John Howard was a late-eighteenth-century prison reformer who, while serving as High Sheriff on Bedford, personally inspected the state of the prisons in the county. Appalled by what he saw, he decided to travel the country and in Europe, inspecting prison conditions in order to make recommendations for improvement to the House of Commons. This is the second edition of his report, published in 1780. It makes several recommendations to improve the conditions of prisoners, including: the introduction of single cells, open-air spaces for exercise, the separation of male and female prisoners and the abolition of a practise known as 'garnishing' whereby new prisoners would be forced to pay a fee for better conditions, and, if they could not afford it, faced abysmal treatment from fellow prisoners and even gaolers.

Howard's observations were lauded by Parliament and several changes were made to the prison system in the early-nineteenth century, though some of his recommendations were criticised by later reformers such as Elizabeth Fry.