“Hell above ground” was its nickname. Newgate Prison in London was a windowless fortress built in the twelfth century. This poorly ventilated, unsanitary prison received all manner of prisoners, from people accused of petty crimes to murderous offenders. The women incarcerated there, often with their children, were held without trial. Most would be deported by ships to the British colonies to work as slave labor.
When Elizabeth (Betsy) Fry (1780-1843) resolved to visit women prisoners at Newgate, most people thought she was crazy. Jesus’ words, “I was in prison, and you visited me,” became her incentive to gain access to the prison, which she finally obtained in 1816. She boldly announced to three hundred hungry, desperate women and children, “I have come with a wish to serve you.” Some didn’t take her seriously, dressed as she was in simple Quaker garb. She returned a second time to read the parable about grace shown to workers from Matthew 20 and spoke of Jesus’ coming to redeem and save. Her detractors insisted prison was a place of punishment, not education and reform.
Betsy taught women in the prison how to sew for profit and started a school for incarcerated children. She successfully repealed laws that advocated the death penalty for stealing bread and lobbied for women to be housed in separate quarters from men. She became synonymous with prison reform in England and was deluged with letters from people wanting to emulate her example. Even Queen Victoria sought an audience with her.
Betsy and her husband Joseph had eleven children. An infirmed aunt came to live with them. More and more arrived at her doorstep to meet her. I have reworked an entry from the early days of her journal into a prayer for God’s sustenance: