Penal transportation
Penal transportation
Penal transportation was the relocation of convicted criminals, or other persons regarded as undesirable, to a distant place, often a colony, for a specified term; later, specifically established penal colonies became their destination. While the prisoners may have been released once the sentences were served, they generally did not have the resources to return home.
"Our sailing ships like common-sewers we use, And through our distant colonies diffuse The draught of dungeons, and the stench of stews; Whom, when their home-bred honesty is lost, We disembogue on some far Indian coast, Thieves, pandars, palliards, sins of every sort; Those are the manufactures we export."
