Why Was Victorian Poverty So Horrific? | Secrets From The Clink | Absolute History

Secrets from the Clink follows Len Goodman, Johnny Vegas, Michelle Collins, Mariella Frostrup, and Daisy McAndrew as they find out about the crimes their ancestors committed dating back to the Victorian Era and the punishments they received for the crimes.
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[@AbsoluteHistory]

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[@dorenerussell2668]

Horrible

[@Rebelartist83]

​@@dorenerussell2668it's easier to watch these things for free on YT but they shouldn't compare themselves to Netflix they're actually a little better and aren't making in accurate garbage and at least they probably could get Cleopatra correct 😂😂😂😆😂

[@joshlock4627]

From Sydney and studied our 1st fleet plus Your video is CRAP 💩. No idea about the Victorian penal system / living environment. Why are your yuppy guests crying ? “Well done Henry “. “It terrible”. It was life back then - Grow Up !! They never knew their criminal ancestors . Look at Fossy Jaw etc . Suffered by Victorian woman / Whitechapel prostitution, the ten bells etc Sir Robert Peel started the police force in early Victorian times . He initiated Scotland Yard The worse was being transported to Australia 🇦🇺. You must survive the transportation . Then even worse - port Arthur / port Macquarie , if further misbehaviour Australia was by far the worse Botany Bay was NOT a penal colony, Port Jackson / Sydney harbour was the 1st penal location . Everyday was hard labour - no labour - the colony died . Governor Phillip was a great fair man . Woman prisoners were part of a draft to penal marines - as a sexual partner Bring back capital punishment

[@wasnt_it]

it really is just as bad as netflix! well done

[@priyosmitabanerjee8155]

Remnants of human rights violations.

[@mizpappas]

I had a great grandfather who was imprisoned for stealing bread. He was only released because England was fighting with India, and they were scouring the Commonwealth to send soldiers to the Indian fronts. That's how my great-grandfather was released. They sent him to India, where he rode a horse in battle. What a life

[@delia_watercolors]

And likely got to see many great monsters or beasts to the untrained eye- elephants!

[@drfate7863]

@@delia_watercolors No, war elephants weren't used by then. It was too easy to scare an elephant away, a few gunshots and the damn thing will turn around and trample everyone in the process.

[@combatduckie]

i love geneology and learning about former century predecessors, i coild find nothing really interesting in my family, just boring 9(!) generations of farmers on the same farming property in a Bavarian village....i found it in a book someone wrote on each of the farms and houses in my village and which i accidentally came across on the web, was very interesting, even early-20th-century photographs of our farm where i grew up.

[@deborrahkimpalmer1752]

That my heart so sad

[@DameDarcy999]

Wow! What a personality Grandpa must have had

[@109367]

A friend of mine is from Sydney and got curious about her history and found out that nearly all of her ancestors were former British prisoners, which I don't think is all that uncommon but one of them was a young girl, 13-14 years old just like in this video. She was from a poor background and her family pretty much sold her into a life of servitude to a nobleman where she would work various jobs around the estate. I guess when you're poor and need the money, you just sell your children? Anyways, she was rebellious and angry about being sold, and also a child, children do dumb things, who knows, maybe she was being mistreated, no one knows, but she decided to set a bale of hay on fire. Well ... for some reason, I forget why but it WAS explained to me, but the burning of the hay bale was seen as an act of treason, which is of course a capital crime. The community was appalled that a 14 year old girl was going to be sentenced to hang, so they created a petition and her sentence was reduced to a life of labor in Australia ... I want to say Woolloomooloo, in NSW where she met her husband. The husband was an odd story, his family was not poor, they were more upper middle class, dad owned several stores and the family was very well off. He put his oldest son in charge of a store but didn't pay him much, he's family, you shouldn't expect to get paid ... I guess. Well, he got tired of that and started skimming money and stealing product. In a misguided effort to teach his son a lesson, the father informed the police, thinking they might show up and scare him, might even arrest him and hold him in jail for a bit. Nope, charged with larceny and sentenced to the prison camp in Australia. But yeah, interesting story.

[@Vexarax]

That's so interesting, thank you for sharing 🙏

[@coffeetime3293]

Your story is worth a book!!

[@mrs.garcia6978]

How’d she get out?

[@smartcaja6681]

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. Jared Diamond in his book Upheaval shares some similar stories in the chapter about Australia.

[@bunk95]

Slaves told of with that fiction?

[@Billhatestheinternet]

So we have gone from for-profit prisons, to state run, and now back to for profit; to include debtors prison (can't pay bail, fine, or you have been sued out of existence with wage garnishment, to prison you go). What a world we live in.

[@NOONE-cd4gu]

I thought the story of Jean ValJean being imprisoned for 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread was an exaggeration. Now i realize it is not . This is so sad😔

[@williamcarrion6895]

5 years for what he did. The rest because he tried to run..

