During the mid-1700s prisoners from Newgate were sent to the Virginia Colony. English citizens were incarcerated in the prison for failure to pay their debts. As the prison became more overcrowded, Parliament devised a plan to ship prisoners to the new Colony of Virginia. The result was that thousands of inmates became indentured servant to the colonists. In some instances, the passenger lists reflect fifty or more persons were attached to one or more settlers, who, in exchange for their payment of passage, received extensive amounts of acreage.
Indeed, London found its solution of ridding itself of undesirables. So what happened to the prisoners once they arrived in Virginia? Pardoned felons served from fourteen years to life on the American plantations. Meanwhile, others who could not afford to pay passage to America indentured themselves into service for periods of seven years onward. At the end of service, they were given 50 acres of land.
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