prison, leading to high rates of recidivism, and research has shown that prison education can play

2436-497: A £50 reward for each smuggler who was captured.Eventually, Thomas Kingsmill, alias Staymaker; William Fairall , alias Shepherd; Richard Perin, alias Pain, alias Carpenter; Thomas Lillywhite; and Richard Glover were all indicted for being concerned, with others, in breaking into the King's Custom-house, at Poole, and stealing thirty hundred weight of tea, value £500 or more. Mary Owen, the illegitimate daughter of Sir Cecil Bishopp, 6th Baronet,

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2552-635: Is "direct supervision", in which officers work within the pod and directly interact with and supervise prisoners, who may spend the day outside their cells in a central "dayroom" on the floor of the pod. Movement in or out of the pod to and from exercise yards, work assignments or medical appointments can be restricted to individual pods at designated times and is generally centrally controlled. Goods and services, such as meals, laundry, commissary , educational materials, religious services and medical care can increasingly be brought to individual pods or cells as well. Some modern prisons may exclude certain inmates from

2668-480: Is a weather-beaten stone, known as the Smugglers' Stone, that was erected in 1749 to record the place of execution of six smugglers and the burial place of one of the convicted smugglers who died before his execution could be carried out. The inscription reads: Near this place was buried the body of William Jackson, a prescribed smuggler, who upon a special commission of oyer and terminer held at Chichester on

2784-721: Is also served by the Arriva Southern Counties route 5 to Sandhurst , Staplehurst and Maidstone . Hawkhurst has over 1,000 years of recorded history. The oldest known settlement was the Saxon manor of Congehurst, which was burnt by the Danes in 893 AD. There is still a lane of this name to the east of the village. At the time of the Domesday Book in 1096, the parish was mainly in the Lathe of Wye . The ancient parish of Hawkhurst straddles

2900-518: Is due to multiple factors including females being convicted of less severe offences, and being less likely to be convicted of violent offences, in comparison to males, and due to female prisoners being less likely to be violent than male prisoners. Modern prisons often hold hundreds or thousands of inmates, and must have facilities onsite to meet most of their needs, including dietary, health, fitness, education, religious practices, entertainment, and many others. Conditions in prisons vary widely around

3016-526: Is home to three schools, one local authority primary and two independent preparatory schools . The 19th-century astronomer Sir John Herschel (1792–1871) lived in Hawkhurst for thirty years. It was he who named the four moons of Uranus , the planet which had been discovered by his father, Sir William Herschel . He was also a mentor and inspiration to a young Charles Darwin . Herschel lived at Collingwood House in Hawkhurst. Richard Kilburne , born in London to

3132-552: Is likely that a church has stood on this site since 1100, or even earlier. After the Battle of Hastings William I gave the Manor of Wye, with rights over a large part of the parish, to the Abbot of Battle . The first mention of the church is in the charter of 1285, and its first rector was Richard de Clyne in 1291. The Chancel and North Chapel are the oldest parts of the church. The Great East Window

3248-576: Is unlikely that tunnels would have been needed at that period when large armed gangs operated openly, often riding through the larger towns in daylight. In 1740, riding officer Thomas Carswell and a party of dragoons found about 15 cwt (750 kg) of smuggled tea in a barn at Etchingham and were taking it to Hastings in a cart. James Stanford of the Hawkhurst Gang rode round the area and collected about thirty men with horses and weapons. After drinking brandy to bolster their courage, they attacked

3364-525: Is widely understood and more common in usage. In Australia , the words "gaol", "jail" and "prison" are commonly used. The spelling "gaol" was in official use in the past, and many historical gaols are now tourist attractions, such as the Maitland Gaol . Officially, the term "correctional centre" is used for almost all prisons in New South Wales and Queensland , while other states and territories use

3480-516: The Sheriff of Kent in order that they could be hung up in chains, the former at Goudhurst, the latter at Horsendown Green, where he once lived. Seven of the gang were tried at Chichester assizes and sentenced to hang. One of their number died in gaol before sentence could be carried out. The rest were hanged north of Chichester on the Broyle. The principal murderers' bodies were then hung in chains , one on

3596-565: The revenue party at Silver Hill between Hurst Green and Robertsbridge , shooting Carswell dead and capturing the soldiers. One of the smugglers, George Chapman, was later executed and gibbeted in his home village of Hurst Green. On one occasion when the gang was drinking at the Mermaid Inn in Rye , some twenty of them visited the nearby Red Lion , firing their guns in the air. A young bystander, James Marshall, who took too keen an interest in them,

