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 B.
 
 HEK MAJESTY'S PEISONS 
 
 THEIR EFFECTS AND DEFECTS. 
 VOL. II. 
 
 SU^ LOW. . 
 
 CBOWN BUlLi-
 
 LONDON: 
 PRINTKD BY GrtBERT AND KI7INGT0N, LIMITED, 
 
 ST. John's squaee.
 
 HER MAJESTY'S PRISONS : 
 
 THEIE 
 
 EFFECTS AND DEFECTS. 
 
 BY ONE WHO HAS TRIED THEM. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 VOL. II. 
 
 Hcntion : 
 SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINftTON 
 
 CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET. 
 
 1881. 
 
 [^All rights rexervud. ]
 
 HEE MAJESTY'S PEISONS: 
 
 THEIU EFFECTS AND DEFECTS. 
 
 Male tvarders are divided into four grades — 
 chief warders, principal warders, warders, and 
 assistant warders ; of these, of course, the billet 
 of chief warder is by far the most important, so 
 we will give him the priority due to his rank. 
 The work of chief warder, if conscientiously 
 carried out, is probably the most responsible 
 and difficult of any of the prison officials. If 
 anything goes wrong, he is the man that gets 
 all the blame ; and when things go smoothly and 
 well, the governor gets the thanks. During the 
 absence of the governor the chief warder acts 
 as deputy governor ; and as all the prison busi- 
 ness passes through his hands, it is necessary 
 
 VOL. IT. B 
 
 J /~>..*'»<^*"* T~-,*^
 
 2 Her Majesty's Pinsoits : 
 
 that lie should be a pretty fair scholar. In 
 addition to this it is requisite that he should be 
 a man of the strictest integrity and a first-rate 
 disciplinarian, for, standing as he does between 
 the governor and the warders, everything de- 
 pends upon the latter thoroughly respecting 
 their chief, and feeling sure that any breach of 
 regulations will not be glossed over by him. 
 
 The warders are only (excepting in very rare 
 cases) fined or reprimanded at the recommen- 
 dation of the chief warder, and their applica- 
 tions for leave have all to be signed and ap- 
 proved by him before they are presented to the 
 governor. It is therefore of the last importance 
 that the chief should carry out his duties in the 
 most straightforward manner, for any infringe- 
 ment of the regulations or illicit practices would 
 inevitably place him in the power of some or 
 other of the warders, to the great detriment of 
 discipline and good order. Under the Govern- 
 ment scale the pay of chief warder has been 
 considerably increased, but when one has really 
 seen and considered the arduous and respon- 
 sible nature of their work, I very much doubt
 
 Their Ejects and Defects. 3 
 
 whether the authorities can obtain the class of 
 men thej require, even at the advanced salaries 
 thej novr offer. 
 
 The prisons are divided into a first and 
 second class according to their size, and it 
 is a common, and as far as I can judge 
 pretty correct complaint, that the first class 
 prisons get anything they require, while the 
 second class are left to pig along as best they 
 can. At the former, the chief warders get 150/. 
 per annum, and a house and uniform. At the 
 latter, the salary commences at 100/. per annum, 
 house and uniform, and rises by yearly incre- 
 ments of 2/. to 120/. At the Xshire Prison 
 (which is rated as second class) the chief 
 warder under the county got 80/. per annum, 
 with house, fuel, light, uniform, and boots. 
 In this arrangement the second class prisons 
 certainly went to the wall, for before the Govern- 
 ment took the prisons the salaries of chief 
 warders were all much the same (80/. a year 
 being an exceptionally high one) ; but here there 
 was only an immediate gain of 20/. per annum, 
 while at others the salary was just upon doubled. 
 
 B 2
 
 4 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 The cliief warder's work commences at six 
 o'clock in tlie morning and. terminates at ten 
 o'clock at night, the consequence being that he 
 is obliged to get up every morning at 5.30, and 
 never gets to bed until eleven. He is not of 
 course on duty the whole time, for no man 
 could stand such continual labour as that, but 
 his work is divided as follows : — His quarters 
 are always within the prison walls, and he must 
 be at the prison doors at six o'clock in the 
 morning to unlock them and allow the warders 
 to enter and commence their duties. He must 
 then go round and unlock the various other 
 exits of the prison, as all doors are locked over- 
 night by his master-key, and once this is done, 
 no one but himself or the governor can get 
 into the prison. He is then at liberty to return 
 to his quarters again until eight o'clock if he 
 chooses ; but as a matter of fact the time is 
 generally spent in looking over the night 
 reports, seeing the men started at the tread- 
 wheel, and the various other work that he is 
 unable to find time for during the day's routine. 
 At eight o'clock he has to be in the governor's
 
 Their Ejects and Defects. 5 
 
 office awaiting the arrival of tlie latter, and 
 after going over the night reports, attends him 
 as he goes his daily round of inspection. This 
 completed, he sees the men pass down to their 
 morning turn of treadwheel, and then applies 
 himself to the various office work he has to do, 
 and at the Xshire Prison this was considerable, 
 for he had the entire management of the sup- 
 plies needed for the mat-making carried on in 
 the prison, and the disposal of the mats when 
 made. He has the examining and approving of 
 all stores sent to the prison; and no food of 
 any kind is supposed to enter the prison with- 
 out having been first seen by him. At 11.30 
 he has to be in chapel to see the men come in, 
 and that over, has to go down to the governor's 
 office and assist him in meting out the punish- 
 ments incurred by prisoners for breaches of 
 the rules during the previous day. His after- 
 noons are just as fully taken up, and, in addition 
 to his regular duties, the moment anything 
 goes wrong, the immediate cry is, " Send for 
 the chief." At six o'clock in the evening he 
 goes round and puts the master-key upon all
 
 6 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 tlie out-baildings, and upon all exits from the 
 prison, with the exception of the main door. 
 He is now free to go where he pleases till ten 
 o'clock, subject, of course, to the chance of 
 being sent for at any moment ; but at that hour 
 he must be back to go round all the prison build- 
 ing, male and female, and see that all exits are 
 duly fastened with the master-key, and to finally 
 lock the main door, leaving the night watchmen 
 safely locked up inside the prison. If anything 
 happens during the night, hov/ever, he is the 
 man that is roused, as there is a bell communi- 
 cating between the prison and the chief's 
 quarters, that the night watchman rings in case 
 of any disturbance, or sudden illness, amongst 
 the prisoners. One hundred sovereigns can 
 hardly be considered an exorbitant price to 
 pay for the satisfactory performance of such a 
 multitudinous collection of duties as I have 
 enumerated above, and I hardly understand 
 how competent men can be got to do it at the 
 price. I have heard it hinted, however, that 
 there are various pulls to be got out of the food 
 contracts, which form a very pleasant addition
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 7 
 
 to the regulation 100/. a year. " A good 
 master makes a good servant," and tlie old 
 saying holds good in the prison service as else- 
 where. 
 
 At Z Prison, Captain K was a model 
 
 governor, and the chief warder was a capital 
 officer, keeping the warders . firmly in hand, 
 and allowing no departure from the rules and 
 regulations upon any excuse whatever. Having 
 served as a non-commissioned officer in the 
 Army, he knew exactly what discipline meant 
 and how to manao;e the numerous old soldiers 
 he had under his command. 
 
 At Xshire the governor was lax, and knew 
 next to nothing about his work, and the chief 
 was more than proportionately remiss. He had 
 the great disadvantage of having been a civilian 
 all his life, and consequently had never had any 
 experience in governing men, and with a lot 
 of old soldiers under him, vtdio were up to every 
 move on the board, he was completely out- 
 matched. He was a most pleasant man to speak 
 to, and an easy-going, good-natured kind of 
 fellow, but was utterly wanting in moral
 
 8 Her Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 courage. This was the worst feature about 
 him, for if he saw a warder breaking the rules, 
 he was afraid to go up and give him a sharp 
 reprimand, but instead of that he would walk 
 off and tell the cook that he saw So-and-so 
 doing what he had no business to be doing ; 
 then the cook would tell the engineer, the 
 engineer would pass it on to somebody else, 
 and finally it would come to the ears of the 
 offending warder. Even if the governor, by 
 any rare chance, happened to come into the 
 prison, an event which occurred once in six 
 months, and discovered any breach of the regu- 
 lations, the chief would always try and find 
 some excuse for the warder, and persuade the 
 governor not to fine him. This was mainly 
 owing to the fact that the chief was engaged in 
 some very questionable proceedings inside the 
 prison, and was afraid, if he offended any of 
 the warders, that a hint would be given to the 
 authorities. The natural consequence of this 
 was that all kinds of abuses sprang up in the 
 prison, and the warders did pretty well what 
 seemed good in theu' own eyes. The Govern-
 
 Their Ejects and Defuts. 9 
 
 ment rules and regulations will never be pro- 
 perly carried out, and abuses will invariably 
 creep in till the authorities offer higher pay, 
 and can induce a superior class of men to 
 accept these appointments. Even then there 
 ought to be stringent supervision of the stores 
 
 supplied to the cook, and an occasional unex- 
 pected examination of the quantity of food he 
 was actually making. In the same way exami- 
 nations ought to be made of the articles sup- 
 plied by tlie different contractors, so that the 
 authorities might be quite certain that the goods 
 really were what the chief warder and con- 
 tractor represented them to be. Otherwise, an 
 inferior article might be supplied, and the two 
 pocket the difference. 
 
 Principal warders come next in rank, but are 
 only employed in the very large prisons, where 
 they do a lot of supervision work, such as seeing 
 the men told off for the tread wheel, &c. ; that is 
 done by the chief warder in smaller prisons. 
 Their pay commences at 85/. a year and rises 
 to 100/. ; but as we did not have any of them 
 at Xshire, I know very little about them.
 
 I o Her Majesty s Prisons 
 
 We now come to tlie warders and assistant 
 warders, comprising a considerable body of 
 men — 1246 — and upon whose integrity and 
 respectability tbe reformation of the criminal 
 in a great measure depends. Their number has 
 been considerably increased by Government, 
 and their pay nearly doubled. 
 
 Under the county a warder's pay commenced 
 at 15s. a week, and rose by yearly increments 
 of \l. a year until it reached 50/. per annum, 
 at which sum it stopped. In addition to their 
 pay they received a house, fuel, light, uniform, 
 and boots. 
 
 Under Government the pay of an assistant 
 warder commences at 60/. a year (23s. a week), 
 and rises 1/. a year till it reaches 65/. per 
 annum (25s. a week). Warders commence at 
 70/. a year and rise in the same way to 75/., 
 each receiving house and uniform, but no fuel, 
 liofht, or l)oots. 
 
 Under the old system they were all (with the 
 exception of the last appointed man) called 
 warders ; now there are only a certain number 
 of warders at each prison, according to the
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 1 1 
 
 size of it, and the rest are all styled assistant 
 warders, tlie promotion being by seniority. 
 
 At Xsliire we Lad two full warders, Hum- 
 phrey and old Bob, although there was a 
 serious dispute as to the latter's right to the 
 billet as Rugby had been three months' longer 
 in the prison service. It would seem that they 
 both applied at the same time for the billet 'of 
 assistant warder, and that Rugby was accepted 
 and the other rejected, both however having so 
 many testimonials that it was a very even ques- 
 tion which the maoistrates should select. Three 
 
 O 
 
 months later the magistrates found that they 
 would require a new receiving and hospital 
 warder, and as they had been very well satisfied 
 with old Bob's testimonials, they sent and 
 offered him the billet, so as to save the trouble 
 of again advertising the appointment for fresh 
 competition. Rugby was of course at this time 
 the last-joined officer, and accordingly styled 
 assistant warder, while the man undertakinsf 
 the duties of receiving and hospital warder had 
 invariably been appointed as warder, and styled 
 so ; and the consequence was that Bob had
 
 1 2 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 been called warder some four or five months 
 longer than Rugby, although the latter had 
 really seen three months' longer service. 
 
 Under the county, Rugby always ranked as 
 the senior, and as it made no pecuniary differ- 
 ence, nobody said anything about it. When 
 the prisons changed hands, and it was dis- 
 covered that the two senior warders only would 
 be styled warders, and receive an extra 10/. a 
 year, old Bob immediately put in his claim, 
 though I believe he only did it as a try on, and 
 without any real hopes of his claim being 
 allowed. Fortunately for him, however, he had 
 been a marine, and as the new governor was a 
 marine, and the Government Inspector had also 
 been in the same service, they both stood by 
 Bob when the matter was referred to them, and 
 ousted Rugby, who had been a soldier. It was 
 a very unfair thing to do, and I do not think 
 the matter would have ended here, had not 
 Humphrey, at the time, decided to retire on his 
 pension, and Rugby, knowing that he would 
 get the vacant billet, thought it better to keep 
 quiet.
 
 Their Effects and Dejects. \ 3 
 
 I liave entered ratlier fullv into this matter 
 as Rugby was not fairly treated, and there was 
 a very strong feehng about the matter amongst 
 the warders, and as it helps to explain why the 
 governor was so much disliked, and distrusted 
 by the warders. 
 
 The pay of a warder now ■ is very fair, as 
 wages go, and the Government, if they took the 
 trouble, could get really competent, respectable 
 men. Unfortunately, although there has been 
 an elaborate list of the requisite good qualities 
 to be desired in a man applying for prison 
 warderships drawn up by the framers of the 
 Prisons' Bill, the instructions are continually 
 neglected, and some protege of the governor or 
 chief warder is smuggled into the billet quite 
 regardless of what his antecedents may have 
 been. There is so much fuss, letter-writing, 
 and interviewing before a man can obtain an 
 assistant wardership that one would naturally 
 suppose, if one were not a little behind the 
 scenes, that it would be impossible for any one 
 but a man with unblemished character to obtain 
 the situation ; but when one knows that this
 
 1 4 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 is simply so mucli silly formal red-tapeism. and 
 not the slightest barrier to an utterly worthless 
 scoundrel being appointed if he only has a friend 
 at court, the matter becomes too serious for 
 joking. Now there is not the least exaggeration 
 in this statement, although at first sight it may 
 seem hardly credible. 
 
 There is at the present moment a warder in 
 
 H.M. convict establishment at P who was 
 
 dismissed from the Xshire Prison for gross 
 misconduct, and so bad was the record against 
 him that although he had served for nearly 
 twenty years under the county (and his long 
 service was earnestly pleaded in his behalf for 
 some mitigated form of punishment) the magis- 
 trates declined to alter their decision. Notwith- 
 standing all this the man had not been three 
 months dismissed before he was appointed warder 
 
 at . Now here is proof positive of what the 
 
 regulations respecting these appointments are 
 really worth, when one comes to the practical 
 working of them. Here was a man, totally 
 unfit for the billet, bundled in without the 
 slightest inquiry concerning his previous career.
 
 Their Effects and Defects. i 5 
 
 simply because he happened to have a nephew 
 
 a clerk in the office of Mr. T r clerk of the 
 
 works to one of the large convict establish- 
 ments, and this clerk induced Mr. T r to 
 
 use his influence to get the man appointed. It 
 would, I suppose, have been well-nigh impossible 
 to have found a worse man for the work ; 
 he was a bad-tempered, lying, unscrupulous 
 scoundrel, and in addition to the breaches of 
 discipline the magistrates dismissed him for, he 
 had been accustomed for years to levy black 
 mail on the prisoners in his corridor, obliging 
 them to give him a certain percentage, and a 
 pretty large one to, of the small sum they were 
 enabled to earn in the prison. 
 
 It would be a great improvement if Govern- 
 ment would issue a regulation that all appli- 
 cants for assistant warderships must have 
 previously been non-commissioned officers in 
 the regular army, and Lave completed at least 
 twelve years' service at the time of making the 
 application. This would insure men being 
 employed who were accustomed to having 
 others under their command, and who would
 
 J 6 Hej'' Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 know exactly what discipline was, and how to 
 enforce it. It would also insure their being a 
 certain age, a most desirable regulation, as there 
 is no greater mistake than to get young men of 
 two or three and twenty, and give them almost 
 unlimited control over a large number of 
 prisoners. 
 
 It is the greatest possible mistake to employ 
 marines ; they are most unsuited for the work, 
 are nearly always given to drink, invariably use 
 foul language, are rough and inhuman, and, in 
 addition, are regarded with contempt by both 
 the naval and military prisoners. I do not know 
 why this should be the case, but I do know that 
 it is so, and wherever there is any particularly 
 unpopular warder in a prison, it is a hundred 
 to one he is a marine. This was fully borne out 
 by my experience at Xshire ; there we had two 
 on the regular staff. Bob and the gate porter, 
 and another, Podgers, who was employed tem- 
 porarily. Of these Bob (it's of no use mincing 
 the matter) was a most unscrupulous, inhuman 
 old brute, and would drink and swear as much 
 as two ordinary men. The gate porter was
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 1 7 
 
 detested by both warders and prisoners, while 
 Podgers was a thorough bad lot in every way. 
 
 The authorities can perfectly well afford to 
 pick and choose, as there are always a large 
 number of applicants whenever there is a 
 vacancy; and when one remembers the very 
 great power that is placed -in the hands of 
 warders, the public have a right to demand 
 some guarantee of fitness for the post, and past 
 respectability of character in those who obtain 
 the situations. 
 
 There are numerous and constant cases of 
 gross cruelty and injustice in our prisons, and 
 many a prisoner's life is lost by the neglect and 
 ill-treatment of brutal warders. A man in 
 prison has no opportunity of bringing his 
 grievances before the notice of the authorities, 
 for the monthly visit of the Grovernment 
 Inspector is a silly farce, and whether prisoners 
 are treated fairly or not depends entirely on the 
 warders ; at all events it did at Xshire, and I 
 expect it is the same in all but a few of the 
 prisons where there are exceptionally clever, 
 conscientious governors. 
 
 VOL. II.
 
 1 8 Her Majestfs Prisons : 
 
 To show that I am fah^ly justified in making 
 this statement I will just mention one case out 
 of many that came under my own immediate 
 observation. While I was at Xshire, an old 
 watchmaker, undergoing a sentence of three 
 months' hard labour, was transferred to us from 
 another prison, and placed on arrival in A 
 ward, where Podgers, who was employed tem- 
 porarily during the summer, was acting as 
 corridor warder. I do not know what the old 
 fellow was sent to prison for, but presume he 
 was sentenced by one of the great unpaid, for 
 he ought to have been sent to an asylum not a 
 prison. Podgers, like a cowardly scoundrel, 
 seeing that the old man was of weak intellect, 
 immediately selected him as a safe and amusing 
 subject for bullying and ill-treating. A very 
 little worrying would throw the poor old chap 
 into a fury of excitement and he would shout 
 and scream at the top of his voice. This used 
 to delight Podgers, who was always inventing 
 some new torment for him. One of his favourite 
 tricks was to turn the old man's gas down so 
 low that he could hardly see, and as the old
 
 TJieir Effects and Defects. 1 9 
 
 fellow had bad sight, and was very fond of 
 reading, this was a great annoyance to him. 
 "Whenever Podgers was on duty of a night, the 
 whole evening was spent in shouting and 
 screaming, while when the other warders were 
 on duty, the old chap would be as quiet as 
 possible. One day the old man arrived in 
 chapel with a bad black eye and a cut nose, 
 and this aroused my curiosity, and I determined 
 to find out what Podgers was doing to the old 
 fellow. Whenever I had made any inquiries 
 before, I had always been told that the old 
 chap was cracked, and made a noise about 
 nothing ; but I now felt sure that however 
 great a lunatic he might be, he was not likely 
 to go punching his own head. I accordingly 
 set to work and got hold of one of the prison 
 staff, from whom I could always get any in- 
 formation I wanted by a little judicious flattery, 
 and after a slight cross-examination this was 
 the account he gave me. 
 