[@NOONE-cd4gu]

@@williamcarrion6895 yes 24601

[@mariej2468]

@@williamcarrion6895 You are simply the best!😄

[@Eruanne]

The play is literally called The Miserable Ones for a reason. I agree it's absurd and insane though, how human beings treat one another with that shit. Like literally, "have you thought about just not being poor?"

[@NOONE-cd4gu]

@@Eruanne yesss. Like they expected people who spent 20-30 years in prison to go out there and be able to afford food and a home and find a job immediately

[@Starae336]

That debtors prison would of turned a lot of previously good people into extremely angry criminals! Way to go society!

[@worldadventuretravel]

I don't know how more people don't draw a direct line between the living and working conditions of the European poor and working classes and the utter failure of the monarchy. Dynasty after dynasty, monarchs and their lesser aristocrats designed an entire system only to suit themselves- and having a permanent underclass a day away from starvation or homelessness was all part of the plan. Add in the English Parliament's failure to do anything on top of the failure of Queen Victoria- during this era- and you really have to wonder why the Brits didn't overthrow the entire system. Even now, they've crowned themselves yet ANOTHER pointless king. It defies reason. At least, now we know why so many people ran away from Europe to try and make better lives for themselves in the States. And we DEFINITELY know why labor strikes are the only way to exercise power against the ruling classes, as true today as it was then.

[@bunk95]

Debtors, prisons and criminals are fictional.

[@Saturnia2014]

​@@worldadventuretravelThe US is a whole other nightmare on its own with anglo cruelty foundations.

[@Reece-Mincher3601]

@@worldadventuretravel If we didn't have a king we wouldn't be the united kingdom, we'd just be the 52nd state, fuck THAT!

[@generallylevel-headed9671]

The old man's perspective of his ancestor certainly changed during the course of this video. To see him go from rather stern and militant to compassionate towards Henry was really touching and encouraging. Sometimes, it just has to hit close to home to get through.

[@daniig62]

Empathy shouldn’t rely on personal experience.

[@crazycorgiladyus7418]

@@daniig62 exactly. Empathy that has to rely on personal experience in order to exist doesn’t really qualify much as empathy whatsoever

[@monarch3495]

@@crazycorgiladyus7418 why not? Who cares what it takes to learn empathy if it makes a better person at the end of the day.

[@monarch3495]

@@daniig62 why not? We all have to learn empathy, we all have to grow. Isn’t it good that he gained an understanding and compassion for Henry over the documentary?

[@daniig62]

@@monarch3495 empathy doesn’t work that way. You either have it or don’t. You’re thinking of sympathy.

[@aclem8246]

In a world were you had to work 12 hour days six days a week and more which didn't provide a living wage, I can see why people ended up "in trouble". That and outright slavery bought the huge mansions that your betters enjoyed.

[@ExUSSailor]

How is that any different than today?

[@cjlooklin1914]

@@ExUSSailor It's not, but people sure are indoctrinated to love capitalism...

[@carolinpurayidom4570]

@@ExUSSailor Not really there is a vast difference given you live in the western develoed world

[@ginmar8134]

@@ExUSSailor Are you serious? How spoiled you are.

[@ginmar8134]

@@cjlooklin1914 That's not true, Berniac.

[@teresaalbrecht2283]

Thank you for all the great videos. I watch everything you put out. I can say with 99% certainty that if I was transported back to these times I would be dead in less than a week. I am so grateful to my ancestors for making it thru. It was no small thing. Just to be a child in these times must have been horrific. These videos always fill me with gratitude for my comfortable life.

[@kiki_yagelovskaya]

We'll all find out soon if we are worth our salt ourselves.

[@ukeyaoitrash2618]

@@kiki_yagelovskaya What you talking about? That Ukraining thing isn't going to spin out of control since NATO is being smart in exercising constraint, and both countries are seeing progress in talks already too so it might be over relatively soon. I'm going to my favorite Hungarian anime convention this weekend with my best friends there and a big free hug sign, hug everyone, make more friends, dance, life, and have fun. Life is good!

[@kiki_yagelovskaya]

@@ukeyaoitrash2618 I envy your innocence.

[@moocyfarus8549]

@@ukeyaoitrash2618 oh so you think NATO and the UN want you to have a top-level quality of life, they blatantly say they want you to have nothing and be happy about it,,, enjoy your nonsense fair and you're free love I'm glad that at your age I was hustling and working and learning skills,, cuz if NATO doesn't drag us back to the medieval days the Sun is going to drive us back to the Stone Age

[@angelacable7517]

Well said

[@stitchedtogether88]

"Prison is about making you a better person" is the funniest thing I've heard today

[@kesakary]

If it does for some, what you do say you?

[@TheMattc999]

@@kesakary the only thing prisons (at least in the U.S.) do is make you a better criminal and almost guarantee that you will need those skills because they also make it impossible for you to earn a good living legally.

[@pansprayers]

In civilized countries, it usually does. Norway, Sweden and others are closing down prisons due to lack of occupancy. Maybe if the US would get a clue and stop being a profit system, it wouldn't be an international joke 🤷‍♂️

[@OmniaViridis]

Is that how they think you do that? Being treated unhuman?