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3712-483: The state , generally as punishment for various crimes . Authorities most commonly use prisons within a criminal-justice system: people charged with crimes may be imprisoned until their trial ; those who have pled or been found guilty of crimes at trial may be sentenced to a specified period of imprisonment. Prisons can also be used as a tool for political repression by authoritarian regimes who detain perceived opponents for political crimes , often without

3828-571: The "Holkhourst Genge", terrorised the surrounding area between 1735 and 1749. They were the most notorious of the Kent gangs, and were feared all along the south coast of England. At Poole in Dorset, where they had launched an armed attack on the customs house (to take back a consignment of tea that had been confiscated), several were hanged including Thomas Kingsmill , one of the gang's leaders. A number of inns and local houses in Hawkhurst claim associations with

3944-468: The 16th day of January 1748-9 was, with William Carter, attained for the murder of William Galley, a custom house officer and who likewise was together with Benjamin Tapner, John Cobby, John Hammond, Richard Mills the elder and Richard Mills the younger, his son, attained for the murder of Daniel Chater. But dying in a few hours after sentence of death was pronounced upon him he thereby escaped the punishment which

4060-535: The 17th century in Russia , in remote underpopulated areas of Siberia and the Russian Far East , that had few towns or food sources. Siberia quickly gained its fearful connotation of punishment. John Howard was one of the most notable early prison reformers . After having visited several hundred prisons across Great Britain and Europe, in his capacity as high sheriff of Bedfordshire , he published The State of

4176-505: The 18th Century, when coal became the preferred method of heating, and could not be found nearby. In the 14th century, Edward III , wanting to break the Flemish (Dutch) monopoly on weaving , encouraged Flemish weavers to come to England. Many chose to settle in the Weald, because it had all the elements needed for weaving – oak to make mills, streams to drive them, and fuller's earth to treat

4292-547: The 19th century would see the first movement toward prison reform , and by the 1810s, the first state prisons and correctional facilities were built, thereby inaugurating the modern prison facilities available today. France also sent criminals to overseas penal colonies, including Louisiana , in the early 18th century. Penal colonies in French Guiana operated until 1952, such as the notable Devil's Island ( Île du Diable ). Katorga prisons were harsh work camps established in

4408-573: The Church sits on the Highgate ridge with its spire visible from some distance. Grade II listed, the property is a local landmark that sat derelict for over two decades, but has now been sympathetically restored and converted into a number of private apartments. Hawkhurst Community Hospital (formerly the Cottage Hospital) provides 22 beds for patients who do not need to be in an acute hospital. Hawkhurst

4524-530: The Hawkhurst Gang working with a group from east Hampshire and was intended to be landed at Christchurch Bay, but was captured by a revenue vessel Swift commanded by Captain William Johnson on 22 September 1747. The goods were then taken to Poole, after the crew had escaped in a small boat. At a meeting in Charlton Forest Richard Perrin from Chichester , who had gone to Guernsey to buy

4640-466: The Hawkhurst men said they would continue alone, and it was then agreed that they would all continue. It was soon realised that as the tide fell the ship's guns would no longer be in sight of the customs house. The gang broke into the customs house around 2 am on 8 October, escaping on horseback with the tea. They left the brandy, rum and coffee at the customs house, presumably due to insufficient transport. The smugglers were not opposed at any stage of

4756-514: The Portsmouth Road near Rake, two on Selsey Bill , one near Chichester at Rook's Hill and one at Horsmonden in Kent. With the cruel deaths of Galley and Chater, among others, causing national outrage, the names of known smugglers were published in the London Gazette . Any smuggler so listed was instructed to hand themselves in within 40 days of the publication date. In all, at least 75 of

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4872-502: The Prisons in 1777. He was particularly appalled to discover prisoners who had been acquitted but were still confined because they could not pay the jailer's fees. He proposed wide-ranging reforms to the system, including the housing of each prisoner in a separate cell and the requirements that staff should be professional and paid by the government, that outside inspection of prisons should be imposed, and that prisoners should be provided with

4988-539: The Tongswood Estate. When he died in 1935, the house, dating from the 1860s, was sold and became St Ronan's School . Earlier owners of Tongswood were the Dunks family, who lived there from about 1500–1750. Sir Thomas Dunk, a wealthy clothier, who died in 1718, bequeathed enough money to build almshouses for six 'decayed housekeepers' (three men and three women) and a village school, plus enough money to buy lands to generate