 It seems the old watchmaker had a habit of 
 walking up and down his cell, and while 
 engaged in this monotonous employment, used 
 
 c 2
 
 20 Her Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 frequently to stop just opposite tlie door and 
 stand lost in meditation for a quarter of an 
 hour and sometimes twenty minutes at a time. 
 God only knows wliat piteous aching thoughts 
 passed through his mind, or what strange 
 scenes or fancies, perhaps, presented themselves 
 to the poor tangled brain as the old man stood 
 thus gazing into vacancy. Goaded nearly to 
 raving madness by a constant system of petty 
 annoyances, he was, perhaps, looking forward 
 with an intensity of heart-sick longing that it 
 would be impossible to imagine, to the day 
 when his sentence would be ended, and he could 
 once more go forth a free man. Be this as it 
 may, Podgers discovered this trick of the old 
 man's, and immediately saw a new way of ill- 
 treatinof him without the sliohtest danger of 
 getting himself into trouble. His modus 
 operandi was as follows : he used to creep 
 quietly along the corridor till he reached the 
 old man's door, and then peeping through the 
 spy-hole, see whether he was standing in his 
 accustomed position ; if he was, Podgers used 
 to slip the key quietly into the door, gently turn
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 2 1 
 
 back tlie lock, then suddenly dash the door open 
 with all his might, striking the poor old watch- 
 maker a violent blow on the face with the iron- 
 lined surface of the door, and sending him fly- 
 iug to the other end of the cell. The old chap 
 had a habit of stooping his head rather forward, 
 and this quite accounted for the state of his eye 
 and nose. Podgers could indulge in this 
 pleasing amusement with a moral certainty of 
 immunity from blame as he could always say 
 that he did not know the old man was standing 
 there, and that as the door stuck a little, he 
 was obliged to use some force to get it open. 
 As a matter of fact, I do not believe that there 
 were any questions asked, for when the old 
 watchmaker commenced a complaint to the 
 governor, as he was going his rounds, about his 
 eye and nose having been hurt, the governor 
 walked straight past his cell and declined to 
 take the slightest notice of him or his complaint, 
 and as soon as the governor had completed his 
 rounds Podgers went back to the old man's cell 
 and pointed out to him the utter uselessness of 
 making any complaints, and threatened him
 
 22 He7'- Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 with divers pains and penalties for having had 
 the impudence to attempt to make one. 
 
 Now I do not for a moment mean to assert 
 that all prison governors are as grossly and 
 dishonourably negligent of their duties as Major 
 
 S was on this occasion, but the possibility 
 
 of such a thing occurring shows how important 
 it is that Government should do their best to 
 obtain thoroughly respectable, trustworthy men 
 for prison warders, as this would be the best 
 and surest way of preventing such cases of ill- 
 treatment as I have here mentioned. 
 
 Under the county system the warders were 
 allowed, on application to the governor, to have 
 work done for them or their families by the 
 prisoners. 
 
 For instance, there were nearly always two 
 or three tailors and shoemakers in the prison, 
 and a certain portion of their time was placed 
 at the disposal of the warders, and they could 
 thus get clothes and boots made for themselves 
 or their children at the simple cash price of the 
 material. In addition to this there was a large 
 piece of spare land within the prison walls that
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 23 
 
 was divided into gardens for the officials, from 
 the governor downwards, and each warder was 
 allowed a prisoner to cultivate his plot of 
 garden. The magistrates used to reckon up all 
 these privileges as part of the emolument en- 
 joyed by the warders, and hence it was that 
 they got such low money payments. It was a 
 very smart idea, for of course there was not 
 sufficient work to be done for the prisoners to 
 keep two or three skilled tailors employed, and 
 the consequence would have been that some of 
 the tailor prisoners would have had nothing to 
 do if it had not been for this arrangement. 
 The Government stopped all this kind of thing 
 when the}^ took the prisons, and passed a 
 stringent rule forbidding the prisoners being 
 employed at any kind of work for the warders. 
 This would, at first, appear to be a very wise 
 and salutary regulation, and were the prisons 
 properly carried on, and the various rules 
 strictly enforced, I have no doubt it would be 
 extremely beneficial. At present, however, this 
 regulation is invariably broken, and the warders 
 have their things made and mended by the
 
 24 Her JMajest^s Prisons : 
 
 prisoners, to the very great prejudice of disci- 
 pline and good order. 
 
 The prisoners are perfect!)^ well aware that 
 the warders have no business to be giving them 
 private work to do, and of course only do 
 what is required, on the understanding that they 
 are to have some extra food, or some other in- 
 dulgence. It would be far better if Govern- 
 ment would reintroduce the old county rule, 
 and let certain days be allotted in each week 
 on which to allow warders to employ prisoners. 
 This would put an end to all favouritism, and 
 they might save a considerable sum by docking 
 the pay of all warders a couple of shillings a 
 week, in consideration of allowing them this 
 privilege. While I was at Xshire there was a 
 first-rate tailor doing eighteen months' hard 
 labour there, and this fellow was kept busil}^ 
 employed every day from six to eight in the 
 morning, and from five to eight in the evening, 
 doing private work for the warders. In con- 
 sideration of this the warders persuaded the 
 doctor to order this man eight ounces of cooked 
 beef every day ; cocoa and white bread in lieu
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 25 
 
 of porridge and brown bread ; and an extra 
 hour's exercise every day, and, in addition to 
 this, used to give the man tea and cake, and 
 half a dozen other little things. It was just 
 the same thing with the shoemaker, there was 
 a regular shoemaker's shop down in the re- 
 ceiving ward, and here there was always a man 
 employed, or rather supposed to be so, in 
 mending the prisoner's shoes, bed straps, or 
 any other leather work or mending that re- 
 quired to be done. 
 
 As a matter of fact, however, like the tailor, 
 half his time was spent in doing work for the 
 warders. It was the same story all through, 
 and the carpenter, blacksmith, and cooper, were 
 all doing the same thing. 
 
 After I had been a short time at the prison 
 I could always tell whether the governor was 
 away for the day or afternoon ; if he was, there 
 was sure to be three or four prisoners busily 
 working away in the warders' gardens. Of 
 course, if the chief warder had been doinsf his 
 duty this would have been out of the question ; 
 but for him to have interfered would have been
 
 2 6 Hei'- Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 a regular case of the pot calling tlie kettle 
 black, and so things went on in this extremely 
 confidential kind of way. If the regulations 
 are not going to be strictly enforced it would 
 be far better, as 1 have suggested above, to do 
 away with them. The warders are now well 
 paid, though I am bound to say they are fear- 
 fully overworked in the smaller prisons, but I 
 believe in the large establishments, where they 
 keep up a sufficient staff, the work is light 
 enough. The magistrates invariably cut things 
 down as fine as they could, yet, under their 
 rule, three more warders were employed at 
 Xshire than there are at present, although the 
 number of prisoners then was far smaller than 
 it is now. This increase of prisoners is caused 
 by the Government having greatly reduced the 
 number of local prisons, and being obliged to 
 keep those they have filled right up in order to 
 have sufficient accommodation. To do this thev 
 send prisoners about from all parts of England, 
 whereas, under the county system, each county 
 looked after its own criminals, and simply re-
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 27 
 
 ceived the men that were convicted of crimes 
 committed within its own limits. 
 
 At Xshire, nnder the county, the daily aver- 
 age number of male prisoners was about sixty- 
 three ; under Government it is about a hundred 
 and twenty, yet, to meet this large increase in 
 the number of prisoners, the staff of warders 
 has been reduced. The natural consequence 
 of this was, of course, that the warders had 
 to work pretty well night and day. Humphrey 
 proved to me that he had done a hundred and 
 four hours' work one week, and the following 
 week it increased to one hundred and eight 
 hours. This was an average of over fifteen 
 hours a day, and when one remembers the kind 
 of work it is, the unflagging attention, and the 
 never-ceasing vigilance it requires, the constant 
 tax there is upon the brain, and that, in addi- 
 tion, nearly the whole of this fifteen hours was 
 passed in standing or walking about, it will 
 easily be understood how fearfully hard the 
 work is. 
 
 The minimum daily average at Xshire, ex-
 
 28 Her Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 elusive of Sunday, was thirteen hours a day, 
 and any warder away on leave, or travelling 
 with prisoners, or employed in any other way 
 that prevented his being at the prison, increased 
 the work for those who were left. 
 
 They commenced duty every morning, winter 
 and summer, at six o'clock. Three days a week 
 they went off duty at six in the evening, and 
 the other three days they had to stop till ten 
 o'clock at night. Sundays they came on duty 
 at seven a.m., and stayed till four p.m. on two 
 Sundays in the month ; the third Sunday they 
 were on duty from seven a.m. till ten p.m., 
 and the fourth they had for themselves, and 
 did not come on duty at all. The work was 
 far too severe, and the warders were sometimes 
 so completely worn out before their day's duties 
 were over that they were quite incapable of 
 properly carrying out the discipline of the 
 prison. 
 
 At the Z Prison (and I believe at all 
 
 other prisons) the cook had to take his turn at 
 evening duty, and this considerably lessened 
 the weekly number of six a.m. to ten p.m.
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 29 
 
 days that eacli warder liad to do ; but at Xsliire 
 the governor refused to allow the cook to do 
 any duty, although the warders pointed out 
 that cooks had to take theh^ turn at other 
 prisons. 
 
 The fact was, the cook did all the private 
 baking for the governor's family for nothing, 
 and, in addition, assisted the chief warder to 
 make a very comfortable thing out of the 
 stores ; consequently both the governor and 
 chief took uncommon good care that he should 
 not be asked to do anything he did not like. 
 When men are harassed and overworked, they 
 naturally become ill-tempered and disagreeable, 
 and the unfortunate prisoner has, of course, to 
 bear the brunt of it. "We luckily had, with a 
 few notable exceptions, a wonderfully decent 
 set of warders at Xshire, and, as they all under- 
 stood each other, and pulled well together, 
 thinsrs went on far better than one could have 
 expected. 
 
 Still, this is not the kind of happy-go-lucky 
 way in which Government institutions ought to 
 be carried on, and the sooner the commissioners
 
 
 
 o Her Majesty's Prisons 
 
 can be taught that it takes just as many warders 
 to look after a hundred prisoners as it does 
 after a couple of hundred, the better it will 
 be for all concerned. Above all, let the authori- 
 ties introduce some system by which the ante- 
 cedents of all men applying for warderships 
 may undergo an impartial and minute examina- 
 tion. At present any man that can ingratiate 
 himself with the governor of a prison can 
 always get placed on the prison staff, no matter 
 what his previous character has been. This was 
 notably the case with Podgers ; he had been a 
 marine, and used to run after Major Street, 
 touching his cap and bowing down before him, 
 and the consequence was that directly an order 
 came down from the commissioners that an 
 extra man was to be taken on as temporary 
 warder. Street immediately sent for Podgers, 
 though, if there had been any impartial exa- 
 mination into the character he bore in the 
 place he would never have been selected. 
 
 This man, Podgers, was actually drawing 
 Government pay from no less than three dif- 
 ferent sources, and only doing work for one.
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 3 1 
 
 He was drawing a pension of about 14s. a 
 week ; his pay, as sergeant on the militia staff, 
 was about 1/. a week, and his pay as warder 23s. 
 a week, so that altogether he was doing pretty 
 well, and if ever Government had a bad bar- 
 gain they had one in him. Still, for this one 
 black sheep there were plenty of other good 
 men and true, and, on the whole, I feel 
 sure that we had a far more decent set of 
 warders than the authorities had any right to 
 expect, considering the careless manner in 
 which they select them. I must not forget, 
 however, that every single warder, with the 
 exception of Podgers, had been selected and 
 appointed by the magistrates while the prison 
 was still under the county, so it was really 
 no thanks to the commissioners that the 
 warders were a decent lot, for their only 
 nominee (Podgers) was most decidedly not a 
 happy selection. 
 
 The female warders are a very small body 
 compared with the males, and under Govern- 
 ment their number has only been slightly in- 
 creased, but their scale of pay has been con-
 
 3 2 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 siderably augmented. Under tlie county tliey 
 commenced at 25/. per annum, and rose to 40/., 
 not, however, rising by regular yearly incre- 
 ments, but only as vacancies occurred. For 
 instance, under the county, there was a matron 
 at 50/. a year, a deputy matron at 40/., a warder 
 at 35/., another at 30/., and an assistant warder 
 at 25/. The pay would remain at exactly the 
 same figure, no mattter how many years they 
 were there, unless one of the number died or 
 retired. If the matron died or retired, of course 
 all hands got a move ; but if, say, the warder 
 at 35/. a year retired, then the one at 30/. took 
 her place and scale of pay, the assistant moved 
 up to 30/., and a new assistant warder was 
 taken on at 25/. In addition to their pay they 
 were allowed quarters in the prison, light and 
 fuel, uniform and boots. The uniform con- 
 sisted of a long blue cloth cloak and black straw 
 hat trimmed with blue for outdoor wear, and 
 grey alpaca dress, with white apron and key 
 bag, for their indoor duties. 
 
 Under Government their pay is 40/. a year 
 for assistant warders, 45/. for warders, 50/. for
 
 Their Effects and Defects. ^io 
 
 deputy-matrons, and 55/. for matrons. At 
 large prisons a much higher salary is paid to 
 the matron, and a superior class of person is 
 employed, but small prisons like Xshire have 
 no regular matron, only a senior warder as 
 actinof matron. 
 
 In old days it was the women who had been 
 ladies' maids and upper housemaids in the big 
 country-houses that usually got these appoint- 
 ments. They were generally widows who had 
 married the coachman or gardener, and being 
 left unprovided for by his untimely decease, 
 their old master, who was sure to be a county 
 magistrate, used to look out for the first vacant 
 billet as warder for them in the county prison. 
 They are thoroughly unsuited for the work, for 
 they no sooner find themselves with a lot of 
 prisoners under their thumb than they imme- 
 diately want to play at being fine ladies. 
 
 There is not the slightest doubt that the 
 state of the female prisons was just about as bad 
 as it could be when Government took the prisons 
 over, and whether they have done anything to 
 improve that condition is more than doubtful ; 
 
 VOL. IT. D
 
 34 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 at all events tliey liad not at Xsliire, and the 
 state of things there was, if possible, slightly 
 worse than before. 
 
 At Z things were equally bad ; but when 
 
 Captain K got there he quietly informed the 
 
 matron and the warders that he meant to have 
 the Government regulations strictly carried out, 
 and to see personally that they were obeyed to 
 the letter — warning them at the same time that 
 any breach of discipline would bring down 
 prompt punishment on the head of the offender. 
 
 They foolishly imagined that Captain K , 
 
 hke other governors, was accustomed to talk 
 very big and do very little, for they went on 
 with their old tricks — having friends into the 
 prison to see them, and committing other little 
 breaches of the regulations, according to ancient 
 custom. They quickly found, however, that 
 they had made a huge mistake in their man, 
 for not a thing was done within the prison that 
 he did not know or hear of, and in less than six 
 months he had cleared out the whole of the old 
 staff of female warders and installed an entirely 
 new lot.
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 35 
 
 There is sucli a demand for employment 
 amono; the middle-classes that I am sure there 
 ■would be no difficulty in obtaining quite a 
 superior class of persons for these appoint- 
 ments, if the Commissioners would only take the 
 trouble to try, and could manage to introduce 
 the new state of things en masse. It would 
 not, of course, do to attempt any kind of 
 amalgamation, or the proverbial " Kilkenny 
 cats" would be nothing to the fighting that 
 would go on. If the nature of the employment 
 was properly explained to the class I have 
 suggested, they would be only too glad to ac- 
 cept the appointments, and the work would be 
 no harder, and infinitely preferable, I should 
 imagine, than that required of a nursery gover- 
 ness, or even of a governess in many middle- 
 class families. For those who wanted an object in 
 life there would be a wide field open for the em- 
 ployment of all their energies, and great and 
 lasting good might be done among the outcasts 
 of society by women who would throw their 
 whole heart into the work, and earnestly strive 
 to deserve in the great hereafter the gentle 
 
 D 2
 
 36 Her Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 words of loving commendation, " In prison and 
 ye visited Me." 
 
 Tlie " male other sub-officers " mentioned in 
 the list consist of cooks, engineers, messengers, 
 and gate porters. Their number has been 
 greatly reduced, but the increase of salary more 
 than counterbalances the reduction. A cook's 
 salary under the county was 50/. a year, house, 
 fuel, and light. Under Government they get 
 75/. per annum, house, and uniform. The 
 engineer under the county got 50/. a year, 
 house, fuel, light, uniform, and boots; under 
 Government he ranks as a principal warder, and 
 receives a salary of SO/, a year, rising by yearly 
 increments of a pound to 85/., with house and 
 uniform. 
 
 Engineer is an imposing kind of appellation, 
 and how he ever got the name heaven only 
 knows, as a prison engineer knows about as 
 much about engineering as he does about Greek. 
 He is nominally supposed to be a kind of Jack- 
 of -all-trades, to be competent to superintend 
 any carpentering, building, draining, black- 
 smithing, or any other kind of work that may
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 3 7 
 
 be going on in the prison. In addition to this 
 he has to understand gas-fitting and plumbers' 
 TTork, to see also to the heating of the prison in 
 winter, and to manage the steam boiler, by 
 means of which all the food is cooked. 
 
 These appointments, while the prisons were 
 under the county, were made in the usual 
 happy-go-lucky kind of manner that generally 
 characterizes the proceedings of the great un- 
 paid, and the engineer at Xshire was no excep- 
 tion to the rule. He had been apprenticed to 
 a gas-fitter and plumber, and after serving his 
 time continued to work for the same master. 
 In this capacity he was sent up to the prison to 
 thoroughly overhaul the water-taps and gas- 
 fittings of the various cells. This was neces- 
 sarily a longish job, and kept him knocking 
 about the prison for several weeks, during which 
 time he had ample opportunity of ingratiating 
 himself with the governor and getting to know 
 all the dodges of the place ; and the man who 
 at that time was engineer happening to die 
 suddenly, Perth (such, was his name), the gas- 
 fitter, applied for the vacant billet, and having
 
 38 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 been employed about the prison for some time, 
 the magistrates decided to take him on. How 
 they could conceive that an uneducated young 
 man of this description was a fit and proper 
 person to place in charge of the heating, venti- 
 lating, and general sanitary arrangements of 
 the prison I do not pretend to know ; but there 
 he was when T arrived, and for all I know to 
 the contrary he is still doing his best to poison 
 prisoners with bad air in the summer, and freeze 
 them to death in the winter. 
 
 The arrangement for the ventilation of the 
 cells was perfect, so far as it went, and provided 
 always that the engineer carried out his instruc- 
 tions. In the centre of the end wall of each 
 cell there was a moveable iron ventilator that 
 communicated directly with the outside air, and 
 which secured a constant and steady supply of 
 pure air. Over the top of the door and exactly 
 opposite to this ventilator there was a long, 
 narrow, perforated iron grating, which com- 
 municated with the tunnel that ran the whole 
 length of the corridor, and which was supposed 
 to collect the foul air from all the cells and pour
 
 Their Ejects mid Defects. 39 
 
 it into the main air-shaft, from whence it was 
 expelled into the open air. This foul air was, of 
 course, to be drawn along the tunnel by keeping 
 a fire ligfhted in the shaft and creatine; a vacuum. 
 Had the instructions for this purpose been pro- 
 perly followed the prison would have been per- 
 fectly ventilated ; but Perth was either too lazy 
 to see that the shaft fire was kept lighted, or 
 else supplied his own house with the coals he 
 was supposed to be burning there. I believe 
 the latter theory was the true one. 
 
 In addition to the state of the cells there was 
 no adequate means of escape for the foul air 
 that collected in the central hall of the prison, 
 and the smell there of a morning was enough to 
 knock you down, and the first thing the warders 
 did when they came on duty was to open the 
 large door leading out to the exercise-ground, 
 and so give the place a thorough good blow. 
 I complained of the state of things to the chap- 
 lain, to my corridor warder, to the doctor, the 
 engineer himself, and finally to the Govern- 
 ment inspector. Captain L , but without the 
 
 slightest result. I laid the matter before Cap-
 
 40 Her Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 tain L wlieu lie came round on liis montWy 
 
 visit, and his answer was, — 
 
 " Well, I am afraid we cannot help you." 
 The chief warder on this occasion was ex- 
 tremely fine. I pointed out to Captain L 
 
 that instead of there being a steady draught out 
 through the escapement ventilator, there was 
 actually a slight flow of air into the cell from 
 it. The chief thereupon tried to persuade me 
 
 (and did, I believe, persuade Captain L ) that 
 
 this was the hot-air grating, and not the escape- 
 ment one. I could not help laughing, for, in 
 addition to thoroughly understanding the theory 
 of the thing, I had gone over the whole practi- 
 cal working of the existing arrangements with 
 both the engineer and the chaplain. It was, 
 however, a good enough yarn for the inspector 
 and governor, and I could get nothing done. 
 I afterwards discussed the matter with the 
 chief, and he fi^ankly owned that he knew I was 
 right. The water-tanks were equally neglected, 
 and the water we had to drink was for some 
 time more than half mud, and totally unfit for 
 human consumption. I complained about it to
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 41 
 
 all hands, and finally drew tlie doctor's atten- 
 tion to it. 
 
 *' All, jes, to be sure — to be sure," lie said ; 
 " the filters are all out of order. I mentioned 
 it to the governor about a month ago, and it's 
 going to be seen to." 
 
 I collapsed at this and gave the matter up as 
 hopeless, for I naturally concluded that if the 
 doctor had told the governor a month before, 
 and they were only still " going to see about 
 it," nothing I could say would have much effect. 
 
 It was just the same story with the heating 
 of the prison ; it was never properly attended 
 to, and the water would be boiling away in the 
 pipes at the head of the corridor, while the 
 cells at the opposite end would be cold as ice. 
 This kind of thing is very annoying, and still 
 more so when one remembers that a staff of 
 presumably competent men are appointed by 
 the Government and paid high salaries to visit 
 the various prisons at regular intervals and 
 satisfy themselves that the ventilating, heat- 
 ing, and general sanitary arrangements are in a 
 thoroughly efficient and satisfactory condition.
 
 42 Her Majesty's PjHsons : 
 
 One of tliese gentlemen, Captain Mac'Hardy, 
 came down to the prison while I was there ; 
 but as they knew the day on which he was 
 coming three days beforehand, I need scarcely 
 say that all the fires were burning merrily 
 when he arrived, and that everything was ship- 
 shape. Perth was always in fear and trembling 
 when Mac'Hardy came down, for the latter 
 was well up to his work, and asked the most 
 awkward questions; questions which Perth, 
 knowing nothing whatever of his work, was at 
 his wits' end how to answer. Wlien Campbell 
 or Cameron came down it was all right, for 
 they were equally ignorant of their duties, and 
 Perth could bounce them, but when Mac'Hardy 
 was there Perth crawled along in the rear with 
 a most sheepish appearance. In order to 
 correct any mistaken impression that might 
 arise, let me at once say that I know nothing 
 whatever of either Mr. Campbell or Mr. 
 Cameron, and for aught I know to the con- 
 trary they may be exceedingly clever and 
 competent gentlemen. I have simply repeated 
 what I heard from the warders, and what I
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 43 
 
 know was said by Pertli. It is a pity that 
 Captain Mac'Hardy does not manage to slip 
 down to one or two prisons without advertising 
 his arrival two or three days beforehand, and 
 then I fancy he would get his eyes open a little. 
 Messenger warders are employed, as their 
 name denotes, in carrying the various messages 
 that pass between the prison and the town, and 
 in going to and fro to the post-office to receive 
 and deliver the letters. Their pay under the 
 old system was just the same as any other 
 warder, and under Government it has been 
 increased in the same proportion. Piggot, the 
 messenger warder at Xshire, was a capital 
 little fellow, and I have already referred to him 
 pretty often, as he had charge of me while I 
 was awaiting trial. His office was no sinecure, 
 for in addition to going some five or six times 
 a day to the town he had to see to the cleaning 
 and arranging of the various offices of the 
 prison, and was debtors' warder into the 
 bargain. One way and another he was going 
 all day and every day from six o'clock in the 
 morning till nine o'clock at night. Here let
 
 44 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 me saj a word for the poor debtors. They are 
 usually young fellows with affiliation orders 
 against them that they are unable to pay, or 
 small tradesmen who either cannot or will not 
 pay their debts. Their number is also some- 
 times swelled by men who are bound over to 
 keep the peace and cannot find sureties. Their 
 place of confinement is entirely apart from the 
 criminal portion of the prison, and they are 
 permitted to associate together, and to wear 
 their own clothes. If they have money they 
 are allowed to provide their own food, and 
 when this is the case they can manage to pass 
 away the month or two which is usually the 
 extent of their sentence pretty comfortably. 
 It is here that the new imprisonment for debt 
 laws so utterly break down, for the man who 
 really deserves to be made uncomfortable, that 
 is to say, who can pay and will not, really 
 suffers only a very trifling inconvenience, for 
 he can provide himself with every delicacy of 
 the season if he chooses, and can have in a fair 
 quantity of wine or beer into the bargain. On 
 the other hand the unhappy debtor who really
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 45 
 
 cannot pay because lie has no money in tlie 
 world to pay with, and who, consequently, has 
 no means of providing himself with any extra 
 sustenance, undergoes considerable privations, 
 for the Government allowance of food is 
 totally inadequate, and any one caring to test 
 the following dietary can easily and quickly 
 prove this to his own satisfaction : — 
 
 Dietary for Debtors. 
 
 Breakfast and Supper. 
 
 Bread 6 oz. 
 Gruel 1 pint. 
 
 Dinner. 
 
 Bread 4 oz. ") Sunday 
 
 Potatoes 6 oz. > and 
 
 Suet pudding 4 oz. ) Wednesday. 
 
 Bread 6 oz. ^ Monday 
 
 Potatoes 8 oz. ( ^^^^ -^ 
 
 Cooked beef 3 oz. ( ^y -,av 
 
 (without bone). J ^^ •'' 
 C Tuesday, 
 
 Bread 6 oz. \ Thursday, and 
 
 Potatoes 6 oz. | Saturday. 
 
 Men when they have been on this diet for 
 about a month are ready to eat their shoes, and 
 to keep men on it for three months at a 
 stretch, as is frequently the case, is positive
 
 46 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 barbarity. Under the county their dietary was 
 scanty enough, but it was a considerable im- 
 provement on the above, and the least Govern- 
 ment migfht do would be to return to it : — 
 
 Dietary foe Debtors under the County. 
 
 Breakfast and Supper. 
 
 Gruel 1 pint. 
 Bread 8 oz. 
 
 Dinner for Four Days. 
 
 Dressed meat 3 oz. 
 Potatoes 1 lb. 
 , Bread 8 oz. 
 
 Dinner for Three Days. 
 
 Soup 1 pint. 
 Potatoes 1 lb. 
 Bread 8 oz. 
 
 I do not think even the most hard-hearted 
 creditor would consider that this diet was on 
 too sumptuous a scale, and the increase of 
 expense to Government would be very trifling. 
 Gate porters under the county were on the 
 same scale of pay as any other warder, but 
 under Government they are placed on a higher 
 scale, receiving 70/. a year, rising by yearly 
 increments of IL to 75/. per annum. They 
 have nothing whatever to do with the prisoners
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 47 
 
 — with the exception of having a prisoner out 
 three or four times a week to clean up the gate 
 and gateway — so it does not much matter what 
 sort of fellows they are, but, as a rule, they bear 
 the name of being a very ill-tempered lot, and 
 certainly the man at Xshire was a most surly, 
 vile-tempered, ill-conditioned curmudgeon. 
 
 Female clerks. Scripture readers, lady super- 
 intendents, and "female other sub-officers" I 
 know nothing whatever about, but presume that 
 their pay has gone up on a proportionate scale 
 with the other members of the prison staff. 
 
 I have now finished the list of officials, 
 and given as well as I could some slight 
 idea of their duties and the way they per- 
 formed them. I think we may safely con- 
 clude that the Grovernment staff is on a far 
 more expensive scale than the old county one, 
 and that until a more careful system of super- 
 vision is established, and greater trouble taken 
 in selecting competent men, there can be no 
 proportionate gain in efficiency. 
 
 In the meantime we had been hurrying along 
 in the mail-train, and were rapidly drawing
 
 48 Her Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 near the end of our journey. Some dinner 
 
 had been brought from Z forns, consisting 
 
 of half a pound of bread and a good-sized hunk 
 of Australian beef each, but the travelling had 
 made me ill and feverish, and I did not care to 
 eat. The schoolmaster had a small sum of 
 money belonging to me, and I asked him if I 
 might get a bottle of seltzer water or something 
 of that kind for myself, but be told me that it 
 was impossible as the money would have to be 
 handed over to the governor of the Xshire 
 Prison, and be kept by him until my discharge. 
 Early in the afternoon we arrived at the Xshire 
 station and found Watergate, the chief warder, 
 awaiting our arrival. An omnibus was also in 
 attendance to take us up to the prison, and the 
 dragoon and myself with our escort got inside, 
 while Watergate, mounting the box, took his 
 seat beside the driver, and away we went at a 
 good pace and soon reached our destination. 
 Once more I found myself in front of the 
 gloomy portals of the Xshire Prison, and after 
 the usual preliminary bell-ringing and parleying 
 we were admitted by the gate porter who
 
 Their Ejects and Defects. 49 
 
 greeted the sclioolmaster and Pell witli a con- 
 descending urbanity that was a treat to behold. 
 Once safely within the prison-gates the school- 
 master produced the key of our handcuffs, and 
 unfastening them handed us formally over to 
 the custody of the Xshire chief warder. The 
 arrival-bell was rung, and in a. few minutes Old 
 Bob came puffing up the hill, and ordering us 
 to follow him, led the way down to the re- 
 ceivinsf-ward. Unlockiuo^ a cell-door at the 
 head of the ward he ordered the dragoon to 
 enter, and shutting the door upon him con- 
 ducted me to a cell a little lower down, and, 
 with the information that he would come and 
 see to me presently, carefully locked the cell- 
 door and hurried off. Tired out by the journey, 
 I seated myself on the stool, and resting my 
 arms upon the table wearily laid my head 
 upon them and tried vainly to conjecture how 
 1 should get through the twelve long months 
 that lay before me. I had already done eight 
 days of my sentence, for the time is calculated 
 from the day the assizes commence, not from 
 the day you are convicted, and as the assizes 
 
 VOL. II. E
 
 50 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 had beguu on the Monclaj^, while my trial did 
 not take place till the Saturday, I had, as it 
 were, gained five days ; still there were 358 
 days more to do (it was leap year), and oh, 
 what a time it seemed to look forward to ! My 
 meditations . were interrupted by the sharp 
 click of the trap-door as it was cautiously 
 opened, and turniug round I saw a grinning 
 face stuck in the aperture, while the small 
 portion of red and grey cap that I was enabled 
 to see told me that it was one of the prisoners 
 who had managed somehow or other to un- 
 fasten my trap-door. After another intro- 
 ductory grin, the fellow said in a hurried 
 whisper, — 
 
 " Hie, governor, have you got a bit of 
 baccy ? " 
 
 " I have not got any," I replied. 
 
 " Oh, all right," he answered ; and after a 
 moment's hesitation was commencing to ask 
 me some further questions when, I suppose, the 
 sound of some approaching footsteps warned 
 him somebody was coming, for he hastily closed 
 my trap and disappeared.
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 5 1 
 
 I puzzled mj brains for some time wondering 
 how the fellow managed to open the trap- door, 
 but could not make it out, as I knew all the 
 traps shut with a strong spring-lock. I after- 
 wards found out that the prisoners employed in 
 cleaning the prison used to look out for a thin 
 nail, and by bending the point up in a particular 
 way were enabled to open any trap-door. 
 
 Shortly after, this trap episode, the cell- 
 door was unlocked, and the cook entered carry- 
 ing a newspaper parcel in his hand which he 
 laid upon the table saying, " Here is the dinner 
 they brought from Z for you ; I heard you 
 
 couldn't eat it on the way, but you had better 
 try and tackle it now." 
 
 He was a smart-looking little chap, with a 
 very long beard, and from the careful way in 
 which he had it curled and pulled out, and the 
 caressing manner in which he was continually 
 stroking it, coupled with my after- experience of 
 his cooking, I fancy he bestowed a considerable 
 deal more attention upon this hirsute append- 
 age than upon studying the mysteries of the 
 culinary art. As a matter of fact his know- 
 
 E 2
 
 52 Her Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 ledge of cookery was of the very slenderest 
 description, lie having been brought up as a 
 clerk, and started in life in this employment. 
 Marrying young, and the care of a family 
 coming quickly npon him, he found the slender 
 salary he could command as a clerk totally in- 
 sufficient for his wants, and determined to try 
 his hand at something else. He had some claim 
 npon one of the county magistrates, and this 
 worthy justice, under the impression, I pre- 
 sume, that any one could cook, obtained the 
 billet of cook to the county prison for him. 
 Here, then, for the last four or five years he 
 had been trying his 'prentice hand upon the 
 provisions of the unfortunate prisoners, and, 
 notwithstanding this somewhat long novitiate, 
 I can, from bitter personal experience, fairly 
 and impartially declare that I do not believe a 
 man with less idea of cooking could be pro- 
 duced, search " the wide world o'er." It is, 
 perhaps, unnecessary to add that this appoint- 
 ment was made while the prison was under the 
 county authorities. 
 
 On the departure of the cook I came to the
 
 Their Effects and Defects, 53 
 
 conclusion tliat Lis advice was good, and 
 determined to trj and eat a little of the dinner 
 provided for me, and, proving tlie truth of the 
 old adage that " Uappetit vient en mangeantj^ T 
 got through all the beef, and the best part of 
 the bread. I had not long finished my repast 
 when Old Bob bustled in with his arms full of 
 clothes, and, throwing the bundle down on the 
 floor, said, " There are your things ; now get 
 into 'em as quick as you can, and then I'll come 
 along and put up your own clothing in the 
 portmanteau, and then it can be locked, sealed, 
 and put by till you want to go away again." 
 
 I proceeded to examine the clothing Old Bob 
 had brought, and found the number and quahty 
 of the articles to be pretty well the same as at 
 
 Z , with the exception of the suit here being 
 
 of a dark grey colour and the cap and stock of 
 the same. It was altogether a far more Christian 
 
 combination than the Z chocolate and 
 
 brown uniforms, and as all the prisoners, civil, 
 naval, and military, were at this time dressed 
 alike, they presented a less fantastic appear- 
 ance than my late companions. The only dis-
 
 54 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 tinction made here was that felons had a 
 narrow red band running round the centre of 
 their caps. 
 
 With hnsferins: res^ret I once more cast aside 
 my civiHzed apparel, gave a parting brush to 
 mj hair, and had barely completed my toilette 
 ere Old Bob came puffing and fussing in with 
 an armful of shoes. 
 
 " What kind of sized shoe do you take ? I 
 don't suppose we have any small enough, but 
 you must just find the best fit you can out of 
 this lot." 
 
 With these words he dropped the collection 
 of old shoes he was carrying, and hurried off, 
 leaving me to fit myself as best I could. 
 
 Old Bob was in a fine fluster; he had several 
 men to change, I expect, as I could hear him 
 puffing and blowing, and spitting and cursing, 
 and hurrying from one end of the corridor to 
 the other, while the entertainment was periodi- 
 cally varied by his shouting and swearing at his 
 cleaner, or some unfortunate new-comer. 
 
 I searched about amongst the collection of 
 old and new shoes that the old chap had left on
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 5 5 
 
 my floor, but finding nothing that Avould at 
 all fit me, finally selected a pair of new shoes 
 (for the reason that they were new) several 
 sizes too big for me, and having slipped my feet 
 into them commenced folding up my own 
 clothes ready for packing when Bob returned. 
 
 Every man on admission is supposed to be 
 placed in a cold bath, but whenever Bob had 
 much to do, rules and regulations were quite a 
 secondary consideration with him, and to my 
 extreme satisfaction bathing was omitted on 
 this occasion. My apparent objection to cleanli- 
 ness will easily be understood when it is known 
 that all the new arrivals, no matter how many, 
 are plumped one after the other into the same 
 water ; and as many of them come in with all 
 kinds of personal companions, a bath under these 
 circumstances is hardly a thing to be desired. 
 
 The dragoon and Bob had fallen out over 
 something or the other, and I could hear the 
 latter grumbling and cursing at him ; but the 
 dragoon, being a determined kind of fellow, 
 kept nagging away in return, until Old Bob 
 poured forth such a sudden flood of vitupera-
 
 56 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 tive abuse, that the young fellow was fairly 
 frightened into silence. Bob's feelings were, I 
 expect, considerably relieved by this outburst, 
 for shortly after he came smiling into me in 
 quite an amiable frame of mind. 
 
 " Well, how have you got on ? " he de- 
 manded. 
 
 " Well, I have got a pair of shoes ; they are 
 nothing like a fit, but I suppose they must do, 
 and if I can have a pair of laces I can, at all 
 events, keep them on my feet." 
 
 " We ain't got any laces now, we are run 
 right out of them, but we shall have some more 
 down sooner or later, I suppose ; but in the 
 meantime I'll let you have a piece of string, 
 and when the tailor has a little spare time I'll 
 get him to make a pair of cloth inside soles for 
 you, and that will fill up the shoes and keep 
 your feet warm too." 
 
 The old chap was as good as his word, for a 
 few nights later he brought me the inside soles 
 in question, and a great comfort I found them, 
 confined as one was in a cell floored with bare 
 slates.
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 5 7 
 
 " Now, are your own clothes all ready to be 
 packed up?" asked Bob. 
 
 " Yes, quite." 
 
 " Well, then, we'll just go over tlie list tliey 
 
 have sent down from Z and see tliat the 
 
 things are correct, and then you pack 'em up, 
 and we'll seal the portmanteau and stow it 
 away. The way some of these coves goes on 
 that comes here," he continued, evidently refer- 
 ring: to the draofoon, " is enoug^h to drive a man 
 mad. Why, you'd think they had a thousand 
 a year ; but I generally manages to teach 'em 
 manners." 
 
 I thought to myself that if the address I 
 had so lately heard him deliver was a specimen 
 of the way he taught, I should not be much 
 inclined to recommend his system. Whatever 
 he may have been to others, however, " Old 
 Bob " was exceedingly good-natured to me 
 that night, so I must not be too hard upon his 
 little weaknesses. 
 
 As soon as we had gone carefully over my 
 clothes, with the Z list, and found every- 
 thing correct, I bundled them all into the port-
 
 58 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 manteau, and Old Bob marclied it off to the 
 clothing store-room, assuring me as he departed 
 that the place was kept thoroughly ah^ed, and 
 my things would come out at the end of the 
 twelve months just as good as they were 
 
 now. 
 
 A little later on, Bob bustled in to me again, 
 and, after placing a large mess-tin full of tea 
 and a huge piece of cake on the cell shelf, 
 turned towards me, and after sundry winks, 
 nods, and various expressive jerkings of his 
 thumb over his shoulder towards the tea, 
 hurried out again. 
 
 I was intensely amused at his exit, for I, 
 feeling naturally very grateful to him, com- 
 menced to put my gratitude into words, but I 
 no sooner began to speak than he put up 
 his hands in horror, with a most impressive 
 " hush-sh-sh," muttered, " Only going to forget 
 them here by accident; swallow them up as 
 quick as you can," and darted out of the door. 
 
 About seven o'clock the doctor arrived, and 
 commenced his examination of the new arrivals. 
 Accordiug to the regulations he was supposed
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 59 
 
 to carefully examine every man before certify- 
 ingf him fit for first class hard labour ; but as 
 a matter of fact, the examination consisted of 
 Old Bob's asking the men when they arrived 
 whether they had anything the matter with 
 them (and he did not always go through this 
 form even), and if the answer was in the nega- 
 tive filling in their door-cards with " fit for 
 first class labour," and giving them to the 
 doctor to sign when he arrived. Even this 
 ceremony was occasionally omitted, and I have 
 known six and eight men in the prison at one 
 time whose door-cards had all been signed with 
 the doctor's initials b}^ Old Bob himself, and 
 the old fellow was foolish enouo-h to boast to 
 some of the other warders of how well he could 
 imitate the doctor's signature. The conse- 
 quence was that all kinds of scandalous cases 
 were continually occurring — men who were sub- 
 ject to fits, and in a weak and sickly condition, 
 were certified as fit for first class labour, and 
 used to faint and fall from the wheel, doing 
 themselves serious injury. There were two 
 cases of this kind in quick succession on one
 
 6o Her Majesty' s Prisons : 
 
 occasion, and had the governor been anything 
 of a sharp fellow he must have smelt a rat. 
 The first was the case of a man who was sen- 
 tenced to fourteen days' hard labour for begging. 
 He was one of the most eccentric-looking men 
 I ever saw. He had a long, thin, hatchet- 
 shaped face, with a queer, plaintive, appealing 
 look in his light, greenish-grey eyes, and a 
 complexion of that unpleasant, underdone-meat 
 colour, set off by pale, flaxen-coloured hair. 
 His cheeks and upper lip were clean-shaved, but 
 a Disraeli tuft on the underlip added to the 
 curious tout-ensemhle of this extraordinary-look- 
 ing being. He was about six feet three inches 
 in height, was a sawyer by trade and had been 
 a preacher, was quite gone in the upper story, 
 and subject to epileptic fits. He was, neverthe- 
 less, certified fit for first class labour and duly 
 sent to work at the wheel. 
 
 The second day of this work brought on a 
 fit, and some of the warders took the matter 
 up and told Old Bob that he ought to take the 
 doctor to examine the man again. This was 
 done on the following day, and the doctor
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 6 1 
 
 immediately exempted tlie man from hard 
 labour. But it might have been too late, for a 
 couple of days' wheel work was quite enough to 
 have cost the fellow his life, and had any proper 
 examination of him been made when he arrived 
 the doctor could not have failed to see that the 
 man was an idiot and in bad health. 
 
 The second case was that of a man sent in 
 for four months' hard labour for desertino- the 
 militia. The second day he was on the wheel 
 he had a fit, and came down a fearful crash on 
 the slate flooring, and it was a perfect marvel 
 to every one that he did not kill himself. He 
 had been subject to fits, but no questions were 
 asked him on admission, and this was the result. 
 He was afterwards exempted from wheel labour ; 
 but his case was an extremely hard one, for the 
 close confinement and want of proper food 
 brought on a succession of these fits, and the 
 man became so bad that an order was issued 
 forbidding his attendance at chapel, and yet, 
 notwithstanding the state of his health, he was 
 never allowed one single scrap of additional 
 food. The man looked in the most wretched
 
 62 Hei' Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 state, and whether he ever lived to get out I 
 do not know, for my sentence expired before he 
 completed his. 
 
 These are only two cases out of many ; but 
 I mention these particularly because the men 
 came under my own actual observation, and I 
 most carefully inquired into both cases. Pre- 
 viously to this there had been a still more 
 serious affair. 
 
 A man complained that he was subject to 
 heart complaint ; but the doctor and Old Bob 
 got it into their heads that he was shamming, 
 and the former certified him fit for first class 
 labour. 
 
 It was very hot summer weather ; the man 
 was placed upon the wheel, and used to puff 
 and blow and exhibit signs of intense distress 
 while at work; but this was looked upon as a 
 dodge, and no notice was taken of it, and the 
 man continued at wheel work. 
 
 A few nights later the warder, going round 
 to lock up the cell-doors at bedtime, heard a 
 strange gurgling noise in this man's cell, and 
 looking in, saw him stretched upon his bed
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 63 
 
 gasping for breath. He sent for the chief 
 "warder, and drew his attention to the man's 
 state ; but the chief opined that the fellow was 
 still shamming, and advised him " to give it up, 
 as it wouldn't go down there." 
 
 As the chief warder uttered these words, the 
 noise suddenly ceased, and the glazed eye, and 
 curious dull leaden colour that spread over the 
 man's face told its own tale. The chief warder 
 would not, or could not, believe that the man 
 was actually dead, and sent off post-haste for the 
 doctor ; but all the doctors in the world would 
 have been of no avail, the end had come. 
 
 There was the usual inquest on the body, 
 and the doctor stated the man had died from 
 heart complaint, and the verdict was of course 
 " Death from natural causes." 
 
 It is, perhaps, needless to say that all the 
 true facts of the case were carefully suppressed ; 
 but worst of all, such a lesson even as this pro- 
 duced no permanent result, for not long after- 
 wards another case of the same kind occurred. 
 
 The regulations for the doctor's examination 
 of men before their discharge from the prison
 
 64 Her Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 were equally disregarded, and the following 
 case, one of tlie many that came under my 
 immediate notice, is a fair example of what this 
 examination consisted of. 
 
 The man was a naval prisoner in corridor 
 D, and as Old Bob, followed by the doctor, 
 came into the corridor from the receiving-ward, 
 he walked forward to the man's cell (leaving 
 the doctor at the foot of the staircase leading 
 up to C corridor), opened the door about a foot, 
 and shouted out, " You are all right and able 
 to go out," slammed-to the door without wait- 
 ing for any answer, and hurried up the stair- 
 case after the doctor. 
 
 I have particularly mentioned this man's 
 being a naval prisoner because a special order 
 had been sent down from the Admiralty re- 
 quiring the doctor to be specially careful in his 
 examination of naval men before their discharge. 
 This order was made in consequence of one of 
 the blue-jackets belonging to the flagship of 
 the neighbouring port falling down dead as he 
 was being escorted back to his ship after 
 undergoing a short term of imprisonment.
 
 Their Ejects and Defects. 65 
 
 The man in question had repeatedly com- 
 plained to the doctor about his heart being bad 
 and of his not feeling well, but no notice was 
 taken of his grumblings (as they were called). 
 He was kept at hard labour, and death from 
 heart complaint was the natural result. 
 
 Meantime, the doctor has been running his 
 eye over the other prisoners, and after a very 
 cursory examination, judging from the short 
 time it took, was shown into my cell by Old 
 Bob. 
 
 The doctor had evidently dined, and I fancied 
 a slight unsteadiness of gait was perceptible as 
 he entered the cell. 
 
 " Well, how are you getting on ? " he asked. 
 
 " I am not very well, thank you," I an- 
 swered. 
 
 " Oh— ah ! to be sure — to be sure ! Well, I 
 shall be able to exempt you from first class 
 hard labour, as the state of your heart and 
 chest preclude your being engaged in hard 
 bodily labour. Just open your waistcoat," he 
 continued, " and let me sound your chest again, 
 so as to be quite satisfied." 
 
 VOL. II. P
 
 66 Her Majestfs Prisons : 
 
 I accordingly unbuttoned my things, though 
 it struck me as rather an unnecessary proceed- 
 ing, as the Z medical papers would show 
 
 what the state of my health was. After sundry 
 ineffectual attempts, he succeeded in applying 
 his ear to the stethoscope, and after a moment's 
 attention, followed by a heavy lurch forward, 
 pulled himself up straight, saying, — 
 
 " Just so ; to be sure. I shall exempt you 
 from first class labour, and give directions that 
 you are not to be tasked. By the way," he 
 continued, " did they exempt you from first 
 class labour at Z ?" 
 
 " Why, certainly, sir," I replied. " Didn't 
 you see from my medical papers that I had 
 been exempted from hard labour and ordered 
 my bed, and milk and white bread ? " 
 
 I could see from his face that he had never 
 looked at my medical papers at all ; but he said, 
 " To be sure — to be sure. Well, you must try 
 and get along as well as you can." And with 
 this parting injunction he pulled himself 
 together and shambled off. 
 
 About half-past seven Bob came and un-
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 67 
 
 locked my door and told me to follow him, as I 
 was now going to be taken up to my cell in the 
 main prison. 
 
 I followed him out of the door, and found 
 the dragoon awaiting my arrival, and, side by 
 side, we marched along down the receiving- 
 ward, through the iron doors, out into the 
 D corridor, halting for a moment at the foot of 
 the staircase until Bob's shout of " Prisoners 
 coming up," brought Johns to the head of the 
 steps, when, receiving the word to advance, I 
 followed the dragoon up the steps into corridor 
 C, where Johns took us in charge, and after 
 showing me into cell No. 22, locked the door, 
 and went off with the dragoon to some other 
 part of the prison. 
 
 I looked round my narrow quarters, and 
 could not repress an almost involuntary shudder 
 as I thought of the twelve weary months that 
 had to be passed in this hideous whitewashed 
 receptacle. 
 
 A plank boarding, some six feet long by two 
 feet and a half wide, raised about six inches 
 from the ground by wooden trestles, was laying 
 
 r 2
 
 68 Her Majesty* s Prisons : 
 
 sideways against the wall, and brought home to 
 my mind the unpleasant fact that the doctor 
 had not after all made any order about my 
 bed, and that I should be obliged to pass the 
 night as best I could on this plank abomina- 
 tion. 
 
 Shortly after eight o'clock Johns came round 
 to my cell to ask whether I had read and under- 
 stood the rules and regulations ; so I took the 
 opportunity of asking him whether there was 
 any special order as to what part of the cell the 
 plank bed was to be placed in, and he informed 
 me that I might put it where I pleased ; but he 
 advised me to place it in the right-hand corner, 
 as that was out of the draught and handy to 
 the hot-air entrance. 
 
 The bell for going to bed rang shortly after 
 this, and I set to work to try and make the best 
 bed I could with the sheets and blankets, re- 
 taining one blanket and the quilt as bed-clothes, 
 and making the best mattress I could out of the 
 rest. 
 
 There was a round wooden ledgr-e at one end 
 of the plank to do duty as a bolster, the
 
 Their Effects and Defects. (:iC) 
 
 Government pillow, stiifFed witli cocoa-nut 
 fibre, and about the size of a pincushion, being 
 placed on this somewhat slippery shelf, and 
 one's head hung out to dry, as* it were, on 
 tbis elegant superstructure. All attempts at 
 sleep were unavailing, and I do not think I 
 closed my eyes the whole night, and long be- 
 fore morning I was as sore all over as if I 
 liad been beaten with a good thick stick. I 
 have been assured that it is only for the first 
 night or two that it is uncomfortable, and that 
 afterwards men can sleep as well on a plank as 
 in a feather bed. I am thankful to say that I 
 had no opportunity of proving the truth or 
 falsehood of this statement, but feel morally 
 certain that whatever other men might say I 
 should never have got accustomed to this 
 fiendish invention. 
 
 The county regulation about plank beds was 
 an excellent one — only men who had been pre- 
 viously convicted were obliged to sleep on a 
 plank for the first twenty-eight days. A man 
 in prison for the first time getting his bed at 
 once. There were several other regulations
 
 70 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 ■under the county granting slight privileges to 
 first offenders, which were denied to the habi- 
 tual criminal. Library-books, for instance, 
 were allowed to the former at once, but the 
 habitual had to earn them by steady good con- 
 duct for three months. 
 
 These admirable arrangements, admirable 
 because they made prison thoroughly disagree- 
 able to the persistent evil doer, were abolished 
 by the Government, why or wherefore it is 
 difl&cult to conceive, as they were some of the 
 few sensible reforms introduced by the county 
 authorities. 
 
 Gladly I hailed the sound of the rising- 
 bell, as the warder marched along the corridor 
 with it at five minutes past six, and with eager 
 haste obeyed its summons, tumbling out of my 
 so-called bed with an alacrity that would have 
 deli2:hted the strictest martinet had he been in 
 ignorance of the cause of my prompt obedience. 
 As soon as the bell ceases the warders go 
 round their respective wards unlocking the 
 cell-doors (which, I think I have explained, are 
 always double-locked at night), and, at the same
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 7 1 
 
 time, open tlie trap-doors, to pass in the 
 various tools tlie men require for tlieir day's 
 work, and to make certain that the prisoners 
 are out of bed. By the time the warder came 
 round to my door I was half-dressed, for I 
 found any attempt at more than smoothing my- 
 self over with the wet corner of my towel quite 
 out of the question in the Government washing 
 basin. 
 
 When the warder peeped in at my trap-door 
 I took the opportunity of requesting him to be 
 good enough to explain to me what I was sup- 
 posed to do to my cell ; whether it had to be 
 washed over, or what had to be done to it, as 
 there were no directions in the rules. 
 
 He told me in reply that he would come and 
 give me any information I required as soon as 
 he had finished unlocking the cell-doors. 
 
 I had just completed my toilette when jny 
 door was opened, and the warder entered. I 
 looked at him with a good deal of natural 
 curiosity, for I knew he was the warder of the 
 corridor, and consequently upon him, in a great 
 measure, it would depend whether my twelve
 
 72 Hei' Majeslfs Prisons : 
 
 months' sojourn was made bearable or unbear- 
 able. 
 
 The power of a corridor warder over the 
 men in his ward is practically unlimited, and a 
 bad-tempered, unscrupulous blackguard can 
 easily make his portion of the prison a perfect 
 hell upon earth. All the complaints or requests 
 made by prisoners to the higher authorities 
 are, as a matter of fact, decided by the warder, 
 as a prisoner has orders to inform his corridor 
 officer of any application he may intend making 
 to the governor, before mentioning the matter 
 to the latter, and, of course, if the warder tells 
 the man that it is useless or unnecessary to 
 make the request, the prisoner naturally holds 
 his tongue. 
 
 If any particularly obstinate prisoner still 
 persists in applying to the governor or in- 
 spector the result would be practically the 
 same, as they would immediately ask the warder 
 whether he knew of the matter, and if he re- 
 plied in the negative the man would get re- 
 primanded for not laying the matter in the 
 first place before him. This was, at all events,
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 73 
 
 the invariable rule at the Xsliire Prison, and 
 any application to tlie governor met with the 
 stereotyped reply, " Oh, well, I'll see about it." 
 
 The seeing about it consisted of bis consult- 
 ing the chief warder and the corridor officer, 
 and giving the prisoner the result of their advice 
 on the foUowino; mornino-. 
 
 With easily understood eagerness I carefully 
 scrutinized the features of the warder as he 
 stood in the doorway for a second or two, 
 quietly going through the same process with 
 me. He was a tall, slight man, with good 
 straight features, and considerable character 
 and firmness about the chin, while the clear, 
 calm, steadfast blue eye, gave one instinctively 
 a feeliug of trust and confidence in the man. 
 With a large and varied experience of men and 
 manners, gained in many parts of the world, I 
 was accustomed to form a quick and generally 
 pretty accurate idea of a person's character and 
 disposition, and the result of my inspection 
 was thoroughly favourable to the object of it. 
 I had already been privately informed that 
 Duke — this was his name — was the kindest-
 
 74 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 hearted and most straightforward warder em- 
 ployed inside the prison, and, looking at the 
 man, I immediately felt that my informant 
 was pretty well right, and after-experience 
 fully bore out the information. He was deser- 
 vedly popular amongst the prisoners, for he 
 never deceived or worried them, and, though 
 he kept strict discipline in his corridor, he was 
 equally strict to all, and did not take dislikes 
 to certain men, and then be perpetually report- 
 ing them, as some of the other warders were 
 inclined to do. He was the only one of the 
 warders that I never heard a word said 
 against by any prisoner all the time I was in 
 the prison, and this spoke volumes as to the 
 sterlino^ worth of his character, for I have 
 known him frequently report men, and get them 
 severely punished, but, as they always owned, 
 if Duke reported them it was for some 
 thoroughly good reason, and they deserved 
 whatever punishment they got. 
 
 Rugby, the warder of B corridor, although a 
 fine, venerable old fellow to look at, was in- 
 clined to indulge in little sneaky, underhand
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 75 
 
 tricks, and would fidget and fuss over small 
 trifling mistakes made by prisoners, till he 
 nearly worried their lives out. He was a shifty, 
 uncertain-tempered man, too, and inclined to 
 make favourites of particular prisoners, though 
 I am bound to say that he was consistently 
 civil to me on the few occasions that I had 
 anything to do with him. 
 
 Johns — who had at this time the A ward — I 
 have already given a sketch of, and must cer- 
 tainly own that he was the most dissatisfied 
 man I ever met with. He was in the habit of 
 taking dislikes to certain men, and when he did 
 would lead them a pretty dance ; but I am 
 bound to confess that, as a rule, it was the 
 idle, troublesome fellows that he selected to 
 worry. 
 
 Old Bob, who, amongst his other multitudi- 
 nous duties, had the charge of D corridor, was 
 a rougli old dog, but as long as a man gave 
 him no trouble, and asked for nothing, he 
 would treat him pretty decently. He was 
 certainly devoid of all ordinary feelings of 
 humanity or kindness, and this, I presume, was
 
 76 He7' Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 one of tlie reasons why lie was appointed to, 
 and continned to bold, the post of hospital 
 warder; and all the very small qnantity of 
 talent he possessed was employed in ministering 
 to his own personal comforts, or devising some 
 means of stealing a march upon his brother 
 warders. He was a very close old chap, and 
 it was usually extremely difficult to get any in- 
 formation out of him, unless you could come 
 across him when he had had a few glasses 
 of whisky ; then he would talk nineteen to the 
 dozen, and pretty revelations he used to let 
 slip. The best time to get information out 
 of Old Bob was on his return from a prisoner's 
 funeral, and as hospital warder it was his duty 
 to accompany to the grave the bodies of all 
 men who died while undergoing imprisonment. 
 This being looked upou as a special duty, 
 he received half-a-crown from Government on 
 each occasion; and, in addition to this, the 
 undertaker always stood treat — as a sort of 
 percentage on the job, I presume — and the con- 
 sequence was that Old Bob invariably returned 
 in a most loquacious and comical mood. Now
 
 Thew Ejects and Defects. yy 
 
 was the time to hear him expatiate on the 
 idiocy of the new Government regulations, 
 and the inadequate manner in which the 
 governor carried on the disciphne of the prison. 
 He used to tell me, with much bad language, 
 and many regrets, that he had more writing 
 to do now in a day than he .had in a month 
 under the county, and that it took up more 
 than one man's time to fill in and sign the 
 numerous forms that daily passed through his 
 hands in his varied capacity as receiving, 
 hospital, and corridor warder. There was a 
 o-ood deal of truth in this; but as Old Bob 
 always had two cleaners, and took particular 
 care that one of them should be a good writer, 
 he had no such very great cause for complaint, 
 as he invariably made the cleaner fill in the 
 forms, he himself only signing them when com- 
 pleted. 
 
