Biography Of John Howard
John Howard was the son of a deeply religious Englishman. He lived on a family property in Cardington, near Bedford. There, his habit of exact observation on natural history led to his work for the Royal Society, despite his weak health. He tried to help tenants on the property by providing better housing and paying for the education of children.
On a trip to Portugal, John Howard first became aware of the horrors of prisons when the British merchant ship on which he was traveling was captured by a French privateer. He and his fellow passengers were kept below deck in subhuman conditions for the rest of the voyage.
He was transferred to an even worse setting in a French dungeon. Eventually, John Howard was traded for a French naval officer. In 1773, John Howard was appointed High Sheriff of Bedfordshire. Now in charge of the English jail, he was shocked by the abysmal conditions of the cells.
It was here that John Howard seriously began his quest for prison reform, wanting to abolish atrocities, such as the wearing of spiked collars and chains and prisoners paying their jailers for release. He visited almost every county in England, Wales and Scotland traveling no fewer than 7,000 miles in 1779 alone.
John Howard assembled his experiences and observations into a booklet entitled “The State of the Prisons”, which was published in 1777 and which eventually formed the foundation for what is known as the Penitentiary Act of 1779.
John Howard died of the Plague in 1790, ironically while investigating the terrible prison conditions in Russia. On his tomb were engraved the words: “Whosoever Thou Art Standest at the Grave of Thy Friend”.