Hi Lois, I'm cribbing here from my wife, as she's the knowledgable one on this subject. Penal servitude (PS) was imprisonment with compulsory hard labour for those found guilty of a felony (serious criminal offence) such as physical assault, murder, rape, fraud, grand theft etc. These prisoners were incarcerated in the government run convict prisons, e.g. Pentonville for males, or Millbank for females. PS was introduced in 1853 as a substitute punishment for those criminals who would otherwise have been sentenced to transportation for less than 14 years. The minimum sentence was for three years PS, increased in 1864 to five years for a first offence and seven years for subsequent offences. Imprisonment without hard labour was for those found guilty of lesser crimes, such as petty theft, who were usually held in the local prisons (run by county justices until 1877, when all prisons came under government control). Hope this clarifies Carl ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, August 05, 2009 6:42 AM Subject: [Black Country] Penal Servitude and Imprisonment > > Could someone please explain to me the difference between penal > servitude and imprisonment? Was it that the former had to do hard > labor and the latter could just rest in their cells? > Confused, Lois > ------------------------------------- > The only List that specifically covers the whole of the Black Country. Run > by Black Country folk who were born and still live in the area. > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >