Prisons were the responsibility of counties, towns, boroughs, and even the church when John Howard was appointed the High Sheriff of Bedfordshire in 1773. Prisoners were held in unclean and often unheated buildings and often had to beg to pay for their food and drink. Rehabilitation efforts were nonexistent. Howard traveled around England and Europe to gather information and promote improvements in prison construction and conditions. His efforts resulted in laws that established basic standards of hygiene, ventilation, and accommodation and abolished discharge fees. Subsequent laws required inmate classification and individual cells. A major prison rebuilding program began in the mid-1780s, but several factors led to the cessation of major construction efforts from the late 1780s until the start of Pentonville Prison in 1840. Architectural design of the early 1800s emphasized the use of a central block surrounded by detached wings. Further developments included the construction of a national penitentiary and the 1823 Gaol Act, which sought to enforce uniform practices and management and an elaborate system of inmate classification. Photographs