Answer:
In 1729 James Oglethorpe's life was to change. The previous year, one of his friends, Robert Castell, was jailed in London's Fleet Prison because of his debts. At the time, inmates were forced to pay prison staff fees for decent room and board. Unable to pay, Castell was thrown into a cell with a prisoner who had smallpox. Castell's death from the disease led Oglethorpe to launch a national campaign to reform England's prisons. Named chairman of a parliamentary committee to investigate the jails, Oglethorpe saw firsthand the horrible conditions, abuses, and extortion prisoners faced. He also was alarmed that so many British citizens faced jail for no other reason than indebtedness.
As a result of the investigation a number of steps were taken to reform London's prisons. Oglethorpe's efforts to expose and correct prison abuses gained him national attention, and he became widely regarded as one of Britain's most active humanitarians. Prison reform did not, however, solve the plight of the large number of poor people in England. Oglethorpe and several colleagues from the jails committee, notably John Lord Viscount Percival (later the first earl of Egmont), began exploring the possibility of creating a new colony in America. They believed that if given a chance, England's "worthy poor" could be transformed into farmers, merchants, and artisans. But strict rules would be needed to prevent the class divisions that plagued English society. Thus, all the settlers would work their own land, with slavery and large landholdings specifically prohibited.
