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X 
 
 OUR 
 
 PRESENT GAOL SYSTEM 
 
 DEEPLY DEPRAVING 
 
 TO 
 
 THE PRISONER 
 
 \ 
 
 
 A POSITIVE EYIL TO THE COMMUNITY. 
 
 SOME REMEDIES PROPOSED, 
 
 BY JOSEPH ADSHEAD, 
 
 \\ 
 
 AUTHOR OF "PRISONS AND PRISONERS," &c. 
 
 " THE MORE A NATION ADVANCES IN CIVILIZATION AND PENOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE, THE 
 MORE IT STRIVES TO DRVELOP ITS PRISON SYSTEM ACCORDING TO EXPERIENCE, JUSTICE, AND 
 HUMANITY." 
 
 LlEBER. 
 
 ' MUCH STILL UNTOUCHED REMAINS, 
 
 MUCH is THE PATRIOT'S WEEDING HAND REQUIRED." 
 
 COWPER. 
 
 M.DCCC.XLVII. 
 
u< 
 

INTRODUCTION. 
 
 IT is an interesting feature in connection with the treatment of 
 criminals, that with the legislature, and also the public at large, 
 there is evidently a growing concern evinced for the reformation of 
 our penal code in its disciplinary application, and although the writer 
 of the ensuing pages dares not presume to imagine that he has solved 
 the problem of the proper treatment of offenders, he has nevertheless 
 ventured briefly and consecutively to review the various modes of 
 punishment which have been adopted in our gaols ; to give the result 
 of his own deliberate conviction, deduced from extensive and con- 
 tinuous observation of the proceedings in this and other countries 
 towards that portion of fallen humanity requiring legislative inter- 
 position, and to offer suggestions as to some of the remedies for the 
 eradication of the evils to which they have been exposed. 
 
 It will be observed that the gaol association of criminals is stated 
 to be a cardinal evil, and that their separate confinement is main- 
 tained to be a fundamental corrective; and examples are supplied 
 of its successful application. There exists, however, a diversity of 
 opinion with regard to the term for which individual imprisonment 
 should be applied ; but, if it be admitted that as a mode of treat- 
 ment it is sound in principle, the necessity and importance will be 
 acknowledged of adapting it to uniform and general practice. 
 
 Our penal administration has respect to two classes of commit- 
 ments summarv convictions,- and convictions at assizes and sessions. 
 
These include the large number of prisoners who are brought under 
 the action of the law in our gaols, bridewells, and houses of 
 correction. 
 
 By a reference to the following tables, the periods of confinement 
 after trial, under the two classes of convictions adverted to, will be 
 noted : 
 
 Summary Convictions. 
 For 5 years 1839 to 1843, inclusive. 
 
 Numbers. 
 
 Under 14 days 67,351 
 
 14 days and under 1 month 79,058 
 
 1 month 2 months 107,155 
 
 2 months 3 36,410 
 
 3 months 6 32,342 
 6 months lyear... 3,917 
 
 1 year 2 years. . 699 
 
 2 years and upwards 22 
 
 Convicted at Assizes and Sessions. 
 For 5 years 1839 to 1843, inclusive. 
 
 General per centum 
 Average. 
 OO-^Q 
 
 Annual 
 per centum. 
 
 4-1 9 
 
 O/L. 17 
 
 - /L-ftS 
 
 ^0-70 
 
 - fi-^fi 
 
 n.l 
 
 - o-oo 
 
 Q.cq 
 
 1-98 
 
 1-10 
 
 - 0-24. 
 
 n.o/i 
 
 A.K 
 
 n.nnr 
 
 . n-nni 
 
 Under 14 d* 
 14 days and 
 1 month 
 2 months 
 3 
 6 
 1 year 
 2 years 
 3 and 
 
 ivs 
 
 Numbers. General per centum 
 Average. 
 
 4822 fi-19. 
 
 Annual 
 per centum. 
 
 1-22 
 l ^ 
 
 under 1 month 
 2 months 
 3 
 6 
 1 year... 
 2 years. . 
 3 
 upwards... 
 
 K OAO 
 
 A-fi7 
 
 nKl 1 
 
 M.fiO 
 
 O.QO 
 
 o qqo . 
 
 U./LO 
 
 - 2-Q8 
 
 01 ^SO - 
 
 07.00 
 
 ^ 4^ 
 
 1 7 /fSO - 
 
 00-1 Q 
 
 - 4-42 
 
 Q AOK 
 
 in-i ft 
 
 O.AQ 
 
 11^9 
 
 i -^ifi 
 
 - 0-9Q 
 
 99* 
 
 0-125 
 
 0-02 
 
 It will be thus seen, that the larger proportion of committals under 
 summary convictions is from 1 to 2 months, or 6- 5 8 per centum 
 
 * Of this number, 55 persons were confined in 1840 during the disturbed 
 state of the country. In 1843, there were only 4 prisoners confined for 
 this lengthened sentence. 
 
upon the annual aggregate, and the larger ratio of committals at 
 assizes and sessions presents the largest estimate from 3 months and 
 under 6 months, or 5-45, and the next in numbers is from 6 months 
 to 1 year, or 4-42 ; and although a very small per centage of summary 
 convictions is shown as confined 2 years and upwards, and of convictions 
 at assizes and sessions for 3 years and upwards, there need be no 
 hesitation in asserting, that if experience is to be the guide in this 
 branch of penal administration, with the diminished periods of con. 
 Jitiement which may be applied under the separate system, to inflict 
 fully the same amount of punishment, in comparison with the associated 
 mode of confinement, individual imprisonment may with confidence be 
 adopted in all our penal institutions ; it being considered, by those 
 who have observed much upon the subject of penal treatment, that a 
 given period of imprisonment under the separate system is as punitive 
 as double the time under what is termed the classification Or associated 
 system, whilst pecuniary advantages would be derived by the State 
 through a considerable saving in " maintenance," and moral benefit, 
 both to the imprisoned and to the community, by its prevalence in 
 our gaols. 
 
 On these, and on other grounds, which are adverted to in the fol- 
 lowing essay, the separate system of imprisonment, with employment, 
 exercise, and moral and religious instruction, is strongly commended 
 for ''general application' in connection with the discipline of our 
 prisons. 
 
 The condition of our gaols, their discipline, and the variety of cha- 
 racter on which they act, are entitled to the most serious consideration. 
 They involve a question in which the moralist and the philosopher are 
 in no ordinary degree concerned. Could but the sympathy of the teachers 
 of our religion be enlisted, and the legislative regard of our statesmen 
 be engaged in the cause, much might be accomplished. There would 
 be found, amongst the tens of thousands that annually populate our 
 prisons, a manifold commixture of characters, the treatment of whom 
 most decidedly indicates a species of inhumanity, if not of cruelty, in 
 the application of our laws characters, the subjects of destitution 
 
and neglect, to whom should have been extended other influences 
 than those which have consigned them to penal institutions. 
 
 Who can pass through the numerous departments of our gaols 
 without being struck with the dreadfully depraving commingling 
 which exists among the imprisoned, and whilst, in the following 
 essay, attention is directed more particularly to governing principles 
 than to amplified details, there are various other questions collaterally 
 identified with penal treatment, to which copious reference might 
 have been made. There could have been more particular and 
 lengthened allusion to the application of our criminal laws : to 
 JUVENILE OFFENDERS, and the manner in which they are found as- 
 sociated in our gaols, and the cogent necessity for legislative inter- 
 ference with regard to the enforcement of the law and the discipline 
 to which such offenders are subjected. 
 
 The writer is of opinion that the treatment of juvenile offenders 
 should be distinct in its nature and also apart in its administra- 
 tion from that of adult criminals that institutions should be estab- 
 lished for what may be termed correctional industrial education, 
 which should include agricultural and trades occupations a regime 
 peculiarly adapted to age, circumstance, and future destination and 
 combine, at the same time, a discipline in its tendency sufficiently 
 penal in its operation to deter, by endurance and by example, from 
 the commission of crime, whilst the reformation of the culprit should 
 be the ultimate object. 
 
 A field of benevolence is also opened for the formation of preventive 
 institutions that shall include within the sphere of their action the 
 protection of the destitute, the neglected, and the outcast, who infest 
 our large towns and cities, the ready prey of every temptation, and 
 of whom our penal institutions are the constant recipients. 
 
 It is earnestly hoped that ere long the legislature will sanction, by 
 its enactments, suitable depositories for such, and that provision will 
 also be made for THE DISCHARGED CONVICT, so that, if willing to 
 
return to honest industry, he may not be compelled, either from want 
 or destitution, to recur to a course of crime. 
 
 It will be remarked that great stress is laid upon the importance 
 of proper constructional arrangement as inseparably identified with 
 efficient discipline; for, as Sir G. 0. Paul has observed : 
 
 " It cannot be denied that the construction and police of prisons 
 should be consonant to the spirit of that law for the fulfilment of 
 whose purposes they are constructed, and that they should offer the 
 means of dispensing with all possible precision the portion of sentence 
 which the law prescribes. Discrimination of offence and punishment 
 is so essential a principle of English legislation, that it sacrifices to 
 it much of that simplicity and conciseness which would otherwise 
 add to the perfection of its system." 
 
 Boileau has appositely remarked, that " it is generally the trouble 
 the author has taken in finishing his productions which frees the reader 
 from trouble in perusing them ;" and had the writer of the following 
 pages had more time at his disposal, he might probably have present- 
 ed the subject in a more striking form ; he can, however, most 
 emphatically declare, that in the ensuing essay, hastily prepared, 
 and in the midst of much interruption, it has not been his aim 
 merely to please, but to convince, and that he has endeavoured to 
 satisfy the mind and judgment of the reader, whilst attempting 
 to advocate those principles in which society is deeply interested. 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 Page 62 line 16 For Metray read Mettray. 
 Page 70, Note, line 10 -For soldiers read holders. 
 
OUR PRESENT GAOL SYSTEM 
 
 DEEPLY DEFRAYING 
 
 TO THE PRISONER, &c. 
 
 THE Parliamentary Session of 1847 has been looked forward to 
 with high expectation as one in which topics of great social im- 
 portance would engage the legislative concern. 
 
 In the course of the last thirty years, there has appeared to be no 
 period more favourable for directing a calm and deliberate attention 
 to questions of internal and domestic policy. During the last 
 session, the public mind was occupied and absorbed by matters of 
 great commercial consequence, and when there was an endeavour to 
 enlist a share of sympathy in favour of pressing social requirements, 
 it was urged that but little attention would be given to them whilst 
 that which was of such stirring and exciting interest engaged the 
 popular regard. 
 
 The attention of the legislature is at present engaged with affairs of 
 the most anxious moment in relation to the suffering condition of our 
 sister country ; such affairs, however, it is hoped, are in the course 
 of adjustment, by the enactment of measures of intended relief, and 
 when they shall have received final approval, it may be expected that 
 the arena will be comparatively clear for the reception of those consi- 
 derations which have particular respect to other vital points of domes- 
 tic economy which have long had pressing claims upon our solicitude. 
 
 The friends of progressive improvement are now taking their 
 stand for the promotion of an enlightened and comprehensive scheme 
 of education for the people, and are urging their high claims to legis- 
 lative sanction upon that subject, as lying at the very foundation of 
 the social, moral, and religious elevation of a civilized community. 
 
 Another class of benefactors, possessing a kindred feeling for the 
 
general welfare of society, with a view of improving the physical 
 condition and habits of the people, are propounding their plans for 
 the sanitary improvement of the masses of our teeming population, 
 and an important place is taken by them in the ranks of public 
 usefulness. 
 
 There is, however, amidst these various topics of high interest, one 
 question which claims and demands to occupy its station in public 
 and legislative regard ; we refer to the long neglected, but compara- 
 tively little heeded, condition of our gaols institutions existing 
 among a civilized and professedly Christian community, the disci- 
 pline of which, although sanctioned by law, is at variance with its 
 intentions, and, instead of being corrective and reformatory, is deeply 
 depraving to the Offender, and a positive injury to Society. This we 
 propose to prove in the following pages, whilst there will, also, be 
 brought under notice some salutary remedies. 
 
 In endeavouring to promote improvement in the application of 
 punishment to the subjects of penal law, it is needless, at the pre- 
 sent period, to show its high importance as it bears upon the social 
 condition of civilized communities. In respect to its importance all 
 governments and states must fully concur. A brief historical review 
 of the question would show the profound attention which it has re- 
 ceived from intellects of the highest order, and the vast expenditure 
 of enlightened philanthropy which has been brought to bear in 
 devising the best means for the salutary application of infliction, 
 with a view of accomplishing the true and legitimate intentions of 
 all penal treatment, viz., the reformation of the offender, and the 
 determent of others from the commission of crime. To obtain these 
 essential social benefits various means have been employed and 
 many theories promulgated, and although much has been done by 
 legislation in the framing of laws intended especially to apportion 
 the amount of punishment to the nature of the offence committed, 
 the Statute Books of several countries have exhibited an accumula- 
 tion of penalties which has rendered punishment difficult of appli- 
 cation, with that consistency which the established laws required. 
 These incongruities or anomalies have been sought to be remedied 
 by consolidation; and thus has there been an endeavour to simplify 
 the application of the penalties of the law according to the nature 
 and aggravation of the offence. 
 
The work of consolidation has received a large share of legislative 
 consideration in England, and it is well known by those who have 
 paid any attention to the subject, that amongst the promoters of 
 penal reform in this new branch of the question, Sir Robert Peel, 
 twenty years ago, stood pre-eminent. 
 
 That distinguished statesman, in a speech to the British House of 
 Commons, when referring to the high claim which the subject of 
 penal treatment had to legislative consideration, forcibly remarks : 
 " To many, I fear, this subject may appear barren and uninviting ; 
 it can borrow no excitement from political feeling, nor can it awaken 
 the hopes and fears of conflicting parties, but it involves higher in- 
 terests ; it concerns the security of property, the prevention of crime, 
 the moral habits of the people, and it prefers, therefore, a just and 
 imperative demand on the serious attention of Parliament." Such 
 were the feelings and sentiments enunciated by Sir Robert Peel, 
 when endeavouring to excite a deep interest in the measure which 
 was then to be brought before the legislature. 
 
 But whilst the great importance of the consolidation of penal law 
 will be most readily admitted, the strong necessity for the proper ap- 
 plication of that law must as certainly be maintained. The pro- 
 foundest wisdom may be displayed in the framing of just and 
 salutary laws for the prevention and for the punishment of crime, 
 and the statesman may consider that when the law is enacted 
 and placed in the Statute Book, that the gaoler, the executive 
 authority, has only to do his duty as to safe custody, and 
 the end of legislation is attained. I venture, however, to assert, 
 without desiring for a moment to detract from the high attributes 
 of sound legislation in penal law, that work equally important re- 
 mains yet to be accomplished, in order to answer its just intentions ; 
 viz. a salutary and reformatory application, with a due regard 
 to the various agencies and influences which should be employed for 
 that end. 
 
 The compounds of a medicine may be a specific for the disease to 
 be treated, but if in its administration there be no regard to quantity 
 or nature of application, the practitioner may find that he has killed 
 instead of cured his patient. To transfer the simile in a penological 
 view, will it not be admitted by every jurist, that by an im- 
 
8 
 
 proper application of the laws, results may be both morally and 
 physically fatal ? The past penal history of all countries justifies 
 the comparison, and it must be a matter of astonishment to every 
 feeling and reflecting mind, that with respect to the moral renova- 
 tion of our prisons in connection with a sound system of discipline, 
 so little, comparatively, has been done, and that so little, compara- 
 tively, is understood, even at the present time, of the very funda- 
 mental principles of a sound and salutary application of penal law. 
 We appear to be but just emerging into the broad day-light of truth 
 upon this momentous subject, and to guide us in our judgment and 
 decisions, we shall find even the errors and failures of those who 
 have preceded us in their labours in this cause, to be attended with 
 advantages, from them we may learn, in some measure, what to 
 avoid and what to adopt. 
 
 When treating upon Prison Discipline, we imperceptibly re- 
 vert to the days of Howard, as a starting point in penal history. 
 Howard (who may be justly termed the world's philanthropist, who 
 gave himself as the common property of humanity) disclosed evils 
 long hidden and long endured evils, the existence of which ap- 
 peared almost incredible. Criminals at that period were generally 
 considered without the pale of common sympathy, their punishments 
 were sanguinary and vindictive ; and although some nations, more 
 than others, were certainly characterized by a nearer approximation 
 to the barbarous in their modes of infliction, yet even the most 
 civilized countries could not be said to be entirely free from the 
 charge of disregard to the very first principles of penal science in 
 the treatment of their offending subjects. 
 
 The prison records of Howard, as observed, brought to light 
 abounding evils. The sufferings of prisoners, however, through his 
 benevolent intervention, were meliorated, and extensive abuses were 
 in some degree corrected. The attention of the British Legislature 
 was also excited to inquiry, and something was done in England, 
 which affected only the surface of the moral malady, though some 
 palliatives were applied. 
 
 In taking a hasty glance from the days of Howard to the present 
 period, whilst we see much that is humiliating, we also perceive 
 much that is fraught with deep interest, for in the efforts which have 
 
9 
 
 been made and the labours which have been bestowed upon the 
 question of penal treatment for upwards of seventy years, there may 
 be traced the genuine spirit of philanthropy. It is a question which 
 has not occupied the attention of the many ; only here and there 
 have been found some sympathizing spirits whom the sighing of 
 the captive could reach ; these have entered the deepest recesses of 
 the dungeon's gloom, and felt that a prisoner, although a prisoner, 
 was a man, and not altogether cut off from the common charities of 
 his species. 
 
 In civilized Europe, and also in America, gaols were distinguished 
 by an uniformity in their moral maladies : association, contamina- 
 tion, and moral death were the all-pervading concomitants. In every 
 country, as the evils of the discipline maintained were similar, the 
 results were also correspondent. The penal institutions of the 
 civilized world contained an assemblage of moral pestilence ; 
 the very depositories for the infliction of punishment in their con- 
 stitutional arrangements, combined with the disregard of those to 
 whom their management was assigned, contributed largely to the 
 increase of the enormous evils to which we refer. 
 
 What were, then, the remedies suggested for the purpose of abolish- 
 ing the debasing association of debtor and felon of the novitiate 
 and experienced offender of male and female ? Howard endea- 
 voured to advance the work of reform by proposing an improve- 
 ment in prison construction. "Many county gaols and other 
 prisons," he remarks, " are so decayed and ruinous, or for other 
 reasons so totally unfit for the purpose, that new ones must be built 
 in their stead." This leads me, at once, to declare, as an infal- 
 lible principle in penological science, that prison construction and 
 sound discipline are inseparably connected. "Without proper con- 
 struction there can be no salutary discipline; it lies at the very 
 foundation of the fabric of all prison reform. The truth of this 
 assertion will be manifest from the connection which has been uni- 
 formly maintained between the modes of discipline which have been 
 advocated, and the construction of the prisons in which that disci- 
 pline was to be carried out. 
 
 Thus we find that Howard, when he published his views of penal 
 action, submitted, also, a plan for a gaol which he considered would 
 
10 
 
 meet the existing evils, and without entering into the general details 
 of construction, he proposed to commence his disciplinary arrange- 
 ments by a kind of classified separation, which, at that period^ was 
 considered a great improvement in prison management, and which 
 may be thus briefly described : 
 
 First Debtors and criminals were to be separated. 
 
 Secondly Separate court-yards and day wards were to be pro- 
 vided for the sexes. 
 
 Thirdly A court and a day ward were to be provided for young 
 criminals. 
 
 This was the separation, and such was the classification, proposed 
 by Howard as an antidote for the evils then found in our gaols. 
 
 With regard either to prison construction, or penal treatment, it 
 would appear almost presumptuous to question the views of such a 
 man as Howard, of one who devoted himself so thoroughly to the 
 cause of humanity and the melioration of the prisoner's condition. 
 It would, also, be unreasonable to expect that, amidst such an ac- 
 cumulation of moral evil, perfection in prison construction, or prison 
 discipline, could at once be attained. Nevertheless, a kind of 
 separation was by that excellent man considered essential ; he 
 remarks, " If it be difficult to prevent the prisoners being together 
 in the day time, they should by all means be separated at night." 
 This partial isolation, however, still permitted opportunities for un- 
 restricted association in the court-yard and in the day rooms, and 
 those places of assemblage are universally considered, by such as 
 understand the economy of a gaol, to be the very concentration of 
 all that is vitiating and corrupting. 
 
 Whilst Howard, therefore, was entitled to the world's gratitude, 
 experience has most convincingly proved, that his plans for prison 
 construction and prison management would not receive acceptance 
 at the present period. 
 
 In taking a rapid notice of prison construction, intimately iden- 
 tified as it is with an improved mode of prison discipline, it is quite 
 impossible to detail, at length, the efforts of all those who have 
 
11 
 
 been engaged, in England, in the laudable work of penal reform ; 
 there are, however, two names to which, in justice to their zeal 
 and philanthropy, a passing reference should be made ; they are, 
 Paul and Neild ; the former was cotemporancous with Howard, and 
 whilst that distinguished philanthropist meliorated, so extensively, 
 the physical suffering of the prisoner, Sir G. O. Paul, with a clear- 
 ness of perception as to the elements of <i sound system of treatment, 
 greatly advanced, in the county of Gloucester, an improved mode 
 of discipline which had also a beneficial influence, to some extent, 
 upon other counties in the united kingdom. 
 
 The labours of Howard, and the zeal of Paul, were followed, about 
 twenty years afterwards, by the benevolent efforts of Neild. It is 
 remarkable, that but little, comparatively, had been done to correct 
 the morally destructive consequences of gaol association which 
 prevailed in the time of Howard. A somewhat more diversified classi- 
 fication had been adopted, but the result of Mr. Neild's examination 
 of the prisons throughout England, as published in 1 812, most clearly 
 indicated that no extensive improvements had been effected, not- 
 withstanding all the disclosures which had been made by Howard 
 several years before. Mr. Neild observes : "With respect to Bride- 
 wells and Houses of Correction, however, my labours have been great 
 and unwearied, and the fruit of my experience may be summed up in a 
 few words : If such places as I have above mentioned are to be con- 
 tinued as the receptacles of criminals, if those convicts are to have 
 constant communication with young offenders whose misdeeds are 
 comparatively light, and for the chastisement of which, and the pre- 
 vention of greater ones, Bridewells and Houses of Correction were ori- 
 ginally and solely designed, if also, offenders consigned to such abodes 
 are not classified and separated according to the nature and degree of 
 their transgressions, and lastly, if no religious attentions are paid to 
 them, as in too many instances is frequently the case, then vice and 
 corruption must increase their malignity through the sanction of 
 neglect ; Bridewells and Houses of Correction must become the 
 surest nurseries for our gaols, and the melancholy list of executions 
 will be swelled to a degree of horror tenfold more shocking than 
 humanity has at present to deplore." Thus, it must be remarked, 
 whilst individual exertion, up to this period, was directed to 
 expose the enormities of our prison system, the legislature was pro- 
 viding no salutary antidote. 
 
12 
 
 In only touching upon the subject of Prison Discipline as it 
 subsequently engaged both legislative and philanthropic attention, it 
 is remarkable to observe how these went hand in hand, and united to 
 establish a most decided fallacy in penal treatment Classification ; 
 a principle, which fact and experience have proved to be utterly futile. 
 
 Amidst the extensively abounding evils of our prison system 
 which prevailed about thirty years ago, an important association was 
 formed in London for the purpose of endeavouring to correct the 
 moral maladies of our prison houses. This association, sanctioned 
 by the most eminent philanthropists of the day, commenced its work 
 of penal reform ; GAOL ASSOCIATION, GAOL CONTAMINATION, were 
 then looked upon as the great evils of our gaol system, and CLAS- 
 SIFICATION was to be adopted as the grand panacea. 
 
 The London Prison Discipline Society, in one of their early 
 reports, offer the following remarks : " On the important subject of 
 classification, employment, and inspection, much labour has been 
 bestowed," and the Society thus forcibly declare their views : "The 
 first of these (Classification), is so indispensable a part of a beneficial 
 system of management, that no hope of improvement or reformation 
 can be entertained unless it be vigilantly enforced;" and four years 
 afterwards, the following observations are offered by the associa- 
 tion adverted to with regard to the governing or fundamental 
 principles in Prison Discipline : " Moral contamination may be 
 prevented by classification and inspection ; reformation of cha- 
 racter may be essentially promoted by religious instruction ; and 
 these measures combined are well calculated to inspire the dread, 
 correct the habits, enlighten the mind, and reclaim the heart 
 of the offender." 
 
 To further such views, prison plans were recommended for adop- 
 tion, by which a classified system of discipline might be enforced, it 
 being justly considered that prison construction was intimately con- 
 nected with a satisfactory carrying out of the principles of penal 
 treatment maintained. Various gaol departments were to be pro- 
 vided for the different classifications of prisoners, according to age, 
 character, or degrees of guilt ; and these subdivisions were to be 
 multiplied according to necessity or circumstance. Such were the 
 means proposed by a well-intentioned philanthropy. 
 
13 
 
 Legislative enactment gave its high sanction to the principles 
 commented upon in the preceding remarks, and in 5th Geo. IV. 
 cap. 85, (amended Act,) the necessity of Classification is imperatively 
 continued to be maintained, for the accomplishment of that which 
 was intended to be a sound system of Prison Discipline. 
 
 In the 10th section of the above amended Act the following pro- 
 vision is made : " And, whereas, in some counties and places to 
 which the above recited Act extends, by reason of the small number 
 of prisoners usually confined therein, it may not be necessary to 
 provide the whole number of wards and airing grounds thereby 
 required, but it is necessary to provide that in all prisons some 
 certain means of Classification should be secured." It was also 
 enacted, that : 
 
 In GAOLS the male prisoners should be divided into five classes : 
 
 First Debtors and persons committed for contempt of court in 
 civil process. 
 
 Second and Third Prisoners convicted, who may be put in either 
 of these classes, as to the visiting magistrates may seem meet 
 reference being had to the character and conduct of the prisoners, 
 and the nature of their offence. 
 
 Fourth and Fifth Prisoners committed for trial, who may be put 
 in either of these classes, as to the visiting magistrates may seem 
 meet reference being had, in like manner, to the character and 
 conduct of the prisoners, and the nature of their offence. 
 
 The female prisoners shall be divided at least into three classes. 
 In HOUSES OF CORRECTION there were to be five classes : 
 
 Two classes for prisoners convicted. 
 
 Two classes for prisoners committed for trial, with the same dis- 
 cretionary power for magisterial classification, according to character, 
 conduct of prisoners, and nature of their offences. 
 
 One class for vagrants. 
 
 It may be well in proceeding, to mark the practical results of 
 that Classification which, by philanthropic recommendation, was so 
 strongly urged as a sine qua non in Prison Discipline, and which 
 was carried out by legislative authority. 
 
