Criminals with minor offenses that were caught had their

freedom removed, and were imprisoned.However, until

the late eighteenth century of England, it was unusual to
imprison guilty people for long terms. Hanging and
transportation were the main punishments for serious
offences. Before the reforms by 1777 by John Howard,
prisons were mostly small, old and badly-run. They were
squalid, overcrowded, unsanitary places. Men women and
children were kept together in degrading surroundings
also prisoners had to provide their own food, and had
little access to fresh water. Furthermore the prisoners
were charged for every service, including being put in
irons, this resulted in prisoners acquiring a debt. If prisoners did not come from means they
would have to beg from local people passing the prison. People who did come from means
would be able to pay off their charge, have more visitors, and even bring pets with them to
jail. Aside from imprisonment, hanging was the most severe punishment for serious offences.
At one point in the 18th century the number of crimes punishable by hanging rose to about 200;
these 200 were comprised of minor offences like picking pockets or stealing food. By 1823,
Sir Robert Peel reduced the number of offences for which convicts could be executed by over
100. Apart from hanging and prison, there was also transportation to colonies to serve
sentences, penal servitude, hard labor, physical punishment in the form of whipping, sending to
the armed forces, and being given a fine.