 But we must return to Duke, whom we 
 have left standing at my cell-door all this 
 time. After quietly looking me over for a 
 few seconds, he advanced into the cell, and 
 asked me what I wanted to know.
 
 78 Her Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 " Has my cell got to be washed out now ? " 
 I asked, " or what has to be done ? I know 
 nothing about washing and scrubbing, but if 
 you will tell me exactly what is required I will 
 do the best 1 can." 
 
 " It doesn't matter about washing your cell 
 out every morning," he replied; "all that you 
 have to see is that it is clean and neat ; but if 
 you are careful, and don't make it in a mess, 
 twice a week will be quite sufficient. Be care- 
 ful, however," he continued, " that you sweep 
 it over ever}'' morning, and brush the dust up 
 into the right-hand corner, and then my cleaner 
 will take it away when he goes round with me 
 after breakfast. Just give me your brush a 
 moment, and I will show you what I mean." 
 
 " Can you tell me what work I shall have to 
 do ? " I asked. 
 
 "No, I don't know exactly," he rephed; 
 " Mr. Johns sees to all that ; but you won't 
 have to do very much, as I see the doctor 
 has exempted you from first class labour. The 
 governor goes round every morning after break- 
 fast to inspect the men and their cells, so see
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 79 
 
 that every tiling is in its place at that time : 
 and be sure you have your stock on, and your 
 cap off, as the governor is very particular on 
 these points." 
 
 I afterwards discovered that this cap and 
 stock question was a regular mania with the 
 governor, and provided a man. carefully carried 
 this order out it did not matter what state his 
 cell was in. So well was this known that it 
 had become the subject of the following dog- 
 gerel verse, which was repeated to each new- 
 comer as one of the unpublished regulations 
 to be strictly observed : — 
 
 " Your cell may be dirty, and ragged your suit, 
 Just stand to attention and salute ; 
 Then if your stock you don, and your cap you doff, 
 The Governor '11 easily let you oflV 
 
 Meantime Duke had been brushing away at 
 my cell, and now handing me the brush, told 
 me to go on as I had seen him doing. 
 
 " That's right," said Duke approvingly, 
 "you'll soon manage right enough; and when 
 all the dust is swept up, take your floor cloth 
 and just mop up any splashes of wet you may
 
 So Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 have made on the floor while washing. Are 
 you well?" he continued, after looking fixedly 
 at me for a minute or two. 
 
 " No," I replied ; " I am not in good health." 
 
 " Oh, very well, I'll move you over to the 
 
 other side of the corridor ; it' s the sunny side, 
 
 and as I happen to have a vacant cell there you'll 
 
 find it warmer and more cheerful than this." 
 
 I thanked him warmly, and he then left, for 
 the bell was ringing for the men to go out and 
 do their hour on the tread wheel before break- 
 fast, and Duke had to stand at the top of the 
 staircase leading into D corridor in order to 
 prevent any attempt at talking as the men 
 passed along. I set to work to get my cell 
 put to rights, rolled up my bedding into a neat 
 bundle, and placed it on the top shelf, then laid 
 the plank sideways against the left-hand wall, 
 passing it behind the table so as to prevent any 
 possibility of its falling down, and after return- 
 ing my basin, towel, combs, &c., to their proper 
 places on the lower shelf, sat down to await my 
 breakfast. During the course of the morning 
 Duke moved me over to the opposite side of
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 8 1 
 
 the corridor, and I found the cell, as he said, 
 far brio-hter and warmer : and here I was located 
 till the expiration of my sentence. It looked 
 horribly bare and miserable at first, but I soon 
 became quite accustomed to it, and used to 
 imagine that it appeared more comfortable than 
 any other cell in the corridor. .It is astonishing 
 how living in a cell habituates you to it. I 
 well remember on one occasion, when I had to 
 move out of my cell for a day on account of 
 the walls requiring re-whitewashing, and take 
 up my abode for the time being in a cell on the 
 opposite side, how hideously bare and uncom- 
 fortable I thought it looked after mine, although 
 as a matter of fact it contained exactly the 
 same amount of furniture. I was perfectly 
 miserable until I got back to my own quarters. 
 After seeing me safely installed, Duke advised 
 me to try and get some kind of work to do, as 
 otherwise I should feel the time hang so dread- 
 fully heavily on my hands, and promised to 
 send Johns down to me with some kind of hght 
 employment. A little later Johns entered my 
 cell, and after a few preliminary grumbles, pro- 
 
 VOL. II. G
 
 8 2 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 dueed a large bunch of cocoa-nut fibre cord. 
 Undoing tlie bundle, he threw four or five 
 handfuls on the floor, and I then saw that 
 they were short ends of fibre cord about half 
 the thickness of my little finger, and varying in 
 length from one or two inches to five or six. 
 
 " You want something to do, do you ? " 
 growled Johns. " Well, this is pretty easy kind 
 of work ; you have only got to pick the strands 
 up one by one, and to twist them about until 
 you have completely unravelled them. You have 
 no call to hurry yourself, as the doctor has 
 ordered you not to be tasked." 
 
 On his departure I set to work, and soon got 
 into the knack of untwisting the fibre. It has 
 to be carefully done, as it is used to stuff door- 
 mats with, and if the fibre is not thoroughly 
 pulled apart, the mat-maker has endless trouble 
 with it. The labour was purely mechanical, 
 still it served for a day or two to occupy my 
 attention and take my mind from the bitter, 
 burning, regretful thoughts that crowded into 
 my aching brain as I sat day after day in- 
 voluntarily and unwillingly reviewing the past.
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 83 
 
 Unbidden and unwished for, tlie pale spectres of 
 the past woukl come trooping into the lonely 
 cell, and the life that might have been lay 
 stretched before my eyes with an intensity of 
 plainness that was well-nigh maddening. I 
 have often wondered since how I managed to 
 retain my senses, and if it had not been for the 
 great kindness of the chaplain, who visited me 
 almost daily at this time, I should have gone 
 out of my mind w^ithout a doubt. Why Govern- 
 ment cannot allow men convicted for the first 
 time the use of library-books at once, instead 
 of making them go without for the first eight 
 weeks of their sentence, I cannot make out. 
 It is a most useless and unnecessary barbarity, 
 for without physically punishing a man it in 
 many cases weakens him mentally, and sows 
 the seeds of future madness. 
 
 The days now dragged along with hideous 
 slowness, and to add to my other misfortunes, 
 the doctor kept me on the regular diet, although 
 
 I had come down from Z with my medical 
 
 papers showing that the doctor there considered 
 that I required extra diet. I do not believe the 
 
 G 2
 
 84 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 doctor here ever saw ilie medical papers — or if 
 he did he did not take the trouble to read them 
 — for on my applying to him to exempt me from 
 sleeping on a plank bed, he at once asked me 
 
 if they had exempted me at Z . Now, if he 
 
 had looked at the medical papers, he must have 
 known whether this was the case or not, as it 
 was all fully stated there. I assured him that 
 they had given me my bed, and so he said, 
 " To be sure, to be sure," and made an order 
 for me to have my hammock. This was a slight 
 improvement, although it was some time before 
 I became accustomed to packing myself in this 
 semi-circular abomination, but in course of time 
 my backbone got properly crooked, I suppose, 
 and 1 managed to sleep fairly well. It seems 
 rather hard lines, though, that men imprisoned 
 
 at Z should have a really comfortable bed to 
 
 sleep in, while those whose little failings take 
 place in the adjoining county have to put up 
 with these hammocks. The Sundays at first 
 seemed fearfully long ; there was nothing on 
 earth to do, and once afternoon chapel was 
 over, one was shut up for five mortal hours
 
 Their Ejects ana Defects. 85 
 
 ere the welcome bell at eisflit o'clock ranor 
 out permission to go to bed. One is allowed 
 no exercise for the first twenty-eight days, so 
 that weekdays and Sundays I was mewed up 
 in my cell, with nothing whatever to look at but 
 the four whitewashed walls. To make matters 
 worse they were busy altering the chapel, cutting 
 down all the old coffin-like boxes, and arranging 
 it in open seats ; so that I did not even obtain 
 the change of scene and air that the daily 
 quarter of an hour's chapel usually afforded. 
 After about a fortnio-ht it became unbearable, 
 and I got hold of Johns one afternoon and asked 
 him if I could not learn how to make a mat. 
 
 " Yes, if the governor will give you leave," 
 was his reply ; and the following morning I 
 stopped the governor as he was going his 
 rounds, and asked the question. 
 
 " Make mats ! " he replied ; " yes, certainly ; 
 but you cannot commence that until you have 
 been here twenty-eight days." 
 
 "Oh, I thought as the doctor had certified 
 me unfit for first class hirbour, I miglit begin at 
 once, sir," I said.
 
 86 Her Majesty'' s Prisons : 
 
 He liummed and hawed a little, and then 
 turning to the chief warder, asked him if this 
 was so. The chief bit his lip, and seemed lost 
 in thought for a minute or two, and finally said 
 he believed I might begin at once according 
 to the Government regulations. 
 
 Whether the chief made this reply from igno- 
 rance, or out of kindness to me, it is of course 
 impossible for me to say ; but as a matter of 
 fact it was strictly contrary to the regulations 
 to allow me to commence before the expiration 
 of twenty-eight days. I was delighted at the 
 success of my application, and that afternoon 
 Johns brought me a mat-frame and the various 
 other materials required, and proceeded to show 
 me how to manufacture a door-mat. He took 
 a lot of trouble to teach me properly, and 
 though he would occasionally break out into 
 fearful fits of grumbling, I soon got hold of the 
 knack of the thing, and managed to turn out a 
 very decent mat after a fortnight's practice. 
 Mat-making is a thing that any fool could 
 learn, but what I do not understand is how men 
 manage to make mats at the pace they do. I
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 87 
 
 spent about two months at this employment, 
 and jet I could never manage to make a mat in 
 less than two days. Now men who were cer- 
 tified fit for first class labour were required to 
 make ten of these same mats in the week, and 
 if they did not complete their task they were 
 reported to the governor, and very soon found 
 themselves on short commons. There was no 
 method in the tasking, and the man convicted 
 for the first time, and who knew no more of 
 mat-making than he did of Greek, would be 
 ordered to make exactly the same number of 
 mats a week as the habitual criminal who, from 
 being constantly in and out of prison, thoroughly 
 understood the trade. The natural consequence 
 was that some of the prisoners had to work 
 like slaves, while the old hands, who really 
 deserve to be made uncomfortable, got through 
 their work with very little trouble, for they 
 kuew exactly what to do, and how to do it. 
 
 There is another tiling that is very unfair to 
 the prisoner in this tasking system, and that is 
 his being obliged to work during the hours of 
 rest allowed him at various times during the day
 
 88 Her Majesty'* s Prisons : 
 
 by the Government regulations. When men are 
 tasked their tools ought to be taken away from 
 them during these appointed hours, and re- 
 turned to them aofain when work time beofins. 
 In this way the authorities could easily find out, 
 if they chose to take the trouble, those men 
 who were really unable to perform their allotted 
 task, either from want of skill or from physical 
 weakness, and they could then reduce their 
 weekly number of mats until they had time to 
 master the trade. 
 
 Here let me call attention to a very great 
 imposition practised on the prisoners at Xshire, 
 and, I daresay, at other prisons. According to 
 the Government regulations a prisoner is to be 
 allowed half an hour in which to dress and do 
 up his cell, and three-quarters of an hour for 
 breakfast, an hour and a half for dinner, and 
 half an hour for tea, making an aggregate of 
 three hours and a quarter's rest during the day. 
 This is not at all an extravagant amount, when 
 you consider that a prisoner commences at six 
 o'clock in the morning and has to go on work- 
 ing till eight o'clock at night.
 
 Their Effects a7id Defects. 89 
 
 A copy of tliese regulations is hung up in the 
 main corridor of every prison, close to the 
 warder's office ; but there is no mention of 
 them whatever in the rules issued to the 
 prisoners, and the latter have no opportunity 
 of seeino' them in the corridor. The conse- 
 quence is that there is not one prisoner in a 
 hundred who knows that he is entitled to any 
 rest at all ; and at Xshire they used to gobble 
 down their meals as fast as they could, and 
 return at once to their work. Either a copy of 
 these regulations ought to be placed in each 
 man's cell, or the warder of each corridor 
 ought to have strict orders to read them over 
 to each new arrival in his ward. 
 
 At Z men were always told what time 
 
 they had to themselves, and a bell for recom- 
 mencing work used to ring after each meal, as 
 soon as the allotted time had expired. This 
 was doing things in a straightforward manner, 
 and the Commissioners ought to see that the 
 same thing was done in every prison. 
 
 Now that I had got some employment to 
 interest me and to take up my attention the
 
 90 Her Majesty* s Prisons : 
 
 time began to pass a good deal quicker ; but just 
 at this time my health began to utterly break 
 down, and to make matters worse I got an 
 attack of dysentery. This last complaint was 
 brought on by the gruel. I was quite unable 
 to digest it, and had asked the doctor again and 
 again if he would change it for me, but without 
 avail. I became very ill, and must have been 
 pretty bad, for several of the warders after- 
 wards told me that they never expected I should 
 have lived ; yet I could not get the doctor to do 
 anything but dose me with physic, which did 
 not do me the slightest good, and must have 
 cost the Government a considerable sum, for I 
 had eight or nine different kinds of medicine in 
 my cell at a time. I could not understand it at 
 all, for although the poor old doctor was gene- 
 rally more or less screwed, I had managed to 
 get hold of him once or twice when he was 
 quite sober, and I knew he must know that I 
 was in a very queer state, and in dire need of 
 some kind of substantial nourishment. One 
 fine day, however, the cat came out of the bag. 
 I had the doctor down to see me, and after
 
 Thcii' Effects and Defects. 9 1 
 
 telling liim liow very weak I felt, asked him if 
 lie Tvoulcl place me on milk and white bread diet, 
 
 as the doctor at Z had done. He told me 
 
 he would consider the matter, and after pro- 
 mising to send me down some medicine " that 
 would do me good," walked out of my cell with 
 Old Bob at his heels, I have already stated, I 
 think, that Bob, being hospital warder (unless 
 he happened to be off duty), always went round 
 with the doctor. Old Bob had no sooner shut 
 my door than I heard the doctor say to him, — 
 
 "Bob, that man requires a change of diet ; he 
 is very ill." 
 
 " Oh, I shouldn't, sir," replied Old Bob; "he 
 ain't lost much weight, and I shouldn't make 
 any change yet." 
 
 " To be sure, to be sure," answered the 
 doctor ; " I won't make any alteration at 
 present, but I must soon." 
 
 They now passed on down the corridor, and 
 1 was unable to hear the remainder of their 
 conversation, but I did not get my milk and 
 bread. I had, however, the satisfaction of 
 knowing who it was that was preventing my
 
 9 2 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 getting the food I needed ; tliough I could not at 
 first make out what motive Old Bob could have, 
 but a few inquiries soon brought this to light. 
 I discovered that whenever any food outside 
 the prison dietary was ordered for a prisoner, 
 Old Bob had to see after it and bring it up to 
 the prisoner ; so if the doctor had ordered me 
 milk it would have given Bob the trouble of 
 coming up and down to me with it every morn- 
 ing and evening, and Bob would have sooner 
 seen fifty prisoners die than have had to take 
 that much trouble. 
 
 It is a great blot on the present system that 
 the warder on whom the extra trouble falls 
 should invariably go round with the surgeon. 
 He naturally objects to having a prisoner 
 moved up to the hospital, or placed on any 
 special diet, and does his best to prevent the 
 doctor doing anything for a man as long as he 
 possibly can. It would be much better if each 
 warder went round his own corridor Avith the 
 surgeon ; he would be far better able to judge 
 whether a man was failing, for he has him under 
 his daily observation, and his opinion would be
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 93 
 
 of some use to the doctor. The warder could 
 take down in writing the instructions of the 
 doctor with respect to each prisoner, and then 
 hand them over to the hospital warder to see 
 them duly carried out. If the corridor warder 
 was made responsible for any mistakes arising 
 from these instructions not being immediately 
 attended to, he would take precious good care 
 that the hospital warder did his duty. 
 
 At Xshire they would not even carry out the 
 present system in a proper manner, and the 
 medical and hospital arrangements were simply 
 disgraceful. The doctor came frequently to 
 the prison, after having dined far too gene- 
 rously at home, and could then be induced to 
 say anything that Old Bob told him. There 
 was no secret about this ; the prisoners, warders, 
 and even the chaplain knew it, and it was not 
 a state of things that ought to have been tole- 
 rated for a moment. He was an exceedingly 
 clever man, so much so that the townspeople 
 averred, if dangerously ill they would sooner 
 have him drunk than any other doctor sober ; 
 and being in addition as jovial and good-hearted
 
 94 Her Majesty's Pinsons : 
 
 a fellow as ever stepped, nobody liked to say 
 anything about liim. He was so drunk one 
 night that he fell down twice in trying to get 
 up the staircase to B corridor, and on another 
 occasion he left the key in the surgery door, and 
 went off home ; and if one of the warders 
 had not luckily happened to see it, one of the 
 prisoners employed in cleaning the passage 
 might have slipped in and got enough poison to 
 do for all hands. 
 
 Instead of making Old Bob stand to attention 
 at the door of the cell and simply take down 
 his instructions, the doctor used to allow him 
 to lounge into the cell and cross-question the 
 men ; and in most cases it was Bob who did all 
 the talking, while the doctor simply looked on 
 and said occasionally, " To be sure, to be 
 sure." 
 
 If a man was sent up to the hospital Old Bob 
 had to go up and down stairs three or four 
 times a day with the food for him, which of 
 course entailed a considerable amount of extra 
 trouble ; so you may be quite sure he prevented 
 a prisoner being moved from his cell as long as
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 95 
 
 he possiblj^ could. The consequence of this was 
 that several men were kept down in their cells, 
 on ordinary prison diet, until they were so far 
 gone that moving them into hospital was an 
 utterly useless farce. There were three most 
 scandalous cases of this description that came 
 under my own immediate notice dui'ing the 
 twelve months 1 was at the prison, and I may 
 as well briefly recapitulate them here, as it will 
 prove beyond a doubt how much need of reform 
 there is in the present systeui, No. 1 was the 
 
 case of a marine named B 1, undergoing a 
 
 sentence of six months' imprisonment for de- 
 sertion. He was i-ather a delicate man. and the 
 confinement and mat-making rapidly told upon 
 his constitution, and his lungs became affected. 
 There is a fine, powdery dust given off by 
 cocoa-nut fibre that impregnates the air, covers 
 the cell, and finds its way into your nose, ears, 
 and throat, causing the greatest irritation to 
 the latter, and most injurious to any one with 
 
 weak lungs. B 1 had the doctor to see him 
 
 several times, but I presume Bob did the pre- 
 scribing, as the man was never ordered any
 
 g6 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 extra food, or excused any portion of his 
 allotted task of mat-making. The man gradually 
 went from bad to worse, till within three weeks 
 of his discharge, when one morning the corridor 
 warder went into his cell, as he happened to see 
 the floor was in a great mess, and found that 
 the man had been spitting blood all night, and 
 the place was in a pretty state. The warder 
 
 forthwith put B t's name down on the sick 
 
 list, and told the doctor the state in which he 
 had found the man's cell. B 1 was ac- 
 cordingly interviewed by the doctor and Bob, 
 and the former told him he would send him 
 some medicine, but certified him fit for duty, 
 although he told the corridor warder that the 
 man was very bad and had hardly any chance 
 of recovery. The unfortunate man went on at 
 his work for another week, and then completely 
 broke down. The doctor's attention was again 
 directed to him, and he now made an order that 
 he was to do no more work, but gave him no 
 extra food, and would not make an order for him 
 to be moved into the hospital, as Old Bob said 
 his sentence expired in another ten days, and
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 97 
 
 it -was not worth tlie trouble. The doctor 
 seemed to take the same vie^, for he said "he 
 did not know whether he would live to get out, 
 and it was better to leave him alone." 
 
