One of Southwark's distinguishing features was its prisons. There were five: the Clink, the Bishop of Winchester's; the King's (or Queen's) Bench, the Surrey County Jail; the Borough Comptor, and the Marshalsea.

The Marshalsea was a debtors' prison. It stood on a number of sites; its last location that of Southwark's Local Studies Library at 211 Borough High Street.

It was here that Charles Dickens' father was imprisoned for debt in 1824.