The Coldbath Fields Prison had a reputation for being extremly severe and cruel. It was often overcrowed and contained men, women, and children without much separation. The turnkeys were encouraged to be cruel and abusive by the magistrates who were in charge. Prisoners had little food or space, the prison was poorly ventilated making it easy for disease to spread. Coldbath prison was known for executing two specifc punishments effectively, the first called the tread-wheel which was a machine designed for prisoners to climb a set of stairs continuously, this punishment was designed to help "reform" prisoners with the idea of work and the prisoners were forced to walk on it for upwards of six hours a day. The second punishment was the silent system, where the prisoners were not allowed to talk or communicate in any way.
In Oliver Twist, Tom Chitling is imprisoned in what is implied to be either Coldbath Fields prison or one similar. He shows up at Fagin's after he had gotten out of prison only an hour before after having been there for six weeks. He mentions how he had to wear regulation uniform and that his own personal clothing was fumigated to kill off vermin (pg. 154). Later on in the novel when Chitling is conversing with Fagin about Betsy and Chitling says "I shouldn't have been milled, if it hadn't been for her advice," (pg. 193) with the word "milled" which is in reference to him being sent to prison and forced to work on the treadmill.
Works Cited
“Free Thinking - The Dark History of the Treadmill.” BBC Radio 3, BBC, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4w8bVrKRqQDP4fKl0b8XzdW/the-d…. Accessed 10 Feb., 2021.
Mayhew, Henry. Prisoners Working At The Tread-wheel, And Others Exercising, In The 3rd Yard Of The Vagrants' Prison, Coldbath Fields. 1864. Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coldbath-fields-treadmill-mayhew-p306.jpg. Accessed 10 Feb., 2021.
