John Howard (prison reformer)

John Howard ( born September 2, 1726 in Hackney London, † January 20, 1790 in Kherson, Crimea ) was an English philanthropist and reformer of the penal system.

His life's work was the reform of state prisons, which he founded and systematically so that in England a new legislation called forth, which then gradually the European Prison essential human designed ( most significant writing: The State of the Prisons in England and Wales, first edition published Warrington, Eyres, 1777). In Germany his reform ideas were known primarily by the Protestant prison chaplain Heinrich Balthasar Wagnitz (1755-1838), who advocated particularly for qualified vocational training of inmates.