14 
 
 For the untried, or committed prisoners, there were to be two 
 
 One for misdemeanants. 
 One for felons. 
 
 For the convicted, or sentenced prisoners, there were to be two 
 
 classes : 
 
 One for misdemeanants. 
 One for felons. 
 
 After trial and conviction, the first mentioned misdemeanants and 
 felons would be ranked with those last mentioned, where would be 
 found prisoners serving out their various terms of imprisonment, 
 and a consequent new set of prison associates. 
 
 There was to be likewise one class for vagrants. Out of these five 
 classes the magistrates had the discretionary power, ad libitum, to 
 extend the number of the classes of the prisoners, and the subdivi- 
 sions of the goal, to meet the diversity of criminal character of 
 which the inmates of the gaol were composed. 
 
 What was the result of these classification enactments? The 
 perceptive acumen of the magistracy was taxed to devise the most 
 suitable subdivisions ; and gaol erections, enlargements, and altera- 
 tions followed, with a view of complying with the provisions and 
 intentions of the Acts which had been passed. From^^ and six 
 classes, as enacted, magisterial discretion greatly increased their 
 numbers, as exhibited by the following list, which was even mul- 
 tiplied to a still greater extent : 
 
 Boys, Seventeen Years of Age and under, Felons and Convicts. 
 
 Men, First Offence, Felons. 
 
 Men, Old Offenders, Felons. 
 
 Transports. 
 
 Men, Old Offenders, Convicts. 
 
 Fines Misdemeanants. 
 
 Reputed Thieves. 
 
 Indecent Offenders. 
 
 Neglect of Family. 
 
 Stealing from Gardens. 
 
 Disorderlies and Deserters. 
 
15 
 
 ^***~ZZZ~"- - ~^^-^- 
 
 Breach of Contract. 
 
 Offence against Excise Laws Misdemeanants. 
 
 Convicted Misdemeanants. 
 
 To answer to keep the Peace Misdemeanants. 
 
 Bastardy Misdemeanants. \ 
 
 Vagrant Boys. 
 
 Vagrant Men. 
 
 Has this principle of modified association, with all its diversified 
 classifications, accomplished the ends of legislative enactment, and 
 the purposes of its ardent advocates ? We dare not appear to charge 
 the controlling spirits of past years in prison discipline legislation 
 with want of an accurate knowledge of human nature, and of the 
 very elementary principles of a sound and salutary system of penal 
 treatment ; for, amongst the advocates of classification (independent 
 of legislative sanction) were to be found names the most distinguished 
 for all that was excellent and humane. Through their benevolent 
 intervention much good was accomplished ; great improvements in 
 prison inspection, in prison instruction, and in prison employment, 
 were promoted ; and a large amount of information upon the condi- 
 tion and management of gaols in the civilized world was collected 
 and diffused. Altogether, there was a combination of mind, of 
 talent, and benevolence, which, if rightly directed, would have been 
 sufficient to accomplish, under suitable agencies, all that was sought 
 to be attained. 
 
 The very term " Classification " appeared to possess a kind of 
 popular charm ; but, however plausible it may have seemed in theory, 
 practically it has not answered the ends intended. Experience has 
 most conclusively proved that each of the classifications and subdivi- 
 sions referred to furnished but distinct criminal communities. In 
 some of the subdivisions might be found prisoners who had traversed, 
 in the course of their repeated committals and convictions, the round 
 of the several departments of the gaol thus multiplying the number 
 of their prison companionships and associates. Take, for example, 
 a Boys' Vagrant Yard the result of an examination of one of the 
 best conducted classification prisons in the provinces and it will 
 hardly require a moment's thought to decide what must be the effects 
 of such a depraving amalgamation. I give the following twenty, 
 out of about one hundred cases of juvenile offenders in the prisons, 
 found mingled together in the vagrant department of a gaol, with 
 
16 
 
 the ages, offences, number of times committed, and the punishments 
 of these young culprits. 
 
 No. 
 
 Age. 
 
 Offpnpp i Times 
 Offnce - ! Committed. 
 
 Punishment. 
 
 1 
 
 12 
 
 Sleeping out 
 
 1 
 
 Six days 
 
 2 
 
 16 
 
 Sleeping out 
 
 1 
 
 Six days 
 
 3 
 
 12 
 
 Sleeping out 
 
 1 
 
 Six days 
 
 4 
 
 15 
 
 Sleeping out 
 
 1 
 
 One month 
 
 5 
 
 13 
 
 Stealing 5 12s. 6d. 
 
 1 
 
 Three months 
 
 6 
 
 15 
 
 Stealing Brass Wheel 
 
 1 
 
 Seven days 
 
 7 
 
 14 
 
 Stealing Clogs 
 
 1 
 
 Seven days 
 
 8 
 
 15 
 
 Stealing Clogs 
 
 1 
 
 Seven days 
 
 9 
 
 15 
 
 Stealing Handkerchief 
 
 2 
 
 Two months 
 
 10 
 
 14 
 
 Money and 121hs. Soda 
 
 2 
 
 Three months 
 
 11 
 
 14 
 
 Sleeping out 
 
 2 
 
 One month 
 
 12 
 
 14 
 
 Sleeping out 
 
 2 
 
 Six days 
 
 13 
 
 15 
 
 Stealing Handkerchief 
 
 3 
 
 One month 
 
 14 
 
 15 
 
 Bread and 61bs. Bacon 
 
 3 
 
 Three months 
 
 15 
 
 12 
 
 Sleeping out 
 
 3 
 
 Six days 
 
 16 
 
 15 
 
 Stealing Handkerchief 
 
 4 
 
 One month 
 
 17 
 
 15 
 
 Stealing 31bs. Tobacco 
 
 4 
 
 One month 
 
 18 
 
 15 
 
 Stealing 2oz. Tobacco 
 
 5 
 
 One month 
 
 19 
 
 14 
 
 Stealing Butter-tub 
 
 8 
 
 One mouth 
 
 20 
 
 16 
 
 Stealing three Loaves 
 
 8 
 
 Two months 
 
 Of the 20 cases there were { J f( 
 
 Times of committal to a prison - 
 
 13 for "stealing." 
 
 ' 8 who had never lefore been in a gaol. 
 4 twice. 
 3 three times. 
 2 four times. 
 
 1 five times. 
 
 2 eight times. 
 
17 
 
 The subjoined exhibits but a partial dissection of the penal frame- 
 work of the principle of classification operation, still further showing 
 the morally destructive tendencies of that mode of discipline. The 
 tables present the manner in which one hundred boys, from 10 to 16 
 years of age, were distributed amongst the subdivisions of a classifi- 
 cation prison. 
 
 In a Felons Ward. Before Trial. 
 
 AGES. TIMES COMMITTED. 
 
 1 aged 10 years. 
 
 24, never before. 
 
 2 11 
 
 6, second time. 
 
 4 12 
 
 2, third time. 
 
 4 13 
 
 3, fourth time. 
 
 6 14 
 
 4, fifth time. 
 
 5 15 
 
 
 17 ,, 16 
 
 
 39 Boys. 
 
 39 
 
 In Felons Ward.- Old 
 
 AGES. 
 
 1 aged 10 years. 
 
 11 
 12 
 15 
 16 
 
 7 Boys. 
 
 rs. Before Trial. 
 
 TIMES COMMITTED. 
 
 2, twice before. 
 
 1, four times. 
 
 2, five times. 
 1, six times. 
 1, eight times. 
 
 These were associated with above 20 adults, old offenders, adepts 
 in crime ; some of them returned transports, and others recently 
 discharged from various gaols. 
 
 In a Convicted Felons Ward. Old Offenders. 
 
 AGES. TIMES COMMITTED. 
 
 1 aged 10 years. 
 
 12 
 13 
 14 
 15 
 
 16 
 
 9 Boys. 
 
 2, twice. 
 
 1, three times. 
 
 3, four times. 
 1, six times. 
 
 1, eleven times. 
 1, fourteen times. 
 
18 
 
 These had been transferred with adults from another subdivision 
 or first offenders' department of the gaol, and placed with twenty or 
 more adults on the verge of transportation. 
 
 Vagrants Ward. Boys 16 Years of Age and under. 
 
 AGES. TIMES COMMITTED. 
 
 2 aged 10 years. 
 
 2 11 
 
 5 12 
 
 5 13 
 
 11 14 
 
 10 15 
 
 10 16 
 
 45 
 
 12, never before. 
 1 4, second time. 
 
 4, third time. 
 
 5, fourth time. 
 3, fifth time. 
 3, sixth time. 
 
 1, seventh time. 
 
 1, eleventh time. 
 
 2, twelfth time. 
 
 45 
 
 This department of " Classification" was considered the very hot- 
 bed of iniquity ; first offenders, under summary convictions, indis- 
 criminately herded together with offenders of every shade ; most of 
 these had been in the Misdemeanants' and Felons' Wards, and many 
 of them had been in other prisons. This ward adjoined the Men's 
 Vagrant Ward, which contained from 90 to 130 prisoners of the 
 worst class. 
 
 Of the 100 juvenile delinquents thus distributed in corrupting 
 amalgamation 
 
 36 had never before been in prison. 
 64 were old offenders. 
 
 100 
 
 A visit to the school of this gaol in 1840 gave the following as the 
 result of the morning's attendance : 
 
 20 Boys who had never been in prison before. 
 8 twice. 
 
 3 three times. 
 8 four times. 
 6 five times. 
 
 4 six times. 
 
 1 eight times. 
 1 ten times. 
 1 eleven times. 
 
 52 Boys 
 
19 
 
 Out of these 52 boys, misdemeanants and felons, 16 were for trial, 
 and others from the vagrant department of the gaol. Thus it will 
 be seen that the same uniform vitiating principle ran through the 
 whole system. 
 
 What could be expected from this association ; must it not be 
 pregnant with evils most pernicious ? Can they who have never 
 before been in prison come in contact with the corrupting influences 
 of those who have been the frequent occupants of the gaol without 
 partaking of the moral poison ? 
 
 As a further illustration of the practical effects of Classification, 
 I give, in a few examples, the result of an examination of boys 
 thus confined, and could fill a volume with the personal narrations 
 of juvenile delinquents, which are themselves declaratory of the evils 
 inevitably connected with the system. 
 
 Upon gaol association, and planning further depredations, it was 
 remarked by a youthful offender : " I know'd several chaps that 
 
 were in Prison, and we used to talk about what we had 
 
 done, and to say what we would do when we got out. I got 
 acquainted with several fellows here." 
 
 T. and R. A., brothers, friendless and fatherless, ages 13 and 15. 
 " Neither of us have been in prison before. We are now in No. 1 
 Ward, with above twenty chaps. They tell us what they have 
 stolen, and what they do wi' things : some of 'em say they have 
 been several times on the 4 vag' (vagrant) ' side.' We are going 
 out to-day, but we have no where to go to. Our mother is now in 
 prison for three months : donna' know what for." 
 
 The following cases will also exhibit the corrupting tendencies of 
 the discipline under review : 
 
 T. W , aged 15. " Since I have been in gaol, I had been 
 
 employed in Wool Shop, winding. It is a long room. Sometimes 
 there's fifty or sixty; there's three or four chaps to two skips of 
 wool ; men and boys are together in same room, and they ( can talk 
 together ; there are soldiers, ' vag men,' and boys , This is a very 
 bad place for lads to come to ; they talk about all manner of things ; 
 there's a great many of them who only make fun of them that seem 
 to be a bit soft, or fret." 
 
 W. T , aged 13. I have been in 17 Yard twice, 1 5 once, 
 
20 
 
 13 once. I now work in Wool Room; seventy or eighty chaps at 
 
 work ; all men, except sel, S , and two others. I know a 
 
 good many chaps that have been here, and they'll try to get me to 
 go wi' 'em again ; I should be glad to work, but boys always jawing 
 
 about being in Prison." This boy referred to his extensive 
 
 prison acquaintance at another gaol : " I got to know many chaps 
 
 at " (a classification prison). "I wur at Old Offenders' 
 
 Ward, I knew S and D ; used to talk what they 
 
 would do when they went out. There was an Irish chap and some 
 others used to plan things; said they'd had 'jemmys,' and 'jakes,' 
 
 and 'night protectors' to knock anybody down. S and 
 
 D wanted me to be at outside of prison gates agen they come 
 
 out ; said would try their luck at Dublin." 
 
 I've been in twice ; once on ' yellow 
 
 I am now on ' vag side," No. 17 : there's more nor forty 
 
 chaps ; many been in several times. I've been in Gaol 
 
 three times. Got to know several chaps E. S., T. B., F. L. he's 
 transported. There's two Day Wards of little chaps and big chaps 
 altogether. I now sleep in No. 2 bottom. J. T. sleeps wi' me, and 
 T. B., and T. G. ; the two last are ' first time chaps.' We whisper 
 together, but if they hear us talking they take our tickets off, and 
 supper gets stopped. Chaps often say what they'll do and where 
 they'll go when they gets out. Chaps come down at gates and takes 
 'em off wi' 'em ; I've heard 'em say so." 
 
 The preceding are taken indiscriminately from about one hundred 
 juvenile delinquents, from 10 to 16 years of age, who were at the 
 same time in a gaol, and who came under personal examination, with 
 a view of being thoroughly acquainted with the deplorably corrupting 
 evils of the Classification , and, as it is termed, the " silent " system, 
 as operating upon the juvenile delinquent. 
 
 The following cases will further exhibit the wretched career in 
 crime pursued by youthful offenders cases, not singular in their 
 character, and presenting but an epitome of the miserable existence of 
 the generality of that class of offenders, with also their baneful 
 and depraving companionships when brought under the action of 
 our penal law by the present legalized gaol discipline : 
 
 E. 0., alias J. F., alias W. K., alias C. J. "Turned 17. Have 
 been in Bailey eight times. Was in first for stealing apples, side of 
 Kersal Moor; got three days for it; had never taken things before; 
 that's about six year ago. I worked fifteen or sixteen months at 
 Lee's factory, in Salford ; was in a second time for stealing apples, 
 
21 
 
 and got a month ; was put in 1 5 Ward both times. M was 
 
 with me first time, and he got three days ; was out about six month, 
 and took some shoes and money from Salford ; got put back for 
 sessions, and they gave me six months for that first and last week 
 in ' solitary'; could shout and speak to chaps in next ' solitary'; 
 was out about a year, and got acquainted with them chaps that was 
 transported. N. L. was about 15, he got seven year; J. A. was 
 about 17, he got ten year ; and J. F., he was about 1 2, he got seven 
 year, and had been in Bailey about ten times. Knew A. ; was 
 about 1 4 ; whipped twice. Used to go with C. ; he has been in 
 three or four times, and whipped. H. W. was a chap I knew ; he 
 is about 16, and is transported. T. A. is one I used to go with ; 
 has been in Bailey several times. Several chaps that I go with, 
 but I don't know their names. I was out three or four month, and 
 got in again for ' ogling a fogle' (pocket picking) ; they gave me 
 two month ; was in 15 Ward, and worked on mill ; was out several 
 
 month, and worked at B & J 's ; was in fifth time for taking 
 
 some bread and bacon at Salford ; was put in Bailey, three month 
 hard labour; was then out about three month, and took a man's 
 dinner ; was out of work ; they ga' me fourteen days ; was out of 
 gaol about three week, and got a month for stealing dinner again ; 
 was clear a fortnight, and was taken up on suspicion being in a 
 crowd, said w&$ going to pick pockets. I have been in Nos. 1, 15, 
 16, and 17 Wards. I knew T.; haven't seen him a good while. 
 When used to take things we had a woman that pawned 'em for us ; 
 
 her name was Mary W ; she got twelve month at Lancaster 
 
 for stealing a shawl. I'm in 16 Ward; can talk to 'em in 17 
 Ward; are all old men and chaps turned 17." 
 
 J. H., or A. age 13. "Father alive, mother dead; got a step- 
 mother ; she wunna have me. I used to work at factory, and she 
 would na let me be at home ; could get five or six shillings a week* 
 Have been here five or six times, and whipped three. Wur in first 
 
 time for sleeping out ; I wur catch'd sleeping under H 's 
 
 flags wi' some chaps. I wur not stealing then ; had no ichere to go. 
 Watchman took us up to Town Hall; then taken to Bailey; and 
 they ga' us fourteen days cause I had no ichere to sleep. I got to 
 know a good lot of lads who had been in several times. W. was 
 one, Jim L. another he was transported for seven years ; and I 
 forgot many of 'em. There was Bill C. and Bill G.; Bill got seven 
 years. They would talk how they got shoes out of shops, money 
 drawers, 'fogling' (pocket picking), and 'buzzing' (stealing). Wur 
 in second time, charged, wi' another chap, with going to steal bread. 
 Went into shop for pound o' bread ; said wanted to steal ; got seven 
 days for it. Was in 15 Ward; so many chaps in, shifted us to 
 No. 17 Ward. Was out about two months working at D.'s, Jersey 
 Street ; got into Bailey again. C. and G. called for me, and we 
 went to a place near Mosley Street forgot the name and they 
 
22 
 
 took a ham, weighed about ten pounds ; they got away, and I got 
 two months, and whipped. "Was at work at P.'s, where I lived 
 (I would na' live at home ; they ' jawed me,' and took my clothes 
 to pawn-shop) ; it wur then when I went wi' C. and G. I wur 
 out about four months, and worked again at P.'s; wur stopped a 
 day; sister and sel went and bought some Congreve matches, and 
 sold them down Ashton Road ; had big brother wi' me ; and gave 
 us sixpence. Went into a jerry-shop ; I said I'd have sixpenny ale 
 sister would ha' fourpenny; I had sixpenny, and turning ale into 
 glass broke it, and chuck'd it out o' door, thinking man would kick 
 us ; he came, and said we wur going to steal, and wanted us to pay 
 for glass ; had not enough money, and sent for constable, and we 
 wur sent to lockups, and brought up to Bailey. Sister got off, and I 
 am in three months. I'm in 17 Ward, and sleep at No. 5 bottom. 
 Jim S. and little O'N. is wi' me, all in same room. I was whipped once 
 for lads 'ticing me to drop off mill ; six chaps wur whipped at same 
 time G., and S., W. A., and another; they were all whipped for bad 
 conduct. I'm at work now picking wool ; there's a good many chaps 
 out of all the wards; some out of 'vag side/ some out of the 'yellow 
 boys' (felons); they work at another part. I go to school every 
 other day; I've eleven week now to stop, and when I've served time 
 don't know where to go. I canna go home ; mother 'mills' me, and 
 sauces me about being in at Bailey, and my father doesn't take my 
 part. My step-mother took ten shilling from sister and sel ; it was 
 one week's wage ; she went and got drunk, and milled one of the 
 neighbours ; policeman took her up ; she got bail, but was in gaol a 
 day or two ; I would sooner go any where than live at home wi' 
 her. I'd be glad to get work when I go out ; chaps wait outside 
 Bailey to tak' lads wi' 'em to go stealing again." 
 
 The subjoined, being the last case to be brought under review, 
 presents a melancholy portraiture of the miserable career of the 
 youthful delinquent in his depredatory pursuits and his prison asso- 
 ciations. It will be seen there is reference to about fifteen accomplices 
 and acquaintances at the same time in the gaol. 
 
 John J., alias Barney C., age 14 (a transport convict). " Lived in 
 Hulme; father dead; mother gets her living by minding child. Ever 
 since my father died, I've gone wi' bad lads : Tom M. was the means of 
 bringing me in ; went also wi' Alfred C. ; he has been convicted two 
 or three times. Was in first time wi' J im W., for breaking a window 
 and taking things. Got a month for that ; W. got four month. I was 
 out about seven month, and used to go stealing and getting what 
 we could. Used to sell all things to woman in Liverpool Road. 
 Second time was for what another boy did ; we went in to take 
 something else. Tom E. 'whistler' was wi' me ; he is transported 
 
23 
 
 for seven years; was about 16; he took the till. Was found in 
 shop, but no money on us ; for this we got a month. Was out 
 about six or seven week, and got catch'd for taking some bacon 
 
 from H 's, O II . Tom W. was wi' me ; he got away. 
 
 I got a month for that. I was out about eight or nine month, 
 lodging in one place or another, but stealing all time anything 
 could catch hold on. Got in Bailey next for stealing some 
 biscuits from Deansgate : got three months for that. Out a few 
 days. Came in again for 'pinching a fogle': this got me two month. 
 AVas out several month, still stealing. Alfred C. and Jim M. was 
 
 wi' me ; we took a till from R 's, d 1, D ; got 
 
 three month and 'scratted' (flogged). I was out several month, 
 going on some way, and got catch'd again for taking a pot wi' some 
 money ; Jim C. and George P. wi' me ; wur all taken together, and 
 have got ten year transportation. When first came in, in No. 1 
 Ward; next in 15, 1, 3, and 7. Whipped twice, once for sentence; 
 second time for dropping off mill. Found chaps in that I knew 
 every time. We used to whisper, and make up things what to do ; 
 very near always plan to rob and pick pockets, and plan best 
 place to go to. I have broken into houses wi' big fellows; a 
 many are transported; 'whistler' was one. Jack H. is off for 
 fourteen years, Pat C. for ten years, Jim M. for ten years. Have 
 been many a time nearly catch'd for things that have never been 
 
 found out. I took a till in P r 8 t. Girl saw me, and 
 
 * skrieked ' out : / knock d her over her head wi' the till, and run 
 away; good many chaps wur after me, I slipped off my jacket, and 
 cried, ' stop him, stop him'; chaps passed me, and I cut off. Used 
 
 to go into country to get into houses about P : used to have 
 
 skeleton keys. If coudna' get in at door, would take window out 
 of shutter, or shot lock wi' 'jemmy/ Used to get 5 or 6 at a 
 time ; sometimes not so much l, or so ; sometimes nothing. Used 
 to go to play, or drinking, or wi' girls. Soon got rid of money; as 
 they say, ' bad get, bad go.' Not much a robbing now, except do 
 like Dick Turpin. We call stealing, ' touching, pinching, buzzing, 
 fogle-hunting, jilting, snow-dropping :' the last means taking hand- 
 kerchiefs, shirts, and so on, off line. / know a good many chaps 
 that's in, and many a score that's out many that I don't know 
 their names. When we're going about things, we meet at different 
 place ; sometimes in Mount Street, the Iron Bridge ; more times 
 
 near R, 's shop, D e. When we get anything we go to 
 
 ' Old John,' top of H Street, and ' lug it'; take things to 
 
 W 's too, in S g F d, off D e. They care nought 
 
 about where we get things ; know they are stolen. They give just 
 about a quarter what things are worth ; if get handkerchiefs, give 
 Is. or Is. 6d for it. If policeman drops upon us doesn't find much. 
 
 All about S F chaps and girls go and sleep. I've seen 
 
 ten chaps and girls in a room ' milling ' about one another wi' shirts 
 and shifts. The girls get what they can wi' us, and go sometimes 
 
24 
 
 'hoisting' (shoplifting). In B H 
 
 stands 4 fence.' Get anything worth 5s. or 6s., get Is. 6d. or 2s. 
 for it. When get things are glad to get rid of 'em ; afear'd of getting 
 
 'pinched.' J lives in S F , down some way; it 
 
 wouldn't do to ' split,' that would ' crab ' it (stop it). I'm now in 
 Transport Ward. Sulky is there : he's got seven years. There's 
 nineteen in that Ward waiting to go off- some seven, some 
 ten, some fourteen and Fifteen years. The wardsman is a first 
 offender ; he seems a religious sort o' chap ; he's always on 
 for reading. There's many ' dos cribs ' (houses of ill-fame) about 
 
 S g F d, for molls, and gunniffs, buzzers, and such like. 
 
 I've two brothers ; one at Liverpool, a joiner : I don't know 
 where t'other is. Neither of 'em come down to see me sin I've been 
 sentenced to be transported, which I think very hard of 'em. Mother 
 has been to see me three times, and tells me to be a good lad, 
 and hopes I will return to my native country. If I'd ta'en mother s 
 advice would na ha been here. My mother used to tell me 
 when I went wi' bad lads, ' thoult get transported, be put in chains, 
 and will suffer when its too late for thee to repent/ I knew many 
 chaps that had no home to go to, and was obliged to sleep out, and 
 used to go to steal. Some o' 'em no father or mother; some are now 
 
 transported that was that way M., Tim B., B J.; several that 
 
 didn't know their names; if they'd any friends to go to wouldn't ha' 
 been in gaol" 
 
 Under our existing system of gaol discipline, hundreds of 
 thousands of mere children and youth (a large majority of whom 
 have been the victims of neglect and destitution), have been sub- 
 jected to the ruinous prison association referred to in the preceding 
 narratives; and will the reader permit to be given the sad testimony 
 of a condemned convict of the inevitable tendencies of such associa- 
 tions a testimony offered by a man on the confines of another 
 world. Mr. Deappert, in his report on the necessity of a complete 
 separation of juvenile from other offenders, remarks: "There were 
 in the same room, at Douay, several youths who had been sentenced 
 to imprisonment by the correctional tribunal, together with men of 
 different ages, and also a man condemned to death for murder. He 
 requested to speak to me in private. ' I wait,' said he, ' the moment 
 of execution ; and since you are the first person who has visited us, 
 I wish to address you with confidence, and to conceal nothing from 
 you. I am guilty of the crime for which I have been condemned ; 
 I have committed robbery and murder. From my infancy my 
 parents neglected me. I fell into bad company; my undoing was 
 completed in a prison; and I am now about to expiate all my faults. 
 
25 
 
 Among the persons whom you see in this room there are some 
 youths, who, with pain I observe, are preparing themselves for the 
 commission of new crimes, as soon as their term of confinement 
 expires. If you would get them removed into a separate room, this, 
 sir, would be the greatest benefit that you could confer upon them." 
 
 The present is truly an "undoing" system; and every feeling 
 mind will accord in the sentiments expressed by the Inspectors of 
 Prisons when referring to the operation of our present laws, and 
 the deplorably depraving influence of our prison discipline upon 
 the young : "Absolute impunity would, in many cases, have been 
 preferable to the ruinous effects of commitment to a gaol." 
 
 In confirmation of the sentiments expressed with regard to the 
 lamentable opportunities afforded by constructional arrangement for 
 mutual contamination amongst the prisoners in the gaol to which re- 
 ference has been made, the chaplain and the governor of the Salford 
 prison, in a report to the visiting justices, under date of April, 1845, 
 thus observe : " The day-rooms are severally on the ground floor 
 communicating with the airing yard. They are confined and dark, and 
 it is utterly impossible to contrive a greater nuisance in a prison 
 than they are. They are the places where corruption thrives with- 
 out any check from the supervision of officers. They are truly the 
 abominations of the prison" Such were indeed the "abominations" 
 permitted for so lengthened a period to exist, with all their de- 
 moralizing associations. 
 
 At length, the corrupting nature of the discipline became so pal- 
 pably evident, that, in the annual report of the chaplain, published 
 October, 1846, an attempt is stated to have been made to apply 
 a remedy, allusion to which is made in the following terms: 
 " Much of the moral contamination complained of in former re- 
 ports has been done away with by the complete abolition of the 
 day-rooms on the men's side, by which the prisoners are during the 
 entire day under the eye of an officer." 
 
 It must, however, be a matter of deep concern to those who feel 
 an interest in the " reformation of the offender, and the determent of 
 others from the further commission of crime," from the long-known 
 and glaring evils shown as existing by the narrations we have 
 
26 
 
 given and the statements furnished, that the alteration adverted to 
 by the chaplain had not long ago been adopted. The reader is 
 informed that much contamination is prevented ; may it not be as- 
 serted that there is much contamination continued, and that the 
 transfer from the day-rooms to an alleged more strict supervision is 
 but a feeble palliative to the attendant evils of gaol recognition, and 
 certain communication ? 
 
 It is well known, that, before trial, prisoners are not subjected to 
 the more rigid rules of compulsory silence, and that all grades of 
 character in the career of criminality, from the first offence trans- 
 gressor, to the deeply steeped in guilt, are daily in association; new 
 acquaintanceships are formed and old companionships are recognised; 
 these associations furnishing renewed occasions, not only for mutual 
 recognition, but for planning and determining upon future depreda- 
 tions on discharge from prison. A well authenticated case has 
 recently come under notice, which shows that, although it is alleged, 
 " much contamination is prevented," with all the vigilance that can 
 be exercised, the system in operation at the New Bailey supplies 
 abundant means for interchange of ideas most mischievous to the 
 community. Permission is given to name the following case :- 
 Mr. John Williams, of Fallowfield Lodge, near Manchester, had 
 
 been robbed by his servant-man J L , who was convicted 
 
 in March, 1846, and sentenced for six months imprisonment. Be- 
 fore the expiration of that time, a man named M , who had 
 
 been confined in the New Bailey, called upon Mr. "Williams, and 
 told him " a plot had been concocted in the prison to rob his house." 
 He was unwilling, at first, to regard this communication, " but," 
 remarks Mr. "Williams, " the man told me so clearly where things 
 of value were deposited, what they were, the easiest way to get 
 at them, when myself, sisters, and the other branches of the 
 family were from home, together with many other matters, 
 
 so correctly r , I was convinced J L , who had been in my 
 
 employment several years, must have told the man." Mr. Williams 
 
 communicated what he had been told by M to the governor 
 
 of the gaol, and upon examination, it was found that M and 
 
 J L , with others, had been confined together before trial. 
 
 This case is only given to shew the kind of prison education pro- 
 moted under a silent system prison discipline, and is only an 
 instance out of many that could be supplied, of a similar bearing. 
 
27 
 
 Under whatever system criminals are allowed to congregate, con- 
 tamination is a certain consequent. 
 
 Do not the association with the abandoned, their derision at the 
 relenting, the lessons of infamy imparted, the extensive prison 
 acquaintanceships formed, with the systematic scheming for future 
 plundering the community, all tend to shew the enormous evils 
 of a discipline thus perpetuated by magisterial supervision and 
 maintained by legislative enactment ? 
 
 In the notice given of " the practical effects" of gaol association, 
 it has not been the object to refer in a manner condemnatory of the 
 particular prison observed upon, but more especially to present to 
 view the evils of a system which is considered national. 
 
 The earnest inquirer might be directed to a full development of the 
 aggravated evils of the congregated, and what is termed, the silent sys- 
 tem of prison discipline, as presented in the metropolitan gaols; there 
 would be found extensively constructed prisons, excellent prison offi- 
 cers, well digested prison regulations, whilst at the same time they 
 are institutions for the innoculation of every vicious principle insti- 
 tutions in which would be found, in their various classification 
 departments, criminals herded together, of every rank and degree in 
 crime that the mind can possibly conceive from those who have 
 never before breathed the atmosphere of a gaol, to the culprit sunk 
 the lowest in moral infamy, and these present but a representation 
 of the prisons generally of the United Kingdom. 
 
 CITY OF LONDON AND METROPOLITAN PRISONS. 
 
 NEWGATE. 
 
 Advancing in the subject, it may be asked ; "What are the city 
 of London prisons ? Are they not standing monuments of moral 
 pollution, and of the unaccountable apathy and disregard which have 
 been manifested by their chartered supervisors or conservators. 
 It is well known that the aldermen of the City of London 
 have the management and control of their penal institutions, and 
 
28 
 
 there need be no hesitation in affirming, that in no civilized country 
 on the face of the globe, with all the light, intelligence, and pro- 
 gressive improvement by which that body is surrounded, can there 
 be found establishments so notorious for the continuance of a state 
 of things so morally destructive to the prisoner and injurious to the 
 community. It is only a matter of astonishment that the govern- 
 ment and the legislature* have continued to extend their forbear- 
 ance, and that they did not long ago adopt measures for the with- 
 drawment of the penal institutions of the city from aldermanic 
 control. 
 
 The very soul sickens at the perusal of testimony, both parliamen- 
 tary and individual, which has been offered from the days of 
 Howard even to the present time, and as the enormities of these city 
 prison houses may have varied in some degrees of atrocity at different 
 periods, the same deplorably vitiating, soul-destroying system has 
 prevailed, notwithstanding the parliamentary investigations, the 
 reports of inspectors, the presentments of grand juries, the remon- 
 strances of sheriffs, the appeals of benevolent individuals; and there is 
 still, up to 1847, every possible attempt in the Court of Aldermen to 
 stifle investigation, obstruct improvement, and to prevent public 
 discussions. The lips of prison officers are hermetically sealed, 
 motions for inquiry are evaded and postponed, -and any bene- 
 volent appeal to the Court of Aldermen t upon the condition 
 of the prisoner is denominated " humbug/' J and treated with 
 derision. 
 
 * Lord Sandon, who is deeply and feelingly alive to the importance of 
 prison discipline, was so impressed with the depraving tendency of the 
 discipline of the City prisons, that he gave notice the last Session of Par- 
 liament for a Committee to inquire into the state of the City gaols. It is 
 fervently hoped that these notorious institutions for all that is vicious 
 will not escape the most rigid scrutiny. 
 
 "f Mr. Alderman Sidney is entitled to the warmest thanks of the com- 
 munity for his continued and zealous endeavours to promote a reform not 
 only in the discipline, but the construction of the city gaols, and it may be 
 seen from the reported proceedings of the Court of Aldermen, how the en- 
 deavours of that gentleman have been met by evasion and opposition. Ear- 
 nestly, however, is it desired that Alderman Sidney will not be discouraged 
 in his benevolent work ; for it will be found that, whatever opposition 
 the City authorities may offer to the introduction of an improved system 
 of penal treatment in their gaols, they will be compelled to yield ere long 
 to the powerful influences of both public opinion and legislative enact- 
 ment. 
 
 J Meeting of Court of Aldermen. Vide 'Times,' June llth, 1845. 
 
29 
 
 A few pages will be required to shew the regard which the 
 Aldermen of the City of London have had to prison morals, and tes- 
 timony more worthy of credence was never given before any 
 tribunal; testimony which the City authorities of this day will not 
 presume to question or deny. 
 
 JOHN HOWARD, 1787, 
 
 In his account of prisons, referring to Newgate, states " that there 
 was no alteration since his former publication. In three or four 
 rooms there were nearly one hundred and fifty women crowded 
 together, many young creatures with the old and hardened, some of 
 whom had been confined upwards of two years. On the men's side 
 there were many ~boys of twelve or fourteen years of age, some almost 
 naked. In the men's infirmary there were only seven iron bedsteads, 
 and at my last visit, there being twenty sick, some of them, naked, 
 and with sores in a miserable condition, lay on the floor, with only 
 a rug" 
 
 SIR RICHARD PHILLIPS, 1808, 
 
 A Sheriff of the City of London, remarks, as the result of his own 
 observation, " that he had been shocked to see boys of thirteen, four- 
 teen, and fifteen, confined for months in the same yard with 
 hardened, incorrigible offenders. 
 
 " Among the women, all the ordinary feelings of their sex are 
 destroyed by their indiscriminate association ; the shameless victims 
 of lust and profligacy are placed in the same chamber with others 
 who, however they may have offended the laws in particular points, 
 still preserve their respect for decency and decorum. In immediate 
 contact with such abandoned women, other young persons are com- 
 pelled to pass their time between their commitment and the sessions, 
 when, of course, it often happens that the bill is not found against 
 them by the grand jury, or they are acquitted by the petty jury. 
 To convey a just idea of these yards, and of the yards in which the 
 prisoners live and lodge, the most apt comparison is the engraved 
 representation of a slave ship, which, a few years ago, was circulated 
 through England with much effect. When the prisoners lie down 
 in their floors by night, there must necessarily, at least in the 
 women's ward, be the same bodily contact, and the same arrange- 
 ment of heads and legs, as are represented in the drawing of 
 
30 
 
 the deck of a slave ship. The wards being oiily 43 feet wide, admit 
 by night of two rows to lie -down at once, in a length of 37 feet, 
 that is to say, twenty-five or thirty women in a row, having each a 
 breadth of 18 inches by her length ; at times the women have laid 
 in the space afforded by the difference between the breadth of the 
 room and the length of the women." 
 
 MRS. ELIZABETH FRY, 1815. 
 
 About 1815, Mrs. Fry visited Newgate a gaol in the midst of 
 highly civilized London, and her visit is thus described by her friend, 
 Mr. Fowell Buxton : " She found the female side in a situation 
 which no language can describe. Nearly three hundred women, 
 sent there for every gradation of crime, some untried, and some 
 under sentence of death, were crowded together in the two wards 
 and two cells, which are now appropriated to the untried, and which 
 are found quite inadequate to contain even this diminished number 
 with any tolerable convenience. Here they saw their friends, and 
 kept their multitudes of children, and they had no other place for 
 cooking, washing, eating, and sleeping. They slept on the floor, at 
 times one hundred and twenty in one ward, without so much as a 
 mat for bedding, and many of them were very nearly naked. She 
 saw them openly drinking spirits, and her ears were offended by the 
 most terrible imprecations. Every thing was filthy to excess, and 
 the smell was quite disgusting. Every one, even the governor, was 
 reluctant to go amongst them. He persuaded her to leave her 
 watch in the office, telling her that his presence would not prevent 
 its being taken from her. She saw enough to convince her that 
 every thing bad was going on. In short, in giving me this account, 
 she repeatedly said," remarks Mr. Buxton, " ' All I tell thee is a 
 faint picture of the reality ; the filth, the closeness of the rooms, 
 the ferocious manners and expressions of the women towards each 
 other, and the abandoned wickedness, which every thing bespoke, 
 are quite indescribable.' " 
 
 THE REV. ORDINARY COTTON. 
 
 Nearly at the same period, the Rev. Mr. Cotton, the ordinary of 
 the prison, gave evidence on which a Parliamentary Committee thus 
 commented : " It is with pain the Committee have learned from 
 Mr. Cotton, the new ordinary, the condition of the female prisoners, 
 and they hope that it is not in many prisons in England where it 
 
31 
 
 can be said that swearing and drinking are among the women pri- 
 soners the prominent evils ; that they stupify themselves to get rid 
 of all reflection ; that they have ceased to have any consciousness of 
 sex ; and that they seem to be unsexed, when they come into gaol." 
 
 Such was the condition of the female department of Newgate, in 
 1815 ; nor are any thanks due to the aldermen of the City of Lon- 
 don, that these abominations at that period were in a considerable 
 degree corrected. It was from the benevolent exertions of Mrs. Fry 
 and her friends, constituting the Ladies' Society, who visited New- 
 gate, that such atrocities received a check. 
 
 MR. POYNDER, 1817. 
 
 Of the state of the male prisoners' side of this gaol, in 1817, 
 Mr. Poynder, a man of high standing in the City of London, offered 
 the following evidence before a Parliamentary Committee upon the 
 enormities which then prevailed in Newgate. Mr. Poynder observes : 
 " that the prisoner associates with the same companions, talks the 
 same language, and enjoys the same vices to which he had been 
 accustomed in the world. So far, therefore, as the criminal is con- 
 cerned, he remains the same character still ; nor is the general 
 aggregate of crime lessened by his confinement, since it can be proved 
 that, from the facility of intercourse between the interior and the 
 exterior of Newgate, SOME OF THE WORST, AND MOST EXTENSIVE 
 
 BURGLARIES AND ROBBERIES HAVE BEEN PLOTTED IN THAT PRISON ; 
 FORGED NOTES HAVE BEEN FABRICATED AND PASSED THERE ; AND 
 COINING ITSELF HAS BEEN CARRIED ON WITHIN ITS WALLS." The 
 
 same gentleman, further remarking on the then existing evils of the 
 gaol, stated, " that any man was visited by any woman who chose 
 to inquire for him, and the mere mention of his name," Mr. Poynder 
 continues, " is in the same way permitted to pass all those women 
 who chose to apply FOR THE PURPOSES OF GENERAL PROSTITUTION. 
 The cases of venereal disease always to be found in the infirmary, 
 are for the most part, if not altogether, CONTRACTED IN THE PRISON." 
 
 A 
 
 THE PRESENTMENT OF A GRAND JURY IN 1820. 
 
 The succeeding testimony, declaratory of the enormous amount of 
 mischief which the magistrates of the City were passively instru- 
 mental in inflicting upon the community, is the presentment of a 
 grand jury in 1820 : 
 
32 
 
 " The London Grand Jury respectfully beg leave to present to 
 the Court that, in their opinion, the alarming increase of crime in 
 the Metropolis, especially amongst juvenile offenders, is to be chiefly 
 attributable to the very inadequate state of Newgate Prison for the 
 purpose of classing the prisoners according to their various degrees 
 of criminality ; thus, boys and girls who have been committed for 
 some slight misdemeanors, are found to associate with the basest and 
 most hardened felons, and are consequently returned upon society, 
 when the periods of their imprisonment are passed, in possession of 
 all the theory of the most practised offenders. The Grand Jury 
 therefore, earnestly implore the Court to give their most serious and 
 immediate attention to the deplorable state of Newgate Prison, and 
 to adopt such measures as shall effectually remove this great dis- 
 credit from the Metropolis." 
 
 INSPECTORS OF PRISONS, 1836. 
 
 Sixteen years after the preceding evidence was offered, the In- 
 spectors of Prisons, in their report for 1836, supply a deplorable 
 enumeration of the evils which the city of London Aldermen con- 
 tinued extra-judicially to inflict upon the prisoners under their 
 charge, with the consequent mischief also to the community. 
 
 " The association of prisoners of all ages, and of every shade of 
 guilt, in one indiscriminate mass, is a frightful feature in the system 
 that prevails here ; the first in magnitude, and the most pernicious 
 in effect. In this prison we find that the young and the old, the 
 inexperienced and the practised offender ; the criminal who is smit- 
 ten with a conviction of his guilt, and the hardened villain whom 
 scarcely any penal discipline can subdue are congregated together, 
 with an utter disregard to all moral distinctions, the interests of the 
 prisoners, or the welfare of the community. In such a state of 
 things, can it be a matter of wonder that the effects should be such 
 as have been described ? Every other evil is aggravated by this ; 
 and it would be worse than idle to attempt any remedy for the rest, 
 whilst this most demoralizing intermixture of criminals of all ages 
 and degrees of guilt is suffered to frustrate the very ends of prison 
 discipline, and to give tenfold violence to all those mischievous in- 
 clinations and passions, upon which it is incessantly operating, and 
 which it is the design of justice to discourage and repress. Every 
 device by which the fences of property may be overcome is here 
 
33 
 
 framed and divulged to ready agents. Every fraudulent artifice, 
 every successful trick, every ingenious mode of overreaching the 
 cautious, or of plundering the unguarded, is perfected here, and 
 communicated to those who had not hitherto been initiated in the 
 mystery of crime." 
 
 Upon the utter uselessness of all attempts to diffuse, with any 
 advantage, moral and religious influence within the walls of the 
 prison, the Inspectors continue : 
 
 " We are compelled to state, that no circumstances could be 
 imagined more calculated to defeat all hope of reformation than 
 those in which a prisoner in Newgate necessarily finds himself 
 placed i forced and constant intercourse with the most depraved 
 individuals of his own class ;, the employment of those means and 
 agents by which the lowest passions and most vulgar propensities of 
 man are perpetually kept in the highest state of excitement drink- 
 ing, gaming, obscene and blasphemous language, utter idleness, the 
 almost unrestricted admission of money and luxuries ; uncontrolled 
 conversation with visitors of the very worst description prostitutes, 
 thieves, receivers of stolen goods ; all the tumultuous and diversified 
 passions and emotions which circumstances like these must neces- 
 sarily generate, forbid the faintest shadow of a hope that in a soil so 
 unfavourable for moral culture, any awakening truth, salutary ex- 
 hortation, or imperfect resolutions of amendment, can take root or 
 grow. Every devotional feeling here perishes in the birth ; no time 
 or place is allowed for secret meditation, reading, or prayer ; and 
 the whisper of conscience is drowned in the noise of revelry, obscen- 
 ity, or blasphemy." 
 
 The highly reprehensible disregard of the City of London authori- 
 ties to the condition of the condemned culprit is also powerfully and 
 feelingly commented upon by the Inspectors of Prisons. 
 
 " But the most distressing circumstance connected with this 
 system is the cruel indifference with which it regards the condition 
 and necessities of those on whom the extreme penalty of the law is 
 doomed to fall. Prisoners actually awaiting the execution of the 
 awful sentence of death are placed, by the evil influence of com- 
 panionship, in the most unfavourable circumstances for self-reflection. 
 
34 
 
 Religion and humanity combine to point out the imperative necessity 
 of providing' men, brought by the sentence of the law to the verge 
 of eternity, with the means of spiritual improvement and consola- 
 tion; but the system of prison discipline in Newgate practically 
 defeats every such merciful design. Against thia serious evil, the 
 chaplain has repeatedly and loudly protested ; and it is in evidence 
 that the unhappy victims themselves have earnestly implored the 
 officers to deliver them from a situation in which it was impossible 
 for them to devote the few remaining hours that the law allowed 
 them to reflection and prayer ! But this is not all. The companions 
 in guilt of these unfortunate men become further hardened by the 
 influence of this association. The indulgence of thoughtless apathy, 
 unfeeling mirth, or revolting ribaldry, are productive of incalculable 
 mischief to the minds of those who are subjected to their influence. 
 The prisoner who witnesses with levity of indifference the last 
 moments of a culprit in Newgate, comes forth a greater villain than 
 he went in. In him the evil principle has done its work, and the 
 very exhibition of terror which justice designed for the reclaiming 
 of the survivors, by a perversion of moral influence, irremediably 
 hardens the heart which it was intended to soften and amend." 
 
 What terms more reprobatory could have been employed by the 
 Inspectors in their report for 1836, with respect to the general ten- 
 dency of penal treatment in Newgate, than the following : 
 
 
 
 " If human ingenuity were tasked to devise a means by which the 
 most profligate might be rendered abandoned to the last degree of 
 moral infamy, nothing more effectual could be invented than the 
 system now actually in operation within the walls of the first 
 metropolitan prison in England" 
 
 These extracts will surely suffice to exhibit the state of Newgate 
 down to the date adverted to. 
 
 INSPECTORS OF PRISONS, 1846. 
 
 The last, or tenth report of the Inspectors of Prisons, published 
 in 1846, further indicates the manner in which the city magistrates 
 have continued to perpetuate the prison enormities by which their 
 gaols for so many years have been pre-eminently distinguished. 
 
35 
 
 " An imperative sense of duty has compelled us, year after year, 
 to remonstrate against Newgate, as a most objectionable prison, and 
 on the present occasion, we have no alternative but to reiterate our 
 complaints of it. We have repeatedly entered into details of its 
 radically wrong construction, and of its pernicious discipline. In 
 whatever light we contemplate this prison we see in it a school where 
 the juvenile and the immatured offender, or any one in whom there 
 'may le yet some sense of virtue remaining, is, by reason of a com - 
 pulsory gaol association, perfected in the arts of crime. The result 
 is inevitable. Here prisoners of various degrees of depravity are 
 thrown into the most intimate companionship in numbers, varying 
 from three to nineteen hours of the twenty-four, in utter idleness, 
 and without even the restraining presence of an officer, and during 
 the two hours allowed for exercise that sphere of association is pro- 
 digiously increased by the prisoners in the different wards being 
 allowed freely to associate in the airing yards. That contamination 
 goes on to a fearful extent in the wards and yards of Newgate is not 
 a matter of conjecture or speculation, for every day's experience de- 
 monstrates it. It is no uncommon thing for young men committed 
 to this prison for a first offence, although they may on entering 
 evince deep and unfeigned sorrow for a short period, to recover 
 rapidly from their depression of spirit, and give way to a reckless 
 state of mind which soon binds them in closest intimacy with the 
 depraved, and the old and oft-committed depredator' 
 
 The Inspectors of Prisons refer to the prolific opportunities for 
 the commission of prison offences in this gaol; a few extracts may 
 suffice as examples of uproar and insubordination. 
 
 " FIGHTING IN THEIR WARDS, 
 PLAYING AT LEAP-FROG IN THEIR WARD, 
 
 SECRETING THEMSELVES IN ANOTHER WARD, 
 
 GAMBLING WITH BUTTONS, 
 
 DISORDERLY AND RIOTOUS CONDUCT IN THEIR WARD, 
 
 FIGHTING AND INSOLENT LANGUAGE WITH TURNKEY, 
 
 STEALING A HANDKERCHIEF, 
 
 FORCING OPEN THE DESK OF THE SCHOOLMASTER, 
 
 SPITTING THROUGH INSPECTION HOLE INTO AN OFFICER'S FACE, 
 
 INDECENT CONDUCT TO A FELLOW-PRISONER," 
 
 and other particulars of the unrestricted " doings" of the gaol are also 
 adverted to. 
 
36 
 
 " Among the first wards we saw through the inspector's hole about 
 eight prisoners busily engaged at some game, with a sentinel keep- 
 ing his eye on the inspection hole ; but, when we entered, not a 
 vestige of the gaming was discoverable ; before, however, we had 
 ascended half-a-dozen steps on the staircase, we again looked into 
 the ward through another inspector's hole in the wall, and there we 
 distinctly saw that the game had been 
 
 The Inspectors of Prisons propose the following interrogatories, 
 after other lengthened statements of the characteristic laxity of 
 discipline in this gaol : 
 
 " Is it calculated to reclaim the guilty, or to protect the innocent ? 
 on the contrary, it will be evident that the guilty will become more 
 hardened and expert ; that the innocent will be corrupted; and 
 that the inmates of Newgate, when they regain their liberty, will le 
 more dangerous to society from the experience they have acquired in 
 this most defective prison." 
 
 It requires not the powers of invective or declamation to portray 
 the evils which must certainly result both to the imprisoned and to 
 society by the existence ?nd continuance of such a state of things, 
 and the Inspectors suitably remark : 
 
 " The common dictates of humanity, the safety and well-being of 
 the community, and the all-importance of moral discipline to the 
 criminal himself, alike condemn a system of discipline which com- 
 pels persons to be companions and close associates of the hardened 
 and depraved." 
 
 In the course of the last ten years, nearly forty thousand prisoners, 
 male and female, have imbibed the insidious poison of this goal. 
 From this very brief historical commentary on the manner in 
 which the City authorities have regarded the morals of the prisoner 
 and the security of the public, (on which volumes of evidence could 
 be furnished of similarly affecting import,) can the ethical statician 
 form an adequate and accurate estimate of the moral pollution which 
 has flowed through the community from this pestiferous penal deposi- 
 tory, with all its defiling influences, during the lengthened period to 
 which the reader's attention has been directed ? 
 
37 
 
 Without taxing the attention of the reader too much upon this 
 subject, a further brief reference may be made to the city prisons. 
 
 GILTSPUR STREET COMPTER. 
 
 Lengthened extracts could be given from official documents decla- 
 ratory of the abounding abominations which have been continued in 
 this gaol, but the following, recently published, may serve to show 
 its present state. One of the daily evening journals* has, with 
 much force, animadverted upon the wretched, the degraded, and 
 crowded condition of Giltspur Street Compter. Upon the dis- 
 cipline and contaminating association suffered in this prison, it is 
 observed : 
 
 " The child who has committed a first offence, the adult who has 
 arrived at the full maturity of crime, and the veteran more hardened 
 by his vices than his years, who seems to take a pride in the empire 
 of wickedness, are all huddled together, breathing the same tainted 
 atmosphere, and assimilating with a sort of malignant rivalship to the 
 worst specimen amongst them. Such is the state of that part of the 
 prison known as the Compter, where prisoners untried, and of course 
 unconvicted, and possibly innocent, are associated with some of the 
 most depraved characters on the face of the earth ; but, bad as this 
 division of the prison is, the other division, now known as the House 
 of Correction for the city of London, is by many degrees worse. 
 Here are to be seen in the same room from fifty to sixty male 
 prisoners, of all ages, and of almost all degrees of criminality, 
 sitting together closely packed on benches, picking oakum. The 
 most disgusting conversation is continually going forward; the most 
 revolting levity pervades the whole demoralized and demoralizing 
 mass ; and the wretch who might, in the first instance, have been 
 sent there for some slight offence, soon finds the sort of school he 
 has been introduced to, and there treasures up lessons and forms 
 connections well calculated to fit him for the mischievous career 
 which society may be said to have destined and fitted him to run. 
 Immediately above this den of infamy stauds the treadmill, on which 
 a similar number of men are kept constantly at work ; and there, as 
 
 The Sun, Feb. 2nd, 1846. 
 
38 
 
 in the oakum room, their intercourse with each other is perfectly 
 unrestrained, and their conversation distinguished by the same reck- 
 less disregard of all decency and order." 
 
 Little, indeed, need be added to such testimony in confirmation of 
 the assertions made of the destructive tendencies of such a state of 
 discipline. From repeated personal examination the writer could 
 present examples of the baneful influence of gaol association in that 
 prison. Amongst the female inmates, are frequently to be found 
 the first offence conviction in constant contact with the most 
 hardened prostitutes, who are compelled to hear narratives the most 
 disgusting and obscene. The accuracy of the vivid picture portrayed 
 in the journal quoted can be most fully avouched. 
 
 Upon the committal of juvenile offenders to gaols under city juris- 
 diction the Inspectors of Prisons, in their third report, emphatically 
 remark, and the same observations may, with equal propriety, be 
 applied to the consequences of that class of offenders, being committed 
 to city prisons at the present day: 
 
 " Whether we advert to the gaols of the City of London, viz., 
 Newgate, Giltspur Street Compter, the Bridewell Hospital, and 
 the Borough Compter it is a fact that no young person can be com- 
 mitted to any one of these places without being rendered the worse 
 by the imprisonment, and the more dangerous to the community ; 
 nor without extending his acquaintanceship with the criminal and 
 depraved." 
 
 Is it too much, then, to write, in the denunciatory language of the 
 Prison Inspectors, that THE CITY PRISONS ARE A DISGRACE TO THE 
 METROPOLIS, AND A NATIONAL REPROACH ; and also to join with 
 them in the hope " that the day is at hand when the stain will be 
 removed from the character of the city of London, and when the 
 first municipal authority of our land will no longer be subject to 
 the reproach of fostering Institutions which outrage the rights and 
 feelings of humanity, defeat the end of justice, and disgrace the 
 profession of a Christian country." 
 
 Does the law visit with its penalties those who cause a nuisance 
 which affects the physical condition of a district, and is there no 
 
39 
 
 law which can reach high transgressors who have so long perpetuated 
 and still continue to retain such a moral pestilence in the midst of 
 the community as the penal-houses to which attention has been 
 directed ? 
 
 The discipline referred to in the preceding remarks in regard to 
 the treatment in the city gaols has, from its own distinguishing char- 
 acter, received the appellative of 
 
 THE CITY OF LONDON SYSTEM. 
 
 COLDBATH FIELDS PRISON, CLERKENWELL. 
 
 In further noticing the present prevailing system of prison discip- 
 line a few remarks will be made upon the Metropolitan examples 
 of the classification, silent, and congregated system, as in operation at 
 Coldbath Fields and the Westminster House of Correction, which, 
 although indicatory of the almost universally predominant system of 
 prison discipline in the United Kingdom, furnishes certainly better 
 specimens of order than usually found under that system, notwith- 
 standing there will be obviously manifest to the most superficial 
 observer all the elements of moral corruption and contamination. 
 
 The Coldbath Fields House of Correction,* it is well known, is one 
 of the largest houses of detention in the country ; its inmates vary 
 from 1000 to 1200 juvenile, adult, male and female offenders, all 
 spread through this vast establishment in its various divisions, congre- 
 gated together in large numbers comprising every variety of offence 
 and degree in crime, in yards and wards which have their respective 
 classification denominations, and to which reference at some length 
 has been made, and conformable with legislative enactment and 
 magisterial discretion as connected with the system here adopted. 
 
 *A most timely opportunity is afforded for the introduction of a more 
 efficient system of penal treatment in connection with a Middlesex House 
 of Correction. A railway company is intending to apply to Parliament to 
 obtain the entire site of this gaol for a railway station, and for which it is 
 said 100,000 has been offered. The legislature will most truly promote 
 the cause of prison reform by sanctioning such a measure, by which a 
 penal institution may be erected in another locality, upon the most im- 
 proved principle of construction for carrying out a system of discipline 
 more in unison with corrective and reformatory treatment than at 
 present iu operation in the Coldbath Fields Prison. 
 
40 
 
 A brief reference is only required from the last published report 
 of the Inspector of Prisons for the Home District, to show the nature 
 of gaol association and the harassing feelings consequent upon 
 an attempt to carry out the system of discipline adopted in this 
 pattern gaol upon the silent system. The number of prisoners 
 confined at the time of inspection was 920, besides 17 infants and 
 children. They were divided in the following order : 
 
 Males. Females. 
 
 Felons 323 155 
 
 Misdemeanants 195 48 
 
 Rogues and vagabonds 72 
 
 Soldiers 92 
 
 Under the vagrant act 35 
 
 682 238 
 
 Total, 920. 
 
 These were assigned to 16 departments of the gaol, under various 
 ward classifications. 
 
 Of the giant evil, association, to which reference has been made as 
 the bane of the system, the inspectors, adverting to a class of prisoners 
 which appears to have occasioned no small annoyance in the conduct- 
 ing of the discipline of the prison, workhouse offenders, observe, 
 "some of whom had been sent to prison 10, 11, 12, 13, and even 14 
 times, who seemed to be utterly destitute and untaught, and whose 
 conduct in the prison was indecent, violent, and outrageous in an 
 unparalleled degree." 
 
 Such were mingled together with the general mass of female 
 prisoners, and it is further stated by the inspectors, "the evils 
 inseparable from ward association under any circumstances were 
 much increased by the misconduct of some of the females of this 
 class, that special measures were resorted to in regard to them ; on 
 this point the following entry occurs in the governor's journal : 
 
 "November 23rd, 1843. In consequence of the frequent dis- 
 orders caused by the association in the same wards of various female 
 prisoners committed as refractory paupers from the workhouse, the 
 governor has directed that S. H. and E. W. should be confined ; 
 
41 
 
 the former in the fourth, and the latter in the second felons yard ; 
 others of the same class occupying the fifth, sixth, and seventh 
 yards. This is authorized by rule 70." 
 
 Be it remarked, gaol association^ under the silent system, is being 
 commented upon. These " indecent, violent, and outrageous" work- 
 house offenders are placed amongst the various yards, (misdemeanant 
 yards it is presumed,) whilst two of the more heinous offenders are 
 sent to associate with felons. What punishment would it be to these 
 turbulent transgressors to be thus drafted to such companionship ? 
 They would but meet some congenial spirits to confirm them in 
 their hardened habits and propensities. Could there be anything 
 salutary by such a transfer ? 
 
 A recent visit but further established the opinion of the morally 
 desolating influence of the system ; there were preceived the mere 
 child from eight years of age to the hoary-headed transgressor of 
 sixty, with every intermediate age and acquirement in crime, grouped 
 together in deplorable proximity. In the spacious workroom there 
 were from three to four hundred criminals of all ages, the vag- 
 rant, the misdemeanant, and the felon ; and indeed, all degrees of 
 guilt which might occupy every classification of the most extensively 
 classified gaol, were sitting side by side in sullen silence ; these 
 numbers were superintended by four gaolers, whose eyes were con- 
 stantly strained to mark the nod, the wink, the motion, the smile, 
 or the turn of the head of their criminal charge ; whilst an infraction 
 of the rules of silence, the indication of motion, or any mode of 
 communication, is visited by what is called disciplinary punishment ; 
 and that those inflictions are frequent, severe, and vexatious, will be 
 manifest from the large amount of prison punishments as shown in 
 the public documents relating to the prison. Wherever the mind 
 reverts, whatever department is examined, there will be found 
 elements the most depraving, whilst facilities are afforded for 
 imparting principles the most corrupting. 
 
 It has been shown that THE DAY discipline of the system pre- 
 vailing in this gaol is both harassing to the warders and irritating 
 to the prisoners. The evils are further manifest in the dormitory 
 part of the prison ; 451 prisoners, male and female, are reported to 
 have been distributed in twenty-seven rooms, or an average of about 
 
42 
 
 1 6 in each ; in some of the rooms the prisoners were placed as 
 
 follows :- 
 
 Room 37 feet long, 7 feet wide ; 35 prisoners. 
 ,, 24 23 31 
 25 23 . 30 
 
 
 The further difficulty experienced in carrying out the system of 
 silence is shown from the prison records. The nocturnal infractions 
 of prison rules, both by sub-warders and prisoners, is exhibited by 
 the following entries, most clearly proving that negligence on the 
 part of the officers, and communication on the part of the prisoners, 
 with its attendant contamination, was a distinguishing and " natural 
 feature." 
 
 " 30th March, 1843. The Matron represented that two prisoners, 
 on their being reported for talking in the dormitory of the second 
 yard, accused the night officer for sleeping the greater part of the 
 last two nights, and that one of the prisoners got out of bed and 
 aroused her ; the whole of the prisoners in the dormitory were 
 examined, and most of them confirmed the statement, adding that 
 considerable conversation had taken place." 
 
 " 14th June, 1843. An officer was fined for sleeping on night 
 duty in the dormitory, who had been fined no less than thirteen 
 times for the offence." 
 
 " 2nd July, 1844. Two female warders were fined for repeatedly 
 sleeping whilst on duty." 
 
 "5th August, 1844. A sub-warder was dismissed for sleeping 
 whilst on duty throughout the night, on the 3rd instant, and pursuing 
 the same conduct last night." 
 
 " 3rd September, 1844. A male warder was fined two shillings 
 for negligence in the sixth dormitory, whereby four prisoners were 
 enabled to communicate." 
 
 "10th December, 1844. A female sub-warder was reported for 
 sleeping at her night-watch, who had been fined ten limes before 
 for the like offence." These are some of the night operations of the 
 discipline. 
 
 What must be the system which requires such watchings that 
 presents such opportunities for the constant day and night harassings 
 of those who are employed to sustain it ? 
 
 The amount of prison punishments for the violation of the rules of 
 the prison is also a distinguishing characteristic of the system, and 
 
43 
 
 cannot be rigidly maintained without recourse to such disciplinary 
 punishment as the "hand-cuffs, and other irons, whipping, dark 
 cell, solitary cell, stoppage of diet, and other punishments ;" and 
 although the punishment table of the prison in the last report may 
 show a decreased number of prison punishments for prison offences, 
 the Inspectors remark : " We noticed among other indications 
 that the prisoners turned their heads and looked about" (high 
 offences under this system) " much more than used formerly to be 
 the case." 
 
 Hence it would appear that a strict adherence to the classification 
 and silent system, and a high table of disciplinary punishments, are 
 indissoluble^ whilst a low table and a relaxed discipline appear to be 
 certain attendants, and most clearly supporting the sentiment that 
 under the silent system prisoners are placed in tantalizing circum- 
 stances of temptation to break the prison rules, and then are visited 
 with the penalties consequent thereon ; and such is a prominent 
 feature of our national system of prison discipline. 
 
 There were subject to the discipline of this prison, at the time of 
 the last inspection, as before remarked, 920 prisoners. 
 
 Males. Females. Total. 
 
 Not in prison before... 416 136 552 
 
 Once 161 46 207 
 
 Twice 56 27 84 
 
 Repeatedly 49 29 78 
 
 920 
 
 The average number of prisoners in the gaol through the year 
 1844, was 1053. The number of first offence convictions brought 
 under the influence of the diversified corrupting aggregation insepar- 
 ably attendant upon the system were, 5802 juvenile and adult, out 
 of 9378 prisoners confined during the year ! 
 
 It will be for those who advocate the maintenance and continuance 
 of such a system to form an estimate of the amount of moral benefit 
 derivable from its penal application. 
 
44 
 
 WESTMINSTER BRIDEWELL. 
 
 It has been observed that the Coldbath Fields prison is considered 
 a "pattern gaol" for carrying out the silent and classification system. 
 The Westminster Bridewell may be deemed also a pattern prison, 
 both in discipline and construction ;* repeated expressions of satis- 
 faction having been made as to the manner of the discipline beingcarried 
 out. The average number of prisoners for three years is about 408 ; the 
 average number confined through the year, for three years, has been 
 about 4893; and the average number of first offence committals 
 has been 2408. An intelligent observer in passing through this 
 gaol would discover that its discipline, from the constructional 
 arrangements of the prison, might appear to be more systematically 
 carried out, but there would be perceived all the evils to be noticed 
 at Coldbath Fields, with fully the same opportunities for mutual 
 communication. 
 
 Upon the discipline of this prison the Inspectors remark : 
 "The silent system is enforced only in the House of Correction 
 part of the prison. In the gaol the prisoners are left together l>y 
 themselves in the day rooms or yards, and the only supervision to 
 which they are subjected consists in such as can be exercised by 
 a warder stationed in the room or at the door." " The prisoners in 
 these yards are wholly unemployed, and as ordinary conversation 
 among untried prisoners cannot be prohibited so long as it is carried 
 on without noise, it is obvious that under such circumstances moral 
 contamination must take place, the old and the young, the hardened 
 and the less guilty, leing necessarily mixed" 
 
 At the semicircular departments of this prison would be seen 
 the various superscribed classification subdivisions. 
 
 * In the construction of this gaol extraordinary attention was given that 
 its general arrangements, its classification yards, dayrooms, various sub- 
 divisions, and dormitories, should be exactly adapted to carry out what, 
 at that period, (about twenty years since) was considered to be a panacea 
 in penal treatment, the classification scheme, and some of the leading 
 members of the Prison Discipline Society took considerable interest in 
 its construction, affording them, as it did, an excellent opportunity of 
 carrying out their adopted system. The gaol cost about 200,000, and is 
 estimated capable of containing 800 prisoners, or 250 per prisoner. 
 
45 
 
 The vagrant yard would present, in itself, a world of pollu- 
 tion further proving, most indubitably, the futility of any classi- 
 fication which can be adopted for a salutary purpose. Amongst those 
 assigned to this section of the prison, the rigid scrutinizer of penal 
 statistics would find degrees of guilt that could take the circuit of 
 almost every subdivision in a classification gaol characters which 
 would baffle the sagacity of the clearest magisterial penetration to 
 decide as to which department to assign them, if character and crime 
 are to be the governing principles. There would be detected under 
 the appellation of the vagrant the following diversities : beggars, 
 suspicious persons, gamblers, reputed thieves; those who may 
 have been previously convicted of misdemeanor and felony; 
 whilst the return transport might be also identified ; and all these 
 mingled together, and confined for various terms under summary 
 convictions. 
 
 The untried department of the gaol would exhibit to the most 
 superficial inquirer abounding evils, depraving to the morals of the 
 the imprisoned. It forms a community of prison inmates, amongst 
 whom the first rudiments of prison education in the arts of plunder 
 are inculcated. There may be provision made for first offence com- 
 mittals : how can only the first conviction be proved ? In the gaol 
 to which the delinquent may be committed, there may be stated on 
 the prison records the stature, the apparent age, the general charac- 
 teristic feature and description, which may assign such to the 
 " old offenders' " department, but no principle of action can be laid 
 down which shall be a preventative of the inevitable moral contami- 
 nation which takes place between the "first time" committal and 
 the old transgressor, to whom the walls of a prison are as familiar as 
 his out-of-prison haunts of infamy and crime. 
 
 The Rev. J. Clay furnishes a graphic representation of the in- 
 fluence of the practical operation of the silent and associated system 
 upon the youthful transgressor, in the following language : 
 
 " Whether led astray for a moment by bad companions, or as- 
 sailed by overpowering temptations, or driven by distress and hunger, 
 or trained to vagabond and thievish practices, and in all cases with 
 a mind totally unformed by education and uninfluenced by religion ; 
 the child of fourteen, or ten, or even eight years old, is now 
 
46 
 
 turned into a yard or ' dayroom,' tenanted by forty or fifty older 
 criminals. Once here, his terrors of a prison soon vanish before the 
 levity and merriment of his new companions ; he finds the great 
 objects and envy are the plunderers who can relate the most attrac- 
 tive histories of daring and successful robbery. Excited by these 
 tales, he soon becomes ambitious of imitating the heroes of them. 
 He is instructed in the arcana of the dreadful calling which he has 
 entered upon, by some adept in the craft ; and thus a few weeks or 
 even a few days, before trial, have sufficed to convert the child, who, 
 until the verdict pronounced at that solemnity, was accounted inno- 
 cent in the eye of the law, into a hardened profligate, prepared and 
 tutored for a course of iniquity, and determined to run it ! There is 
 no exaggeration in this sketch. Alas ! no. I could furnish a 
 hundred histories of misery and crime, springing from the pestiferous 
 society of " l the untried felons' ward.' " 
 
 Track but the offender, the moment he comes within the grasp of 
 the law, from the police lock-ups to the reception room of a gaol, 
 and thence to the classification yard or day-room, to his work- 
 room, and his dormitory, there will be met the same pernicious 
 influence associated with every step he takes. 
 
 It is not intended in these pages to give in detail all the 
 distinguishing evils of the classification discipline, but to present 
 briefly a somewhat general view of the subject. If the intelligent 
 inquirer were to traverse the Untried Misdemeanants' and the 
 Felons' Ward, with the drafted occupants of ^he Convicted Misde- 
 meanants' and Felons' Yards, with the notoriously corrupting day- 
 room associations, he would find the system to abound with anomalies 
 and inconsistencies which must excite universal astonishment at their 
 long continuance, when their attendant consequent evils both to the 
 offender and to society are duly considered. 
 
 The nature and operations of the classification and silent system 
 might be shown, in a much more lengthened and extended view, 
 but wherever its peculiar and distinctive forms are adopted, its evils 
 are analagous. 
 
47 
 
 It is asserted by those who endeavour to uphold the system, that, 
 although they admit a man is not made better by the associations 
 to which we have referred, he is not made worse. Such ad- 
 vocates, however, are but exceptions to the rule. There are, 
 indeed, to be found but few comparatively who are employed in 
 carrying out the classification and silent system who do not most 
 readily admit the impossibility of efficiently adopting it for any 
 beneficial purpose ; the assertion, therefore, is in itself so absurd that 
 it carries with it its own refutation, and it would appear to be a 
 waste of time to give it a moment's attention; but it has been 
 the lot of the writer of these pages to hear and that with no 
 ordinary energy such a proposition maintained, and by those 
 importantly employed in enforcing the discipline. 
 
 Let the appeal be made to reason and to human nature whether, 
 in the very order of things, there can be evil association and evil 
 communication without morally evil consequences, greater or less in 
 their degree. 
 
 Can criminals sit side by side for hours during the day, eat 
 together, take exercise together, attend closely placed at the 
 chapel together, sleep in the same dormitory (as many do under 
 this system), without knowing each other without communicating 
 with each other? Fact and experience have most conclusively 
 shown that it is a moral impossibility. 
 
 Mr. Bamford observes, upon prisoners communicating with each 
 other under the Classification system : " They talk from cell to 
 cell through the ventilators and partitions ; they talk while walking 
 the ring, when on relief; and they talk while they walk in the 
 yards. They make signs in the chapel. They are aware of new 
 comers, and of the discharge of old prisoners, and even of the day 
 when such discharge takes place ; and they generally learn what 
 goes forward in the prison ;" and the inspectors remark, in their 
 third report : "A paper, written by a prisoner, has very recently 
 come under our observation, which states, not only he had learnt 
 from a fellow-prisoner, whilst under the discipline of the silent 
 system, the best modes of breaking into houses, and the instruments 
 necessary for accomplishing that object ; and also the names and ad- 
 dresses of houses where gangs of housebreakers assemble, and the 
 
48 
 
 signs and pass- words by which admission may be obtained to them ; 
 as well as the names and addresses of the receivers of stolen goods, 
 where all kinds of plunder may be readily disposed of." 
 
 Here is indeed a sample of prison education, and it must be evident 
 that the diffusion of morally depraving influence is identified with 
 what is denominated the silent, or rather, the association and con- 
 tamination system. 
 
 In the first report of the Constabulary Force Commissioners, evi- 
 dence of the manner in which prisoners communicated with each 
 other C at the after public cost) is supplied by the Rev. C. F. Bag- 
 shawe, the chaplain of Salford gaol. " One prisoner stated to me," 
 remarks Mr. Bagshawe, " c prisoners communicate from yard to 
 yard, and outside. Have learnt more in the prison than ever I 
 learnt in any place in my life, and that is the reason would prefer 
 'solitary/ Has known six or seven depredations planned in 
 this prison, and committed them myself when went out/" It 
 may be observed, that, at a late inquest, held in Coldbath Fields 
 Prison, before Mr. Wakley, the coroner, the examination of 
 a number of prisoners in that gaol being taken at length before 
 several magistrates, it appeared that these silent system criminals 
 knew the prisoner ; how long he had been in prison ; how long to 
 serve ; how long he had been ill ; what his complaint ; and when he 
 died and on the learned coroner enquiring how they became ac- 
 quainted with all these matters, the prisoners, who were examined 
 separately, unanimously stated that they had been told by other 
 
 These depositions were taken, as will have been observed, before 
 several magistrates, who appeared only to learn for the first time that 
 prisoners could communicate, and it has been recently discovered that 
 it was attempted to transmit written communications from prisoners 
 in one classification division of the gaol to another division, but they 
 were intercepted. 
 
 It is needless to refer in this place to the character of prison 
 officers, they may be of the very first class for maintaining disci- 
 pline; the evil is the harassing system they are called upon to uphold, 
 the difficulty of doing so, and the irritating means employed for 
 that purpose, 
 
49 
 
 In passing through one of the prisons a gaoler remarked : " it is 
 most harassing to us to carry out this system, while it irritates and 
 aggravates the prisoner ;" and a gaoler in another prison observed, 
 " if you were to have a warder to every prisoner they would com- 
 municate." 
 
 The object of the preceding variety of evidence, is to show how 
 utterly useless, for any corrective purpose, is the adoption of 
 classification ; and how nugatory the attempted enforcement of 
 silence to prevent the evils of corrupting communications, whilst 
 mutual recognition, with all its in prison and out of prison asso- 
 ciations, are maintained. 
 
 s 
 
 The mental physiologist may classify disordered minds. There 
 may be the several departments for the idiotic, the imbecile, the 
 melancholic, the raving ; those subject to one or other class of mental 
 delusions; and there may be also the department for the convales- 
 cent; and by such separations, and suitable treatment, with the 
 various appliances of exercise, employment, and recreation, much 
 may be done to contribute to mental relief and recovery. But 
 to classify the moral disorders of the mind, the degrees of moral 
 degeneracy ; to classify depraved tendencies and inclinations ; to 
 accomplish all these is a moral impossibility. The mental diagnostick 
 may be conclusive ; that of the feelings and the heart is hidden and 
 unsearchable ; and although it may be said the prisoner is classified 
 according to crime, what reference can that possibly have to real 
 character, so far as a corrective is concerned ? 
 
 Livingston, one of the soundest of modern writers upon Cri- 
 minal Jurisprudence, observes, upon Classification, that "the 
 evident truth seemed not to have had proper force": 
 
 "First That moral guilt cannot always be discovered: it would 
 be found that no two would be contaminated in the same degree. 
 
 " Secondly If these difficulties could be surmounted, and a class 
 could be found of individuals who had advanced exactly to the same 
 point, not only of offence, but of moral depravity, still their associa- 
 tion would produce a further progress in both -just as sparks pro- 
 duce a flame when brought together. 
 
 " It is not in human nature for the mind to be stationary: it 
 must progress in virtue or vice. Nothing promotes this so much 
 
50 
 
 as emulation created by society, and from the nature of the society 
 will it receive its direction." 
 
 " Whatever Classification may be adopted, it will be found," as 
 Livingston further observes, "that every association of convicts 
 that can be formed will, in a greater or less degree, pervert, but 
 will never reform those of which it is composed ; and we are brought 
 to the irresistible conclusion that, Classification once admitted to 
 be useful, it is so in an inverse proportion to the numbers of which 
 each class is composed, and is not perfect until we come to the 
 point at which it loses its name in the complete separation of indi- 
 viduals" 
 
 Without going further into the details or analysis of the various 
 classification amalgamations which could be illustrated, it may suffice 
 to remark upon the general effects of the system as declared by un- 
 doubted authority a British Parliamentary Committee, in 1832 
 their opinion being the result of the evidence given before them : 
 
 "A House of Correction consistent with its name should offer the 
 prospect of diminishing the amount of crime, either by the severity 
 of its discipline, or by reforming the morals of those committed to it. 
 In both these essential particulars many of our prisons are lamentably 
 deficient. They hold out scarcely any terrors to the criminal, while, 
 from the inefficiency of the control exercised over him, and the im- 
 possibility of separating the most hardened malefactor from those 
 who for the first time find themselves the inmates of a gaol, they 
 tend to demoralize rather than to correct all who are committed 
 within their walls ;" and upon Classification the committee thus 
 remark, " it is hardly necessary to observe that any classification 
 with the inadequate means provided by the gaol act, must be ineffi- 
 cacious. That, in the case of the untried, it must associate the most 
 hardened with those who may be guiltless, and that even an innocent 
 man can hardly escape contamination." The committee proceed to 
 observe, " that none but a moral classification can be effectual, but 
 they fear that the difficulties which stand in the way of such a 
 classification, whether as regards prisoners before or after trial, are 
 nearly insurmountable" 
 
 It has been justly said : " To attain to perfect classification 
 of character, it requires the exercise of A DIVINE INTELLIGENCE." 
 

 
 51 
 
 From proof the most unquestionable, and the united testimony of 
 authorities the most distinguished, it is obvious that any classifica- 
 tion of associated criminals which can be adopted, will not can not, 
 in the very nature of things subserve the important intentions of 
 penal infliction, and, as a term relating to the treatment of criminals, 
 should be for ever expunged from the vocabulary of penological 
 science. 
 
 In 1835, three years after the Parliamentary Committee had re- 
 ported on secondary punishments, a select Committee of the House 
 of Lords also reported upon the state of the several gaols and 
 Houses of Correction in England and Wales ; and the examinations 
 opened up an enormous mass of evil. 
 
 That topic GAOL ASSOCIATION upon which reiterated remark has 
 been offered, forms a prominent subject of observation by the House 
 of Lords Committee. It is observed : 
 
 " That the greatest mischief is proved, by the whole tenor of the 
 evidence, to follow from the intercourse which is still permitted in 
 many prisons. The comparatively innocent are seduced, the un- 
 wary are entrapped, and the tendency to crime in offenders not 
 entirely hardened is confirmed by the language, the suggestions, and 
 example of more depraved and systematic criminals. Every motive, 
 therefore, of humanity, as regards the individual prisoner, and of 
 policy, as regards the good of society in general, requires that the 
 most efficient regulations should be established, in order to save all 
 prisoners, and especially the untried, from the frightful contamination 
 resulting from unrestricted intercourse." 
 
 Such were the conclusions of a legislative Committee in 1835, 
 and it may create surprise that such remarks should be called for, 
 notwithstanding all the combination of individual, of associated and 
 legislative endeavours to promote a better ordering of prisons, for 
 nearly seventy years previous a period which has most thoroughly 
 tested the classification system. 
 
 If an -impartial and deliberate examination be taken of the very 
 brief and imperfect view which has been presented of Classification, 
 with all its attendant evils and anomalies, and Gaol Association, 
 
52 
 
 with its natural concomitants, will not every friend of humanity 
 unite in the sentiments of the Inspectors of Prisons, which is most 
 forcibly expressed in the following language : 
 
 "APART FROM HIGHER CONSIDERATIONS, SOUND POLICY ITSELF 
 
 DEMANDS THAT SUCH A SYSTEM SHOULD BE INSTANTLY RECTIFIED ; 
 FOR, SO LONG AS IT CONTINUES, SOCIETY IS NURSING A MORAL PESTI- 
 LENCE IN ITS OWN BOSOM, AND MAINTAINING AN INSTITUTION IN 
 WHICH ARE FORGED THOSE WEAPONS THAT ARE DESTINED TO BE 
 WIELDED WITH FATAL DEXTERITY AGAINST THE COMMUNITY INSELF." 
 
 REMEDIES. 
 
 Having entered at some length into many of the distinguishing 
 and characteristic evils of our present gaol system, and endeavoured 
 to show that it is deeply depraving to the prisoner and a positive 
 evil to the community, this essay would be indeed imperfect without 
 there were brought under notice some salutary remedies for our 
 penal institutions. 
 
 It will be evident that the subject attempted to be treated upon 
 is no light matter, it is one on which the legislature has again 
 and again deliberated, and the inquiry may be with propriety 
 made, Has the adopted system, the result of legislative deliberation 
 and enactment, fulfilled the intentions and justified the expectations 
 of those who have taken an interest in the question of penal reform ? 
 Let the past history of penal legislation and the practical working 
 of our present gaol system give the reply. 
 
 The remedies which should be applied for evils so extensive and 
 involving such considerations should be simple in their application, 
 and from their nature such as a thorough acquaintance with the 
 subject, and well tested experience, will justify. 
 
 From the increasingly prevailing concern which is felt upon the 
 subject of the proper treatment of criminals there appears to be an 
 imperative demand upon the legislature to direct its profound and 
 immediate attention to the question. In the important investigation 
 
53 
 
 which was made of the state of our gaols and house of correction 
 before a select committee of the House of Lords in 1835, evidence 
 most voluminous, and declaratory of the deplorable condition of our 
 prisons, was then adduced, and a number of resolutions was passed 
 intended as a corrective to the enormous evils which were brought to 
 light from the evidence given before that committee. 
 
 What were the main peculiarities of the proposed correctives ? 
 
 " That it is expedient that one uniform system of prison discipline 
 be established in every gaol and house of correction in England and 
 Wales." 
 
 " That there be an entire separation of the prisoners, except during 
 the hours of labour and religious worship, and instruction, as abso- 
 lutely necessary for preventing contamination , and for securing 
 a proper system of discipline." 
 
 " That silence be enforced, so as to prevent all communication 
 between prisoners, both before and after trial." 
 
 " That the use of day-rooms as such be discontinued." 
 
 These were the principal resolutions adopted by "the Lords' 
 Committee," relating more especially to discipline. Other resolu- 
 tions were adopted which had reference more particularly to 
 matters of detail, and connected with the due enforcement of disci- 
 pline in our gaols and Houses of Correction. 
 
 What have been the practical effects of this "uniformity" of 
 discipline the proposed separation at night, and permitted asso- 
 ciation " during the hours of labour, and religious worship and 
 instruction?" Has "contamination" been "prevented?" Has the 
 attempted enforcement of silence checked " all communication, both 
 before and after trial ;" has the use of " day-rooms, as such," been 
 discontinued; and has "a proper system of discipline" been 
 " secured," based upon these resolutions ? 
 
 May it not be most positively declared that " contamination " 
 has not been prevented ? 
 
 That the attempted enforcement of silence has not prevented com- 
 munication. 
 
54 
 
 "That the use of day-rooms as such" has not been "discontinued;"* 
 and 
 
 That, by the resolutions then passed, and the plans then selected for 
 adoption, (although some evils have been corrected,) " a proper 
 system of discipline" has not been "secured." 
 
 The last ten years' experience in penal treatment has unquestionably 
 shown, that Classification being essentially unsound in principle, 
 no expedients that can be adopted, as supplemental to, or engrafted 
 upon that mode of discipline, can render it efficient and salutary in 
 practice; and it is not too much to say that the prevailing discipline 
 of our gaols, since the attempted improvements in 1836, have resulted 
 in disappointment and failure. 
 
 It would be perfectly Utopian to imagine that, by the adoption of 
 any system of penal treatment, repression and reclamation would be 
 certain and uniform consequences. There are characters constantly 
 passing through our gaols whom, it would appear, no mode of disci- 
 pline will affect in any beneficial degree. " To think," as Livingston 
 remarks, " that the best plan which human sagacity could devise 
 will produce reformation in every case, and that there will not be 
 numerous exceptions to its general effect, would be to indulge the 
 visionary belief of a moral panacea applicable to all vices and all 
 crimes ; and although this would be quackery in legislation equal to 
 any that has appeared in medicine, yet to say that there are no 
 general rules by which reformation of character may be produced, is 
 as great and fatal an error as to assert in the healing art there are no 
 useful rules for restoring the general health and bodily vigour of the 
 patient." 
 
 * Whilst this sheet was passing through the press, the Marquis of 
 Westminster's Letter to the Magistrates of Dorsetshire came under notice, 
 in the Times of 8th January, 1847, and, although no proof is absolutely 
 requisite to sustain the correctness of the assertion, that the use of 
 day-rooms, as such, has not been discontinued, the following- remarks of 
 the Marquis of Westminster may be considered an important corroboration 
 of the truth of the declarations so frequently reiterated in these pages, 
 of the injurious consequences of association in that department of the 
 prison. The Marquis of Westminster, in commenting upon our present gaol 
 system, adverts to "the utter depravation of thousands sacrificed every year to 
 the infallible destruction of the day-rooms." 
 
55 
 
 Let an examination be made of that system which, in its very 
 nature and application, tends to vitiate and deprave, and the prac- 
 tical operations of another system which both fact and experience 
 have proved in their effects to be preventive and reformatory. The 
 penal economist will then be able to determine what mode of disci- 
 pline will best harmonize with the intentions of the law, its beneficial 
 influence upon the offender, and that will offer the largest amount of 
 guarantee for the security of society. 
 
 These essential and constituent elements in penological science 
 should be strictly regarded, whilst the means to be employed should 
 be in perfect consistency with the ends sought to be attained. 
 
 What then are the remedies suggested as a corrective to the widely 
 extended evils of our prevailing gaol system, operating as it does 
 both upon the imprisoned and upon the community, and the nature 
 of which has been but briefly and imperfectly brought under review. 
 The following is the basis on which the subsequent propositions 
 rest : 
 
 THAT IT IS EXPEDIENT ONE UNIFORM SYSTEM OF PRISON DISCIPLINE 
 BE ESTABLISHED IN EVERY GAOL AND HOUSE OF CORRECTION IN THE 
 UNITED KINGDOM. 
 
 No originality is claimed for this proposition ; it was, as must have 
 been observed, the leading resolution of the House of Lords' Com- 
 mitted in 1835, and was the link to which were appended all the 
 other resolutions of the important committee referred to. There 
 will be an endeavour however, to exemplify, sound as that resolution 
 was as a governing principle, that it was rendered entirely inopera- 
 tive by the very system of discipline which was recommended by 
 that committee as the system which was to be uniformly established. 
 
 There is no desire for a moment to appear to reflect upon the 
 wisdom and judgment of that distinguished committee in the con- 
 clusion at which they arrived and the resolutions which were adopted, 
 involving, as they did, regulating principles for the discipline of our 
 gaols ; but it cannot be otherwise than a source of deep regret and 
 disappointment to the members of that committee to find that at the 
 present period, after the laborious investigations which took place, 
 
56 
 
 "7* 
 
 investigations more extended and varied than had ever been taken 
 before a parliamentary committee upon the subject of penal treatment, 
 those labours have terminated in failure of the objects contem- 
 plated by that committee. 
 
 Some concise references as to the practical effects of the uniformity 
 of discipline then proposed will but too clearly prove that our prisons, 
 with their prevailing discipline, exhibit an uniformity of incon- 
 gruities and " deviations" utterly at variance with the intention of 
 the committee, and contrary to legislative enactment. 
 
 Without taking an extended view of this branch of the question, 
 reference need only be made to some of the metropolitan prisons, 
 and to a few examples as furnished in the last or tenth report of 
 Inspectors for the Home Districts. 
 
 CITY PRISONS. NEWGATE AND GILTSPUR STREET COMPTER, &c. 
 
 No other additional notice will be required in relation to these 
 City Gaols than has already been given to show how those who 
 were more especially responsible for their supervision and manage- 
 ment have totally disregarded legislative enactment as to the proper 
 conducting of these penal institutions. 
 
 COLDBATH FIELDS PRISON, CLERKENWELL. 
 
 If supervision by prison officers could accomplish the intentions 
 of legislative enactment, with regard to the discipline which was to be 
 for uniform adoption, it would certainly be carried out in this exten- 
 sive penal establishment; but what is the result, after ten years' 
 experiment ? 
 
 Such are the palpable imperfections of the silent system, at- 
 tempted to be carried out in this gaol, that the Inspectors refer 
 to " the deviations" absolutely necessary to be made with a view 
 of conforming to circumstance and exigency. 
 
 " The classification of prisoners, as required by law, is in practice 
 much deviated from in this prison, both from local circumstances 
 and for convenience ; we subjoin" continue the Inspectors, " the 
 
57 
 
 cases of deviation as enumerated in the governor's certificate declaring 
 how far the prison rules have heen complied with, and delivered to 
 the Court of Quarter Session, in accordance with the Act 4 Geo. IV., 
 c. 64. s. 21." 
 
 The attention of the reader is especially drawn to the enumeration 
 of some of these "deviations." The following descriptions of 
 prisoners are associated together : 
 
 " Old and infirm men of various classes," (without any regard to 
 character or crime,) " owing to the care and attention which their 
 infirmities required." 
 
 " Boys committed far unlawful possession of property," (having 
 previously been committed) " have been imprisoned with boys im- 
 prisoned as reputed thieves," (vagrants, misdemeanants, and felons,) 
 " there being only a nominal" (an important admission of the 
 governor) " distinction between them." 
 
 " Persons of all classes, males and females respectively, are em- 
 ployed to pick oakum, coir, &c., in one large room, sitting, however, 
 together according to their respective classes. 
 
 " Women employed in the laundry and wash house have been 
 selected from various classes, suited to the employment, whose conduct 
 has been satisfactory." 
 
 WESTMINSTER BRIDEWELL. 
 
 " The silent system is only enforced in the House of Correction 
 part of the prison. In the gaol the prisoners are left together by 
 themselves, in the day-rooms or yards, and the only supervision to 
 which they are subjected consists in such as can be exercised by a 
 warder, stationed in the room or at the door. 
 
 " The prisoners in these yards are wholly unemployed ; and as 
 ordinary conversation among untried prisoners cannot be prohibited 
 so long as it be carried on without noise, it is obvious that under 
 such circumstances moral contaminations must take place the old 
 and the young, the hardened and the less guilty, being necessarily 
 mixed. The number of prisoners on the gaol side was low, viz. : 
 21 males and 2 females. Of the former, 2 deserters and 6 prisoners, 
 for want of sureties, were together in one day-room, and 3 remanded 
 prisoners, charged with stealing, in another. The rest were more 
 distributed." 
 
58 
 
 HORSEMONGER LANE. SURREY COUNTY GAOL. 
 
 " The material defects of the prison construction remain as at the 
 time of our second report (1837), and, as therein described, are such 
 as to open a variety of channels for the spread of that moral con- 
 tamination which the Gaol Acts were intended to prevent'' 
 
 GUILDFORD. COUNTY HOUSE OF CORRECTION, SURREY. 
 
 " The size of the prison is insufficient for the number of prisoners 
 usually confined in it, unless by the constant infringement of the 
 legal classification whatever may be the pains taken to preserve it. 
 The shifting or mixing of classes, according as there may be more or 
 less vacant space in any particular one, is, in fact, a matter of con- 
 stant occurrence ; but what is of far greater importance is, that three 
 or four prisoners are as frequently placed together in the same 
 (night) cell." 
 
 What conformity is there here to the " Gaol Act" requirements ? 
 
 KINGSTON-UPON-THAMES COUNTY HOUSE OF CORRECTION, SURREY. 
 
 " The prisoners continue to associate in the workrooms by day, 
 and in the dormitories by night. In the former, the silent system is 
 rigidly enforced by the presence of an officer, but in the latter, there 
 exists no kind of supervision, except from occasional visits of the 
 officers up to ten o'clock ; consequently, the good which may be 
 effected in checking intercourse during the day is undone at night" 
 
 COLCHESTER BOROUGH GAOL, ESSEX. 
 
 " The legal classification of the prisoners is not professed to be 
 observed. Indeed, the profession would be futile ; the governor re- 
 gulates this, as well as the state of the numbers with reference to 
 what the prison accommodation will permit." 
 
 BEDFORD COUNTY GAOL. 
 
 " There are seven yards, and nominally as many classes ; but the 
 observance of any legal classification is admitted by the governor to 
 be essentially dependent upon the state of numbers." 
 
59 
 
 Without encumbering these pages with further extracts, will it 
 not appear from the few examples furnished, only from one district 
 of prison inspection, that, notwithstanding parliamentary resolutions 
 and gaol enactments, our prison system in its proposed uniformity 
 of application is, as it has been remarked, an uniformity of incon- 
 gruities, that legal enactments are a dead letter, and it would be 
 more consistent to give at once a carte-blanche to all governors of 
 gaols and houses of correction to make such " deviations" from legis- 
 lative enactments as they, in their judgment, may deem fit, u accord- 
 ing to local circumstance and convenience." 
 
 Would not the merest tyro in penological science at once maintain 
 that, in all the vast penal machinery in operation for working the 
 classification and silent systems of discipline, with the " deviations" 
 to which reference has been made, (and more numerous examples 
 could be given,) there is a complete breaking down of the system, 
 presenting, as it does, anomalies most unaccountable, most inconsistent 
 with the spirit of the age, and reflecting no credit on our wisdom in 
 penal legislation ? 
 
 What method of treatment then is most simple in its nature and 
 most effectual as a remedy in application, which can be proposed 
 as an antidote to the existing evils of our penal system ? 
 
 Will the City of London gaols, with unrestricted association, 
 furnish examples for imitation ? 
 
 Will Coldbath Fields, Westminster Bridewell, and other gaols 
 which have been alluded to in the extracts antecedently given, 
 supply from their system a panacea a system which can only 
 be upheld (and not then in its integrity) by hand-cuffs and irons, 
 whippings, dark cells, solitary cells, stoppage of diet and other 
 punishments. 
 
 Will a kind of s0mi-separation be proposed, part association, part 
 separation ; separation for a certain period and then classification, 
 according to "good conduct" at magisterial discretion? That 
 experiment has been tried, and failure ioas the result ' 
 
 An authority on which some reliance can be placed will supply 
 interesting and satisfactory testimony upon these subjects. Sir G. O. 
 Paul, before the Parliamentary Committee, in 1811, on Penitentiary 
 
60 
 
 Houses, stated, that " the confinement in the first class uniformly 
 produced the most promising effects ; the solitude (or separation) 
 induced the prisoners to pay more attention to their work ; the 
 moments of relaxation from labour were willingly devoted to reading 
 and meditation. But, on their admission to the second or third 
 class, in which they were allowed to work in companies, the impres- 
 sion made on their minds during their former term of seclusion was 
 immediately obliterated by an idle conversation taking place between 
 such associates." 
 
 There is no salutary mode of discipline, then, to be derived from 
 such a principle. 
 
 Surely there will be no importation of ideas upon penal treatment 
 from Auburn, or from Sing Sing, on the banks of the Hudson 
 a discipline which, it is confessed, cannot be sustained without the 
 cat, the douche, the solitary box, and other punishments? all these 
 methods of treatment having, in a greater or less degree, that aggra- 
 vated evil, as a constituent principle, so much to be avoided GAOL 
 
 ASSOCIATION. 
 
 Is, then, gaol association, in all its varied forms, the foundation 
 of the evil of our prison system? Unquestionably it is. What, 
 then, is the alternative as a fundamental corrective ? 
 IT IS INDIVIDUAL IMPRISONMENT. 
 
 THE ENTIRE SEPARATION OF PRISONERS BY DAY AND NIGHT DURING 
 THE HOURS OF LABOUR, RELIGIOUS WORSHIP,* INSTRUCTION, AND 
 EXERCISE, AS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY "FOR PREVENTING CON- 
 TAMINATION," AND " FOR SECURING A PROPER SYSTEM OF DIS- 
 CIPLINE." 
 
 * Religious worship and instruction are justly considered as importantly 
 connected with a proper and reformatory system of prison discipline, and 
 the writer would desire to express no sentiment that should appear to 
 undervalue any arrangement in prison regulations by which it is at present 
 attempted to be promoted, but the ensuing remarks are advisedly offered. 
 
 In the course of prison visitations, it has been an opinion expressed by 
 the superior officers of some penal institutions that the week-day services 
 of the chapel, of reading of prayers, might to advantage be dispensed with. 
 Chaplains themselves have stated that opportunities are afforded, by the 
 gatherings of prisoners at the chapel service, for free and unrestricted 
 communication during the responses, which the most vigilant supervision 
 cannot prevent, and that, from the frequency of the service, it is gone 
 through in a merely mechanical and listless manner. 
 
 The interruptions to the general discipline of a prison, by the " ringing 
 
61 
 
 It will be observed, the only difference between this proposition 
 and the resolution of the Lords' Committee, in 1835, is 
 
 SEPARATION Instead of ASSOCIATION ; 
 
 a vital difference, in which is contained the whole secret of the 
 failure of securing a sound system of penal treatment. 
 
 The writer of these pages can readily imagine that the nervous 
 and the timid and, may it not be said, the prejudiced and the mis- 
 informed may startle at this proposition, but let the question, 
 involving, as it does, high and important consequences, be fairly and 
 fully grappled with, in all its lengths and breadths; the public and 
 the legislative mind should not be led away by surmises, inuendoes, 
 and conjectures. Let the mode of treatment proposed as the one 
 and the primary remedy for the evils of our gaol system be strictly 
 examined by the test of experience. 
 
 Where has separation, as a principle of penal discipline, been 
 adopted ? What are its results ? What is the testimony in relation 
 to it ? Let it receive adoption or rejection according to the rules by 
 which other governing principles are approved or discarded. 
 
 By such rules and by such evidence, individual imprisonment^ as 
 a mode of penal action, both 
 
 FOB THE UNTRIED AND FOR THE CONVICTED, 
 
 is now commended for legislative consideration and adoption. 
 
 A difference of opinion prevails with regard to the adoption of sepa- 
 
 of the bell for prayers," the inarching to and from chapel, and this 
 periodical relaxation from prison labour by those who are subjected to that 
 treatment, with the facilities which are afforded by these daily meetings, 
 is considered to be fraught with consequences more pernicious, more mis- 
 chievous (engaging, as it does, about one-sixth of the entire week-day occu- 
 pation of the prisoner), than the amount of good obtained by this branch 
 of religious exercise. 
 
 It has been thought that if " daily prayers " were to be entirely dis- 
 pensed with the discipline of the prison might be carried on with more 
 satisfactory uniformity, and chaplains would have increased means for 
 personal and more direct visitation. 
 
 It has not been intended, in the observations offered in these pages, to 
 enlarge at all upon matters of detail connected with prison discipline ; this 
 reference may be considered as the exception. 
 
62 
 
 ration for juvenile delinquents ; and although, from observation, the 
 writer might be disposed to favour the application of the principle to 
 that class of offenders, he is unwilling to urge the necessity of this 
 plan as a general mode of treatment to such transgressors, least he 
 should detract from the importance of its application to adult 
 criminals; the example, however, which can be furnished, as the 
 result of ten years' experience at La Roquette, near Paris, supplies 
 testimony highly favourable upon the question. At that place of 
 detention all juvenile offenders, under sixteen, being declared 
 " incapable of judgment," or in a degree irresponsible in the eye 
 of the law, are acquitted of the offence charged against them, but 
 are subjected to correctional education, not to extend beyond their 
 twentieth year. The subjects of this " correctional discipline" are 
 subjected to two years' separate confinement, which may be con- 
 sidered a probationary discipline, and are then either drafted to 
 Metray, a most admirable institution, for further industrial occupa- 
 tion, or are placed under the surveillance of the members of 
 the Society of Patronage, an association truly benevolent in its 
 operations. 
 
 On the occasion of a recent visit to La Roquette, the writer had 
 the most unrestricted opportunity afforded to him for the fullest 
 examination of the effects of separation upon the youthful offender, 
 and there was nothing presented, in the course of that examina- 
 tion, prejudicial to that mode of treatment. 
 
 The youthful inmates of La Roquette appeared healthy, cheerful, 
 and intelligent, and were all pursuing their various industrial and 
 trade avocations in their separate rooms or workshops. 
 
 The following extract, from the report of the Prefect of Police to 
 the Minister of the Interior, is extremely interesting, respecting one 
 of the boys under that regime: "We have recognised," remarks 
 the Prefect, "and clearly shown, the immense advantages resulting 
 from the application of the separate system of imprisonment, both 
 with regard to the scholastic education of the children and their 
 instruction in trades and handicrafts. We cannot give a better 
 testimony to the well-being they experienced generally than in the 
 words of one of them, who told us, ' that, having yet fifteen months 
 to remain, he might, from a natural love of liberty, desire his 
 
63 
 
 freedom, but that, if he consulted his true interests, he should prefer 
 to double the time.' 
 
 " This speaks in favour both of the discipline and the child." 
 
 The separation of young offenders has come under personal obser- 
 vation at Preston, Knutsford, and Reading; and at Glasgow satis- 
 factory testimony is offered in relation to the application of that mode 
 of discipline during the late Mr. Brebner's management of the prison. 
 
 "Without a lengthened notice of the opinions of distinguished 
 jurists who have both ably written and spoken in favour of the sepa- 
 ration of criminals from each other, as being in its nature and 
 tendency most adapted to fulfil the intentions of penal law, which 
 is, " to deter and to reform," it may be more satisfactory to adduce 
 evidence of the application of the principle of individual imprison- 
 ment in its practical operations and consequences, which are, there- 
 fore, shown briefly as follows : 
 
 PETWORTH HOUSE OF CORRECTION, 1782. 
 
 In this prison, at the period adverted to, separation was adopted, 
 with satisfactory results, upon which the Inspectors of prisons, 
 in their third report, remark : " "We find, under the operation of 
 the separate system in these prisons (Horsham, Petworth, and 
 Gloucester), committals to them became unprecedented!?/ few, and 
 re-committals almost disappeared. 
 
 "We find the health of the convicts excellent, their mental 
 faculties unimpaired, their labour cheerful and constant, their beha- 
 viour orderly and submissive, and their religious instruction 
 carefully attended to, and with the happiest results. 
 
 " "When the system was broken in upon, and suspended by the 
 influence of numbers, for which it was impossible to provide separate 
 apartments, the reverse of all this took place, and was succeeded by 
 insubordination ; labour, instead of becoming voluntary, became dis- 
 tasteful and constrained, and religious instruction, with all its 
 desirable consequences, was either neglected or became inefficacious." 
 
 A natural result of gaol association ! 
 
 GLOUCESTER PENITENTIARY, 1793. 
 
 Reference has already been made to Sir G. 0. Paul. This gen- 
 tleman was examined before a Parliamentary Committee, in 1819, 
 
64 
 
 on which occasion he gave the following evidence the result of 
 seventeen years observation of separate confinement :- 
 
 "Although I have to acknowledge, in common with other theo- 
 rists, that, on the whole design, I have imagined more than has 
 been, or perhaps could be brought into practice, yet not so with 
 regard to our Penitentiary House ; that prison succeeded beyond 
 the theory imagined by the original projectors of the system ; far 
 Indeed beyond my most sanguine hopes" Upon the conduct of the 
 prisoners Sir G. O. Paul further observes : " During the seventeen 
 years that I particularly attended to the effects of this prison I ever 
 found its inhabitants orderly, obedient to the discipline, and resigned 
 to their situation : few^ if any of them, returned to a second punish- 
 ment during that period of my attention." 
 
 GLASGOW BRIDEWELL, 1824. 
 
 In this gaol the principle of separation was adopted in that year, 
 under the able superintendence of its humane and intelligent gover- 
 nor, the late Mr. Brebner. 
 
 In the first report of inspectors of prisons for Scotland, 1836, 
 reference is made to the adoption of individual imprisonment twelve 
 years previous: it is observed "The two great principles of separa- 
 tion and constant employment are here carried into effect. Through 
 the whole period of his" (the prisoners') " confinement, he scarcely 
 ever sees the face or hears the voice of a fellow-prisoner ; and this 
 total seclusion from the corrupting society of his companions is 
 brought about without the infliction of great mental suffering, or 
 severe pain of any kind, as is proved by the fact (of which there is 
 little doubt) that the prisoners enjoy as high nay, a higher degree 
 of health, while in the Bridewell, than persons of the same class of 
 life do when at large ; and, instead of being a heavy burden upon 
 society, and, among others, upon the poor honest labourer, who with 
 difficulty spares the smallest contribution in the form of taxes, the 
 prisoners in the Glasgow Bridewell earn by their labour nearly the 
 whole of their maintenance, including also the salaries of those 
 officers whose superintendence they have rendered necessary by 
 their own acts." 
 
65 
 
 After Discharge from the Bridewell. 
 
 " Many of those who have been sent to the Glasgow Bridewell as 
 criminals are now known to be maintaining themselves in a re- 
 putable manner by their own labour, and doubtless many of these 
 acquired the means of so doing by the practical instruction they 
 received in the Bridewell." 
 
 General Results. 
 
 " Upon the whole, the experiment of the Glasgow Bridewell has 
 been very successful, and offers great encouragement for the further 
 development of its principles, and the removal of the causes which 
 impede its operation. The prisoners, instead of being further cor- 
 rupted by idleness and evil association, as is the case in almost all 
 the other prisons in Scotland, are, to a great extent, insulated from 
 each other, and engaged in useful and productive labour, by which 
 their habits are improved, the greater part of their costs defrayed, 
 and means are afforded them (at least, to those who remain a suffi- 
 cient time), on their return to society, to support themselves in an 
 honest and creditable manner ; and, while this is going on, the health 
 of the prisoner is also improving so that unmixed good appears to 
 be the result." 
 
 In the third report, 1838, the Inspector for Prisons in Scotland 
 intimates, " that the continued expence of the separate system has 
 confirmed my conviction of its reasonableness and efficacy ; and I 
 am more and more satisfied that, while, on the one hand, it prevents 
 the danger of corruption, arising from the association of criminals, 
 it is not, on the other hand, attended with gloomy depression of the 
 mind, or baneful effects on the health, and that it places the offender 
 in that position in which there is the least opportunity for cultivating 
 the higher feelings of his nature, and raising his ideas to new and 
 superior objects." 
 
 Voluntary Prisoners. 
 
 " The following striking fact proves that the separate system is 
 not always, at least, productive of the painful sensations that have 
 been attributed to it. There are, at the present time, five inmates 
 of the Glasgow Bridewell who are there of their own free will 
 some of them having asked permission to remain after the expiration 
 of their sentences and others have petitioned to be admitted. It 
 
66 
 
 may be said, indeed, that this fact proves too much, for that a 
 prison ought never to become a place of attraction ; it appears to me, 
 however," continues the Inspector, Mr. Hill, " that those who are 
 willing to bear the restrictions and labour of such a prison as the 
 Glasgow Bridewell must be in so destitute a state as to be under 
 strong temptations to crime, and it is therefore fortunate when they 
 give up their liberty for a time." 
 
 Idiocy, Insanity, and Suicide. 
 
 "It has been frequently charged upon the separate system that it 
 tends to produce idiocy, insanity, and suicide. I have made parti- 
 cular inquiries," continues Mr. Hill, "on these points." Mr. Brebner, 
 the governor, reported, " that, during the twenty-five years that the 
 Glasgow Bridewell had been under his charge, not a single instance 
 of idiocy or insanity has arisen. 
 
 " There have, indeed, been nine cases of suicide ; but, considering 
 the large number of prisoners, the dissipated habits of criminals, 
 and the great length of time over which these cases have spread, the 
 number will, I presume, appear to most persons less than might 
 have been expected. Mr. Brebner states that most of these cases 
 occurred within a few days after the prisoner was admitted, and the 
 last instance of suicide occurred two years ago." 
 
 Concluding Observations. 
 
 Mr. Hill, in his report for 1845, enunciates the following prin- 
 ciples : " The more I reflect on what has passed under my obser- 
 vation during the ten years I have held my appointment, and the 
 more I learn of the experience of others, the more I am convinced 
 that it will be found, on a close and thorough investigation, that, in 
 the treatment of criminals, as in many other matters, the best 
 promptings of our nature those proceeding from a Christian spirit 
 of love and charity are in accordance with the most profound 
 principles of philosophy. 
 
 " I recognise and fully maintain the principle that the great object 
 of improvement is to deter from crime, and that to this effect it is 
 quite necessary that the offender be placed in a less comfortable 
 position than the honest portion of the community ; but I am also 
 of opinion that for this purpose artificial punishment is wholly un- 
 necessary ^indeed, that it tends to defeat the object of improvement, 
 and to increase crime, by rousing the bad passions of the prisoners, 
 
67 
 
 and exciting in them a desire, on their liberation from confinement, 
 to revenge themselves upon society ; while it is wholly uncalled for, 
 since the means necessary for breaking down bad habits and forming 
 good ones, together with the separation of the offender from depraving 
 society during this process (which is necessary, to guard the country 
 from a recurrence of his misdeeds), entail such an amount of pain 
 as to make the offender's condition one of much suffering, and the 
 very reverse of enviable." 
 
 WESTERN PENITENTIARY, PENNSYLVANIA, 1826. 
 
 The Inspectors of this institution, in their report for 1842, stated, 
 " They were determined, without any preconceived prejudices for 
 or against the system, to carry out, as far as practicable, the pro- 
 visions of the law ; to give it a fair trial, and report whether 
 favourable or otherwise, to that authority which alone possess the 
 power to alter or amend. Our opinions have long since been known, 
 and we now repeat (after sixteen years' observation) that our con- 
 fidence in the wisdom of our code remains unshaken, and that, so far 
 as regards the Western Penitentiary, its beneficial results are beyond 
 all cavil. 
 
 " Kindness and encouragement, with moral and religious instruc- 
 tion, are uniformly extended to the contaminated victims of sin and 
 folly who come within its sphere, and every incentive to a thorough 
 reformation are inseparable objects of our system." 
 
 In the report for 1845, the same Inspectors, after nineteen years' 
 testing the operations of the separation of prisoners, with employ- 
 ment, and moral and religious instruction, in further confirmation of 
 their previous evidence of the healthful tendency of the system, ob- 
 serve that: "They have repeatedly given their testimony on behalf 
 of the separate system over all others, not only as regards the un- 
 happy subjects of its discipline, but as relates to the great com- 
 munity at large." 
 
 EASTERN PENITENTIARY, 1829. 
 
 In the report of the Inspectors presented to the Senate and House 
 of Representatives for 1845 it is stated, "that, after sixteen years' 
 experience, with the adoption of such improvements as such ex- 
 perience has suggested in the practical operations of separate con- 
 
68 
 
 finement with labour, all that its founders and early advocates 
 predicted would ensue from its adoption has been fully realized. 
 They reiterate the opinion expressed in a former report that it is the 
 only mode by which punishment, discipline, and reform have been 
 engrafted on a penal code, secured to society, and administered to 
 the convict." 
 
 PENTONV1LLE PRISON, 1842. 
 
 This important penal establishment, it is well known, is called the 
 model prison for the adoption of the separate system of imprisonment. 
 Its erection may be considered as mainly attributable to the present 
 noble premier, Lord John Russell, when Secretary of State for the 
 Home Department. 
 
 The fourth report of her Majesty's commissioners appointed to 
 exercise a supervision over the discipline and management of this 
 prison is now published, and it will not occupy much time to show 
 that the discipline pursued at Pentonville Prison has justified the ex- 
 pectations of those more particularly identified with its management. 
 
 Conduct of the, Prisoners. 
 
 " There is throughout the prison a spirit of contented and grateful 
 obedience and of cheerful industry ; and at the general monthly 
 inspection by a commissioner, there is almost a total absence of 
 complaint. The prison punishments are few, and their efficacy is 
 marked by the absence, in most cases, of any necessity for their 
 repetition. There has been no occasion to resort to corporal 
 punishment since the prison has been opened." 
 
 Health. 
 
 " The medical officer, to whose ability and unwearied zeal " the 
 commissioners " take the opportunity of bearing testimony, reports 
 that the general health of the prisoners has been excellent during the 
 past year." 
 
 An opportunity was recently afforded to the writer of a personal 
 examination of a large number of the probationary convicts from 
 Pentonville Prison, just before their departure as "exiles" from this 
 country to Port Philip, and he can most unequivocally and con- 
 
69 
 
 scientiously declare that those prisoners, for physical health and 
 mental vigour, would most fully compare with the same number of 
 prisoners found in any of the metropolitan gaols. There did appear 
 a quickness and intelligence which presented to his mind a re- 
 markable contrast to the sullen moroseness exhibited by prisoners 
 in silent system prisons which also came under his inspection. 
 
 Geelong Emigration Society. 
 
 This association bears highly favourable testimony to the good 
 conduct of the "exiles" on their arrival at their distination at 
 Port Philip : " The committee have much pleasure in being able to 
 state, that the men landed from the ' Sir George Seymour' are gene- 
 rally reported to have conducted themselves very well, and behaved 
 in an orderly and respectful manner. 
 
 " From the experience of several members of this committee, and 
 from the best private information the committee are able to collect, 
 they have every reason to believe that those gentlemen who have 
 employed the exiles by the ' Sir George Seymour' entertain a very 
 favourable opinion of them. 
 
 " The men by the 'Sir George Seymour' have been generally unex- 
 ceptionable in their conduct and respectful in their demeanour, and 
 have been found useful and efficient workmen. 
 
 " Several members of this committee, and many connected with 
 the Geelong Emigration Society, have employed the exiles by the 
 ' Sir George Seymour,' the majority of whom are still in the service 
 of their original employers." 
 
 Demand for Exile Labour. 
 
 Adverting to the exiles from Pentonville embarked in "The 
 Stratheden," the commissioners remark : " No greater proof can be 
 shown of the estimation in which the conditional pardon men are 
 held at Port Philip than that all the men were hired from the ship 
 at 20 per annum, with their rations (one man obtained 35, and 
 one even 50); and that, had he (the surgeon superintendent), been 
 entrusted with 500, instead of 50, he is certain that he could have 
 procured them masters in one week. A gentleman who had hired 
 some of the men from the ' Sir George Seymour,' engaged 10 more 
 from ' The Stratheden/ "* 
 
 *With respect to the exiles sent to Van Diemen's Land the accounts are 
 not so favourable, but it will not require a moment's reflection to perceive 
 
70 
 
 Concluding Remarks of Commissioners. 
 
 The concluding remarks of her Majesty's commissioners for Pen- 
 tonville Prison, as published in their report for 1846, will not fail to 
 be perused with interest, and will leave its own stamp on the mind 
 of the reader. 
 
 "In our second report, dated the 10th March, 1844, we recorded 
 our impressions in the following manner : 
 
 " ' We have felt it our duty to institute a searching investigation 
 into every part of the discipline of the prison, and we can refer, with 
 feelings of unmingled satisfaction, to the present bodily and mental 
 condition of the prisoners generally. The rate of mortality has been 
 remarkably low. There exists abundant proof of the religious and 
 moral improvement of the prisoners, among whom a cheerful spirit 
 of industry prevails. While these benefits have been conferred, the 
 corrective influence of the discipline has been strictly maintained, 
 and the penal character of the discipline has not been sacrificed to 
 objects of reformation. In reviewing, therefore, the whole of the 
 circumstances bearing upon the state and condition of the prisoners, 
 we have no hesitation in expressing our satisfaction at the results of 
 the discipline. We are of opinion that the adoption of separate con- 
 finement, as established at Pentonville Prison, promises to effect a 
 most salutary change in the treatment of criminals, and that it is 
 well calculated to deter, correct, and reclaim the offender.' 
 
 with great regret we have to state, with reference to the prisoners who 
 were landed in Van Diemen's Land, that they were placed, on their arrival, 
 in circumstances so unfavourable to a continuance of good conduct, that 
 there is reason to fear the benefits they had unquestionably derived from 
 the discipline and instruction of Pentonville Prison have, in a great ma- 
 jority of cases, been nearly effaced. 
 
 " The want of employment for ticket of leave and probation pass soldiers 
 in that colony, the social degradation and contaminating influences to 
 which they were exposed, and the disheartening difficulties with which 
 they had to contend in Van Diemen's Land, sufficiently account for the 
 unfavourable results to which we have referred especially when con- 
 trasted with the advantageous settlement and exemplary conduct of the 
 exiles in Port Philip." 
 
 If a body of men, whose former habits and character might be far less 
 exceptionable than those Pentonville exiles, were placed in the midst of any 
 community in which they would be unable to obtain employment, and be 
 exposed to influences both degrading and contaminating, would not the 
 results be correspondent ? 
 
71 
 
 " We concluded our third report (1845) by strongly urging the 
 advantage of the separation of one prisoner from another as the basis 
 and great leading feature of all prison discipline. 
 
 "The experience of another year (1846), strengthened by the 
 highly gratifying accounts which have been received as regards the 
 conduct of the prisoners who have been sent abroad, both during 
 the voyage and subsequent to their arrival in Australia, has more 
 than ever impressed us with the value of this corrective and reforma- 
 tory system of prison discipline ; and that the separate system, as 
 enforced at Pentonville Prison, is SAFE AND EFFICIENT, AND CAPABLE 
 
 OF GENERAL APPLICATION." 
 
 These sentiments, contained in the report for 1846, received the 
 attestation of the following distinguished individuals : Lord 
 Chichester C. Shaw Lefevre, Esq., Speaker of the House of 
 Commons Sir Benjamin Brodie, M.D. Herbert Ferguson, Esq., 
 M. D. Major Jebb, E. C. E. William Crawford, Esq. Rev. 
 Whitworth Russell Benjamin Hawes, Esq., M. P. Joseph 
 Henry Green, Esq. 
 
 PRESTON HOUSE OF CORRECTION, LANCASHIRE, 1844. 
 
 The zealous and devoted chaplain of this gaol, the Rev. J. Clay, 
 has for several years published most interesting statistical details 
 in connection with the discipline of this prison, and, as the result 
 of his own observations from his important official position, with the 
 treatment of criminals, has for more than twenty years advocated 
 their separation as a mode of penal action. 
 
 In the last report of that gentleman there is, however, reference 
 made to the deviations from the principle of separation by daily re- 
 cognition at exercise and religious worship. Some allowance may 
 be, however, made for the non-adoption of the entire principle of 
 separation from constructional inconveniences, and a desire on the part 
 of the magistracy, at the period of the introduction of separation, 
 rather to try the experiment by the deviations referred to ; still, the 
 beneficial results of the discipline at Preston Gaol, so far as it is 
 applied, by cellular separation, is so manifest over the former, or 
 associated system of discipline, as to be entitled to especial notice. 
 
 Mr. Clay states : " For more than twenty years, I have seen a 
 House of Correction operating as a seminary of sin ; and wherever 
 the association of prisoners is permitted, there the work of corruption 
 
72 
 
 is still going on. Let us look at the result of separation, and we shall 
 find the moral condition of the discharged prisoner now in the most 
 happy contrast with what I have attempted to describe. The pri- 
 soner is not now dismissed from his confinement with an imagination 
 heated by the tales of successful plunder which he has heard in 
 ' the yard,' and with a determination to rival the exploits of Turpin 
 and Sheppard. Now, instead of exciting others to crime, he is him- 
 self ready to forsake it. He has no stories for his acquaintance 
 redolent of treadwheel and trial yard; but when he speaks of 
 prison, he speaks of stern and wholesome restraints, of friendly ad- 
 monition, of the good thoughts which came into his mind when 
 alone in his cell, of his grief for the grief he has caused those who 
 have loved him, of his penitence for his faults, of his prayers for for- 
 giveness, and of his resolution, by God's grace, to sin no more." 
 
 These are some of the beneficial effects of cellular separation. 
 
 Yery gratifying results are shown of the diminished numbers of 
 re-committals under the operation of separation, relating to all 
 classes of offenders, from the burglar transported for life, to the 
 infirm bee/gar sentenced to seven days' imprisonment, and in which 
 are noted all previous committals (so far as that gaol is concerned), 
 however distant in point of time. These, also, have been brought 
 down to an extent sufficient to prove that, even upon " old gaol 
 birds," a better system of treatment is producing the desired effect. 
 The decrease may be thus exhibited : 
 
 Years 1843 1844 1845 1846 
 
 Re-committals 659 554 476 308 
 
 or a decrease of 53 T % per cent, of re-committals from 1843; 
 
 and, whilst there are various causes which contribute both to the 
 increase and decrease of re-committals, yet, by a reference to the 
 tables of congregated system gaols in the county of Lancaster, and 
 of Preston in particular, in which separation is adopted, the balance 
 is in favour of separation, in comparison with four gaols ; from the 
 lowest, 71*4 per cent.; from the highest, 31 '5 per cent.; or an average 
 of 45*5 per cent, upon the whole. The advantage is most obvious. 
 
 There is, however, in connection with cellular separation, as adopted 
 in the Preston House of Correction, a decided Infraction of the 
 principle of entire separation on which the writer cannot withhold 
 a remark or two. 
 
73 
 
 It has been observed, that daily recognition (although direct asso- 
 ciation is prevented with a portion of the prisoners) is suffered, both 
 during daily exercise and at the daily prayers. 
 
 No one can more strenuously maintain than Mr. Clay does the 
 importance of the separation of prisoners from all corrupting influ- 
 ence, still there is permitted the opportunity for daily mutual recog- 
 nition an evil so extensively admitted, connected with unrestricted 
 association and silent system discipline, that it cannot be lightly 
 passed over in this place ; and, whatever feeling may be brought 
 into the question, as to keeping alive the gregarious dispositions of 
 the prisoner, there must not be a compromise of the soundness of 
 separation, the long practical operations of which have shown that 
 no such innovation is necessary, either for the mental or physical 
 health of the criminal. 
 
 In the various visitations of the writer to prisons, both at home 
 and abroad, where the principle of separation has been adopted, 
 entire deprivation from the sight, as also the companionship of prison 
 associates, has been regarded with thankfulness. " No one knows 
 me," said a prisoner in the Eastern Penitentiary, at Philadelphia ; 
 " no one can know that I am here. I will pursue an honest course 
 when I get out. This prison has done me good; but the world 
 knows nothing about me." 
 
 "As to associated public worship," remarks Professor Lieber, "we 
 are opposed to it on principle. I doubt not but, now and then, a 
 convict would derive benefit from it, but what benefit compared to 
 his having been seen by others^ and riveted to the horrid chain 
 which unites the criminals. We are cruel by thus exposing the 
 convict." 
 
 It would occupy too much space to go into the argument at 
 length against the evils of recognition; but will it not be apparent 
 that, by it, the bond of union is kept up between criminal minds, 
 which, in the very nature of things, must be fraught (as can be 
 clearly demonstrated) with consequences alike pernicious to the 
 untried prisoner and the novitiate in crime ? The object of 
 separation is to sever that bond of association, and to alienate, as 
 much as possible, all thought of past pursuits and past associations, 
 
74 
 
 which, it is maintained, is kept alive by whatever opportunities 
 are afforded for recognition by prisoner and prisoner. The hope, 
 therefore, is entertained, with regard to this gaol, that the importance 
 will be seen of adopting the principle of separation in its integrity ; 
 for it will be found (as it ever has been, in every system of penal 
 treatment), that one departure from a principle leads to another, 
 until the original principle may le lost in deviations. 
 
 BEADING COUNTY GAOL AND HOUSE OF CORRECTION, 
 BERKSHIRE, 1844. 
 
 This is the concluding notice upon the operations of the separate 
 system of imprisonment in penal institutions. 
 
 In the last, or tenth report of the Inspectors of Prisons for the 
 Home District, a very lengthened notice is given of the construction, 
 regulation, and disciplinary operation of this gaol, so far as this 
 discipline had been in action. 
 
 fieport of the Visiting Justices. 
 
 First " The visiting justices beg leave to congratulate the Magis- 
 trates of the county of Berks on the hitherto successful working of 
 the new gaol committed to their care and superintendence, of which 
 they consider no surer proof can be adduced than the extraordinary 
 change which has occurred during the last half-year, from Mid- 
 summer to Christmas, 1844, in the re-commitments of prisoners. 
 On examining the register of re-commitments for the same period in 
 the year 1841 and 1842, the visiting magistrates find the number 
 of prisoners re-committed to the gaol at Reading to be as follows : 
 
 Midsummer to Christmas, 1841 86 
 
 1842 78 
 
 1844 8" 
 
 a marked reduction, and attributable in its degree to Individual 
 Imprisonment. 
 
 Health, Morals, and Discipline. 
 
 The visiting justices report, October 13th, 1845: "With re- 
 ference to the more serious questions which concern the state and 
 
75 
 
 condition of the prisoners, as to morals, discipline, employment, hard 
 labour, and observance of rules, upon which the visiting justices are 
 required to deliver a report, they desire to express a perfect convic- 
 tion that the superior construction, arrangement, and adaptation of 
 the new gaol at Reading, have been the means by which, under the 
 strict attention of the governor, the chaplain, and the officers of the 
 gaol, the regulations have been so beneficially enforced for the pre- 
 servation of the health of the prisoner ', and that, with respect to their 
 morals and discipline, every requisite has been attained which can 
 rationally be expected to command a salutary influence and control.' 7 
 
 A short extract from the Inspectors' report is added to the 
 preceding. 
 
 Of SEPARATION as promotive of industrial habits it is observed : 
 " The records of this prison undeniably prove, that separation, as a 
 system of discipline, is highly conducive to the acquirements of habits 
 of industry, both physically and mentally, and disproves any idea of 
 a prisoner passing his time in idleness. We believe that mental 
 idleness is too irksome to be easily borne in separate confinement, 
 especially when there is any considerable development of intellect : 
 the consequence is, the prisoner reads with avidity the books placed 
 at his disposal." 
 
 Of SEPARATION, as to its effects men tally and morally, it is also 
 remarked by the Inspectors : " In no particular were we more 
 thoroughly convinced of the superior excellency of the system of sepa- 
 ration over every other than in its effects in the mind, predisposing 
 to the reception of education and moral training. The prisoners, at 
 the period of our inspection, gave good evidence of the truth of this 
 statement, and the journal of the chaplain and schoolmaster fully 
 attested similar results respecting those whose terms of imprisonment 
 had expired." 
 
 A SILENT SYSTEM DISCIPLINE DEPUTATION ON SEPARATION, 1844. 
 
 Such had been the instances of revolt and insubordination at Sing 
 Sing Penitentiary, in the state of New York, which is conducted 
 upon what is termed the Auburn, or silent system, that a deputation 
 was appointed to view the Eastern Penitentiary, and to report the 
 
76 
 
 result of their observations upon the nature and operations of the 
 separate system as there in exercise. 
 
 The deputation " were forcibly struck with the contrast between 
 the order and decorum that prevailed" at the Separate System 
 Prison, at Philadelphia, " and the confusion and disorder that 
 reigned" at the Silent, or Auburn System Penitentiary, at 
 Sing Sing. 
 
 At Philadelphia " there were none of the evils which were witnessed 
 in our (silent system) prisons. There was abundant opportunity for 
 thought and reflection : no scenes of riot diverted the convicts from 
 the thought of the crimes they had committed, or the ruin they had 
 brought upon themselves." 
 
 Still referring to the nature of the separate system discipline at 
 Philadelphia, the deputation continue : " The humble and the peni- 
 tent incurred no hazard of being compelled to transgress, even in 
 their place of punishment. The last moments of the dying were not 
 disturbed by ribald songs or abominable blasphemy; the vicious held 
 no supremacy there ; no assaults upon the officers, no battles among 
 the wretched inmates were permitted to break the quiet of the 
 prison-house ; no opportunities were offered for the veteran criminal 
 of extending the corruption of vice among the weak and the timid ; 
 no inducements were held out to the hardened to defy all control, 
 and to set an example of disobedience." 
 
 Such are declared to be the negative advantages of the separate 
 system at Philadelphia. Do they not exhibit inferentially the posi- 
 tive evils which existed at Auburn under a silent system discipline ? 
 
 TESTIMONY OF A CONVICT. 
 
 It is the evidence of one who had himself been subjected for three 
 years to the discipline of the Eastern Penitentiary a man of educa- 
 tion and some attainment, and whose case attracted the attention of 
 the author of "American Notes," and furnished the writer with 
 some materials for a tale on the solitary prison of Philidelphia. 
 
 It may be well to remark, that this convict, on his discharge from 
 the Eastern Penitentiary, carried with him the esteem and respect of 
 
77 
 
 every officer of the prison, on account of his uniform good conduct. 
 Since his liberation he has published an interesting volume of poems, 
 entitled, " Buds and Flowers of Leisure Hours ;" and although the 
 writer has noticed this case in another form, he ventures to give this 
 testimony in the present chain of evidence. 
 
 This discharged convict, now restored to citizenship of the States, 
 and to civil rights, testifies, that "justice to a system of prison dis- 
 cipline which has received the severe and just criticism of many 
 intelligent persons, has induced him to lay before the public the 
 result of its operations upon himself, as the best and most indis- 
 putable refutation of the condemnation it has received. 
 
 " He regards his confinement at Cherry Hill, or the Eastern 
 Penitentiary, as the happiest event of his life. It has dissolved 
 improper connections, remodelled his tastes, improved his mind, and, 
 he trusts, made better his heart. He is neither morose, imbecile, 
 dispirited, nor deranged; and whatever reformation his imprisonment 
 may have produced, he can attribute it to the separate seclusion 
 from evil example and worse precept which must necessarily follow 
 the indiscriminate congregation of offenders in a place of punishment." 
 
 JUDGE PARSONS, OP PENNSYLVANIA, 1845. 
 
 Only one more testimony from abroad will be given. Judge 
 Parsons, in a charge to the Grand Jury in Philadelphia, in 1845, 
 strongly advocates the principle of separation. The learned judge 
 is reported to have said : " The question of prison discipline has 
 for years occupied the attention of many of the most distinguished 
 and philanthropic men in Pennsylvania. 
 
 "The great aim of these noble efforts was to adopt a system 
 which it was thought was best calculated to maintain the dignity of 
 the laws, and, in the most humane manner, endeavour to reform 
 the criminal, and, at the same time, deter others, by a mild but 
 efficient punishment, from the commission of offences. 
 
 " The system of separate confinement, with labour, which has 
 been adopted in this state for the punishment of criminals, I believe 
 is one of the best that has ever been devised by the genius of men. 
 This individual opinion is expressed after a very close observation of 
 its effects for the last five years, during which period I have been 
 most of the time engaged in the administration of our criminal law, 
 
78 
 
 and a very close observer of this system upon those who have been 
 sentenced." 
 
 PENITENTIARY CONGRESS, FRANKFORT, 1846. 
 
 The important principles announced by that body upon the ques- 
 tion of prison discipline, ought not to be passed over in the varied 
 description of evidence in favour of the adoption of separation as an 
 uniform principle in penal treatment. 
 
 The congress, comprising about eighty members, included men of 
 all political and religious creeds ; but in the subject of prison disci- 
 pline all other views were merged, and there was evinced a fraternity 
 of feeling only to be described by those privileged as being of that 
 number. The writer will long retain the impression which he re- 
 ceived on that occasion. Throughout the discussion, which lasted 
 three days, there was diffused a tone of elevated benevolence on 
 behalf of the offending portion of society ; and there was but one 
 universal concern manifested how most effectually to deter from the 
 commission of further offences, and what the best means for restoring 
 to honest and industrious citizenship the victims of vice and crime. 
 It has been observed by a leading provincial journal : 
 
 " Almost every state in Europe had its representatives present, 
 professors of law magistrates advocates and lawyers mayors 
 senators members of legislature inspectors of prisons director of 
 houses for correction members of prison reformatory societies 
 presidents judges and members of courts of justice professors of 
 medicine physicians and chaplains counsellors of state, and privy 
 counsellors, besides several nobles and distinguished continental 
 statesmen. 
 
 "It is not, perhaps, saying too much to express an opinion 
 that probably there never before assembled such a combination of 
 men of enlightened mind and benevolent feelings, conversant with 
 the various machinery of prisons and penal discipline in every 
 country in Europe to consider the best means for the moral and 
 physical reform of the most degraded and lost class of human 
 beings."'" 
 
 * Manchester Guardian. 
 
79 
 
 During three days' deliberation,* important statements were 
 made and information contributed by various members ; and, 
 after animated discussion, eight resolutions were passed, seven of 
 them nearly unanimously, and the other the fourth by a con- 
 siderable majority. 
 
 The following is a translation of the resolutionst: 
 
 1st. Separate, or individual imprisonment ought to be applied 
 to prisoners BEFORE TRIAL so as entirely to prevent all com- 
 munication amongst them, or with other prisoners, except in thoso 
 cases in which the committing magistrates, in accordance with 
 the request of the prisoners themselves, think fit to allow them 
 some communication within the limits prescribed by law. 
 
 * September, 28th, 29th, and 30th, 1846. 
 
 *( 1* Resolution: L'emprisonnement s^pare ou individual doit etre 
 applique' aux pr^venus et aux accuses, de maniere k ce qu'il ne puisse y 
 avoir aucune espece de communication soit entre eux soit avec d'autres 
 detenus, sauf dans les cas ou sur la demande des prisonniers eux-memes 
 les magistrate charge's de 1'instruction jugent a propos de leur permettre 
 certains rapports dans les limites deterniine'es par la loi. 
 
 2? Resolution : L'emprisonnement individuel sera applique aux con- 
 damnes en ge'ne'ral avec les aggravations ou les adoucissements commandos 
 par la nature des offenses et des condamnations, I'mdividualite' et la 
 conduite des prisonniers de maniere k ce que' chaque detenu soit occupe' a 
 un travail utile, qu'il jouisse chaque jour de 1'exercice en plein air, qu'il 
 participe aux be'ne'fices de 1'instruction religieuse, morale et scolaire et 
 aux exercices du culte et qu'il regoive re'gulierement les visites du ministre 
 de son culte, du directeur, du me'decin et des membres des commissions 
 de surveillance et de patronage, inde'pendamment des autres visites qui 
 pourront etre autorisees par les reglements. 
 