5104-505: The act instituted a punishment policy of hard labor instead. The suspension of transport also prompted the use of prisons for punishment and the initial start of a prison building program. Britain would resume transportation to specifically planned penal colonies in Australia between 1788 and 1868. Jails at the time were run as business ventures, and contained both felons and debtors; the latter were often housed with their wives and younger children. The jailers made their money by charging

5220-511: The area its distinctive skyline of hop gardens and oast houses , which were used to dry the hops. Nowadays, most hops are imported. However, at its peak 35,000 acres (140 km ) of hop gardens existed in England, almost all of them in Kent, including much around Hawkhurst. Eventually mechanisation and cheap imports ended the industry, but the oast houses remain. A witness before a 1745 Committee of Enquiry estimated there were 20,000 smugglers operating in Britain at that time. An infamous group,

5336-459: The boundaries of four hundreds , including three that by 1295 were parts of the south of the Lathe of Scray in East Kent . The western portion of the parish of Hawkhurst was the entirety of the hundred of Great Barnfield (or East Barnfield). The eastern portion of the parish was partially in the hundred of Cranbrook and the hundred of Selbrittenden . Some acreage of the eastern portion was also in

5452-694: The capital Rome, but throughout the Roman Empire. However, a regulated prison system did not emerge. In Medieval Songhai , results of a trial could have led to confiscation of merchandise or imprisonment as a form of punishment, since various prisons existed in the empire. During the Middle Ages in Europe, castles, fortresses, and the basements of public buildings were often used as makeshift prisons. The capability to imprison citizens granted an air of legitimacy to officials at all levels of government and served as

5568-778: The cell door, and each inmate is allowed one hour of outdoor exercise per day, alone. They are normally permitted no contact with other inmates and are under constant surveillance via closed-circuit television cameras. On the other end are "minimum security" prisons which are most often used to house those for whom more stringent security is deemed unnecessary. For example, prisoners convicted of white-collar crime (which rarely results in incarceration) are almost always sent to minimum-security prisons due to them having committed nonviolent crimes. Lower-security prisons are often designed with less restrictive features, confining prisoners at night in smaller locked dormitories or even cottage or cabin-like housing while permitting them free movement around

5684-590: The cell door. Prison food in many developed countries is nutritionally adequate for most inmates. Prisons in wealthy, industrialized nations provide medical care for most of their inmates. Additionally, prison medical staff play a major role in monitoring, organizing, and controlling the prison population through the use of psychiatric evaluations and interventions (psychiatric drugs, isolation in mental health units, etc.). Prison populations are largely from poor minority communities that experience greater rates of chronic illness, substance abuse, and mental illness than

5800-416: The cloth. The Kentish domination of the hop industry was stimulated by that same influx of Flemish weavers, who brought with them a taste for beer, and beer making skills. Several wealthy Kentish farmers invested in this new opportunity and approach. Although not the centre of the industry, Hawkhurst Brewery and Malthouse was built in 1850, on the edge of Hawkhurst Moor (now a house). Hop growing also gave

5916-404: The committee and pressures from wars with France , and jails remained a local responsibility. But other measures passed in the next few years provided magistrates with the powers to implement many of these reforms, and eventually, in 1815, jail fees were abolished. Quakers were prominent in campaigning against and publicizing the dire state of the prisons at the time. Elizabeth Fry documented

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6032-402: The conditions that prevailed at Newgate prison , where the ladies' section was overcrowded with women and children, some of whom had not even received a trial. The inmates did their own cooking and washing in the small cells in which they slept on straw. In 1816, Fry founded a prison school for the children who were imprisoned with their parents. She also began a system of supervision and required

6148-425: The custody level goes beyond maximum security for people such as terrorists or political prisoners deemed a threat to national security , and inmates from other prisons who have a history of violent or other disruptive behavior in prison or are suspected of gang affiliation. These inmates have individual cells and are kept in lockdown , often for more than 23 hours per day. Meals are served through "chuck-holes" in

6264-434: The defendants would be sentenced to death. Rulers began looking for means to punish and control their subjects in a way that did not cause people to associate them with spectacles of tyrannical and sadistic violence. They developed systems of mass incarceration , often with hard labor, as a solution. The prison reform movement that arose at this time was heavily influenced by two somewhat contradictory philosophies. The first

6380-404: The determination of whether they will be placed in a mental health unit), and many other factors. This sorting of prisoners is one of the fundamental techniques through which the prison administration maintains control over the inmate population and attempts to reduce risks and liabilities in an attempt to create an orderly and secure prison environment. At some prisons, prisoners are made to wear