 B 1 did live to go out, but was so bad 
 
 when he left that his death was certain, and it 
 was a mere question of time. Now whether the 
 man's life mio;ht not have been saved if he had 
 been placed in the hospital and properly fed is 
 best known to the doctor, but I have no doubt 
 on the matter myself. 
 
 In case No. 2 the man was also a marine, 
 whom we will call Smith. He was transferred 
 to us from another prison on the 5th September, 
 and as soon as the doctor saw him, he declared 
 it to be a hopeless case. Smith only had 
 another month to serve before his sentence 
 expired, but the doctor expressed serious doubts 
 as to his living to go out. This is the state 
 of health in which the man arrived, yet with 
 only a month more to do, they had sent him 
 from the other prison a railway journey of two 
 hours and a half, with the knowledge that on 
 arriving at Xshire station he would have a 
 
 VOL. II. H
 
 98 Her Majesty^ s Prisons : 
 
 three miles' drive in a drauglity omnibus ere lie 
 readied our prison, and yet knowing all this the 
 doctor certified this man, dying of consumption, 
 asthma, and half a dozen other complications, to 
 be in a fit state of health to make this journey. 
 Now, I do not like to say anything disagreeable 
 about a man I know nothing about, but I must 
 own that I think that doctor must have been 
 either a great fool or a great scoundrel. Our 
 doctor was, unfortunately, pretty nearly as bad 
 as the other, for although he considered Smith's 
 case such a very serious one, he never ordered 
 him up to the hospital or made any difference in 
 the diet for him, but just treated him as if he 
 were in ordinary health. The doctor having 
 made no order about the man he was obliged 
 to get up and do his cell out, and sit about 
 as best he could during the day, but in a very 
 short time he became quite incapable of sitting 
 up, and used to lie about on the slate flooring 
 of the cell — a nice couch for a man in consump- 
 tion. The doctor's attention was now called to 
 him by the corridor warder, and an order was 
 made for him to have his hammock to lie on of
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 99 
 
 a day, and to have tea and wliite bread in lieu 
 of gruel and brown. His bones were nearly 
 tlirougli his skin and he was quite unable to eat 
 coarse food, so this was not much good to him. 
 He gradually went from bad to worse, but the 
 doctor would not move him up to the hospital 
 or order him any proper diet, and the whole of 
 the upper end of the corridor was becoming most 
 offensive, for the poor fellow was just rotting 
 away, and the stench was fearful. It at last 
 became so bad that the corridor warder inter- 
 fered and told the doctor that the man must be 
 moved out of the corridor, and although old 
 Bob still maintained that it was " no use 
 troubling," the other warder held out about it, 
 and finally on the 22ud of September, Smith 
 was taken up to the hospital, and a couple of 
 other prisoners told off to look after him. He 
 was now, however, sinking rapidly, so the 
 doctor thought he might safel}^ order him 
 beef tea, brandy, and anything else he wished 
 for, as he could not be long an expense ; and 
 his premises were quite correct, for on the 2Gtli 
 the man died. On the 27tli the inquest was 
 
 II 2
 
 lOO Her Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 lielcl, and the doctor explained to the jury how 
 he had ordered the man tea and white bread, 
 and sent him up to the hospital, and given him 
 brandy, beef tea, &c., but he quite forgot to say 
 that he left him in bis cell until within four 
 days of his death, and only ordered him nourish- 
 ing food when he was actually dying. Whether 
 the man ever would have recovered, even if 
 properly treated, is, I should imagine, extremely 
 doubtful ; but whatever doubt there may be 
 about that, there can be no doubt whatever that 
 his death was considerably accelerated by the 
 manner in which he was treated. 
 
 The third case was a still more scandalous 
 one, and as it proves conclusively how useless the 
 existing regulations are in protecting a prisoner 
 from ill-treatment, I purpose giving a full and 
 careful detail of it, and, in order to prevent any 
 mistake or over-colouring, have taken the narra- 
 tive almost verbatim from the diary I kept 
 while in prison, and in which I entered, day 
 by day, all particulars of this case as they 
 occurred. 
 
 The prisoner, Thomas K n, was also,
 
 Their Effects aitd Defects. loi 
 
 fiiDnilj enough, a marine, and was undergoing a 
 sentence of two years' hard labour for threaten- 
 ing to murder his sergeant. He was a hot- 
 tempered Irishman, but when let alone was a 
 decent enough fellow, as far as I could judge 
 from what I saw and heard about him. A 
 broad-built, powerful-looking fellow of two-and- 
 twenty, he ought to have stood his punishment 
 well enough if only fairly treated. After 
 
 K n had been a short time at the prison he 
 
 was employed at one of the looms to make 
 cocoa-nut matting under the supervision of 
 Johns. I have already stated what a surly, ill- 
 tempered, disagreeable man Johns was (though 
 it was more manner than anything else), and 
 
 whether K n's hot Irish blood rebelled at 
 
 being bullied and growled at, or whether Johns 
 took a dislike to him, I do not know, but they 
 fell out over something or the other, and it is 
 quite certain that Johns did not make the place 
 a bed of roses for K n. They were con- 
 tinually quarrelling about the work, K n 
 
 saying that Johns was overtasking him, and 
 never satisfied no matter how hard he worked,
 
 I02 Her Alajestys Prisons : 
 
 and Johns declaring that K n was an idle, 
 
 insolent scoundrel. K n finally complained 
 
 to the governor saying that Johns was always 
 reporting and getting him into trouble, although 
 he was doing his best, and finished up with, 
 " there's not a single other officer in the prison 
 that I have had a word with, sir ; they'll tell 
 you that I have always obeyed orders, and done 
 the best I could." 
 
 The governor declined to make any in- 
 quiries amongst the other warders as to the 
 character he bore, and told him he must do 
 more work and behave better. Things went on 
 in the same way for another month or so, and 
 then K n complained to the visiting magis- 
 trates when they came round on their monthly 
 visit. The chairman of the committee, who 
 always listened patiently to any complaints that 
 were made, and carefully inquired into them, 
 
 heard K n's story, discussed it with the 
 
 other magistrates, and after examining Johns, 
 and g'oino- over the whole matter, made an order 
 
 that K n should be no longer employed at 
 
 the loom, but be given other work in his cell.
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 
 
 'o 
 
 This is proof positive that K n must Lave 
 
 liad just and reasonable grounds for liis com- 
 plaint, or tlie magistrates would never have 
 
 made such an order as this. K n was now 
 
 employed in making mats in his own cell, still, 
 however, under the supervision of Johns, who 
 expressed the same dissatisfaction with his mat- 
 making as he had previously done about his 
 
 loom work. Once more K n complained 
 
 to the governor, and although the latter gave 
 him no satisfaction, simply telling him that he 
 must not be making complaints about the 
 officers, he must have thought that there was 
 something in it, for he sent for Johns and told 
 
 him he was not to report K- n any more, 
 
 unless he could call some other ofiicer to prove 
 that the complaint was correct. The governor 
 also made an order that the chief warder was 
 
 to see after K n's mat-making instead of 
 
 Johns, 
 
 To comphiin about a warder to the visiting 
 magistrates and the governor was in itself a 
 most dire offence to the warders, but to gain a 
 tacit victory, as K n undoubtedly had, was
 
 1 04 Her Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 a state of tilings tliat could not be allowed, and 
 tlie warders put their heads together and deter- 
 mined to make it hot for him. K n was 
 
 now beginning to complain of being ill, and to 
 apply to the doctor for a little extra food, so 
 the warders agreed amongst themselves that 
 whoever went round with the doctor was to 
 take good care that he did not give him any- 
 thing extra, but whenever K ru applied they 
 
 were to persuade the doctor that he was a lazy 
 fellow trying to humbug him by shamming. 
 They were perfectly successful in their scheme, 
 
 for although K n frequently applied to the 
 
 doctor, the latter would never give him any 
 extra food, and after three or four successive 
 applications sent word to K n by the cor- 
 ridor warder that he was not to ask for extra 
 food any more, as he would not give it to him. 
 It was now December, and K n had com- 
 pleted some ten months of his sentence, and it 
 is a most significant fact, that he was the only 
 man that had passed more than nine months in 
 the prison who had not got extra diet of some 
 kind. Early in January K- n again sent for
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 1O5 
 
 tlie doctor, complaining tliat lie was dreadfully 
 weak and ill, and begged very hard for a little 
 extra food, but without avail. 
 
 I happened one day to be out dusting in the 
 corridor when the doctor came to go his rounds. 
 He nodded to me as he passed along, and asked 
 me how I was getting on, and made some 
 cheery remarks about my time being nearly out 
 (for he was always exceedingly kind to me in 
 this way), and as he went on I heard old Bob 
 say, " There are only two men on the report 
 
 to-day, sir, No 36 and No. 10 (K n) ; here 
 
 we are at 36, sir." The doctor entered the 
 cell, heard what the man wanted, and then 
 went on to the warder's office at the end of the 
 corridor. I followed along dusting away at the 
 door numbers and locks and heard Bob say, 
 " There's only K— — n, No. 10, to see now, 
 sir," and then he said a few words to him in a 
 low tone, to which the doctor replied, " To be 
 sure, to be sure ; send him up here." 
 
 Bob shuffled down the corridor, unlocked 
 
 K n's door, and told him to go up to the 
 
 head of the corridor if he wanted to see the
 
 io6 He7' Majesty' s Prisons : 
 
 doctor. K n marclied up the corridor, stood 
 
 to attention in front of the doctor, and saluted. 
 
 " Well, K n, what's the matter with 
 
 you ?" he asked. 
 
 " If you please, sir, I am very weak and ill ; 
 could you let me have a little change of food ?" 
 
 " You are on the fourth class, arn't you ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir," replied K n, " but I cannot 
 
 get on at all, sir." 
 
 " Well, I cannot make any alteration, but I'll 
 send you some medicine." 
 
 And K n, with another salute, marched 
 
 back to his cell, and as he passed along there 
 was a weary, hopeless look on the man's face 
 that made my heart ache. Now the doctor 
 refused his application without making any 
 examination of the man whatever, and within 
 six weeks the man was dead of consumption. 
 It is absurd to suppose that he could have been 
 in perfect health at this time. Johns and the 
 chief warder now put their heads together and 
 
 reported K n for being idle and neglecting to 
 
 complete his allotted weekly task. The chief 
 backed this report up to the governor, who had
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 107 
 
 K n up to liis office, lectured liim on liis idle- 
 ness, and sentenced him to fifteen days' bread 
 
 and water, with solitary confinement. K n 
 
 beofo;ed the g^overnor to let him off, declarinsf 
 tliat lie was so ill and weak that he could 
 hardl)^ walk up to the office, and reall^y had 
 been working as hard as he possibly could. He 
 begged so hard that the governor finally made 
 an order that the doctor was to see him and 
 report whether he was in a fit state of health 
 to undergo the punishment. That night the 
 doctor examined him, and reported that the 
 man was rather weak and ill, and on the follow- 
 ing day the governor had K n once more 
 
 up to his office, and told him he would let him off 
 this time, but he trusted that his forbearance on 
 this occasion would render him more dilio-ent in 
 the future. The unfortunate fellow tried now to 
 complete the task set him, with the result that 
 the following week (the third week in January) 
 lie was seized with an attack of hemorrhaofe of 
 the lungs, and was ordered by the doctor to 
 keep his bed, and he at the same time made an 
 order for him to have white bread for a fort-
 
 io8 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 niglitj in lieu of brown. The poor fellow liad liad 
 a bad cough for some time, but it now got fear- 
 fully bad ; and I used to be awakened again and 
 again during the night by the noise he made. 
 
 I was at this time employed by the corridor 
 warder to go round every evening with him and 
 light the gas in the different cells, so that I had 
 
 an opportunity of seeing K n every evening, 
 
 and naturally made the best use of my oppor- 
 tunities. In a day or two K n apparently 
 
 got over this attack, or, I presume, the doctor 
 thought he had, for he was certified fit for 
 work again, and I myself saw him hard at work 
 at his mats on the 27th or 28th of January. A 
 couple of days' work in his present state of 
 health very soon did for him, and on the 2nd of 
 February he had to take to his bed again, and 
 on the following day the doctor told Duke, the 
 corridor warder, that the man was very ill, and 
 he was afraid he would not recover. On the 
 
 4th of February K n asked the doctor if 
 
 he would let him have a little tea to slake the 
 burning thirst with which he was troubled at 
 night J and the doctor said "To be sure, cer-
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 109 
 
 tainl}-;" but being, as usual, tliree sheets in tlie 
 "wind, forgot all about the matter, and old Bob, 
 not remembering it either, let the doctor go 
 away without making out or signing the neces- 
 sary order. Later on K n applied to Duke 
 
 to know if he could have the tea the doctor had 
 promised him; and on Duke asking old Bob 
 about it, the latter said, oh, he had forgotten 
 about it, and wasn't going to be bothered ; the 
 fellow must do without it. Duke was storming 
 away in the corridor about it like mad. 1 could 
 overhear him saying to old Bob " that it was a 
 shame, and that he supposed he should have to 
 make the man some tea out of his own supply, 
 but he didn't at all see why he was to have to 
 pay for tea for a man because Bob was too lazy 
 to see that the doctor wrote out tlie proper 
 orders. Bob's reply was straight to the point, he 
 
 declared " he didn't care a d what Duke did 
 
 with his d tea, he wasn't going to trouble 
 
 his head about the d fellow ;" and away he 
 
 bounced down the stairs. I afterwards made 
 inquiries and learned that Duke did make 
 K n a pint of tea himself, and brought it to
 
 1 1 o Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 him, but I don't suppose there was another 
 warder in the prison who would have done the 
 same tbing. The following day, February 5th, 
 
 the doctor again promised K n that he would 
 
 let him have tea and white bread, but once 
 more he forgot all about it, and old Bob let him 
 go away without making any order, so unfor- 
 tunate K — — n was again left in the lurch. 
 Whether old Bob purposely let the doctor go 
 away without making the necessary order, or 
 whether he really forgot it, I should not like to 
 say, but the possibility of such a mistake arising 
 once, let alone twice, would have been avoided 
 if old Bob had been made to stand to attention 
 at the door of the cell, like the hospital warder 
 
 at Z , and take down on a slate whatever 
 
 the doctor ordered for a man, and then after- 
 wards read the list out to the doctor in the 
 surgery. 
 
 K n could now eat nothing, and was 
 
 evidently very bad indeed, yet the doctor 
 would not send him up to the hospital, but kept 
 him down in his cell. One of the consequences 
 of this was that whenever the gas was lighted
 
 Their Ejects and Defects. 1 1 1 
 
 by any warder but Duke, K n used to have 
 
 to plump out ou to tlie cold slate floor, take tlie 
 candle as it was passed through the trap-door, 
 light his gas, and then tumble into bed again ; a 
 nice arrauo'ement for a man in his state of health. 
 
 O 
 
 I copy the following from my diary : — • 
 
 On the 6th of February K^ n had another 
 
 desperate attack of hemorrhage of the lungs, 
 and his cough is so distressing that it is dis- 
 turbing everybody in the corridor. To-day the 
 doctor said he was so bad that he thought he 
 couldn't get over it, and Duke suggested that 
 he should be sent up to the hospital, as it 
 wouldn't do for liim to be dying in his corridor; 
 and after some discussion the doctor made an 
 order for his being moved to-morrow, but never 
 made any order for any extra food or stimulants 
 to try and keep up the man's strength. 
 
 To-day (Saturday, February 7th) K n is 
 
 to be moved up into hospital, and during the 
 morning the chief came into the corridor and 
 held a long consultation with Duke as to what 
 two prisoners are to be selected to look after 
 K n while he is in hospital.
 
 1 1 2 Her Majesty' s Prisons : 
 
 " We must be careful whom we select," said 
 the cliief, " and on no account send any naval 
 men, or they will be spreading all sorts of 
 stories when they go out." 
 
 Then I heard Duke suggest that I should be 
 sent as one, but the chief said, " Good gracious ! 
 on no account, on no account." 
 
 The chief finally settled upon a decent kind 
 of man, a pianoforte tuner by trade, who was 
 undergoing a sentence of imprisonment only, 
 and a little labouring man, who was as deaf as 
 a post. The idea of selecting a man who was 
 stone deaf for a nurse was peculiarly brilliant, 
 but the fact was it was such a scandalous case 
 they were afraid of letting anybody more than 
 they could possibly help know anything about 
 it. During the afternoon they proceeded to 
 
 move K n up to the hospital, and as I was 
 
 out dusting in the corridor, I carefully inspected 
 the whole affair. About four o'clock Podgers, 
 who was the warder in charge of the removal, 
 
 went to K n's cell with 8 D and 6 B, the two 
 
 men selected as nurses, and ordered the unfor- 
 tunate man to get out of bed, and get his
 
 Their Ejects and Defects. 1 1 '» 
 
 o 
 
 clothes on, and tlien, as best he could, with one 
 of the men on one side, and the other on the 
 other, he had to walk up to the hospital. This 
 was a pretty way to move a dying man. Fancy 
 taking a man out of his bed, making him dress, 
 and then conducting him down the corridor, 
 with a door leading out into the open air thrown 
 wdde open at the further end, then along a 
 draughty passage, and finally up a flight of 
 stairs to the hospital. Still that's the way they 
 did things here. Even now that he is in 
 hospital the doctor does not allow him any 
 extra diet, with the exception of the white 
 bread. 
 
 From the 7th to the 14th K n gradually got 
 
 worse, and the doctor told the governor that it 
 was impossible for him to recover, and the best 
 thin Of to do was to release him and send him to 
 his friends. This was a regular dodge.; as soon 
 as a man's case was hopeless they got an order 
 for his release from the Home Secretary and 
 sent him home, so that his family might have 
 the expense of burying him. In the present case, 
 however, it would not do, as poor K n was an 
 
 VOL. II. I
 
 1 1 4 Hei' Majesty" s Prisons : 
 
 orphan, and had neither kith nor kin, so they 
 had to keep him whether they Hked it or not. 
 On Saturday, the 14th February, they thought 
 
 he was dying, and the priest (K n was a 
 
 Roman Cathohc) came to administer extreme 
 
 unction, but found K n quite unconscious. 
 
 Now that it was too late the doctor made an 
 
 order that K n was to have anything he 
 
 fancied, and under the influence of beef -tea 
 and otlier things he ralhed a httle on Sunday, 
 though he was still light-headed at times, for on 
 Duke going up to see how he was on Sunday 
 
 afternoon, and asking him how he was, K n 
 
 imagined he was old Bob, but on Duke's again 
 speaking to him and saying, " Why, don't you 
 
 know me ? I am not Bob," K n replied, " Of 
 
 course I do, you are Mr. Duke, you saved my 
 life by getting me sent up here when the doctor 
 wouldn't take any notice of what I said." 
 