[@OmniaViridis]

@@kesakary do we continue on a path that helps few and hurts more? Or do we fix a sytem that works for most?

[@kathyinwonderlandl.a.8934]

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Unbelievable how little has changed in regards to financial status…and that makes me so angry.

[@avamasquerade]

I'm curious how you see you no longer have debtor prisons, prisoners are no longer sentenced to hard labor, child labor laws have been enacted, you no longer have capital punishment or exile, you have social service systems that help house, clothe, and feed the poor, and yet you say things are just the same, I mean, you're surrounded by the changes, they're quite literally everywhere...I'm not saying everything's great, not by a long shot, but I fail to see how entrenching ourselves in a delusional state of learned helplessness by minimizing the accomplishments of people in the past, and gaslighting people into believing everything is just as horrific as it's always been will fix things...unless the point is to not fix things at all.. in which case, carry on, triggering collective trauma and repeating the propaganda of our so called helplessness, especially drilling it into the minds of young people is how you'd accomplish said conditioning.

[@debbylou5729]

Yeah, everyone is a virtuous victim

[@_____134]

The grandpa was so dense.. Too rich and desensitized to empathize even with his own ancestor..

[@cjlooklin1914]

Thats just what wealth does to you now a days

[@miciarokiri5182]

Right!? I just wanted to smack him when he said it was easy to keep away from criminals and "stay clean"

[@Katie-mw7pd]

Watch til the end.

[@KarlMarxFanClub]

Republicans want to bring back debtors prison, cut off all SSI, Medicare, and Medicaid. That’s what Mitch the bitch said.

[@MadamFizzgig]

Did you not see the end…?

[@charlesb7019]

And it is all starting all over again today….. we have the rich and the poor and a vanishing middle class.

[@MoniqueAO888]

100 thumbs up...it's really a shame and politians are part of the game, they do not want to change the system because they also are winners...there should be a new "French Revolution"...

[@miciarokiri5182]

Not starting, in many places it has been happening for some time

[@cassiopeia9836]

that is nothing new

[@KarlMarxFanClub]

FDR saved capitalism and Reagan destroyed it. Americans haven’t had a real pay increase in 40 years when you factor inflation. While the top 1% have had a 322% pay increase. Trickle down my ass. It’s beyond evil.

[@JeantheSecond]

The richer get richer. The poor get prison.

[@TheShauNanigans]

It's crazy to think these videos discuss an era that wasn't even 200 years ago. This sounds like hell on earth, and for stealing something like a handkerchief? It's a little eye opening that the rich make the laws the common people follow today too, though. If you're rich enough you avoid most prison time as well. The conditions have thankfully changed, but some things never do it seems (I know conditions can still improve, but we have to agree that they are nothing like this.)

[@NashHinton]

Don't steal handkerchiefs then.

[@TheShauNanigans]

🙄

[@leahvogelsimpson]

The rich sometimes pay for their crimes. Check out the case of Alex Murdaugh, a wealthy former prosecutor in South Carolina. He's not been convicted or sentenced for his many crimes, but his life and career are ruined.

[@ChristelVinot]

@@NashHinton I think the point is that for the poor, stealing a handkerchief will get their life fucked up. But a rich person can steal money, people's souls, whatever... and never be punished.

[@suzannaandrea4306]

They havent changed in other countries. Children are sold for sex exchanged for food and people still live in barbaric prisons the rich stll rule

[@artfuldodger7838]

You're still punished for poverty. Not so outright, but you are still punished for poverty. It's just slavery revisited.

[@SchroderCat]

Drama Queen! Things are better now, even for the most poor, than ever before.

[@dominicidejig]

@@SchroderCat Does that mean it's great? or even that they live decent healthy lives?

[@artfuldodger7838]

@@SchroderCat Ignorance. So much ignorance.

[@TinFoilCat90]

@@dominicidejig You can get free housing through hud, foodstamps, monthly stipends, clothing vouchers all by just filling out paperwork lol

[@LikaLaruku]

In my state, if you're homeless, they give you a free tent & free drugs. Unsurprisingly, more than half of the homeless people here bussed in from other states.

[@JauntyCrepe]

So sad. And sad that in many ways poverty is still criminalized in countries that consider themselves fair

[@JessieBanana]

Pretty sure we’re still punishing people for poverty today and the prison industrial complex is alive and well.

