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The Marshalsea was a prison on the south bank of the River Thames in Southwark, now part of London |
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From at least 1329 until it closed in 1842, it housed men under court martial for crimes at sea, including "unnatural crimes", political figures and intellectuals accused of sedition or other inappropriate behaviour, and—most famously—Londons debtors, the length of their stay determined largely by the whim of their creditors |
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Run privately for profit, as were all prisons in England until the 19th century, the Marshalsea looked like an Oxbridge college and functioned largely as an extortion racket |
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more information: |
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Marshalsea |
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