 The sort of feelins; there was about K n 
 
 amongst the warders will be best shown by re- 
 latinafwhat occurred on the Saturday afternoon. 
 
 I was walking along the corridor behind 
 Duke, in order to get the candles, and start
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 1 1 5 
 
 lighting the gas, when Humphrey, the miller 
 warder, came up to Duke and said, — 
 
 " So Xo. lO's dying, is he ? that's a good job ; 
 we'll teach them to report officers." 
 
 On Monday, the 16th, K n was apparently 
 
 better, the extra diet seeming to have put some 
 life into him, and when the doctor saw him he 
 made an order that he was to have a couple of 
 eggs beaten up in half a tumbler of brandy 
 every day to try and keep up his strength, the 
 mixture to be administered in small quantities 
 at various times during the day. There is a 
 strict order that wines, spirits, or indeed any 
 extra delicacies ordered by the doctor, are not 
 to be left in the hospital room, for the prisoners 
 who are acting as nurses to give to the sick 
 man, but must be handed to him by the hospital 
 warder and eaten or drunk, as the case may be, 
 in the presence of the warder. This being the 
 case, you may be quite sure old Bob did not take 
 the trouble to go up to the hospital two or three 
 times a day to administer these kind of things, 
 but used to make one journey do. 
 
 On Monday evening K n was decidedly 
 
 I 2
 
 1 1 6 Her Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 better, and ate, for a sick man, a liearty tea. He 
 had just finished the meal, when old Bob, who 
 was going off duty at six o'clock, came busthng 
 up with a tumbler full of brandy and eggs, and 
 handing it to K — ■ — n said, — 
 
 " Now, then, swallow this ; look sharp." 
 
 K n did as he was ordered, and then gasp- 
 ing for breath said, — 
 
 " Why, it's spirits." 
 
 You can imagine the kind of effect this was 
 likely to have upon a man who had not tasted 
 any intoxicating liquor for twelve months, and 
 was at the time worn out with disease. It 
 stupefied him for a bit, and then later on in the 
 night brought on such a fit of raving delirium, 
 that it required the united strength of both his 
 nurses to keep him in his bed. A pretty time 
 they had with him all night, but towards morn- 
 ing he sank into a kind of stupor, from which he 
 never rallied, and died at 4.30 on Wednesday 
 afternoon, February 18th. 
 
 I have been very particular with the dates in 
 this case, because they show more than any- 
 thing else how the man was neglected until all
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 1 1 7 
 
 liopes of saving Ms life were past. The cliap- 
 
 lain's comment on K n's death was pretty 
 
 significant. 
 
 " Ah, they were not long doing for him. I 
 thought it was not all temper." 
 
 While K n's body was awaiting the inquest, 
 
 a doctor was sent down from .the Home Office 
 to examine the prison, and he, I fancy, was ra- 
 ther surprised that K n had not been sooner 
 
 sent to the hospital, for some little time after 
 the Xshire doctor got a letter from the prison 
 commissioners, asking why he had not sent 
 
 K n up to hospital sooner. What excuse he 
 
 made I do not know, but there the matter ended. 
 A prisoner's chance of getting over a serious 
 illness was pretty small, when one calmly con- 
 siders the odds against him — a careless doctor 
 (under certain circumstances), a brutal, un- 
 scrupulous hospital warder, and a couple of 
 ignorant labourers to act as nurses. 
 
 It may perhaps be thought that I have 
 exaggerated this account, but it is not the case, 
 I have, on the contrary, been most careful to 
 keep well within bounds, and am prepared, if
 
 1 1 8 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 necessary, to substantiate from the lips of the 
 officials themselves every Avord that I have 
 stated above. 
 
 The hospital regulations, drawn up by the 
 authorities, are faulty enough in themselves, 
 but when they are not even properly carried 
 out, the unfortunate prisoner has a very poor 
 chance. The present system of appointing 
 prisoners to act as nurses is utterly bad, and 
 the sooner the authorities make some alteration 
 the better. There ought to be a warder 
 appointed whose sole duty it should be to attend 
 upon the doctor, give out medicines, and look 
 after any man that was moved up into hospital. 
 By looking after a man I mean that he should 
 be with the sick man day and night ; let him 
 have his bed in the hospital and give him a 
 prisoner to do the washing and rough work. 
 He ought, of course, to have some knowledge 
 of sickness and disease, and there might be 
 some difficulty in obtaining the man I have 
 suggested, but difficulty ought not to be allowed 
 to stand in the way, for when ]3risoners are 
 dangerously ill they ought to be treated like
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 
 
 T19 
 
 men, and not like brutes. There is a special 
 hospital diet, drawn np by the authorities, which 
 I give below, and I am morally certain that a 
 prisoner is supposed to be placed on this diet as 
 soon as he is ordered into hospital by the doctor. 
 This was never done at Xshire, but the prisoner 
 was kept on his ordinary diet until the doctor 
 chose to make a special order. 
 
 L.P. 
 M. 11. 
 
 HOSPITAL DIETARY. 
 
 MEN AND WOMEN. 
 
 
 
 
 
 PER DAT. 
 
 
 
 
 
 "S 
 
 A 
 
 
 do 
 
 
 
 "3 
 
 Diets. 
 
 Bread. 
 
 Cooked 
 
 Mntton 
 (without Bon 
 
 
 
 ■C to 
 
 
 
 
 
 00 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Ph 
 
 c 
 •5 
 =1 
 
 11 
 
 Arrowroot 
 
 (made with 
 
 milk). 
 
 03 
 E-i 
 
 Milk, addition 
 to tliat in 
 Arrowroot. 
 
 
 ounces. 
 
 ounces. 
 
 ounces. 
 
 ouuces. 
 
 ounces. 
 
 ounces. 
 
 ounces. 
 
 ounces. 
 
 Ordinary 
 
 16 
 
 5 
 
 ... 
 
 « 
 
 8 
 
 
 30 
 
 ... 
 
 Extra . . 
 
 20 
 
 6 
 
 ... 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 
 30 
 
 
 Fish . . 
 
 16 
 
 
 10 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 30 
 
 ... 
 
 Low . . 
 
 8 
 
 
 ... 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 15 
 
 20 
 
 The following articles may be ordered as 
 extras or substitutes, in the quantities deemed 
 necessary by the medical officer : — 
 
 Ale. 
 Bacon. 
 
 Beef Tea. 
 
 Biscuits.
 
 I20 
 
 He7' Majestf s Prisons 
 
 Butter. 
 
 
 Lemonade (see below) 
 
 Cake. 
 
 
 Milk. 
 
 Cocoa. 
 
 
 Porter. 
 
 Corn Flour. 
 
 
 Poultry. 
 
 Eggs. 
 
 
 Eice (ground). 
 
 Fruit. 
 
 
 Sago. 
 
 Greens (or 
 
 other vegetables 
 
 Spirits. 
 
 in lieu of 
 
 Potatoes). 
 
 Stout. 
 
 Ice. 
 
 
 Sugar. 
 
 Jam. 
 
 
 Waters (Mineral). 
 
 Jelly. 
 
 Wine. 
 
 INSTRUCTIONS. 
 
 Rice Pudding . 
 Arrowroot . . 
 Beef Tea . . 
 Tea .... 
 Cocoa . . . 
 
 Lemonade . . 
 
 Mutton . . . 
 
 2 oimces rice ; 1 pint milk ; 1 ounce sugar ; 1 egg 
 and nutmeg, to produce 20 ounces. 
 
 1 ounce arrowroot ; 1 pint milk ; 1 ounce sugar, 
 to produce 1 pint 
 
 16 ounces of the lean parts of tlie neck of the ox to 
 1 pint of water. 
 
 |- ounce tea ; | ounce sugar ; 2 ounces milk ; and 
 water to make up | pint. 
 
 1 ounce flaked or admiralty cocoa to 1 pint water, 
 sweetened with | ounce molasses or sugar, for 
 flaked cocoa, and \ ounce molasses or sugar for 
 admiralty cocoa. 
 
 \ ounce cream of tar ; \ lemon (sliced) , 2 ounces 
 of loaf sugar, water, 1^ pints. The water to be 
 added hot to the other ingredients, and the 
 whole to be allowed to stand till cold; then 
 strain. 
 
 To be roast or baked on 4 days in the week, and 
 boiled on 3 days. On the days on which the 
 mutton is boiled the meat liquor to be thickened 
 with \ ounce flour, and flavoured with \ ounce 
 onions per diet. 
 
 (3.) 
 
 Printed at H.M. Convict Prison, Millbank. 9—7.
 
 Their Effects and Defects. i 2 1 
 
 From the above dietary tlie conclusion will 
 be drawn, I think — having regard to the word 
 ordinary as the first on the table — that men are 
 supposed to be placed on this first-mentioned 
 diet as soon as they are sent into hospital ; and 
 surely this ought to be the case, for if a man is 
 so ill as to necessitate his being sent to the 
 infirmary he must, a fortiori, need some better 
 food than the ordinary prison diet. 
 
 From the list of extras it will be seen that 
 there is practically no limit to the doctor's 
 power of ordering any kind of nourishing food 
 that an invalid can possibly need, and that if a 
 prisoner does not get all he requires it is the 
 fault of the medical officer, not of the authori- 
 ties, though, of course, the latter are to a cer- 
 tain extent to blame for not seeing that their 
 rules and regulations are properly carried out. 
 
 At Xshire the general arrangements for the 
 hospital were just as bad as they could be. 
 The accommodation, although pretty fair as far 
 as it went, was far too limited, and the venti- 
 lating and sanitary arrangements simply abomi- 
 nable. There were no special food utensils set
 
 12 2 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 apart for use in the hospital, and the conse- 
 quence was that old Bob had to take the food 
 up in the ordinary prison mess-tins ; and these 
 tins would be used by the sick men in hospital 
 one day and in the prison the next. Supposing 
 any contagious sickness broke out, what a quick 
 and easy method this would be for spreading 
 the infection. 
 
 The argument used in prisons, that if they 
 made the hospital comfortable prisoners would 
 always be shamming ill in order to get sent 
 there, is not, or at all events ought not to be, a 
 sound one, for a competent medical man should 
 be able to discover in a very short time whether 
 a man is really ill or not. They say that if a 
 man takes pills made of common soap they will 
 in a short time so affect him that he will appear 
 to be in the last stage of atrophy, and that it is 
 impossible for a doctor to tell whether he is 
 really suffering from atrophy or only under- 
 going a course of soap. 
 
 At Xshire the warders told me that several 
 men had obtained their release by taking these 
 pills, before it was discovered that soap did
 
 Tkei?' Effects and Defects. 1 2 
 
 J) 
 
 have tliis effect upon men, but now that it is a 
 known fact one woukl think that a medical man 
 AYOuld have no difficulty in discovering it. 
 
 They had a course of treatment at Xshire for 
 men whom they suspected to be shamming that 
 was very grand in its conception, but was likely 
 to result in very disastrous consequences if the 
 man upon wdiom they were experimentalizing 
 happened to be really ill. A case of this kind 
 came under my observation whilst there, and I 
 may as well give a slight sketch of it here. The 
 prisoner was a boy in the royal navy, aged 
 fifteen, and sentenced to three months' hard 
 labour. After being a week or two at the prison 
 he complained of being ill, and was found one 
 day lying insensible on the floor of his cell. The 
 doctor was sent for, and the boy moved into 
 the hospital. A couple of other prisoners were 
 sent up to nurse him, and the doctor attended 
 him daily, but could not make out what was 
 the matter with the boy. There happened to 
 be an old man ill in hospital at the same time, 
 so they kept the boy up in the hospital whilst
 
 1 24 Her Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 the doctor tried to discover what was the matter 
 with him. 
 
 The hospital windows looked out upon the 
 warders' gardens, and one night old Bob liap- 
 pened to go up there to get some vegetables 
 after he had locked up the hospital for the 
 night. The men, thinking old Bob safely away 
 at his quarters, were chattering away like so 
 many magpies, and Bob, as he passed under 
 the windows, heard the sound of loud talking 
 and laughing. He at once returned to the 
 prison and gently let himself in, took off his 
 boots at the foot of the staircase leading up to 
 the hospital, crept quietly up the stairs, applied 
 his eye to the spy-hole of the door, and took a 
 general survey of the whole scene. The nurse 
 was standing with his back to the fire, the boy 
 was sitting up in bed with the pillow at his 
 back, while the old man was sitting on the edge 
 of his bed swinging his antiquated heels to and 
 fro, and the whole party were talking away as 
 hard as they could go. Bob, the deep old file, 
 quietly walked down stairs again, pulled on his
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 125 
 
 boots, and tlien came pounding up tlie stair- 
 case, making as mucli noise as lie could, un- 
 locked tlie door, and marclied in. The inmates 
 were all in bed, and apparently sound asleep. 
 Shaking with anger, Bob stepped up to the old 
 man's bed and roared out, — 
 
 " How are you getting on ? " 
 
 The only reply was a Iovy snore. He then 
 turned to the boy and yelled the same question 
 at him. The boy blinked and stretched, and 
 then faintly gasped out that " he was a little 
 better." Frantic with rage Bob bent down close 
 to the old man's ear, and screamed out the same 
 question to him again. The old chap stretched 
 and yawned, and sleepily murmured, — 
 
 " Time to get up, sir ? dear, dear ! " 
 
 " You scoundrels," shouted old Bob. " I 
 came up and saw you all talking;" and choking 
 with rage, turned upon his heel and walked out 
 of the room. 
 
 The following day Bob gave the doctor an 
 account of the previous night's performance, 
 but as the old man was really ill and his 
 sentence would expire in a couple of days, and
 
 1 26 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 not, I suppose, feeling altogether satisfied about 
 the boy, he declined to pack them all out of 
 hospital, as Bob suggested, and decided to leave 
 matters as they were for the present. The old 
 man was well enough to go out on the day his 
 sentence expired ; and Bob, to encourage the 
 boy, I presume, went up on the evening previous 
 and congratulated the old chap on the fact, 
 assuring him " that he was a very lucky fellow, 
 and the first man he had ever known leave the 
 hospital alive." 
 
 The following day the doctor, unable to dis- 
 cover what was the matter with the boy, con- 
 cluded that he must be shamming, and ordered 
 him back to his cell. A day or two later he 
 was again found insensible on the floor of his 
 cell, and the doctor sent for post-haste. Once 
 more the youth was ordered back to hospital, 
 and the doctor spent another week in trying to 
 find out what was the matter with him. Bafiled 
 in his attempts, the doctor consulted with the 
 governor and chief warder. The latter sug- 
 gested that the boy should be taken out of bed, 
 well flogged, and sent to hard labour. The
 
 Their Effects and Defects. i 27 
 
 governor, liowever, thought that although that 
 sort of treatment might do in some cases, it was 
 better to be on the safe side. 
 
 Finally, they decided that lie should be medi- 
 cally treated for shamming, and this is how 
 they set to work. On Thursday they applied a 
 large blister to the nape of his neck, Friday a 
 huge mustard plaister about the size of a small 
 bed pillow was placed on the pit of his stomach, 
 Saturday and Sunday they left him to enjoy 
 the delights of these practical jokes, and on 
 Monday, I believe, started at him with the 
 stomach, pump. What next happened to him I 
 do not know, but on Wednesday the boy was 
 still holding out, and the doctor was more non- 
 plussed than ever. 
 
 The foUowino; week he once more decided 
 that the boy was shamming, and sent him back 
 to his cell with orders that he was to be treated 
 as if he were perfectly well. On the Friday 
 and Saturday I saw the boy in chapel, and he 
 looked very far from well ; this, perhaps, was 
 no wonder after the shamming treatment, but 
 there was a dazed, wild look about his eyes that
 
 128 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 gave me the impression of tliere being some- 
 thin g: wrong; with him. 
 
 On Sunday Johns was unlocking the cell 
 door, and looking into the boy's cell to see if he 
 was getting up, saw him stretched stark naked 
 on his plank-bed with his face covered with 
 blood. Johns at once called out to one of the 
 other officers to go and fetch the chief warder. 
 As soon as the latter arrived he and Johns 
 entered the cell and made an examination of 
 the boy. The outside of the right thigh had a 
 lono-, jagged wound in it, some six or seven 
 inches long, which had bled considerably, as 
 there was a large patch of blood soaked right 
 through the mattress. He was unable to speak, 
 and pointed to his throat, muttering something 
 that sounded like glass. The doctor was im- 
 mediately sent for, and on his arrival the boy's 
 leg was carefully dressed (curiously enough it 
 was about the only place on his body where he 
 could have cut himself about in the way he had 
 without doing himself some very serious, if not 
 mortal injury) ; as it was the wound there was 
 soon set to riohts, but the state of his throat
 
 Their Ej^ects and Defects. i 29 
 
 was a very different matter. He was quite 
 unable to swallow anything, and was apparently 
 suffering great pain ; and no wonder, for little 
 by little they got out of him that he had got 
 hold of a medicine bottle there was in his cell, 
 broken it, cut his leg with one of the fragments, 
 and then set to work to eat the remainder of 
 the bottle. His throat natm^ally objected to 
 having this kind of thing stuffed down it, and 
 some of the glass seems to have stuck in his 
 gullet. 
 
 The governor came hurrying up while the 
 doctor was examining his patient, and was in a 
 tremendous rage with the boy, and told him he 
 had a great mind to handcuff him. The chief 
 tried to persuade the governor to order the boy 
 three dozen with the cat-o'-nine-tails, but the 
 doctor interfered and said it was nonsense to 
 talk of anything of the kind, as the boy could 
 not be in his right mind. 
 
 After breakfast the doctor again visited him, 
 and tried to get some milk down his throat, but 
 without success. The governor, who was again 
 present, then solemnly demanded of the doctor 
 
 VOL II. K
 
 1 30 Her Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 " whether he couldn't cut the boy's throat and 
 get out what was obstructing the passage." 
 The doctor stared at hhn in silent amazement, 
 and the governor, seeing his astonishment, 
 continued, " and stick it together again after- 
 wards, of course." The doctor, with praise- 
 worthy gravity, replied, " Oh, I couldn't do 
 that." 
 
 But the two warders, who were also in the 
 cell, did not know what to do to keep from 
 laughing, and half an hour later the story was 
 all over the prison. It must have been pleasant 
 for the unfortunate boy to have to listen and 
 hear the governor quietly urging that his throat 
 should be cut. He was sent back to the hos- 
 pital, and after a bit the doctor got his throat 
 and leg all right, but the boy still declared he 
 was dreadfully ill, and they seemed as far as 
 ever from knowing what really was, or had 
 been, the matter with him. When my sentence 
 expired he was still in hospital, and I believe 
 he stuck up there until he had served his 
 time. 
 
 I have now said enough, I think, to show that
 
 Their Ejects and Defects. 1 3 \ 
 
 the hospital regulations are far from perfect, 
 and will return to my own experiences. 
 
 Now that I had discovered that it was old 
 Bob who was persuading the doctor not to order 
 me any extra diet I determined to alter my 
 tactics, and instead of saying anything more to 
 the doctor quietly sent for the chief warder, 
 and had a talk to him. I did not say anything 
 about old Bob, but simply told him that I was 
 really in need of some kind of extra food, which 
 the doctor did not seem inclined to ofrant me, 
 and asked him what I had better do. 
 
 ""Well, now, look here," he said, "you send 
 for the doctor to-day and tell him the thing 
 right out, just as you have told me, and I'll try 
 and see him myself and tell him that you require 
 some chano;e." 
 
