評論
打印
A debt of just 2 pounds would get you locked up in a debtor's prison.
哪怕只欠了兩磅的債務 也足以把你打入欠債人監獄
The prison, like almost everything else in greedy, managerial, hanoverian Britain,
在這個利欲熏心的漢諾威王朝 監獄也和其他事物一樣
was a business,a matter of pounds, shillings and pence.
成為了充斥金錢的交易場合
5,000 was the price one John Huggins paid for the wardenship of the Fleet Prison,
一個叫約翰·哈金斯的人 曾用五千磅買得艦隊監獄典獄長之職
the equivalent of half-a-million pounds today.
這相當于現在的五十萬英鎊
The way he could recoup his investment was to charge inmates for their stay.
想要收回投資成本 他就得在獄中敲詐犯人
The hotel from hell, including, of course,the rent for their shackles.
牢房的陳設可以天差地別 當然也包括 租用鐐銬
A fiver would get you your own cell,a few shillings more, something approximating food.
五英鎊即可換得單人牢房 再加幾先令 就能得到可下咽的飯菜
Less than that, you took your chance in the packed common prison,
如若付不起 就只能和其他犯人擠牢房
sleeping on the floor,no air, no sanitation,and smallpox waiting to get you.
夜宿地板 沒有新鮮空氣 沒有衛生設施 極有可能染上天花
"Who are the real criminals?"
到底誰才是真正的罪犯
Was the cry on the streets, in coffee houses,and in the newspapers of London.
這個話題在街頭巷尾 在咖啡館 甚至在報紙上都有廣泛討論
Everywhere you looked,the line between the law enforcers and the law breakers seemed arbitrary.
環顧四周 你會發現執法者與犯法者的界線 模糊不清
In 1725,the Lord Chancellor was convicted of embezzling 80,000 pounds.People had had enough.
1725年 大法官因挪用公款八萬磅被判罪 人們已忍無可忍
