Final answer:
No, Workhouses were not created for convicted criminals; they were established to rehabilitate the poor and prevent social vices. Penitentiaries were the institutions designed to reform convicted criminals through hard work and moral instruction.
Step-by-step explanation:
No, workhouses were not designed as places of confinement specifically for convicted criminals. Throughout the 19th century, workhouses were established as part of a broader social reform to aid the poor, who were seen as victims of moral failings like idleness, and gambling. The intent was to reform and morally redeem these individuals, not to punish criminal activities. The concept of confining convicts mainly applied to penitentiaries, which aimed to transform criminals into law-abiding citizens through hard work, religious instruction, and isolation from corrupt social influences. Workhouses functioned as a means to rehabilitate the impoverished and deter them from social vices, while penitentiaries dealt with actual criminals and their rehabilitation.
During the same period, notions of punishment were changing. Public executions and the use of the whip were being questioned, and the number of capital offenses was greatly reduced. Punishing debtors with imprisonment became less common, and the emphasis shifted towards rehabilitation and the establishment of institutions like penitentiaries and asylums that sought to address underlying social issues.