[@uglygarbage7806]

100%

[@mandyconnecteddogs]

amazing how little has actually changed, but we've run out of prison islands. I met a guy once, whose family had started in Namibia, after a great, great grandfather had jumped ship and swum to freedom on the way to Australia

[@chrisbrown8640]

Chris Brown Very true....the hypocracy of those times was stunning , and reflected in the words of a certain Judge when he sentanced a poacher to be transported to Tasmania. " You have had the temerity to adress the Bench without permission....and you have stated impudently and slanderously, that the upper ranks of society care little for the wants and privations of the poor. I deny this positively upon a very extensive knowledge of subjects of this nature ! Indeed, there is not a calamity nor distress incident to the needy and the poor that is not most deeply felt by the rich and well to do ( either of body or mind ). It is they who humbly endeavour to mitigate or relieve such things in this Our Happy Land which for its benevolence, charity and boundless humanity, has been the the admiration of the rest of the world ! But I am not here to determine matters of social justice....I am here to decide the law ! By your crime you have forfeited these inexpressible benefits of your country..... I hope that your fate will serve as a warning to others tempted to violate the Laws of Property... You shall not see your friends and relations in this world again ! "

[@christineb.8475]

My ancestor, Thomas Brush, for whatever reason, came over to the New World and settled on Long Island in the mid 1600s. I was born there all those hundreds of years later. I can't imagine coming to a place that was still wild, sparsely populated, and hoping to start something. He did - the family farm is still there. I wonder what would have happened had he remained in England. They were a hardened people - able to manage cold, heat, grow or find whatever food they could, children born at home with maybe another woman to help her through that. And hopefully they avoided accidents, diseases, and conflicts. No doctors, no running water, no electric, dirt floors, wood fireplaces, cooking by fire, and a hole outside for the privy. They weren't but a few steps away from their stone or bronze age ancestors.

[@gic8849]

My English ancestors settled on Long Island 600 years ago, as well ❤️

[@gic8849]

In “Mosquito Cove” Which is now known as Glen Cove

[@zegrze]

They were so many giant strides away from their stone and bronze age ancestors Christine. You are looking at it from a 'nowadays' perspective. Think about how things were different in the 1970s compared to now and things are much changed in just those 50 years.

[@MyHam-os4bq]

“Oh, Henry! Stupid boy!” He was so invested in his ancestor’s life choices lol. Interesting video!

[@grazynawolska8160]

An ancestor, like your descendant, is still family :)

[@ursulasmith6402]

This is going on today too, all over the world. Is someone can't pay the debt, yes the person still goes to jail to this day. Why do you think they do a credit check? I have a house, they take the house, car, they take the car , money? I don't have any, off I go! Many people don't know that. Why do you think federal Marshall's knock on someone's door because of an unpaid student loan? The person doesn't get taken to Disney land, I don't think so. Education, food and health care should be free, elderly care, too.

[@Medietos]

Gosh, her compassion with tears for the victims does good for those who are exposed today too. Interesting research, I wish I knew how to search for ancestry in neighbouring countries.

[@QUABLEDISTOCFICKLEPO]

You mean the victims of crimes?

[@Medietos]

@@QUABLEDISTOCFICKLEPOThe ones that weren't really criminals but struggling to survive and live, and still got into prison. Like the teenage girl who didn't do anything but run away from a bad situation.did you hear the talk? Yes, today's victims of white-collar crimes.

[@NashHinton]

Thieves aren't victims.

[@SeeMeRolling]

But shes not crying for those struggling today

[@Lori79Butterfly]

Just imagine the trauma we have inherited from our ancestors via epigenetics from these "crimes" that punished the poor and those with the poor accompanying mental health caused by the crushing poverty.

[@kelcritcarroll]

Still going on today!

[@kingnarothept6917]

probably explains the extreme hatred to rich people

[@TinFoilCat90]

you cannot inherit trauma 🤣 saying such a thing just takes away from the people who ACTUALLY experienced the trauma.

[@melanietoth1376]

epigenetics is very real. do a bit of research before commenting.

[@1stSuaria]

@@TinFoilCat90 What they mean is that someone is abused by their parents and goes on to abuse their children. That's what generational trauma is

[@KevinSmith-yy9np]

I've really enjoyed your Edwardian Farm series and picking my way through your Victorian Era videos. I've never been a big history fan but these are great videos, thank you.

[@mfar3016]

I agree!

[@ES11777]

Same here

[@ClepsidraSideral]

Some practices are still going on today. Look at journalist Julian Assange: imprisoned at Belmarsh for more than ten years without being charged. Insane. The brits have been brutal for centuries.

[@missunderstood2274]

It's amazing and touching, in a way, that these people are so expressive and emotional towards their ancestors.

[@trendkiller6611]

Yes, I don't get it. They are getting upset about people who have long since gone to dust.

[@fruithippie]

I am one of those people too. I feel a very strong connection to my ancestors. They are what made me. Without them, I would not be here.

[@natfoote4967]

Common lore of my mother's people is West Virginia, USA, was entirely populated by horse thieves and debtors, who came to hide out in the hills of the Appalachian Mountains, the "Land of Shadows".

[@Eruanne]

I'm so glad debtor's prison is no longer a thing or I wouldn't be here to write this comment. But how people in poverty are treated now is not much better. The rich are disgusted by the poor, and more often than not the only 'solution' given is, "have you thought about just not being poor?"

