The abuses and shortcomings of the system are documented in the novels of Charles Dickens and Frances Trollope and later in "People of the Abyss" [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1688/1688-h/1688-h.htm] by Jack London. Despite the aspirations of the reformers, the New Poor Law was unable to make the Workhouse as bad as life outside. The primary problem was that in order to make the diet of the Workhouse inmates "less eligible" than what they could expect outside, it would be necessary to starve the inmates beyond an acceptable level. It was for this reason that other ways were found to deter entrance to the Workhouses. These measures ranged from the introduction of prison-style uniforms to the segregation of 'inmates' into yards – there were normally male, female, boys' and girls' yards.