 3? Resolution : La resolution pr^ce'dente s'appliquera notamment aux 
 emprisonnements de courte dure'e. 
 
 4 e Resolution : L'emprisonnement individuel sera e'galement applique' 
 aux detentions de longue dure'e en le conbinant avec tous les adou- 
 cissements progressifs compatibles avec le maintien du principe de la 
 separation. 
 
 5? Resolution: Lorsque 1'etat maladif du corps ou de 1' esprit d'uii 
 detenu 1'exigera, 1'administration pourra soumettre ce detenu k tel regime 
 qu'elle jugera convenable, et meme lui accorder le soulagement d'une 
 societe continue, sans cependant que dans ce cas il puisse etre reuni a 
 d'autres detenus. 
 
 6 e . Resolution : Les prisons cellulaires seront construites de maniere a 
 ce que chaque prisonnier puisse assister aux exercices de son culte, voyant 
 et entendant le ministre officiant et an etant vu, le tout sans qu'il soit 
 porte atteinte au principe fondamental de la separation des prisonniers 
 entre eux. 
 
 71 Resolution : La substitution de la peine de 1'emprisonnement indi- 
 viduel a la peine de 1'emprisonnement en conimun doit avoir pour effet 
 imme'diat d'abr^ger la dure'e des detentions telle qu'elle est 
 dans les codes existants. 
 
80 
 
 2d. Separate imprisonment shall be applied to CONVICTED 
 PRISONERS generally, with the rigour or mitigation dictated by 
 the crimes and sentences, and the conduct of the prisoners, in such 
 a manner as that each prisoner shall be employed in some useful 
 labour; shall have the advantage of exercise in the open air daily ; 
 shall participate in the benefit of religious, moral, and scholastic 
 instruction, and in the exercises of divine worship; and receive 
 regularly the visits of the minister of his denomination, of the 
 warden, the physician, and the commissioners of surveillance and 
 patronage, independently of other visits which may be authorised 
 by the rules. 
 
 3d. The preceding resolution shall be applied especially to 
 imprisonments for short periods. 
 
 4th. Individual imprisonment shall be equally applicable to 
 lengthened terms of imprisonment, combining with them, however, 
 all the progressive mitigations compatible with the maintenance of 
 the principle of separation. 
 
 5th. When the physical or mental indisposition of a prisoner 
 shall require it, the administration shall have power to appoint him 
 such a regimen as shall be deemed most suitable, and even to grant 
 him the solace of constant society, but not association icith other 
 prisoners. 
 
 6th. The cellular prisons shall be so constructed as to enable each 
 
 prisoner to join in the exercises of his religious worship, seeing and 
 
 hearing the officiating minister, and being seen by him the whole 
 
 without infraction of the fundamental principle of separation of the 
 
 prisoners from each other. 
 
 7th. The substitution of the punishment of separate imprison- 
 ment for that of the congregated mode, shall have the immediate 
 effect of shortening the terms of imprisonment, as prescribed by the 
 existing codes. 
 
 8th. The revision of penal enactments, the organization by law 
 of an inspection over prisons, and of commissions of surveillance, and 
 the institution of a patronage in favour of released convicts, ought to 
 be considered as an indispensable adjunct to penitentiary reform. 
 
 8e Resolution: La revision des legislations penales, 1' organisation par la 
 loi d'une inspection des prisons et de commissions de surveillance et 1'insti- 
 tution d'un patronage pour les condamnes libere's doivent etre conside're'es 
 comme le complement indispensable de la rdforme pdnitentiaire. 
 
 N.B. Les resolutions 1 3 et 5 d 8 ont ttt 1 prises a I'unanimite di< a pen presa I'ttnanimitce, 
 la resolution 4 I'a cle d unc tres forte majority. 
 
81 
 
 Thus, it will be observed that separation, in all its integrity, is 
 urged for universal adoption, whether for the untried or the con- 
 victed, whether in employment, at exercise, or worship, or whether 
 under the influence of mental or physical indisposition ; no circum- 
 stance was to be allowed to interfere with the principle of entire and 
 dbosolute separation of prisoner from prisoner . 
 
 In addition to the evidence already brought under notice, it may 
 add some weight to the argument in favour of separation as an uniform 
 principle, to show that it has received favourable consideration and 
 adoption in almost every state in Europe. France will have* 
 its uniform system of discipline upon the principle of separa- 
 tion the emperor of Russia has commanded a prison to be erected 
 at St. Petersburgh, and at Warsaw there has been for several years 
 a prison for the untried after the mode of individual imprisonment 
 the king of Prussia has acknowledged its importance by furthering 
 the erection of several gaols ; the deep and lively interest which the 
 king of Sweden has taken in this subject is well known ; whilst in 
 Holland, Belgium, the German States, Italy, and even Spain, the 
 great work is rapidly advancing, in the recognition of the soundness 
 of the principle of separation. 
 
 Such is the system urged for adoption in the second proposition 
 brought under notice applicable, it is remarked, both to the untriedt 
 and the convicted. 
 
 The writer is fully alive to the objections which are urged to the 
 exercise of undue severity to the untried, and would unite with 
 
 * The writer has been favoured with a draught copy of the measure to 
 be submitted to the Chamber of Peers at its present sitting ; but being a 
 private document until it is brought under the notice of the Chamber, he 
 is unable to make further reference to it than by observing, that individual 
 imprisonment, in its integrity, is the fundamental basis to be recommended 
 as a government measure for general adoption in all the penal institutions 
 of France. 
 
 t The Magistrates of the county of Middlesex have cleansed the 
 Metropolis from one notorious source of moral contamination and 
 pollution. The records of the Prison Inspectors, year after year, fur- 
 nished most deplorable returns of the criminal commingling in what 
 has been termed the New Prison, at Clerk enwell. Mr. Benjamin Rotch 
 (in the commission for the county of Middlesex) stood foremost in his 
 denunciations of this prison, in support of the statements of the Inspectors, 
 and to his persevering exertions is to be attributed, in a great degree, the 
 demolition of that prison, and the erection of a new gaol for the untried 
 upon the principle of separation. 
 
82 
 
 those who would advocate most ardently that no undue penalties 
 should be imposed upon such ; but must it not have been obvious to 
 the most casual reader even of these pages, that our present gaol 
 system is fraught with evils most inconceivable to that class of 
 characters, compelled as they are, under the systems commented 
 upon, from the moment of their entrance into a gaol to the day of 
 their trial, of acquittal, or conviction, to be in constant association 
 with the most abandoned and depraved ? 
 
 Justly has the profound Livingston remarked : " We begin by 
 inflicting this moral punishment on one presumed, by the first prin- 
 ciple of our law, to be innocent : we add to it the physical evil of 
 close confinement, without any of the conveniences of life, for an 
 unlimited period ; and when, perhaps, his morals are corrupted by 
 the society which the justice of his country has forced him to keep, 
 and his health is destroyed by the rigour of his imprisonment, his 
 innocence is declared, and he is restored to society, either to prey 
 upon it by his crimes, or burden it by his poverty. 
 
 " What greater moral or physical evil, it may be asked, would 
 have been inflicted on the guilty than this which the innocent is 
 made to suffer ?" 
 
 Upon separation the same writer observes : " It is one of 
 protection, from which the innocent have every thing to gain, 
 and of which the guilty cannot complain, for it imposes 
 no unnecessary restraint, and takes from them the power of 
 corrupting and being further corrupted. The danger of guilty as- 
 sociations, the duty of avoiding them by a careful separation of the 
 innocent from those who labour under a presumption of guilt of 
 those accused or convicted of offences implying no great degree of 
 moral turpitude, from those who are presumed or known to be guilty 
 of crimes which evince depravity of mind and manners of the 
 young from the old offenders are considerations on which the code 
 of prison discipline rests; and on the code of prison discipline 
 depends the whole system of penal law." 
 
 Will not every benevolent mind unite in the sentiments declared 
 by the benevolent Sir G. O. Paul : " It is the essence of legal 
 institution, that, however strong may be the presumption, however 
 positive the demonstration of guilt to the mind of the prosecutor, no 
 
83 
 
 punishment is just till the crime is established by the forms pre- 
 scribed. On this ground, therefore, and no other, have I contended, 
 and ever shall contend, for the utmost degree of lenity to prisoners 
 before trial which may be consistent with their safe custody." 
 
 It is in the advocacy of a protective system for the untried that 
 separation is proposed, as being eminently adapted in the employ- 
 ment of all those agencies and influences which may be brought 
 to bear for the preservation of the physical and mental health of 
 the confined, and the operation of which is so ably dwelt upon by 
 the Inspectors of Prisons in their tenth report, from which the fol- 
 lowing extract is taken : 
 
 " The system of separation between prisoner and prisoner is ad- 
 mirably adapted to the condition and circumstances of the untried, 
 and fully secures the just rights and privileges of that class of 
 prisoners. Their feelings and necessities are consulted ; they are 
 provided with a commodious, well lighted, and well ventilated cell, 
 fitted with every thing necessary to supply their real wants ; they 
 are supplied with a sufficiency of good food ; they are protected 
 from the sight and hearing of their fellow prisoners ; they can at 
 any time have the attendance of an officer of the prison, or of the 
 governor, chaplain, or surgeon. They can see their friends and 
 legal advisers ; they can, without impediment or interruption, 
 calmly deliberate upon their defence, and take all proper means to 
 meet the trial which awaits them. They may send or receive letters ; 
 they may receive unobjectionable books ; they may, if they desire 
 it, be furnished with suitable employment ; they have the privilege 
 of attending public worship ; can take exercise daily in the open 
 air ; may receive food, other and beyond the prison diet ; they are 
 exempted from perplexing regulations; they are tempted to no 
 violation of prison discipline; they are spared the infliction of 
 prison penalties ; there is no one to hurt their person, provoke their 
 temper, or corrupt their morals. They can occupy themselves in 
 useful work, in profitable reading, and in tranquil meditation, un- 
 interrupted, save by the visits of those who come to minister to 
 their physical, moral, or religious wants, or to aid them with com- 
 fort or professional advice. Would the relatives or friends of any 
 prisoner, who have a proper regard for his best interests, hesitate to 
 prefer such a mode of confinement to any other that has been prac- 
 
84 
 
 tised or devised ? Between the advantages of separation, and the 
 degradation and depravity of association, on the one hand, or the 
 restraint, exposure, and severity of the silent system, on the other, 
 we feel convinced that no comparison can be sustained." 
 
 That separation is suited to the convicted, is conclusively shown 
 by all the testimony which has been adduced, and the writer most 
 cordially unites in the sentiments of a trans- Atlantic reviewer when 
 writing upon the question of prison discipline :- 
 
 " The absolute separation of all prisoners, so that they can neither 
 see, hear, nor touch each other, is the pole-star of prison discipline. 
 It is the alpha, or beginning, as the reformation of the offender is 
 the omega, or the end. It is this principle, when properly ad- 
 ministered, which irradiates with heavenly light even the dungeon, 
 driving far away the intrusive legion of unclean thoughts, and in- 
 troducing in their vacant place the purity of religion, the teachings 
 of virtue, the solace of society, and the comfort of hope. In this 
 spirit let us build our prisons. The jail shall no longer be a charnel 
 house of living men ; the cell shall cease to be the tomb wherein 
 is buried what is more precious than the body a human soul. 
 From their iron gates let us erase that doom of despair - 
 
 LEAVE ALL HOPE BEHIND WHO ENTER HERE ; 
 
 and inscribe other words of gentleness, of encouragement, of hope." 
 
 In the preceding view which has been taken of the distinguishing 
 evils and inconsistencies of our gaol system in its general applica- 
 tion to the offender, with the two propositions offered, as calculated, 
 in a high degree, to correct such evils and anomalies, it will be 
 evident that something more is required for the purpose of exten- 
 sively securing a sound and salutary system of penal treatment. 
 
 An uniform principle of discipline may be determined upon ; a 
 system may be urged for adoption which, in its very nature and 
 tendency, is adapted to fulfil the just intentions of the law by its 
 corrective and reformatory influence ; but if, in the application of 
 that system, there be not the employment of suitable means and 
 agencies, is it too much to affirm that the issue will be unavailing 
 for the end desired to be attained ? 
 
85 
 
 With a view, therefore, of endeavouring to meet the existing 
 defects in the present administration and application of the discipline 
 of our prisons, and the well known difficulties attending, to a great 
 degree, the improvement in the alteration and construction of our penal 
 institutions, so as to adapt them to the purposes of employing a more 
 salutary mode of treatment than that which at present prevails in 
 the United Kingdom, and on which comment has been made in 
 these pages; it is proposed 
 
 THAT A BOARD OF PRISON DISCIPLINE AND PRISON CONSTRUCTION 
 
 BE ESTABLISHED, TO WHOM SHALL BE REFERRED ALL MAT- 
 TERS AND THINGS RELATING TO PENAL TREATMENT, AND THE 
 ALTERATION OF OLD GAOLS, AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF NEW 
 GAOLS; SUBJECT, NEVERTHELESS, TO THE CONTROL OF THE 
 SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT. 
 
 Simple as may appear this proposition, there are involved in it 
 important duties and responsibilities deeply identified with the 
 general penal treatment of the teeming population of our gaols, and 
 combining considerations with regard to our transport system and 
 its numerous perplexities. 
 
 Have not common usage and legislative enactment favoured the 
 adoption of the principle included in this proposition ? Are not 
 private enterprises, in which are connected widely spread and ex- 
 tensive interests, regarded and protected by special boards of control 
 and direction ? 
 
 Has education its privy-council board ; and will it be said that 
 the application of our criminal laws, as they relate to penal 
 treatment and general discipline, with the adaptation of institutions 
 for a salutary dispensation of those laws, does not furnish sufficient 
 claims for special and direct administration in the manner proposed ? 
 
 The writer is not insensible that, in dwelling upon this branch of 
 the subject, he may be considered as treading upon tender ground. 
 The administration of our prison discipline has been assigned to 
 the magistrates of the United Kingdom ; extensive powers by 
 enactment are given to them for the government of the gaols under 
 their particular jurisdiction ; and whilst it may be a matter of 
 surprise that evils so extensive and so long continued should have 
 
86 
 
 been permitted to prevail, it may be observed by some, that the 
 system has descended to them by legislative sanction ; whilst the 
 gaols, of which they are the accredited conservators, have, to a great 
 extent, been erected in conformity with the legalized discipline to 
 le enforced i but it is most gratifying to know, that in many 
 counties the attention of the magistracy has been excited to a 
 consideration of the high importance of establishing a sound 
 and effective system of prison discipline, in the application 
 of separation as a governing principle ; nor is it intended, in the 
 proposition now recommended for adoption, that there should be an 
 interference with that influential body in the exercise of those im- 
 portant functions which relate to the particular management of the 
 gaols assigned to their especial care. 
 
 Examples of metropolitan prison discipline, with the various 
 deviations from legislative enactment, have already been furnished 
 from some of the gaols in the home district, whilst every county 
 would, more or less, supply its own peculiar mode of discipline ; all 
 this proving, it is assumed, the importance of a combined princi- 
 ple, adapted, in its special powers and arrangements, as the con- 
 trolling influence of our vast penal machinery ; and the necessity, 
 also, of a concentration of attention to the cardinal branches, to 
 which reference has been made, viz. : prison discipline and prison 
 construction. 
 
 Nearly ten years ago, (August, 1837,) the present noble Premier, 
 when Secretary of State, issued an important circular to the Magis- 
 trates assembled at the Quarter Sessions of the Peace, and to the 
 Justices of Boroughs. Lord John Russell, after referring to the 
 anomalies of the silent system, as being "contrary to all sound 
 notions of prison discipline," offers the following recommendation : 
 
 " I should therefore be anxious to see THE SYSTEM OF SEPARATION 
 
 ADOPTED IN ALL NEW PRISONS, AND, AS FAR AS PRACTICABLE, IN 
 
 THOSE ALREADY CONSTRUCTED. I beg further to call the attention 
 of the magistrates to those parts of the abstract which relate to 
 the expediency of applying SEPARATE CONFINEMENT TO THE UN- 
 TRIED, and which describe the general principles to be observed 
 
 IN THE ARRANGEMENT AND CONSTRUCTION OF PRISONS UPON THAT 
 SYSTEM." 
 
87 
 
 The last remedial proposition is, iii its operation, intended to carry 
 out the intentions of the preceding " recommendation," to remove 
 existing inconsistencies, and to promote a similarity in prison con- 
 struction, in order to the establishment of a uniform system 
 of prison discipline, 
 
 What power has the Executive now of an entire control over either 
 the alteration or the construction of our penal institutions ? Let atten- 
 tion be given for a moment to the Aldermen of the City of London 
 in this respect .-such were the abominations presented to the view 
 of the Inspectors of Prisons, on their first examination of Newgate, 
 that, in order to the introduction of an improved system of discipline 
 in that notorious gaol, its entire demolition was considered essential; 
 a new gaol on its site was recommended, and plans furnished for the 
 same. The manner in which that recommendation has been regarded 
 will be apparent from the evidence already adduced. 
 
 Giltspur Street Compter has long been animadverted upon, from 
 its circumscribed site and the crowded state of the prison; and 
 though remonstrance after remonstrance had been made, both in 
 the Court of Aldermen, by one or two of that body who have taken 
 an interest in the improvement of their gaols, and also by the 
 Inspectors of Prisons, in their report presented to Parliament, a 
 large expenditure has been made, but to perpetuate the distin- 
 guishing evils of that gaol. 
 
 The evils of non-control over the alteration and re-construction Is 
 not confined merely to the metropolis ; in the provinces there have 
 been,, and are found, deterring examples to the introduction and 
 carrying out of an improved system of penal treatment. Mr. F. D. 
 Davenport, a magistrate of the county of Chester, in a letter 
 to Sir James Graham,'* after referring to the importance of sepa- 
 rating prisoners, " and of the immense accession to the criminal 
 list l>y the present practice" (at Knutsford), writes: "He had not the 
 means, even if he had the power, which he doubted, to separate the 
 prisoners before trial ; for the Inspector, Mr. Williams, had said he 
 could not certify the fitness of the last 400 1 cells constructed in 
 this costly and extensive establishment." 
 
 *The "Times," January 6th, 1846. 
 t There were only 100 cells. 
 
88 
 
 Mr. Davenport further observes : " Now I humbly submit, the 
 main use of Inspectors is to report deficiencies, and point out the 
 precise nature and remedies for them, instead of leaving his opinions 
 and objections to be discovered by casual observers, as in the present 
 instance." 
 
 With respect to non-certification, the inspector, Capt. Williams, 
 was fully justified; the construction of the cells being a most pal- 
 pable deviation from the approved arrangements required there 
 being deficient ventilation, no supply of water, nor water closets, 
 and the want of other cellular conveniences. 
 
 By the establishment of a board, as proposed, such constructional 
 arrangements would be under their control, and no delay would 
 arise from want of certification of fitness, as the adaptation of fitness 
 would be determined upon previous to construction. 
 
 One example more : It would appear the "day-room," as has 
 been observed, the very centre and focus of all that is demoralizing 
 in principle and ruinous to character, is attempted to be appended to 
 separate system prison construction a most positive and decided 
 compromise of the principle sought to be established, and to which 
 justly marked reference is made in the last report of Inspectors 
 for the Home District, as follows : 
 
 " A new prison for 800 prisoners, upon the separate system, for 
 the county of Berks, is in course of erection at Aylesbury, and is 
 expected to be completed and occupied about August, 1846; there 
 are, however, two particulars in the contemplated plan to which we 
 have a decided and invincible objection ; these are, the provision of 
 day-rooms for prisoners before trial," (a class, beyond all others, it will 
 be admitted, demanding protection from gaol association,) "and the 
 tread-wheel for prisoners sentenced to hard labour with reference to 
 which we feel it our duty to offer the following remarks : 
 'The first particular in which the plan of the Aylesbury prison 
 differs from that of the Pentonville and Reading prisons is, the day- 
 rooms are to be provided for prisoners before trial. Against this 
 arrangement we feel it our duty strongly to protest. So long ago 
 as the year 1835, that most important and useful Committee of the 
 
89 
 
 House of Lords, appointed to inquire into the state of the several 
 gaols and houses of correction in England and Wales, and of which 
 the Duke of Richmond was chairman, recommended that 'the use 
 of day-rooms, as such, should be discontinued/ stating ' that every 
 motive of humanity, as regards the individual prisoner, and of 
 policy, as regards the good of society in general, requires that the 
 most efficient regulation should be established, in order to save all 
 prisoners, and especially the untried, from the frightful contamina- 
 tion resulting from unrestricted intercourse!" 
 
 Other examples could be given, illustrative of the difficulties 
 which impede the promotion of suitable prison construction under, 
 at present, established arrangements. 
 
 That the management of the discipline of our prisons, and a con- 
 centrated control over their alteration, is one of no trifling magni- 
 tude, will be conclusive from the circumstance that there are in 
 England, Wales, and Ireland, of 
 
 Gaols, Bridewells, and Houses of Correction 
 
 In England and Wales 198 
 
 In Ireland.. ..152 
 
 Total 350 
 
 TC*. 
 
 In all these there are committed and discharged annually 
 hundreds of thousands of persons, the victims of misery, destitu- 
 tion, and crime, all of them more or less partaking of the moral 
 taint resulting from their association in these places of detention, 
 and furnishing, it is conceived, a most powerful argument to show 
 that their discipline, their alteration, and re-construction should be 
 regulated by established principles for their certain and uniform 
 government. 
 
 For England and Wales there are four Inspectors, who make their 
 periodical reports to the Secretary of State for the Home Depart- 
 ment. 
 
 For Ireland there are two Inspectors, who make their reports to 
 the Chief Secretary for Ireland. 
 
90 
 
 For Scotland there is one Inspector, who reports to the Secretary 
 of State for the Home Department. There is also a General Board of 
 Directors of Prisons in Scotland, who also report to the Secretary of 
 State for the Home Department, pursuant to Acts 2 and 3 Vie. c. 42. 
 The province of this Board has relation to the general discipline of the 
 prisons in that country; a supervision of the receipts and expenditure 
 in connection with its penal institutions ; the building, altering, 
 and repairing of local prisons; the management and discipline of 
 gaols, &c.* 
 
 What is exercised in Scotland as a principle, is proposed also for 
 adoption, in a more extended and general view, for the prisons in 
 England, Wales, and Ireland ; and if it he admitted that there are, 
 through the length and breadth of our land, deep rooted and long exist- 
 ing evils, no ordinary means will be required for their eradication ; and 
 it will be evident, that if the renovation of our gaols is to be a work 
 that shall engage future attention, its magnitude will be such as to 
 call forth and put into exercise extraordinary and special agencies 
 for its accomplishment. 
 
 Since the period at which attention was directed for the im- 
 proved construction of our gaols, and the adoption of a more efficient 
 system of discipline, it may be interesting to know what progress 
 has been made in the erection of new and the alteration of old gaols 
 for the enforcement of the SEPARATE SYSTEM of discipline, although 
 in some of them it has not been fully carried out. 
 
 New Prisons completed and occupied, and old Prisons partly 
 
 v altered and occupied. 
 
 Reading, 
 
 Taunton, 
 
 Scarborough, 
 
 Usk, 
 
 Hertford, 
 
 Swansea, 
 
 Hereford County, 
 
 Durham, 
 
 Bristol, 
 
 Hereford Borough, 
 
 Nottingham, 
 
 Ely, 
 
 Shrewsbury, 
 
 Northampton County, 
 
 Lincoln, 
 
 Knutsford, 
 
 Northampton Borough, 
 
 Tiverton, 
 
 Morpeth, 
 
 Stafford, 
 
 Buckingham, 
 
 Preston, 
 
 Leicester, 
 
 Belfast, Ireland. 
 
 Worcester, 
 
 Bath, 
 
 
 Walsingham, 
 
 Peterborough, 
 
 
 * There are 81 gaols, &C., under the control of the Prison Board of 
 Directors in Scotland. 
 
01 
 
 Winchester, 
 Clerkenwell, 
 Aylesbury, 
 Gloucester, 
 
 Prisons in course of Construction. 
 
 Springfield, 
 Wakefield, 
 Wisbeach, 
 Birmingham, 
 
 Leeds, 
 Canterbury. 
 
 Prisons Under Consideration. 
 
 Liverpool, Lewes, 
 
 Berwick, I Warwick, 
 
 Bedford, 
 Banbury. 
 
 Separate system gaols have also been determined upon at Man- 
 chester and Dublin, and the alteration and re-construction of other 
 gaols in the United Kingdom are also under consideration. 
 
 Thus, it will be seen that, with regard to the great work which has 
 to be accomplished in the improvement of our gaol construction, and 
 also in the improvement of our prison discipline, only about 47 
 gaols, in England, Wales, and Ireland, out of about 350, have, to the 
 present period, received attention ; and, in some of the gaols referred 
 to in the lists, the constructional alterations are but very partial and 
 incomplete. 
 
 Much might be said as to various details connected with the adop- 
 tion and carrying out an efficient system of discipline, but the 
 following threefold propositions only are mentioned, as lying at the 
 basis or foundation of an improved system of penal treatment:* 
 
 FIRST UNIFORMITY OF DISCIPLINE, 
 
 SECONDLY INDIVIDUAL IMPRISONMENT, and 
 
 THIRDLY A BOARD OF PRISON DISCIPLINE AND CONSTRUCTION. 
 
 With these, minor matters would receive, in their proper place, 
 due attention, whether it be the adoption of the mark system, or any 
 other mode of treatment which might be considered by that board best 
 adapted for the reformation of the culprit, the prevention of crime, 
 or the security of the community composed, as such a board doubt- 
 less would be, of men who, from their long experience and knowledge 
 of the essential principles of penal legislation, would be eminently 
 qualified for their high duties. 
 
92 
 
 That there are great and extensive interests connected with a pro- 
 found and deliberate consideration of this question, and the provision 
 of an antidote to the maladies of our prison system, will be obvious, 
 when it is seen how multiplied, various, and extensive are the cha- 
 racters and circumstances affected ly the present administration 
 of our penal system. 
 
 The Rev. "Whitworth Russell, one of the Inspectors for the Home 
 District, in a supplement to the tenth report of Inspectors of Prisons, 
 has furnished statistical data exhibiting the nature and extent of 
 crime in England and Wales for five years (1839 to 1843 inclusive), 
 which present, in a deplorable degree, the amount of crime under 
 diversified classification during that period, and are powerfully 
 illustrative of the operation of our gaol system, and the application 
 of our penal laws, affecting, as they do, so numerous a portion of the 
 offending community. 
 