6496-504: The disciplinary system advocated by the SIPD. By the 1840s, penal transportation to Australia and the use of hulks was on the decline, and the Surveyor-General of convict prisons, Joshua Jebb , set an ambitious program of prison building in the country, with one large prison opening per year. Pentonville prison opened in 1842, beginning a trend of ever increasing incarceration rates and

6612-419: The economic benefits of providing a free source of hard labor, the proponents of the new penal code also thought that this would deter criminal activity by making a conspicuous public example of consequences of breaking the law. However, what actually ended up happening was frequent spectacles of disorderly conduct by the convict work crews, and the generation of sympathetic feelings from the citizens who witnessed

6728-536: The efficacy of legal reform had declined, as statutory changes had no discernible effect on the level of crime, and the prisons, where prisoners shared large rooms and booty including alcohol, had become riotous and prone to escapes. In response, New York developed the Auburn system in which prisoners were confined in separate cells and prohibited from talking when eating and working together, implementing it at Auburn State Prison and Sing Sing at Ossining . The aim of this

6844-470: The end of the 17th century, houses of correction were absorbed into local prison facilities under the control of the local justice of the peace. England used penal transportation of convicted criminals (and others generally young and poor) for a term of indentured servitude within the general population of British America between the 1610s and 1776. The Transportation Act 1717 made this option available for lesser crimes, or offered it by discretion as

6960-478: The eyes of the public. They suggested that prisoners be sent to secluded "houses of repentance" where they would be subjected (out of the view of the public) to "bodily pain, labor, watchfulness, solitude, and silence ... joined with cleanliness and a simple diet". Pennsylvania soon put this theory into practice, and turned its old jail at Walnut Street in Philadelphia into a state prison, in 1790. This prison

7076-449: The facility and also to allow a smaller prison staff to monitor prisoners directly, often using a decentralized "podular" layout. (In comparison, 19th-century prisons had large landings and cell blocks which permitted only intermittent observation of prisoners.) Smaller, separate and self-contained housing units known as "pods" or "modules" are designed to hold 16 to 50 prisoners and are arranged around exercise yards or support facilities in

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7192-493: The first half of the 19th century, capital punishment came to be regarded as inappropriate for many crimes that it had previously been carried out for, and by the mid-19th century, imprisonment had replaced the death penalty for the most serious offenses except for murder. The first state prison in England was the Millbank Prison , established in 1816 with a capacity for just under 1,000 inmates. By 1824, 54 prisons had adopted

7308-538: The gang were hanged or transported . In addition, 14 of the gang had their bodies hung in chains (gibbeted). Gibbeting was usually reserved for murderers and occasionally mail robbers ; so was an unusual punishment for smugglers, but reflected how seriously the authorities took the actions of the Hawkhurst Gang. In Kent and Sussex there are numerous 'memorials' and plaques commemorating those gang members executed and gibbeted in 1749. On Broyle Road, in Chichester, there

7424-464: The gang: high taxation on luxury goods in the early 18th century had led to an upsurge in smuggling, and the gang brought in brandy, silk and tobacco up from Rye and Hastings to be stowed away in hidden cellars and passages, before being sold off to the local gentry. It was reputed that when needed for a smuggling run, 500 mounted and armed men could be assembled within the hour. The Battle of Goudhurst eventually brought their career to an end. In 1886,

7540-450: The general population, usually for safety reasons, such as those within solitary confinement, celebrities, political figures and former law enforcement officers, those convicted of sexual crimes and/or crimes against children, or those on the medical wing or protective custody. Generally, when an inmate arrives at a prison, they go through a security classification screening and risk assessment that determines where they will be placed within

7656-500: The general population. This leads to a high demand for medical services, and in countries such as the US that do not provide tax-payer funded healthcare, prison is often the first place that people are able to receive medical treatment (which they could not afford outside). Some prison medical facilities include primary care , mental health services, dental care , substance abuse treatment, and other forms of specialized care, depending on

7772-515: The goods, made an agreement with the local men to recover the contraband. Thirty armed men, including Thomas Kingsmill , his lieutenant William Fairall , and about seven other Hawkhurst men, rode to Poole, stopping to rest in the New Forest . Arriving in Poole, at about 11 pm, they found that the customs house was under the guns of a naval sloop . The more local men were for abandoning the attempt, but

