Imperial Prisons

The idea of holding someone against their will for an extended period is not a new one in the Empire - kidnapping is an old crime, after all, though it's called "spoils of war" shen nobles hold each other for ransom. Even the concept of incarcerating someone legally is ancient. Case law from 10th century records of the judgment of Count Albertus II "the Sober" of Nuln, who ordered the jailing of town drunks rather than a public beating, because, as he said, "they are often impervious to pain when apprehended, but the suffering they will endure in the morning will be far worse than any whipping." Even today, many towns and villages maintain small lockups to hold drunks or petty criminals who are awaiting the next visit of a traveling magistrate.

But the idea of imprisoning those convicted of serious crimes is fairly new in the Old World. Fines, mutilation, or death were the traditional range of punishments, and the expense of housing and feeding convicted criminals was considered a waste of money. To hope that they may actually repent their crimes was ridiculous. "Spare the axe and spoil the peasant" was the motto of the ruling classes.

But the turmoil of the Second Millennium changed many people's thinking. With the breakdown of the Empire came insecurity and crime on a scale never before seen. Both in the city and in the country, the upheavals that rocked the Old World turned desperate people into criminals, and gave golden opportunities to those with immoral inclinations. Highway and river travel became unsafe even in times of official peace, and the collapse of authority left cracks in society where the rot of Chaos could take root. By the time of the Wizards' War in the 20th century, necromancers and daemonologists had begun to act in the open.

The first response of those in power was violent repression. Mutilation and then death became the standard punishments for even non-violent crimes. Roadwardens became judges and executioners, not often bothering with the niceties of a trial. Witch Hunters were given broad licence to treat any crime as evidence of Chaotic taint. More and more the hangman's noose or the pyre became the usual sentence, and executions became mass events. This wave of repression reached its climax in 2111, when the Grand Duke of Middenland, the Witch Hunter Liutprand III, had the entire town of Rotebach hanged for "Chaotic allegiance." Their actual crime had been hiding half their wheat crop from the Grand Duke's collectors.

The Shallyan Reformists
In the century before Magnus the Pious reunited the Empire, a synod of Shallyan priests and priestesses gathered in Marienburg to consider the sorry state of the world. The harsh punishments for even the most minor crimes were an affront to the White Lady, and they resolved to dedicate themselves to finding a better way. Using Marienburg's prison of Rijker's Isle the newly formed Order of the Tears of Piety sent missionaries to rulers throughout the Empire.

The missionaries argued that widespread executions were not just ineffective, but also counter-productive. "If you kill everyone for the least offence, who will be left to pay your taxes?" cried Sister Hildegarde to the Graf of Middenheim. Ridiculed at first, they argued that a period of incarceration that involved prayer and work could reform a criminal much better than a headsman's axe.

Slowly but surely, they convinced one ruler after another to build what they called "penitentiaries and reformatories" where the Shallyans could try to reclaim these lost souls. Some notable successes spread their fame, particularly when the Grand Countess Beatrice of Nuln sponsored the founding of an "Academy for the Salvation of Wayward Youth" in the city.

Finally, in 2319, they scored their greatest victory when Emperor Magnus the Pious was convinced by their deeds and issued the Lex Imperialis Salvationis et Misericordiae, the Law for Imperial Salvation and Mercy. With this new code to act as a standard for the reunited Empire, Magnus encouraged, the Electors to found prisons following the Shallyan ideal "for the promotion of mercy and healing among Sigmar's children." Such was his prestige that few nobles resisted the idea, and many even embraced it. While the record has been mixed since then - and in many prisons today, Shallyan precepts are far from the minds of inmate and warder alike - the modern concept of the prison was firmly planted in Imperial Law.

Source

 * Warhammer Fantasy RPG 1st ED -- Apocrypha 2: Chart of Darkness
 * pg. 13
 * pg. 14

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