 Under the head of " SUMMARY CONVICTIONS for five years," ] 839 
 to 1843, there is the following enumeration of offences and of con- 
 victions, male and female : 
 
 Under Game Laws 15,823 
 
 Revenue Laws 3,01 6 
 
 Bastardy Laws 620 
 
 the Vagrant Act 98,340 
 
 the Malicious Trespass Act 16,266 
 
 the Larceny Act , 13,273 
 
 the Metropolitan, or Local Police Act 13,992 
 
 For Assaults 46,325 
 
 Want of Sureties 16,040 
 
 Reputed Thieves 24,551 
 
 All not before included 70,326 
 
 or a total of 318,572 
 
 Let but a glance be taken of these items, and, without an extra- 
 ordinary exercise of the imagination, it will be seen that, under the 
 operation of our present gaol system, with its classification adjuncts 
 and permitted deviations, there must have been an enormous and 
 inconceivable amount of moral mischief imparted to these subjects of 
 summary conviction, mingled (a very large proportion of whom 
 
93 
 
 had never before been within the precincts of a prison) with the 
 most abandoned and depraved, and carrying from their place of 
 detention the immoral taint they had received. 
 
 It is impossible to employ language sufficiently strong and cha- 
 racteristic in pourtraying the depraving effects of the multitudinous 
 associations which are legalized under the operation of summary 
 convictions. 98,340 are shown as convicted under the Vagrant Act.* 
 Reference has already been made to some of the features of a 
 Yagrant Yard. 
 
 What were the crimes, and how disposed of, that large number, 
 70,326, summary convictions thus referred to "ALL NOT BEFORE 
 INCLUDED " under the classification and associated system ? 
 
 Well may the Inspectors remark, in regard to summary con- 
 victions : " The large numbers with which we have now to deal 
 renders it especially incumbent upon us to act with the utmost 
 wariness and circumspection, lest we should mingle with the 
 corrective a moral poison, which would more powerfully tend to 
 the depravation of the offender than would the punishment to his 
 intimidation or amendment. When it is recollected that among 
 such characters are to be found the trivial offender of tender years 
 and yet undepraved morals ; the honest and industrious citizen , 
 whom a momentary impulse of passion, or violence of provocation, 
 has betrayed into the commission of an assault ; the modest female 
 whom the strength of temptation or the pressure of distress has im- 
 pelled to a breach of trust or a petty theft ; the young and artless, 
 who have become the dupes and victims of the more designing ; the 
 unhappy culprit, guilty of a first offence, and that, too, involving 
 neither violence nor malevolence; all these, and such as these, 
 come under the category of summary convictions ; and the treatment 
 which such offenders experience may be the crisis of their fate 
 may either restore them to society, amended in morals, shielded in 
 
 *At Liverpool, the number of apprehensions under the Vagrant Act has 
 recently been so great, and the gaol so filled, that the magistrates, instead of 
 carrying out the intentions of the law by commitments to prison, have 
 " deviated from legislative enactment," by sending such charges to the 
 parochial relieving officer a proper source, it is presumed, for providing 
 them with relief, instead of subjecting them to the contamination of a gaol. 
 
94 
 
 reputation, and thankful for such benefits, or may plunge them 
 irrecoverably into vice, render them depraved companions of the 
 profligate, and fill their minds with deep and lasting enmity against 
 the whole community." 
 
 There is a further reference to criminal statistics for the same 
 period already quoted, from which the following extracts are also 
 taken : 
 
 Proceedings at Assizes. 
 
 Persons convicted, male and female 100,803 
 
 Acquitted at the bar 24,808 
 
 No bills found 8,476 
 
 Not prosecuted 4,013 
 
 or a total of 138,100. 
 
 These, together with the 318,572 summary convictions, comprise 
 nearly half a million of committals and re-committals to our penal 
 institutions during the five years, as previously noticed. 
 
 Some remarkable features are presented in the foregoing estimate. 
 24,808 were acquitted at the bar; there were 8,476 against whom 
 no bills were found; and 4,013 were not prosecuted; making a total 
 of 37,297, who had been subjected to longer or shorter periods 
 of imprisonment, and to all the corrupting impurities of gaol asso- 
 ciation, without a charge proved against them, and, therefore, in the 
 eye of the law, guiltless ! 
 
 The urgent necessity of a protective system of discipline, even for 
 the imprisoned, is demonstrable from the periods of associated con- 
 finement before trial, with the unrestricted communication which, 
 it has been shown, is permitted amongst that class of persons. 
 
 Imprisoned under 14 days 17,059 
 
 14 days and 1 month 32,706 
 
 1 month and 2 months 31,291 
 
 2 months and under 3 months 14,890 
 
 3 months and under 6 months 4,761 
 
 6 months and upwards 946 
 
95 
 
 Such were the periods during which THE UNTRIED were confined 
 in our gaols for prison tuition. 
 
 In the gaol returns for Ireland for six successive years, the number 
 of acquittals greatly exceeds that of the convictions, as is shown from 
 the following table, furnished by the Inspectors' report, 1845 : 
 
 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 Total 
 
 Convictions 12049 11194 9271 9874 8620 8052 59060 
 Acquittals... 14348 12639 11525 11312 11506 11406 72736 
 
 Out of a total of 131,796 commitments to the various gaols in 
 Ireland there were 72,736 ACQUITTALS. 
 
 It will be unnecessary to enlarge upon the baneful influence of 
 gaol association upon the acquitted, under the different charac- 
 teristics of not guilty no bills found no prosecutor ; all these 
 were, for different periods, for weeks and for months, grouped 
 together with every description of criminal character. 
 
 The 72,736 of acquittals bear a proportion of 55 per cent, 
 upon the entire amount of committals at assizes and quarter sessions 
 for six years. 
 
 In England and Wales, for five years, the convictions at assizes 
 were 100,803, acquittals 37,297, or in the proportion of about 37 
 per cent., or 1 8 per cent, less than the return for Ireland. 
 
 It is not intended to draw any inference from this result as to the 
 nature of judicial administration, nor as to the causes of the dis- 
 parity between the proportionate numbers of acquittals in England 
 and Wales and those in Ireland, but to mark the certain effect of 
 our gaol system upon a large number of individuals, against whom 
 no crime had been proved, and upon whom, by their prison associa- 
 tion, a deeply social and relative evil must have been inflicted. 
 
 Can there be any member of a family who has been confined in 
 a gaol but must have received, and must also have communicated, 
 upon discharge, the contamination of prison contact ? 
 
96 
 
 In reference to the amount of committals and re-committals under 
 summary convictions, with the proceedings at sessions and assizes, in 
 England and Wales, for five years, it is most deplorable to perceive 
 the large proportion of FIRST TIME CONVICTIONS compared with the 
 total number: 
 
 Committals and Re-committals. 
 
 Summary convictions 318,572 
 
 Proceedings at assizes and sessions 138,100 
 
 Total 456,672 
 
 Deduct Re-committals. 
 Proceedings at assizes and sessions, as 
 
 well as under summary convictions 101,310 
 
 355,362 
 
 TUREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FIVE THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED 
 AND SIXTY-TWO PERSONS ! who were FOR THE FIRST TIME subjected 
 to the discipline of our gaol system, with all its declared evils! 
 
 It is bewildering to the mind and lacerating to the feelings to con- 
 template the appalling mass of wretchedness and destitution included 
 in that vast numeral : thousands of miserable, unemployed outcasts 
 have contributed to form its aggregate. The writer is well aware 
 that there are large numbers denominated " the vagrant tramp" to 
 whom occasional visits to a penal house, with regularity of diet, and 
 protection from a chilling atmosphere, are more agreeable than even 
 liberty itself. 
 
 From the hasty attention which has been given to the question 
 in these pages, it is not too much to assume, that there is a most 
 serious injury inflicted, both on the offender and on the offended, 
 by the application of our laws the very nature of the laws them- 
 selves frustrating their own intentions l>y their own defects. 
 
 This is most lamentably felt in our penal jurisprudence : the 
 judge is perplexed in his administration of the law ; the prose- 
 cutor hesitates to give evidence ; the jury is unwilling: to convict; 
 
97 
 
 and all this arises from the knowledge that the application of our 
 laws, instead of correcting the delinquent l>y consigning him to a 
 gaol, renders him more hardened and abandoned; and that society, 
 instead of being more protected, is made the more certain prey of 
 subsequent depredation. 
 
 The writer is unable, from the tables furnished in the official docu- 
 ment quoted from, to give the exact proportionate number of JUVENILE 
 OFFENDERS; they have, however, averaged about 14,000 annually; 
 and it cannot be other than a matter of most earnest solicitude to 
 those who feel interested in the renovation of our gaol system, that 
 some extensive and efficient mode of treatment may be adopted in 
 relation to such delinquents that refuges and asylums may be pro- 
 vided, adapted to the character and circumstance of the thousands 
 of the destitute, the neglected, and the outcast, who now tenant our 
 gaols, and receive therein every impulse to quicken them in a 
 career of infamy and crime. 
 
 " He came into your prison a misdemeanant : he is sent from its 
 walls a criminal wasted in strength, polluted in principles, and 
 ruined in character. All respectable men reject him, because they 
 know that to have been in your prison is to have been corrupted. 
 He is compelled by the cravings of nature to take refuge 
 amongst the hordes of thieves ; they receive him with open arms, 
 supply his immediate necessities, and advance him money on account, 
 to be repaid by the product of his future depredations. They laugh 
 away his scruples, if the society in which you had placed him had 
 left him any, and soon furnish him with an opportunity of displaying 
 his gratitude, his courage, and his proficiency. His is then a rapid 
 career ; he soon knows every haunt of vice, and is known by the 
 fraternity of thieves as a willing labourer in any branch of their 
 calling ; his face grows familiar to the officers of justice ; he has 
 soon passed through half the prisons in the metropolis ; till at length 
 he stands at the bar, convicted of some act of desperate enormity ; 
 the dreadful sentence of the law is passed upon him, and all hopes 
 of mercy are forbidden. The judge, the magistrate, the spectators 
 are shocked at such an instance of youthful depravity, while their 
 hearts whisper, " Thank God, I am not as this robber." But, if he 
 who sows the seed contributes to the production of the harvest, they 
 may find other subjects of astonishment than his guilt, and accom- 
 
98 
 
 plices where they least expect them ! Let them look to the cause, 
 and they will discover, in this monster of crime, a wretched, pitiable 
 victim of the careless indifference of the public. I do not hesitate 
 to say his blood is upon us all ; upon the magistrates, who do not 
 provide suitable places of confinement ; upon us, the public at 
 large ; for, if we did but feel a lively desire to avert and to pre- 
 vent these terrible scenes of villany and vice if a general feeling 
 were excited and loudly expressed throughout the country, our 
 prisons might be made schools of reformation." 
 
 Such was the unmeasured language of Mr. Fowell Buxton in his 
 reference to City gaols; and may not the same sentiments be now 
 expressed as referable, in an extensive degree, to our prevailing 
 system of penal treatment. Mr. Rushton, stipendiary magistrate 
 of Liverpool, in a late publication , decidedly confirms this view. 
 With regard to juvenile offenders, he says : 
 
 " Born for the most part in misery from infancy, destitute alike 
 of moral instruction and physical comforts, often stimulated to crime 
 by sheer want often instructed to perpetrate offences by their 
 parents or connections, compelled to endure hunger or to steal 
 what chance has a child under such circumstances to be honest ? 
 This is not all ; a child so neglected becomes a thief is detected, 
 and cast into prison ; he then escapes from the constraint of a bad 
 parent and wicked companions, and he passes into the custody of 
 the officers of justice ; he is brought into a court, the forms of the 
 law are complied with, and whilst the infant offender is gazing with 
 wonder at the strange scene, an offence is proved against him, and 
 the justice sends him to prison. Amidst a crowd of the profligate 
 and criminal of all ages, the poor child is transferred to a gaol, 
 either under a summary conviction, or to await his trial amidst a 
 mass of wickedness and depravity which virtuous and educated 
 people shudder to contemplate." 
 
 This is truly no over- wrought picture to work upon the imagi- 
 nation it may be said to be of every day occurrence ; the judge 
 condemns, the spectators wonder and are appalled, the culprit-child 
 is hurried away to gaol, is there placed amidst a mass of hardened 
 transgressors but to be initiated in crime, and thus, lost to the public, 
 pursues a career of infamy, and ends his days either ignominiously, 
 or in wretchedness, an outcast in a penal settlement. 
 
99 
 
 The injurious nature of our criminal laws, in their application to 
 the youthful delinquent, is, with much force, commented upon by 
 G. Warry, Esq., in a letter to the Secretary to the Criminal Law 
 Commission, as published in the appendix to the third (in 1836) 
 report from the Commissioners on Criminal Law : 
 
 "The punishment of juvenile offenders, in particular, is of such 
 vital importance to the best interests of society, that I believe there 
 is now but one opinion as to the propriety and necessity of some 
 legislative provision for it. In offering to the Commissioners my 
 sentiments on these several points, I will first address myself to that 
 of the punishment of juvenile offenders. 
 
 " It is a very great defect in the legislative policy of this country 
 that no distinction is recognised between the first offence of a 
 youthful depredator and that of an experienced thief. If the former, 
 urged by sudden strong temptation, steals my property to gratify 
 his appetite, the law awards the same punishment, and by the same 
 process too, as in the case of the older trespasser who steals for profit. 
 This is a most vicious system, because it is unjust in its award of 
 punishment, unreasonable in operation, and baneful in its effect. 
 True it is, with regard to the measure of punishment, a discretion 
 in apportioning it rests with the court by which it is decreed ; but it 
 must be remembered that, in most cases, part of the punishment has 
 been undergone before the offender appears in court. The commit- 
 ting magistrate reluctantly inflicts it, when he sends the young 
 offender to gaol for trial ; here he remains for many weeks, imbibing 
 corruption from his association with worthless characters ; and the 
 slight punishment with which, in mercy for his age, the court visits 
 his offence, too frequently, I fear, tends to lower his estimate of 
 the terrors of offended justice. When one considers the extensive 
 machinery that is set in motion to deal with the number of trifling 
 cases which are constantly brought before our criminal courts, the 
 time that intervenes between the offence and the punishment, and 
 the great expense and inconvenience resulting to the public there- 
 from, it does appear to me that a more summary and beneficial course 
 of proceeding may be devised. The present system may be compared 
 to the economy which works a steam-engine to crush a fly. A too 
 common use of the processes of our criminal courts tends much to a 
 prostitution of the dignity of the law. What benefit does society 
 derive from it ? The juvenile offender comes out of gaol much 
 
100 
 
 worse in character than when he entered it, and his suffering there 
 has not the merit of an example apparent to his companions at home 
 to prevent their offending. With respect, therefore, to the trifling 
 offences of juvenile offenders, and their punishment, I have no hesi- 
 tation in expressing a strong and decided opinion on the defect of 
 our criminal jurisprudence." 
 
 It will be clear, from the foregoing view of the subject, that 
 it is not a question of mere feeling, or for the exercise of pity. Im- 
 portant fundamental principles are involved ; there has been a due 
 concern with the community to regard its own protection, and with 
 the legislature, to sanction that protection by its enactments ; but, 
 whilst there has been an attempt to extend justice to the offended in 
 the infliction of punishment on the offender, has there not been 
 injustice and inhumanity in that very infliction ? 
 
 No one will regard with firmer tenacity than the writer, the high 
 attributes of the law, arid the necessity for its proper application, 
 with every respect to its judicial administration ; nor will the power 
 of the State be questioned to place in safe custody those who render 
 themselves obnoxious to the law and to society; yet it is insisted upon 
 that the State, in its attempted application of a corrective to the of- 
 fender, has no right to render that offender more depraved and more 
 dangerous to society ; thus inflicting a double evil an evil upon 
 that community which it is bound to protect, and upon the culprit 
 whom it has to punish; whilst it is equally the duty of the State, as it 
 has been properly remarked by Lieber, "to remove everything 
 that will, or possibly may make the offender worse. 
 
 There needs no hesitancy in asserting, that, from the constitution 
 of many of our penal laws, and their application as connected with 
 our gaol system, no other result can be expected, until a suitable 
 remedy to these evils be applied. 
 
 It is an admitted axiom, that ignorance is one of the primary 
 causes of crime, and the advocates for popular instruction may be 
 supplied with a most powerful argument in favour of a sound and 
 comprehensive scheme of education, from the vast amount of igno- 
 rance found in our gaols ; data for which may be seen in that 
 
101 
 
 important document, the supplement to the tenth report of the In- 
 spectors of Prisons, from which extracts have already been made. 
 
 The Hev. Whit worth Russell has furnished a statement of the 
 result of inquiry upon this question, with regard to prisoners in 
 England and Wales, " on the annual mean of the five years, 1839 to 
 1843;" and the following table is given to illustrate the various 
 degrees of education amongst two classes of commitments : 
 
 "Assizes and Sessions. 
 
 Prisoners who can neither read nor write 9530 or 34-9 per cent. 
 
 Who can read only 6329 or 22-5 
 
 Who can read or write badly 9598 or 34-3 
 
 90-7 
 Who can read and write well 2629 or 9*0 per cent. 
 
 Summary Convictions. 
 
 Prisoners who can neither read nor write 26,924 or 38'1 per cent. 
 
 Who can read only 13,932 or 20-6 
 
 Who can read and write badly 22,278 or 33'2 
 
 91-9 
 Who can read and write well 2657 or 4-0 per cent. 
 
 " Hence it appears that, out of the entire body of the prisoners at 
 assizes and sessions, 90*7 per cent, had received little or no instruc- 
 tion, and only 9'0 per cent, could read and write well; and of the 
 prisoners confined under summary convictions, 91 '9 per cent, had 
 received little or no instruction, and only 4'0 per cent, could read 
 and write well. No statement can be stronger as to the state of 
 ignorance amongst criminals, even as regards the most elementary 
 instruction. It may be considered as a point almost universally 
 conceded, that to the want of moral and religious training, combined 
 with proper intellectual and physical culture (all of which are included 
 in a just notion of education), we must ascribe the criminal courses 
 to which numerous juvenile delinquents are addicted. These young 
 offenders are, to a great extent, either orphans, or bereft by death of 
 either father or mother, or too often deprived, by a subsequent mar- 
 riage of the surviving parent, of the comfort and protection of home; 
 
102 
 
 or they are the illegitimate offspring of depraved and abandoned 
 characters they are thrown upon the world, all equally friendless 
 and deserted. 
 
 " Such are the unhappy children who infest our streets and throng 
 our gaols. And to what other results can their neglected condi- 
 tion be expected to lead ? Deprived of parents, or deserted by 
 them, brought up in ignorance, destitute of principles, incessantly 
 exposed to temptation, these poor children inevitably strike into 
 the only path which appears open to them, and yield to the force 
 which impels them to crime." 
 
 These melancholy facts are related by the rev. gentleman, as to 
 the causes and extent of ignorance found in our penal establish- 
 ments, with the lamentably distinguishing characteristics of the 
 present prevailing gaol system and its baneful operation ; and whilst 
 there appears such a destitution of education amongst the subjects of 
 penal law referred to under the two classes brought under notice, 
 tuition of the most depraving and ruinous character has been per- 
 mitted to be carried on in connection with the existing mode of 
 penal treatment ; that with great truth might there be inscribed over 
 the portal of every gaol where criminals are allowed to associate 
 
 A NATIONAL SCHOOL FOR EDUCATION IN CRIME ! 
 
 "We need a system," as it is observed by Livingston, "consisting of 
 a series of institutions, founded on the same principle of uniformity, 
 directed to the same end. Nowhere is criminal jurisprudence treated 
 as a science. What goes by that name consists of a collection of dis- 
 similar, sometimes conflicting expedients to punish different offences, 
 as they happen to prevail ; of experiments, directed by no principle, 
 to try the effect of different penalties ; of permanent laws to repress 
 temporary evils; of discretionary power, sometimes, with the 
 blindest confidence, vested in the judge, and at others, with the most 
 criminal negligence, given to an officer of executive justice. 
 
 " All these and other incongruities would cease were the lawgiver 
 to form correct principles enounce them for his own guidance and 
 that of his successors, and, with these constantly before him, arrange 
 his system of criminal jurisprudence into its natural divisions, by 
 providing for the poor employing the idle educating the ignorant 
 defining offences, and designating their corresponding punish- 
 
103 
 
 men t regulating the mode of procedure for preventing crimes and 
 prosecuting offenders and giving precise rules for the government 
 and discipline of prisons." 
 
 When these enlightened views guide in the administration of 
 criminal jurisprudence, and in the application of penal law, existing 
 inconsistencies will cease to prevail in our penal institutions, and the 
 corrupting tendency of their present discipline will yield to influences 
 benign, corrective, and reformatory. 
 
 The untried prisoner will be protected from debasing and deprav- 
 ing gaol associates. 
 
 The juvenile delinquent will be preserved from corrupting contact 
 with the old and hardened offender. 
 
 The confirmed in moral turpitude will be prevented from dif- 
 fusing his pernicious habits amongst his prison associates. 
 
 These benefits will be obtained upon principles, and in the em- 
 ployment of means that shall be in perfect harmony with the pur- 
 pose desired, and combine the essential characteristics of a sound 
 system of penal treatment repression and reclamation ; it being an 
 indispensable constituent in prison discipline "to turn," as Lieber 
 observes, "the punishment to the greatest advantage to society, for 
 the prevention of crime, and the salutary benefit of the offender." 
 
 There should be, it will be admitted, in a proper application of 
 punishment, the least amount of penal infliction by which the largest 
 amount of moral benefit may be secured. 
 
 " Let it but be considered," as it has been remarked, " that 
 convicts are men, the most depraved and degraded are men ; their 
 minds are moved by the same springs that give activity to those of 
 others; they avoid pain with the same care, and pursue pleasure 
 with the same avidity, that actuate their fellow mortals. It is the 
 false direction only of these great motives which they prompt ; to 
 turn them into a course that will promote the true happiness of the 
 individual, by making him cease to injure that of society, should be 
 the great object of penal jurisprudence" 
 
 To advance such an object is worthy of the highest intellect, and 
 the most expansive philanthropy and benevolence. 
 
104 
 
 It will not be doubted that our penal system calls loudly for an 
 extensive and immediate reform, and it cannot be questioned that 
 of the system at present in operation, it may be affirmed 
 
 FIRST IT FRUSTRATES THE VERY INTENTIONS OF THE LAW ; 
 
 SECONDLY IT INCREASES, INSTEAD OF PREVENTS CRIME ; 
 
 THIRDLY IT HARDENS, INSTEAD OF REFORMS THE OFFENDER ; 
 
 FOURTHLY IT IS INJURIOUS, INSTEAD OF PROTECTIVE TO SOCIETY ; 
 
 and is, in its very application and operation, to its extent, subver- 
 sive of the well-being of the community. 
 
 "Whatever social questions may press upon the legislature for 
 priority of claim, there is none which in nature and degree can 
 demand more instant attention than this, for every delay but in~ 
 creases in magnitude the moral stain upon our country, and adds 
 to the solemn accountability of those who are responsible for the 
 continuance of our present gaol system. 
 
POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 GILTSPUR STREET COMPTER. 
 
 It is satisfactory to observe in any degree the indications of a 
 movement in the right direction in the cause of penal reform, and not, 
 least of all, with reference to any expectation of amendment in the 
 City of London. 
 
 It appears that at length the Gaol Committee of Aldermen have 
 determined upon building a new House of Correction within five 
 miles of the city. That it is absolutely requisite there should be 
 no delay in the erection of a new prison will be admitted, when it is 
 known that at the present period nearly 300 prisoners are crowded 
 together in a gaol only capable of confining about 150, and that, in 
 the night-rooms, many of them are compelled to lie side by side on 
 the floor of the gaol. 
 
 The writer had an opportunity of inspecting this prison with one 
 of the city magistrates, who has, from time to time, strenuously de- 
 precated the laxity of discipline permitted therein ; and there will be 
 found in the magistrates' books of October last the sentiments of 
 Mr. Alderman Sidney, who has written in the following terms upon 
 the association of prisoners sanctioned in this gaol : 
 
 " In conformity with my duty as visiting justice for the month, 
 I have this day visited the prison, and deeply regret to be compelled 
 again to record my opinion of its total unfitness as a House of 
 Correction, or its adaption to carry out any discipline tending to the 
 moral improvement of the offender : I cannot but express my deep 
 astonishment that another year should have elapsed its evils so 
 fully made known and admitted, and yet remain unredressed. 
 
 " The prison is much too small for Classification ; and, if it is 
 true that 'evil communications corrupt/ there can be no doubt 
 that this prison is in reality a nursery for crime, and a house of 
 contamination. 
 
106 
 
 " I entered the Felons' Yard on the announcement of dinner. I 
 here found congregated together, perambulating the yard in promis- 
 cuous conversation, upwards of 100 prisoners of all ages. 
 
 " On the female side, I find a diminution of prisoners in the House 
 of Correction, but an inconvenient number in the Compter. There 
 are here 29 women, who have been summarily convicted by the 
 magistrates, or detained for want of bail, and among them some of 
 the very worst characters , all promiscuously confined together. The 
 conduct of these women is frequently very outrageous setting at 
 defiance the authority of the matron and her assistants, who are 
 obliged to have recourse to the male turnkeys to restrain them. 
 
 " I find the number of commitments to this prison for the last 
 seven years amounts to 28,946, or, on an average, upwards of 4,000 
 annually, the chief portion of whom, upon their release to society, 
 have no opportunity of obtaining the least hope of employment 
 in fact, can it be wondered at that, from such a place of contamina- 
 tion, no person is found of sufficient temerity to employ them ; the 
 door of hope is, therefore, effectually closed against this unfortunate 
 class of persons, who return to society to disseminate new crimes 
 not alone in the Metropolis, but throughout the kingdom. Surely 
 the consideration of so frightful a subject demands an immediate 
 remedy at the hands of the magistracy of this city." 
 
 In the late discussions * of the Court of Aldermen, no allusion 
 whatever is made as to the system of discipline to be adopted in the 
 proposed new gaol. 
 
 The examples given of the fearful evils perpetuated in the City 
 Prisons, by the unrestricted intercourse which has been permitted for 
 so lengthened a period amongst the prisoners confined in the city 
 institutions, will, it is presumed, be quite sufficient to deter from the 
 attempt to establish a system in which criminals will be allowed 
 to associate in any way in constant companionship. 
 
 The classification of criminals under any modified system, in con- 
 nection with that mode of discipline, and with opportunities for 
 deviation "according to circumstance and exigency," will not, it is 
 
 "The Times," February 10th, 1847. 
 
107 
 
 believed, at the present time, receive a moment's favourable con- 
 sideration, nor will such Houses of Correction as Clerkenwell 
 Prison and Westminster Prison furnish models for imitation, either 
 for construction or discipline. 
 
 There will be no difficulty in coming to an alternative as to what 
 system should be adopted in the proposed new City Gaol, and that 
 the Secretary of State for the Home Department will interpose his 
 authority against the perpetuation of any system of association of 
 criminals which has been found to be so pregnant with direful 
 consequences. 
 
 "What will the city authorities do with crowded Newgate is its 
 pernicious system of imprisonment to continue ? 
 
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