7888-514: The government authorities in the 1740s. Hawkhurst Hawkhurst is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent , England. The village is located close to the border with East Sussex , around 12 miles (19 km) south-east of Royal Tunbridge Wells and within the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty . Hawkhurst is virtually two villages: The Moor, to

8004-461: The grounds to work or partake in activities during the day. Some countries (such as Great Britain ) also have "open" prisons where prisoners are allowed home-leave or part-time employment outside of the prison. Suomenlinna Island facility in Finland is an example of one such "open" correctional facility. The prison has been open since 1971 and, as of September 2013, the facility's 95 male prisoners leave

8120-430: The heinousness of his complicated crimes deserved and which was the next day most justly inflicted upon his accomplices. As a memorial to posterity and a warning to this and succeeding generations this stone is erected AD 1749. According to the author Alex Preston , a street named Dumb Woman's Lane , located near Winchelsea , owes its name to the smugglers removing the tongue of a local woman after she informed on them to

8236-523: The hundred of Henhurst in the Rape of Hastings , East Sussex . The name Hawkhurst is derived from Old English heafoc hyrst , meaning a wooded hill frequented by hawks – 'Hawk Wood'. Hurst (Hyrst) in a place name refers to a wood or wooded area – there are several in West Kent and East Sussex. The 11th-century Domesday Monachorum refers to the village as Hawkashyrst , belonging to Battle Abbey . In 1254,

8352-520: The inmates for food, drink, and other services, and the system was generally corruptible. One reform of the seventeenth century was the establishment of the London Bridewell as a house of correction for women and children. It was the first facility to make any medical services available to prisoners. With the widely used alternative of penal transportation halted in the 1770s, the immediate need for additional penal accommodations emerged. Given

8468-417: The journey. The Customs Service offered a large reward of £500 for their capture. Several months after the raid, a member of the gang known as Diamond was captured and gaoled at Chichester . He had been recognised by a Fordingbridge resident, a shoemaker named Daniel Chater, who was given a small bag of tea by Diamond. Chater may not have intended to betray Diamond, but word of his knowledge got around. He

8584-411: The largest Barnardo's home for orphans under six years old was built in Hawkhurst, caring for hundreds of babies. It was known as Babies' Castle, and followed nine inspiring principles, known as "The Nine Nos": Unfortunately, the building stood neglected for many years and was eventually redeveloped into a care home for the elderly, Hawkhurst House, in 2017. In 1903 Gunther and his wife Leonie bought

8700-490: The late 17th century and during the 18th century, popular resistance to public execution and torture became more widespread both in Europe and in the United States. Particularly under the Bloody Code , with few sentencing alternatives, imposition of the death penalty for petty crimes, such as theft, was proving increasingly unpopular with the public; many jurors were refusing to convict defendants of petty crimes when they knew

8816-468: The leadership of Cesare Lombroso (1835–1909). Another prominent prison reformer who made important contributions was Alexander Paterson who advocated for the necessity of humanizing and socializing methods within the prison system in Great Britain and America. Prisons employ people to run and maintain the prison while keeping control of the inmates. Oftentimes, the number of people employed within

8932-431: The level of security. Remotely controlled doors, CCTV monitoring, alarms, cages, restraints , nonlethal and lethal weapons, riot-control gear and physical segregation of units and prisoners may all also be present within a prison to monitor and control the movement and activity of prisoners within the facility. Modern prison designs have increasingly sought to restrict and control the movement of prisoners throughout

9048-484: The local gang, then taken north to the Red Lion Inn at Rake . After burying the customs officer alive in a nearby fox earth they kept Chater chained to a shed at Trotton for several days before deciding to kill him. They threw Chater down a well at Lady Holt Park and dropped stones on top of him. Although smuggling gangs were generally supported by the local population as they provided much-needed and well-paid work,

9164-522: The militia were well enough trained to shoot dead Kingsmill's brother George in the first volley of the Battle of Goudhurst fought around the St. Mary's church . Two more smugglers died before the gang withdrew. The gang members were not only smugglers but robbers and extortionists. Arthur Gray was apprehended in 1748 and indicted on charges of felonious assembly with the intention of carrying away goods that customs duty had not been paid – in other words smuggling. He

9280-462: The mistreatment of the convicts. The laws quickly drew criticism from a humanitarian perspective (as cruel, exploitative and degrading) and from a utilitarian perspective (as failing to deter crime and delegitimizing the state in the eyes of the public). Reformers such as Benjamin Rush came up with a solution that would enable the continued use of forced labor while keeping disorderly conduct and abuse out of

