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GCSE History · key term
A prison system that kept prisoners isolated from one another to prevent harmful influence and encourage reflection and reform.
Used by Edexcel and OCR
Paper 1
Revise: Case Studies: Pentonville Prison and Robert PeelThe separate system meant keeping individual prisoners apart from one another. At Pentonville, prisoners spent as many as 23 hours a day alone. Their cells provided facilities for daily life and work, including a bed, wash basin and a loom for weaving.
Paper 1
The separate system meant isolating prisoners from one another. It was not simply separating men from women or young offenders from hardened criminals.
Do not confuse separating prisoners by sex or offence with the separate system, which isolated individual prisoners.
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A prison regime that isolated prisoners from one another, aiming to prevent criminal influence and encourage reflection, work and religious reform.
Under the separate system, prisoners lived alone in individual cells, where they worked and received religious instruction. They were also kept apart during exercise and worship. The intention was to prevent criminal influence and allow prisoners to reflect on their offences.