[@MoniqueAO888]

People were punished, because they just tried to stay alive in a really unfair system, where rich people got richer and richer. Worldwide this system hasn't changed much, only that nowadays most people can at least survive somehow and by "Bread And Games" they are muzzled. But there are always people who want to gain everything the easy way (especially in countries where weapons are easily accessable). In those cases it's not a bad idea to make them work hard physically so that they are exhausted at the end of a day (just like "regular" people) and do not fight other inmates or form gangs and do more illegal stuff.

[@wallet_]

the love and hate the victorian period creating the system we have today while simultaneously creating the corrupt system we have today.

[@slantos2668]

As America is plunging back into the system of for-profit prisons and debtor's prisons, they could learn a lot from watching this history

[@bunk95]

The portion of the slave system marketed with the fiction of America…

[@spacecowgurl57]

Indentured contract servants sent by the ship load to America, Jamaica, etc. If you didn't complete the 10 year contract (slavery) it doubled or a death sentence. These were minor offense. Never recognized by the UK to this day.

[@larissahorne9991]

My Four Times Great Grandma Charlotte Thorpe a Housemaid who stole half a dozen items of Clothing from Her Employers was Transported. But that was before the Victorian Times in about 1812 or 1813. My Four Times Great Grandpa John Oxley a British Explorer originally from Yorkshire would have been in Serious Legal Trouble these days. He sailed under Captain (later Governor) Lachlan Macquarie and was put in charge of Charlotte. By the time They arrived in Australia She was Pregnant with My Distant Great Aunty. They stayed together long enough for My Three Times Great Grandma Francis Oxley Waugh to be born. It would have been Career and Financial Suicide if He'd Married Her, but He took responsibility for His Daughters. He even sent them to England for an Education. He went on to discover Brisbane and was one of the first White People to set foot in The Blue Mountains, just outside Sydney. The Legendary Cricket Players "The Waugh Brothers" from the 90's share these Ancestors.

[@jenniferharrison8915]

My great great grandfather was sentenced to 7 years in Australia, why, because he was unemployed, his parents had died and he was sure to be a burden on society! He had finished his apprenticeship at the other end of England and was stranded and sharing with other boys to save costs, one of them held up a man with a pistol and demanded his watch! My grandfather was the one identified by his housemates and a pistol found under his bed, although he was well educated and respected and of good solid character, he was ordered to be transported to New South Wales! He never saw or heard from any of his siblings, or returned to England again! After surviving two severe convict prisons - Norfolk Island and Macquarie Harbour - he was an indentured farm servant to a brutal retired soldier from St Helena! His previous career qualifications were selling interior fabrics, it was a harsh reality! He was not allowed to change his employer, work his own property, or marry his pregnant sweetheart! After his employer died he finally married his girlfriend and tried to take her and her widowed mother to the Victorian goldfields on a whaling ship to start a life, but he was found out and arrested again! Eventually he was free and found work in the timber industry (he was on 5'7" and covered in old wound scars) then he bought 200 acres of land, built a family legacy on hard labour and determination, had 10 children, educated all the locals, and was a highly valued member of the community as were his sons! Neither he, nor any of his family, ever committed a crime in Australia! So calling Australia the land of the criminals, is certainly untrue! Some were unwanted wives + American, African, French, etc! 🙁

[@bunk95]

Employment is fictional but so is Australia.

[@shopsshire9282]

From 5 minutes and 45 seconds on, when she was describing small business insolvency and high inflation that's so 2022 right now globally.

[@semigoth299]

The actor Alan Napier who portrayed Alfred on the 60s series Batman was a descendant of Charles Dickens and the blonde head kid Chris on the Partridge family is a another direct a double descendant of Dickens

[@luiszuluaga6575]

Crazy cool factoids 😃

[@stevenclark9056]

It’s incredible how much the Legal Expert related to Dickens actually looks like him.

[@Chamelionroses]

The original for profit prisons. Ah how history repeats

[@SeeMeRolling]

The debtors prison just sounds like a mental hospital A place some people actually end up in due to debt or poverty

[@NerderDame]

I like how prisons just scare people into being a better person, since you never would want to go back. But it doesn't really teach or rehabilitate people so they will come back eventually.

[@cymtastique]

A wise man once said, "prison just teaches you to get caught less." Or something like that.

[@heidihemming6689]

I thought I clicked on a video about Victorian era English prisons but instead I got a video about the current US prison system minus the free trip to Australia

[@code-52]

Things have changed...but they ain't changed all that much.

[@eveei]

u can find a lot of problems about modern society that stem from the 1800s. it was a very important developmental period and we're about at that point where bandages won't help anymore. what i mean is just a lot has changed, but stayed the same, which is evident

[@faloo0]

Being soothed and educated in the same moment is so nice. Thanks.

[@charlesovercash8862]

It's no wonder that the Aussie's are so tough. Look what they survived!

[@alexwilliams5799]

Yeah! Conquering natives isn't easy.

[@unicornhollowhomestead]

@@alexwilliams5799 grow up

[@alexwilliams5799]

@@unicornhollowhomestead grow up? Australia was founded on convicts that stole the land from native people.