9396-593: The modern prison was imported to Europe in the early 19th-century. Prior forms of punishment were usually physical, including capital punishment, mutilation , flagellation (whipping), branding , and non-physical punishments, such as public shaming rituals (like the stocks ). From the Middle Ages up to the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe, imprisonment was rarely used as a punishment in its own right, and prisons were mainly to hold those awaiting trial and convicts awaiting punishment. However, an important innovation at

9512-469: The murderous brutality of the gang had turned the residents against them. At Goudhurst , the people formed the Goudhurst Band Of Militia led by "General" William Sturt, a former army corporal. Enraged by this defiance, Thomas Kingsmill , a native of the town, threatened to burn the town and kill the residents, setting an appointed time, 21 April 1747. When the gang attacked on the appointed day,

9628-452: The name was recorded as Hauekehurst ; in 1278, it is often shown as Haukhurst ; by 1610, it had changed to Hawkherst , which then evolved into the current spelling. The village is located towards the Eastern end of the Weald, where iron has been produced from Roman times. The Weald produced over a third of all iron in Britain, and over 180 sites have been found across the Weald. Ironstone

9744-493: The needs of the inmate population and the willingness of the prison to provide for these needs. Health care services in many prisons have long been criticized as inadequate, underfunded, and understaffed, and many prisoners have experienced abuse and mistreatment at the hands of prison medical staff who are entrusted with their care. In the United States, a million incarcerated people suffer from mental illness without any assistance or treatment for their condition. The tendency of

9860-599: The overall social system. The book analyzed changes in Western penal systems during the modern age based on historical documents from France. Foucault argues that prison did not become the principal form of punishment just because of the humanitarian concerns of reformists . He traces the cultural shifts that led to the predominance of prison via the body and power. Prison used by the "disciplines" – new technological powers that can be found, according to Foucault, in places such as schools, hospitals, and military barracks. From

9976-497: The parish. Since boundary changes in the 2010 general election, Hawkhurst is part of the parliamentary constituency of Tunbridge Wells, represented by Conservative Greg Clark . Prior to this it was in the Maidstone and The Weald constituency, formerly represented by Ann Widdecombe . Hawkhurst (Kent) lies at the intersection of the A229 and A268 (see map). The village lies on the route of

10092-466: The prison grounds on a daily basis to work in the corresponding township or commute to the mainland for either work or study. Prisoners can rent flat-screen televisions, sound systems, and mini-refrigerators with the prison-labor wages that they can earn—wages range between 4.10 and €7.30 per hour. With electronic monitoring , prisoners are also allowed to visit their families in Helsinki and eat together with

10208-635: The prison staff. Prisoners in Scandinavian facilities are permitted to wear their own clothes. There are fundamental differences between the security level of men's prisons and that of women's prisons. Male prisons tend to have higher, or more severe, security levels/classifications than female prisons. This is even noticeable when comparing the construction and design of male prisons which tend to have very tall walls and towers, barbed wire and other serious security measures whereas these types of high level security measures are absent at many female prisons. This

10324-455: The prison system. Classifications are assigned by assessing the prisoner's personal history and criminal record, and through subjective determinations made by intake personnel (which include mental health workers, counselors, clerical staff, sheriff deputies, prison unit managers, and others). This process will have a major impact on the prisoner's experience, determining their security level, educational and work programs, mental health status (e.g.

10440-437: The prison was constructed, and the level of funding available to procure new equipment. Prisoners are often served food in a large cafeteria with rows of tables and benches that are securely attached to the floor. However, inmates that are locked in control units, or prisons that are on "lockdown" (where prisoners are made to remain in their cells all day) have trays of food brought to their cells and served through "chuck-holes" in

10556-506: The quality of life for prisoners, who have large amounts of empty time on their hands that can be occupied with reading. This time spent reading has a variety of benefits including improved literacy, ability to understand rules and regulations (leading to improved behavior), ability to read books that encourage self-reflection and analysis of one's emotional state, consciousness of important real-world events, and education that can lead to successful re-entry into society after release. In 2024,

10672-520: The sister church in Goudhurst . An active Baptist Church is in Cranbrook Road, built partly on the site of the original Rootes cycle factory. A Methodist church on Highgate Hill is now being converted to a domestic dwelling: the congregation now holds services in Dunk's Almshouses. All Saints' Church, Rye Road was a former chapel of ease for St Laurence's at Highgate. Built in 1861 by Sir George Gilbert Scott,

