Confinement before and after the trial

 But above all, whatever we think, except for physical tortures, the worst punishment for a real and passionated pirate was imprisonment!  To be held during endless decades, far from the treasures, the ships and the horizons of freedom...

What en awful treatment even if it seemed to appears to governments like the most kindly of all!

A captured spy usually didn't have to face a long prison term. In fact the concept of imprisonment for a crime was foreign during the Golden Age of Piracy. The idea of using confinement as a regular form of punishment was not widespread until after the American Revolution. Typically prisoners were in the gaol (jail) while awaiting trial and then if found guilty, while waiting for the sentence to be carried out. (I know what you're thinking, what about the Count of Monte Christo? He falls in the same boat as other political prisoners.) If the person was politically important or if the person possessed certain knowledge or value, then they may be held indefinitely. These are special cases. The only real exception to this general rule was people placed in jail for debt. A person who went to "debtor’s prison" could in spend the rest of his life in jail.

A gaol during the 18th century was not a very pretty sight. It was dark, it was dank, and it was overrun with rodents and insects. Only the largest cities had a real "prison". Most were just converted store rooms or cellars that were used as a gaol when the town had a prisoner. They lacked any kind of common sanitation. Often the floor would be covered in straw in order to absorb human and animal waste. The same straw was used for the prisoners' bed.

In the larger city, there were permanent prisons complete with torture rooms for interrogation, smaller cells for important prisoners and usually a large central holding are for common prisoners. Despite being a permanent structure, these were also filthy, disease ridden, and over-crowded. It was not uncommon for a healthy person to enter a prison, be acquitted of his crime and then suffer from a chronic illness for the rest of his/her life; because of his short time in incarcerated.

However, neither the temporary pen nor the permanent prison was a match for where England stored most of its criminals. The filthiest, most deadly prison of all was the prison ship. The prison ship was a derelict ship that was moored in a river or off shore. The ship was in such a state of disrepair that it was not worth salvaging. Port holes, were boarded over, most hatches were bolted shut or boarded over and the conversion from derelict to prison ship was complete. Prisoners were then thrown into the hold and left to rot until they were tried and their sentence carried out.

Sanitary conditions on the prison ships were abysmal. The ships leaked water, making the men was constantly wet. Vermin such as lice, spiders, other insects and larger critters such as rats were all over the place. Disease was constant with many prison ships cesspools of cholera, tuberculosis, and typhoid fever. The jailers were not too concerned about removing the dead and other prisoners were not quick to report a dead person for fear of even less food being thrown down the hold. Few people could make it past a month on a prison ship.

In all types of prisons, some of the more dangerous or more important prisoners were kept in chains at all times. Some would also be chained to the wall or other large object. If these prisoners happened to have enemies in the cell with them they would probably wake up dead the next day. This was most unfortunate but it was something the authorities could live with.

For the most part, prisoners were not segregated. Men, women and children were often thrown into the same communal cell. To make matters worse, those already convicted and sentenced were often in the same cell as those awaiting trial. Only important prisoners were placed in a cell alone. What this means is that a woman who was awaiting trial for something like stealing a fish from the market could be in the same cell with a man who was to be hanged for rape and murder.

The only bright side is that once you were tried and sentenced, your days in the gaol were numbered. It was time to be flogged, pilloried, sold or hanged!