[@miciarokiri5182]

@@alexwilliams5799 no, it was founded on convicts who were forced there and made to take everything for the sake of England.

[@alexwilliams5799]

@@miciarokiri5182 they were exiled to a penal colony. Most every was racist back then. I don't think anyone had to twist criminals' arms....

[@satsumamoon]

This isnt addressing WHY The title should be "In what way was Victorian poverty horrific" or something along those lines.

[@joslynaarons6885]

How pathetic that Queen Victoria had never anything for the poor. The more I go over the real truth about history and of the monarchy the more I am appalled 😱

[@Vikanuck]

34 years on this planet, just to watch a documentary about poverty, and victorian prisons, and learn that the word ‘quadrangle’ exists haha 😂

[@MaryKane-qv5vz]

In Ireland in the mid 1840's a famine caused the death of one million people while food was exported out of Ireland by the British Administration.

[@lightbeingform]

Imagine what would happen if debtor’s prisons came back… practically everyone would be in the clink.

[@thethoughtfulpeanut6662]

No lie. The facade of the middle-class lifestyle is, for many, achieved and maintained with credit and loans, while unpaid bills accumulate.

[@bluefroggy102]

I think it’s funny at the end they said the Victorians didn’t find anything that worked but sending the criminals to a different mostly inhabited country and giving them land to thrive worked. Unfortunately we can’t do that today but maybe we can give opportunities that change lives instead of punish those who need help or aren’t guilty

[@kalnfornia]

Poverty is horrific in all periods in time

[@HabitualLover]

The rates of imprisonment are the same because the greed against working class people is mostly the same. It’s a shame on Western un-civilization that humans are seen as disposable to industrial wealth. It makes me feel sick.

[@lynnc5291]

What an opportunity…to have clarity about your ancestors and get to walk in their foot steps. I have so many questions.

[@dccatholic2455]

With all that hard labor in the quarry, his ancestor must have been immensely strong.

[@MizzAugust7]

Exactly why- they had "Debtors Prisons" . They had them in America also.

[@klauren7353]

There's so many similarities in names of cities and states that mirror the weather between the UK and the US

[@JohnPiperBoots]

💌💌💌 From across the pond. USA. #Trump2024

[@fortuner123]

How they can cry about all that such a long time ago is strange.

[@JohnPiperBoots]

It is called love, empathy, suympathy and LOVE. ✝✝✝

[@lesleylight4690]

My heart goes out to past victims of this system...shocking.......on saying that we need those prisons back for the truly hardened murders and child perpritrators.

[@maximwilson1482]

The only advantage being the exconvicts ability to start over and not be stigmatized as a felon like today.

[@Rebelartist83]

That older gent having such compassion for young Henry and that lady with the ancestor on the 20$ Aussie note haha I bet she could play her in a movie 😊

[@PossumMedic]

"Work Will Set You Free" hmmm where have I heard that before... 😐

[@KateFergeson]

This channel never fails to inform. Thanks

[@helenheard3512]

Greed, selfishness, and fear of not having their own needs met.

[@pleaseusernamework]

"Punished for poverty" isn't that also known as everyday life?

[@Babymaker83]

Love this channel, thank you for your content!

[@bluejeanmermaid5879]

This is why so many people people fled the U.K. to America in the 18th century. Including my decendants.

[@ViniSocramSaint]

Given the sagave capitalism, classism, and the same system of deep unfairness for profit in any gov institutions in america at the time... I'd say they went from the pan to the fire. The land of the free, where everyone is free to ba a slave

[@fionafiona1146]

To then erect the same system? That's absurd.

[@bettyimages4788]

in the 21st C US, instead of punishing poor people for nothing by sending them to debtor's prison, we just keep them in perpetual debt and deny them healthcare 😳

[@dittohead7044]

Oh my bad. Thought Obama was the great savior of healthcare

[@Leuh]

You can see how easily the unfair system must’ve been accepted and enabled back then just by watching this video and realising that even his modern day relative called him a “stupid boy” for getting jailed again lol And in 100 years they’ll look back at today like wtf

[@klauren7353]

Im so happy the age of adulthood isn't 12 anymore.

[@lolaartemis]

Heck yeah.

[@adopt-a-pet-istanbul]

This was a brilliant episode

[@jeang3258]

The prison system today hasn’t changed much either yet we still expect convicts to reintegrate to society.

[@nessamillikan6247]

With a problem as big as we have now, sadly nothing can change rapidly.

[@christinebutler7630]

Australia began as an English penal colony. People be could be transported for life for extremely minor offenses, even if they were children. And once charged, there was almost no opportunity for any legal defense.

[@willlllow]

privately run commercial prisons? Sounds like the current US prison system…

[@diane9247]

Makes me appreciate my life, such as it's been! 🌿

[@ES11777]

What a silly mindset. You don’t have to appreciate bad things that happened to you just because they weren’t AS bad as what some other people experienced in the past or present.