10788-477: The south, consists mainly of cottages clustered around a large triangular green, while Highgate, to the north, features a colonnade of independent shops, two country pubs, hotels, a digital cinema in a converted lecture hall, and Waitrose and Tesco supermarkets. There are four designated conservation areas in Hawkhurst parish – one at Sawyers Green, two in Highgate (Highgate and All Saints' Church) and one at The Moor. There are also over 200 listed buildings across

10904-650: The spring of 1748. Parham Park was owned by Sir Cecil Bishopp, 6th Baronet . In October 1747, members of the gang led a successful raid against a government Custom House in Poole in Dorset , which was holding about thirty hundredweight (3,360 lbs) of tea, thirty-nine casks of brandy and rum, and a small bag of coffee captured from the smugglers' ship Three-Brothers in September. The shipment from Guernsey , worth about £500 (equivalent to £101,472 in 2023), had been organised by

11020-428: The terms prison and jail have separate definitions, though this is not always adhered to in casual speech. Outside of the United States, prison and jail often have the same meaning. In New Zealand , the terms "jail" and "prison" are commonly used, although the terms "correctional facility" and "prison" among others are in official usage. In Papua New Guinea , "prison" is officially used, although "jail"

11136-465: The time was the Bridewell House of Corrections, located at Bridewell Palace in London, which resulted in the building of other houses of correction . These houses held mostly petty offenders, vagrants, and the disorderly local poor. In these facilities, the inmates were given " prison labor " jobs that were anticipated to shape them into hardworking individuals and prepare them for the real world. By

11252-428: The undeveloped institutional facilities, old sailing vessels , termed hulks , were the most readily available and expandable choice to be used as places of temporary confinement . While conditions on these ships were generally appalling, their use and the labor thus provided set a precedent which persuaded many people that mass incarceration and labor were viable methods of crime prevention and punishment. The turn of

11368-463: The use of prison as the primary form of crime punishment. Robert Peel's Gaols Act of 1823 introduced regular visits to prisoners by chaplains, provided for the payment of jailers and prohibited the use of irons and manacles. In 1786, the state of Pennsylvania passed a law that mandated that all convicts who had not been sentenced to death would be placed in penal servitude to do public works projects such as building roads , forts , and mines. Besides

11484-734: The women to sew and to read the Bible. In 1817, she helped to found the Association for the Reformation of the Female Prisoners in Newgate. The theory of the modern prison system was born in London, influenced by the utilitarianism of Jeremy Bentham . Bentham's panopticon introduced the principle of observation and control that underpins the design of the modern prison. The notion of prisoners being incarcerated as part of their punishment and not simply as

11600-440: The world, and the types of facilities within prisons depend on many intersecting factors including funding, legal requirements, and cultural beliefs/practices. Nevertheless, in addition to the cell blocks that contain the prisoners, there are also certain auxiliary facilities that are common in prisons throughout the world. Prisons generally have to provide food for a large number of individuals, and thus are generally equipped with

11716-533: Was rehabilitative : the reformers talked about the penitentiary serving as a model for the family and the school and almost all the states adopted the plan (though Pennsylvania went even further in separating prisoners). The system's fame spread and visitors to the U.S. to see the prisons included de Tocqueville who wrote Democracy in America as a result of his visit. The use of prisons in Continental Europe

11832-649: Was acquitted. Kingsmill, Fairall and Perrin were found guilty and sentenced to death. Richard Glover was found guilty, but recommended for mercy by the Jury and became the only member of the gang to be pardoned. Jeremiah Curtis escaped before he could be brought to justice. He went to northern France, joining the Irish Brigade in Gravelines . Kingsmill, Fairall and Perrin were executed at Tyburn on 26 April 1749. The bodies of Thomas Kingsmill and William Fairall were delivered to

11948-404: Was also Lord Lieutenant of Kent in 1926. Philip Langridge , the 20th-century operatic tenor, was born in Hawkhurst. Gaol A prison , also known as a jail , gaol , penitentiary , detention center , correction center , correctional facility , remand center , hoosegow , and slammer , is a facility where people are imprisoned against their will under the authority of

12064-509: Was based in Enlightenment ideas of utilitarianism and rationalism , and suggested that prisons should simply be used as a more effective substitute for public corporal punishments such as whipping, hanging, etc. This theory, referred to as deterrence , claims that the primary purpose of prisons is to be so harsh and terrifying that they deter people from committing crimes out of fear of going to prison. The second theory, which saw prisons as

12180-495: Was built about 1350 and has been described as one of the finest pieces of architecture in the country. Most of the rest of the church dates from around 1450, when the nave was lengthened and raised, the aisles, porches and tower added, and it took on its present appearance. The room over the North porch was used by Battle Abbey officials for rent collecting, and used to be called "The Treasury". In 1574, communion rails were introduced at

12296-495: Was closed in 1961. The station site is now an industrial area just off the Cranbrook Road, but some original buildings are still standing and in a good state of preservation. The nearest open station is now Etchingham . Hawkhurst is served by the Stagecoach South East bus routes 254, 304 and 349. These provide connections to Tunbridge Wells , Wadhurst , Robertsbridge , Battle , Bodiam and Hastings . The village

12412-579: Was executed at Tyburn on Wednesday 11 May 1748. In 1748 the government issued a list of men wanted for murders, burglaries and robberies in Sussex as well as the Custom-house break-in at Poole. The list was published in The London Gazette along with a request for information leading to the arrest of the smugglers. Any informant was promised a royal pardon and as a further encouragement it offered

12528-490: Was known as the desmoterion or "the place of chains". The Romans were among the first to use prisons as a form of punishment rather than simply for detention. A variety of existing structures were used to house prisoners, such as metal cages, basements of public buildings, and quarries . One of the most notable Roman prisons was the Mamertine Prison , established around 640 B.C. by Ancus Marcius . The Mamertine Prison

12644-643: Was later called as a witness by the customs service, but he and an elderly revenue officer, William Galley, got lost while travelling to the remote downland village of East Marden to identify Diamond to a Justice of the Peace , Major Battine. They stopped at the White Hart Inn at Rowlands Castle , a smugglers pub, where the landlady fetched smugglers William Jackson and William Carter to investigate them. They were given drink until they fell asleep and their documents were discovered, beaten and tied to horses by members of

12760-474: Was located within a sewer system beneath ancient Rome and contained a large network of dungeons where prisoners were held in squalid conditions contaminated with human waste . Forced labor on public works projects was also a common form of punishment. In many cases, citizens were sentenced to slavery , often in ergastula (a primitive form of prison where unruly slaves were chained to workbenches and performed hard labor). There were numerous prisons not only in

12876-522: Was married to Thomas Lillywhite. Sir Cecil wrote two letters to the Lord Justice in an appeal for clemency, on behalf of Thomas Lillywhite. The Lord Justice, wrote back admonishing Sir Cecil for his views. Thomas Lillywhite's defence was that he looked after the horses while the Poole raid was taking place, he was not aware of what was happening at the time, also he was not armed. Sir Cecil Bishopp provided one of his character references. Thomas Lillywhite

12992-562: Was modeled on what became known as the "Pennsylvania system" (or "separate system"), and placed all prisoners into solitary cells with nothing other than religious literature, made them wear prison uniforms , and forced them to be completely silent to reflect on their wrongs. New York soon built the Newgate state prison in Greenwich Village, which was modeled on the Pennsylvania system, and other states followed. But, by 1820, faith in

13108-495: Was never as popular as it became in the English-speaking world , although state prison systems were largely in place by the end of the 19th century in most European countries. After the unification of Italy in 1861, the government reformed the repressive and arbitrary prison system they inherited, and modernized and secularized criminal punishment by emphasizing discipline and deterrence. Italy developed an advanced penology under

13224-457: Was one of its most brutal members. It was Curtis who led the whipping and beating to death of Richard Hawkins, a farm labourer from Walberton whom they suspected of stealing two bags of the gang's tea. Hawkins was taken to the Dog and Partridge inn at Slindon to be interrogated. When he died of his injuries, his body was found weighted with rocks in a lake 12 miles (19 km) away at Parham Park in

13340-472: Was taken away and never seen again. The gang generally operated freely in the area, as when in 1744 they unloaded a considerable amount of contraband from three large cutters at Pevensey , from which the smuggled goods were carried inland by around 500 pack horses. Sometime in the early 1740s Jeremiah Curtis, who had been part of a violent gang in the Hastings area, joined forces with the Hawkhurst Gang, and

13456-471: Was taken from clay beds, then heated with charcoal from the abundant woods in the area. The iron was used to make everything from Roman ships to medieval cannon, and many of the Roman roads in the area were built to transport the iron. William Penn , founder of the state of Pennsylvania , is erroneously claimed to have owned ironworks at Hawkhurst. The industry eventually declined during the industrial revolution of

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