Poor Laws Quotes

“... the Poor Laws institutionalized a distinction between the ‘impotent poor’, the ‘able-bodied poor’ and the ‘idle poor’. While the ‘impotent’ and ‘able-bodied poor’ were offered some means of either indoor or outdoor relief, the feared ‘idle poor’ were disciplined through a combination of physical punishment, incarceration in Houses of Correction or prisons, conscription into the military or navy, transportation to a penal colony, and/or other means.”
― Adrienne Roberts, Gendered States of Punishment and Welfare