[@poulkasstill9380]

You must to take action for them don't commit this again....For starting to reinforce OUR Education System ( They Love the "Shallows" Robots they produce Todays ) and Keep History Alive Like This fine Persons Do...!!!

[@ChristelVinot]

at first I thought "well that's lame that they are focusing on the lives of the families of actresses and actors like wtf makes them special" but then as it delved into their personal stories, it made me realize it doesn't matter who the person is... actress, garbage man, politician, ice skater.... any human will do, because they are all real and fascinating. I didn't give a shit about the actress until I just realized her and her family are just as human and just as a part of history as anyone.

[@leahvogelsimpson]

Right. I'm not British but I've never heard of her as an actor.

[@ItsACrazyWorld]

Great content!

[@miracle408]

I absolutely love everything Victorian and love learning about their history / culture . Does anyone know where did she get the information she was reading about her family or does she document where she got her information? Id love to be able to check it out and see that , very cool .

[@wendygreidanus8391]

I'm struck by the empathy of those who learn about their family members' difficult histories. Although they have never known these relations from generations long passed, I wonder if they think, "there but for the grace of God go I".

[@Tahoza]

Watching this as an american is... painful...

[@rioeilat]

The USA isn't much better than this. Working class in your country is as good as slavery, with almost no workers' benefits and insanely low wages.

[@Tahoza]

@@rioeilat That's precisely why it is painful...

[@beachrose88]

Transported by force .not choice. To never return.

[@jciutube724]

In debtors prison, how long would a person be sentenced for a debt under 500 pounds?

[@joslynaarons6885]

I cannot continue looking at this video. I’m nauseous.

[@skeletonizer9529]

If you think pre-Victorian prisons were exploitative, wait until you hear about current day prisons

[@ellyreginald6546]

The Normans or Vikings were unusually cruel.

[@jacquelinea3358]

We could argue it's even harder for an ex convict today to escape poverty and crime because nobody will hire them! In the 19th century you didn't have computer records following you the rest of your life. You just moved to another area where no one knows you and you had a good chance of working and earning a livable wage. Our ex cons have almost nothing positive to look forward to on the "outside." That doesn't excuse returning to crime, but we must give people hope. More employers must take the plunge and hire people with felony records. Government incentives are essential in this effort.

[@johnkeller6063]

They still put those who are behind child support payments in jail. So in a way debters jail still exists in the US

[@CallemJayNZ]

I'm descended from an Australian convict my greatx3 grandfather. He was an Irishman who eventually escaped prison in Australia and moved to New Zealand where he married a Māori woman from Wairoa. He took her name in marriage, their son, my greatx2 grandfather married an Irish settler. From that point on, my family have kept to taking Maori/European partners. Intergenerational hybrids 😉 Ive often been asked if I'm Spanish or Portugese

[@eileenhetherington3704]

Hey, at least folks could get a roof over their heads. Today, IT'S EVEN WORSE. The homeless live outside in tent cities, cardboard shanties or sleep raw. You can be jailed for not paying fines or debts. The jobless and those in debt are turned out of their homes just as mercilessly.

[@solorollo9756]

“It makes you want to cry”….. lol

[@Orc-icide]

I like that the presenters here have real emotions

[@silentvoiceinthedark5665]

2022 in the state of New Jersey in the United States you can still go to prison for owing alimony if you lose your job.

[@deadhorse1391]

They are in prison because they didn’t pay child support not alimony I was in court before when they brought in these folks, some owed $10,000 for 5 kids by different women Judge would ask them what they could pay. Usually paying anything would get them out

[@silentvoiceinthedark5665]

@@deadhorse1391 I was there too, seen a 75 year old man in a wheel chair in the court room get back to the jail because he did not have any money. They dont have 50 % custody so of course there is going to be child support. Most of the people caught up in this trap are black men who are repeatedly jailed for not having a job and then obviously not being able to pay anything. Once they have been to jail nobody will hire them. I spent time helping these people and know their stories intimately. Their alimony and child support are so high that just trying to pay it every month makes them homeless. You can barely afford housing on a two income household. How do you expect someone to not remain homeless if their minimum wage job is garnished? The people at the lowest socioeconomic level continue to be victimized by the prison industrial complex or prison for profit. Look up "institute for justice" There are people in jail for having the wrong color curtains in their homes due to zoning laws who are put into debt for fines and then jailed for the debt from the fine. Do your own research.

[@silentvoiceinthedark5665]

@@deadhorse1391 BTW are you saying child support is not a debt?

[@deadhorse1391]

@@silentvoiceinthedark5665 Someone cannot be put in jail just because they owe money. But the person who owes support is ignoring a court order to pay support, so he or she can be prosecuted for being in contempt of court and could go to jail for that reason. This enforcement tool is generally used as a last resort when all other efforts to collect support have failed. If you show the court that you simply can’t pay most times they will allow you to pay what you can and maybe set up a payment plan The court understands most times it is to no one’s advantage to put people Like this in jail Though the threat may get them to pay their child support they agreed too Today for most people alimony is a thing of the past I don’t see anything bad about expecting a man to help pay for the care of his child

[@maxalberts2003]

@@silentvoiceinthedark5665 Absolutely 100% right on!!!!!!! Thank you. You may call yourself "silent voice in the dark" but I see AND hear you.

[@theNeuo13]

can anyone explain to me what is "garnish" they were talking about?

[@maggiemae7539]

They garnish your paycheck

[@levinolan636]

Poor people are still in prison. On the street,threat of eviction, hungry, scared ....... they do not get any equality under the law. They are still in prison.

[@Unknown-hj7uc]

If they treated their own like this, other races and ppl had no chance....

[@genesis2936]

In the US, there are 2 scenarios you can go to prison fir nonpayment, first is of course not paying ur taxes and the second is alimony !

[@kristy1653]

You can also go for non-payment of court ordered child support.

[@SAOS451316]

It's really quite simple to get rid of prisons. The problem is people aren't willing to do it largely because of all the propaganda for prisons and against what you'd need to do instead. The fact is that wherever you are in the world most of the serious things like r-pe and murder go unpunished much of to most of the time, and most people in prison are nonviolent offenders. Clearly prisons don't keep people safe nor are they a deterrent. Firstly, everyone has the right to live. This needs to be enshrined in the public psyche. Everyone needs a home, clean food and water, an education, healthcare, shelter from the elements, and the ability to communicate with other people. Therefore everyone should have a right to these things. When people have the basics covered they aren't frustrated, they aren't driven to join gangs to protect what little they have, they can get mental health assistance without worry of cost or shame, they develop sympathy for other people more easily, and they won't want to go to war. When people are generally better off they're more willing to be part of a community, and communities are necessary for a social species to thrive and protect itself. No one does a crime for no reason. There is always a reason behind hatred and violence and there's always a reason behind desperation. Find that reason and prevent crime from happening to begin with. There will probably also always be outliers that slip through somehow but they could be much much fewer and we can always learn more and improve society more. If anything, crime, violent crime especially, is a symptom of a society's failure. This isn't even a utopian vision. It is simple, practical, and obvious. Even if you don't want to abolish prison, letting out the people who by any reasonable standard deserve to be out will let you close most of them.

[@sarahcox1197]

I disagree. Crime rates have spiked since we started defunding police, and bail reform has allowed several criminals out of jail only to commit even more violent crimes. Police ARE a deterrent and harsher sentences seem to keep violent crimes from happening at the rate they are currently at. The problem is that our media spins a narrative to the masses playing on their sympathy in order to garner votes for certain individuals and to sew chaos to keep the masses dull and tame. I understand where you are coming from, but your viewpoint comes from a decent, law-abiding perspective. Criminals don't share that perspective, hence they are criminals. We can fund programs to reform the nonviolent offenders, however there was a certain president who actually let free several nonviolent criminals and the crime rate didn't spike when he did that. I think our country has been and is being lied to, and I encourage everyone to fully research this topic before saying things like "abolish prison". It won't work, I promise you that, because it always takes 1 jerk to screw it up for everyone. Consider the idea that perhaps certain laws and systems are in place in order to protect innocent people like you and me, who have not done anything wrong and therefore shouldn't pay the price (with our lives, safety or property) in order to allow the 1 in 100 who will actually reform.

[@SAOS451316]

@@sarahcox1197 They really haven't spiked at all. Cops just throw tantrums whenever they get slightly less money and they go out either arresting more people or causing crimes themselves. When New York City and Seattle were halfway to revolution a year and some ago and all the cops were busy suppressing the people, violent crime rates dropped like a lead balloon except those committed by said pigs, which did spike. You don't know me. I could be the worst person you'll ever encounter. Criminals (tm) are no different to you than someone who lives in another country or has a different skin color. Why do you think when someone is in prison for something truly heinous they are likely to get beat up? There are two kinds of laws. The first are the kind people would follow even if they weren't laws like "Don't kill people". The second are the laws that serve only or ultimately to make people do what the state wants. How many people do you honestly think would go pillage and plunder if only the law told them not to? Of them, what kinds of people are they and why do they want to do it? I have done my research. Years of it. I even have framed pieces of paper saying so, and I say to you: abolish prison. It's barbaric and it has never worked in 8000 years. Maybe keep a few open here and there for those beyond help until they can be helped or they die, but 99% of them can be closed with no detriment to society once proper support systems are in place.

[@ericthompson6598]

With all the horrible shit we still have, at least we don't still have the fucking debtors prison. That's just plain evil, how are you supposed to make the money back if you're in prison?

[@cjcardinal5011]

Damn where tf was this video when I was writing on this last semester 💀💀

[@teshayazzie3095]

Being poor is a crime in America. I was fined $650 for stealing 2 packages of hotdogs to feed my kids.

[@thebigrussian]

stealing is a crime in America 😂

[@landlord5552]

Eccactly, how in the world you can pay off your debt if you are in prison????

[@cyzcyt]

Incredible stories