 The chief was as good as his word, and the 
 same afternoon the doctor came down to my 
 cell and ordered me a pint of new milk morning 
 and evening, in lieu of gruel, and white bread 
 in lieu of brown. A fortnight later he ordered 
 me four ounces of cooked beef every Monday, 
 in lieu of bacon and beans, and so as far as 
 
 K 2
 
 1 3 2 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 food was concerned, I now 'got on all right. 
 The mat-making interested me and kept my 
 mind employed to a certain extent, but after 
 a couple of months I began to suffer serious 
 inconvenience from the fine powdery dust with 
 which the cocoa-nut fibre impregnates the air. 
 It afiected my chest and throat, and began to 
 trouble my lungs. I sent for the doctor, and 
 he told me I might leave off mat-making if I 
 chose, but I declined this offer, as I should 
 have been stranded with nothing to do. I told 
 him I would go on with it for the present, and 
 then as soon as the first twelve weeks of my 
 sentence were over, which would be in about 
 another month, and I was eligible for employ- 
 ment of trust in the prison, 1 would apply to 
 the governor to let me have some wi^iting to do. 
 On the first occasion of the visiting magis- 
 trates' monthly inspection, I got hold of the 
 chairman and asked him if he would allow me 
 to have a tooth-brush in my cell. On learning 
 that I had one amongst my things in the store 
 room, he at once gave me leave to have it. 
 Emboldened by my success I then asked him if
 
 Their Effects and Defects. i 
 
 
 I might have a cold bath once or twice a week ; 
 but after referring to the governor he informed 
 me he had no power to make an order for this, 
 but advised me to apply to the doctor. This I 
 had already done, with the result that the 
 doctor said " he had no objection if the 
 governor hadn't." And on my applying to 
 the governor, he said " he had no objection if 
 the doctor hadn't ;" but between them I could 
 not get my bath. 
 
 I gave up all thoughts of the bath in despair 
 on learning that the magistrates had no power 
 to order me one ; but my mourning was soon 
 turned into joy, for a couple of days later the 
 doctor came down to see me, and told me that 
 I should have a bath twice a week. So I sup- 
 pose that the chairman, as nice an old man as 
 ever stepped, gave the doctor a hint. 
 
 Here again Bob interfered, imagining that I 
 should require a hot bath, and knowing that 
 this would give him the trouble of seeing after 
 it, he persuaded the doctor to make an order 
 for only one bath a week. On discovering this 
 I sent for the doctor, and told him he had pro-
 
 1 34 Her Majesty'' s Prisons : 
 
 mised to let me have two batlis a week, and 
 Bob, having now found out that I wanted them 
 cold, and that consequently it would give him 
 no trouble as I could fill the bath myself, with- 
 drew his opposition, and the doctor made the 
 necessary order. 
 
 A few weeks later I got him to alter it to 
 three baths a week, and between being thus 
 enabled to keep myself clean and the daily 
 quart of new milk, I rapidly regained strength. 
 
 The bathing arrangements for the prisoners 
 at Xshire were simply abominable. The 
 Government regulations say "that the prisoners 
 shall be bathed at such times as the governor 
 may direct, provided always that they shall 
 have a bath at least every 15 days." This 
 is surely seldom enough ; but at Xshire this 
 regulation was systematically broken, and the 
 prisoners were bathed, on an average, about 
 once in five weeks. 
 
 I kept a record of the bathing days in my 
 diary, and am therefore enabled to give exact 
 data on this matter. 
 
 Some idea of the irregularity of the bathing
 
 Their Ejects and Defects. 1 35 
 
 will be gathered from the following : — " From 
 January 9th to March 4th the prisoners were 
 only once bathed, viz. on February 6th. Now 
 within that period the minimum number of 
 baths they were entitled to, according to the 
 Government regulations, would have been 
 three. This was chiefly the fault of the 
 engineer, who was a lazy fellow, and objected 
 to taking the trouble to see that the water was 
 heated, as this necessitated his attending to the 
 boiler for an hour or so ; and whenever bath- 
 ing day came round, he had always forgotten to 
 heat the water, and so it was put off another 
 week, and then the same excuse was made once 
 more. 
 
 Of course if the chief warder had done his 
 duty he would very soon have stopped this 
 kind of thing ; but the engineer used to do all 
 kinds of odd jobs for him, so he did not 
 interfere. 
 
 The bathing, even when it did take place, 
 was so scandalously managed that it was a dis- 
 grace to a civilized country, and, as a rule, sent 
 the men back to their cells dirtier than they
 
 136 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 were before, and in many cases covered witli 
 vermin. 
 
 A short account of a bathing day at Xshire 
 will, however, do more towards showing people 
 the disgusting nature of the arrangements than 
 anything I could say. There were two bath 
 rooms situated opposite one another in a small 
 alcove between D corridor and the receiving 
 ward. They each contained a slate bath some 
 seven feet long by about three broad and three 
 deep. The two bath-room doors were thrown 
 open, a curtain was run up on each side of the 
 passage, leaving a narrow space curtained off 
 close to each bath-room door, and in this space 
 the men were supposed to undress. In the 
 central passage between the curtains were 
 stationed a couple of warders, one superin- 
 tending one bath, and the other the opposite 
 one, while in the C corridor there was a third 
 warder ready to let the prisoners out of the 
 cells when the baths were duly prepared. As 
 soon as this was the case one of the warders 
 would step out to the bottom of the staircase 
 and call out to the one in C, " Bath ready, send
 
 T/ieir Effects and Defects. 1 3 7 
 
 down two men." This warder would then un- 
 lock a couple of cells, call to the occupants, 
 " Bathing ; off with your jacket and waistcoat, 
 take your towel, and go down." On arriving at 
 the bath-room the men would pass behind the 
 curtain, throw off their clothes, take a large 
 piece of soap, and spring into the bath. They 
 would be no sooner in than the warder would 
 immediately call out, " Two more." By the 
 time they arrived the other two were supposed 
 to be out and drying themselves, and whilst the 
 new comers took off their things the others 
 were supposed to complete their drying and be 
 ready to pass from the bath room behind the 
 curtains, and leave the baths vacant for the 
 new arrivals. The same thing went on all the 
 afternoon, the corridors re-echoing with the 
 continual cry of " Two more." 
 
 Some idea of the pace at which this so-called 
 bathing was carried on may be gathered by 
 comparing the number of men bathed with the 
 time expended. The daily average number of 
 male prisoners was about 1 20 ; the bathing 
 commenced at two o'clock, and usually finished
 
 1 38 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 at half -past four. There being sixty men to each 
 bath, this would just give an average of two 
 and a half minutes per man ; and I imagine a 
 fellow would have to be pretty smart to undress, 
 bathe, and dress in the time. Still they did it 
 somehow or the other, for the warders made 
 every man get into the bath and soap himself. 
 In they went, one after the other, no matter 
 what some of them mio-ht have the matter with 
 them ; and in prisons there are almost invariably 
 a fair number of ulcered legs, boils, blains, 
 running sores, itch, lice, and venereal cases ; 
 but it all went in together and made a nice 
 mixture. 
 
 The water was changed once during the course 
 of the afternoon, so that thirty men, diseases 
 and all, went into each bath, and the water 
 must have been in a nice condition after about 
 twenty of them had left their varied impurities 
 in it. 
 
 No one who had not seen it could imagine 
 the state the water became in ; pea- soup is the 
 only thing that will give an}^ idea of it, and
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 139 
 
 how sucli a state of things can have been 
 allowed to exist in a Government establish- 
 ment, month after month, year after year, is 
 " one of those things that no fellar can under- 
 stand." But it is too serious a matter to joke 
 about, for anything more disgusting, anything 
 more filthy, or more utterly subversive of all 
 decency and respectability, it would be impos- 
 sible to conceive. 
 
 There were always about nine or ten bars of 
 soap drawn from the stores for bathing day; 
 about two of them, or at the outside three, 
 ■were used by the prisoners, and the remaining 
 six or seven bars were quietly walked out to 
 the wheelhouse (at least such was the report) 
 to be thereafter divided between Humphrey and 
 old Bob; so that iliey did not trouble them- 
 selves to buy any soap for their families from 
 one year's end to the other. 
 
 As the doctor had ordered me cold baths I 
 escaped all the horrors of this regulation bath- 
 ing ; and how thankful I felt when I saw the 
 kind of business it was !
 
 1 40 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 The days nov^^ passed away in an unbroken 
 monotony, and tlie description of one day will 
 do for tlie whole three months. 
 
 At five minutes past six in the morning the 
 rising bell rang ; by half -past, one was dressed 
 and had the cell swept up and hammock rolled 
 and stowed away on its shelf. As I was not 
 tasked I did not commence work until seven, 
 at which hour I used to get my mat frame upon 
 the stool and set to work. At 7.45 breakfast 
 was served, and at half-past eight the warder 
 came round to collect the mess tins for dinner, 
 and I then used to recommence work. About 
 ten minutes to nine the banging of the doors 
 would warn me that the governor was on his way 
 round, and then on went your stock and you 
 stood to attention in the middle of the cell, ready 
 to salute when the corridor warder threw open 
 your door and the little man marched by. If 
 you had any complaint or request to make, you 
 took one pace to the front as he arrived at your 
 door, and he would then stop and hear what 
 you had to say. This performance over, one 
 set to work again until twenty minutes past
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 141 
 
 eleven, when the bell rang for prayers, and the 
 prisoners were marched in single file, three 
 paces apart, up to the chapel. Warders were 
 stationed about to see that there was no attempt 
 at talking among the prisoners ; but the men 
 always managed to talk somehow or the other, 
 and I have been followed all up the corridor 
 with the everlasting question, " How long have 
 got ? " Every now and then a man would get 
 bowled out and be reported to the Governor, 
 but considering the persistent way in which they 
 talked, it was quite wonderful how seldom they 
 were detected. 
 
 Habitual criminals have a way of talking 
 without any perceptible movement of the lips, 
 and throw their words out from the back of 
 the throat in a ventriloquous kind of manner, 
 rendering it exceedingly difficult for the warder 
 to tell where the talking comes from, even 
 should he happen to hear it. 
 
 It took some time to get the men all into 
 their places, and the service commenced at 
 twenty minutes to twelve, and by twelve o'clock 
 we were all back in our cells ready for dinner.
 
 142 Her Majesty s P 7^1 sons : 
 
 This did Dot take one long to eat, and by half- 
 past twelve I had usually finished mine and got 
 my tins washed and ready to pass out for 
 supper. Dinner over, I used to read (when my 
 first two months were over and I was allowed 
 library books) until half-past one, at which hour 
 the warder came round and collected the mess- 
 tins for supper, and then I resumed my work. 
 At two o'clock I used to go out to exercise for 
 an hour — for having; a bad leo: and beino; unable 
 to walk I got the doctor to make an order for 
 me to exercise alone — and could move about in 
 the little airing yard just as I pleased. If I 
 had exercised w4th the rest of the prisoners I 
 should have been obliged to march round and 
 round at a fixed pace, with the usual three 
 paces between each man. 
 
 The regulations say " that a prisoner shall 
 have an hour's exercise daily;" but the way 
 the regulations were carried out at Xshire 
 was, to say the least of it, peculiar, and the men 
 never got more than half an hour a day, and 
 when old Bob exercised them, only twenty 
 minutes.
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 143 
 
 Another great advantage I had was being 
 allowed to take my exercise without any warder 
 to look after me, for I was simply tm^ned out 
 to do as I pleased. The gate leading from D 
 corridor was locked behind me, so that I could 
 not get into the prison again until the warder 
 came to fetch me ; but the door beyond, at the 
 end of the passage that ran between the cocoa- 
 nut beating sheds, and which opened into the 
 airing-ground itself, was usually left open, 
 unless I chose to shut it, and I was consequently 
 enabled to hear many a funny tale, and learn a 
 great deal of useful information from the con- 
 versations held between the men who were 
 engaged in shell beating. 
 
 Humphrey used to lend me a little stool, and 
 I used to place this against the wall near the 
 door as it was one of the sunniest spots, and 
 here I used to sit in comfort enjoying all the 
 advantages of the conversations that were 
 carried on without rendering myself liable to 
 any punishment ; for I was scrupulously care- 
 ful never to speak a word to any of the prisoners 
 myself, for I was determined not to run the
 
 144 i/£?r Majesty' s Prisons : 
 
 slightest risk of having the order for my exer- 
 cising alone rescinded. And besides, I knew 
 that the warders gave me a certain amount of 
 extra liberty during my exercising hour on the 
 tacit understandincr that I would not abuse 
 their confidence, and. I was therefore bound in 
 common decency to strictly observe the rules. 
 
 The oakum shed, as it was called, was a kind 
 of lean-to built on to the end of the prison, and 
 had originally been used for the oakum-picking 
 gang, whence its name ; but it had now been 
 entirely altered, having been divided by brick 
 partitions into some seven or eight small cells, 
 in each of which a man was now employed in 
 beating out the cocoa nut husks with a heavy 
 hammer, so as to soften them sufficiently for 
 other prisoners to pull into pieces. Each cell 
 was furnished with a wooden block, a hammer, 
 and a certain number of husks, and the prisoners 
 engaged in the work were employed at it from 
 half-past six in the morning until five o'clock at 
 night, but were allowed, of course, a certain 
 amount of time for their meals. 
 
 It was very hard, monotonous work, but the
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 145 
 
 prisoners were deliglited to be employed at it 
 as it gave them an opportunity for talking, of 
 which they were not slow to avail themselves. 
 
 There was no Avarder to look after them. 
 Humphrey placed them in their different cells, 
 and then ivent off to attend to the treadwheel ; 
 and the door into D corridor being shut, the 
 men always had timely notice of any warder's 
 arrival, for they could always hear their keys 
 jingling as they unlocked the doors. 
 
 The cells were situated on either side of a 
 very narrow passage, the cell doors being 
 exactly opposite to one another ; and as there 
 had been, for some reason or the other, a space 
 of some seven or eio-ht inches left between the 
 bottom of the doors and the floorino- of the 
 cells, all the men had to do was to lie down on 
 the floor, place their faces in the aperture, and 
 then they could talk away as quietly as pos- 
 sible. 
 
 When there were only two or three men 
 employed here, and Humphrey was cute enough 
 to locate them in cells that were not vis-a-vis, 
 it made very little difference, as the spy-holes 
 
 VOL. II. L
 
 146 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 in the doors were not glazed, and a man could 
 push back the iron outer lid, and passing his 
 little finger through the hole to keep the lid 
 back, make a kind of tube with his hands round 
 the hole that carried his words up and down 
 the little passage as clearly as a bell. 
 
 This work was considered to be first class 
 hard labour, and the men employed at it were 
 invariably entered in the daily labour book 
 under this heading ; yet the men engaged at it 
 while I was at Xshire were without exception 
 either in the second, third, or fourth stage, and 
 hence only allowed, according to the rules, to 
 be employed in second class labour. 
 
 This was another instance of the peculiar 
 manner in which they carried out the govern- 
 ment regulations here. They had no more 
 right to employ a man in the second stage on 
 this kind of work than they would have had to 
 make him go on the wheel; yet here were the 
 regulations being daily broken, and the governor 
 either ig^norant of the manner in which the men 
 under his charge were employed, or else permit- 
 ting the rules to be broken.
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 147 
 
 The prisoners themselves, of course, made no 
 complamts about the work, even if they knew 
 they had a right to do so, which I very much 
 doubt, as the opportunities for talking would 
 more than counterbalance any amount of work 
 in their eyes. Still, the thing was wrong, and 
 the authorities paid for their neglect of the rules, 
 for if they had employed men in the first stage 
 as directed, there would have been none of the 
 habitual talking that was carried on now ; for in 
 the rapid changes that this would have neces- 
 sitated (a man only stopping in the first stage 
 for twenty-eight days), the prisoners would 
 never have had the time to learn all the ropes, 
 and would have supposed that if there was not 
 a warder near, one was likely to come along at 
 any minute. 
 
 The thing that used to astonish me most was 
 the manner in which the prisoners seemed to 
 know all that was going on in the prison, and 
 for a long time I could not make out how they 
 obtained their information. They always knew, 
 for instance, exactly how many new men had 
 come in on the previous day, and what sentences 
 
 L 2
 
 148 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 they had got ; and if any man had been punished 
 by the governor they knew all about it, and 
 what his sentence was. 
 
 When one of the shell beaters was getting near 
 the end of his sentence, there would be all kinds 
 of arrangements made for him to carry out 
 letters for the friends and sweethearts of his 
 less fortunate companions who had still some 
 time to serve. Five shillings was the usual 
 price charged for this accommodation, and the 
 waistband of the man's drawers the favourite 
 place of concealment for the letters. Where 
 they got their paper and pencils from puzzled 
 me, and I never could discover exactly how they 
 managed it ; but there is no doubt that they 
 must, in most cases, have secreted the pencil 
 somewhere about them on their first arrival 
 whilst old Bob was putting them into their 
 prison clothes ; but although it was a notorious 
 fact that letters were continually being passed 
 about in chapel and during exercise, the 
 warders never seemed able to discover where 
 the paper and pencils came from. Apparently 
 every precaution was taken, and if a warder
 
 Their Ejects and Defects. 1 49 
 
 liappened to drop a piece of pencil by accident 
 the prison was searched high and low nntil it 
 was found, and yet there was hardly a prisoner 
 who had not got a bit of pencil about him some- 
 where. 
 
 Sometimes, during^ mv exercise hour, Hum- 
 phrey would come through from the treadwheel 
 and have a chat with me, and many a hearty 
 laugh we had together. Humphrey had a 
 whole pack of cleaners, and usually had one or 
 two at his heels wherever he went ; but the 
 most extraordinary thing was the mania he had 
 for selecting the most hideous-looking ruffians 
 in the prison. Unless a man was either hump- 
 backed, blind, crippled, or idiotic, Humphrey 
 did not care to have him about him, excepting 
 in one or two cases where the men's personal 
 appearance happened to be so repulsively 
 hideous that he consented to excuse their lack 
 of bodily deformity. 
 
 My exercise was always a great pleasure to 
 me, and I never shall foro-et how beautiful I 
 thought the little dingy plat of grass looked 
 when I came out for the first time after being
 
 1 50 Her Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 shut up clay and night in my cell for the 
 requisite twenty-eight clays that the authorities 
 require you to undergo before permitting you to 
 have any exercise. 
 
 Nobody who has not experienced it can 
 imagine how beautiful the sky looks when one 
 has seen nothing but four whitewashed walls 
 for a month, and I thought the few daisies and 
 buttercups sprinkled over the grass far ex- 
 ceeded in beauty any flowers I had ever seen 
 before. 
 
 When a man is certified unfit for first class 
 hard labour, he ought to be allowed exercise at 
 once, for being mewed up in a cell without a 
 book of any kind to relieve the terrible tedious- 
 ness of the confinement must be a very great 
 strain on the health of any man. 
 
 About a quarter-past three Johns would 
 come and tell me that time was up, and I 
 would then return to my cell and continue 
 mat-making until 5.45, at which hour supper 
 was served out. After supper I used to set to 
 work once more at my mat, and keep at it till 
 the clock struck seven; then, down went my
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 1 5 1 
 
 mat-frame into its corner, my working mate- 
 rials were all stowed away in their appointed 
 place, and after sweeping my cell I nsed to sit 
 down and read until the bell rang at eight 
 o'clock for us to go to bed. Other prisoners 
 of course worked on steadily till the bell rang, 
 but as the doctor had forbidden my being 
 tasked I always stopped at seven ; though I 
 believe if the warders had wished to be dis- 
 agreeable they might have made me keep on 
 working at some light employment until bed- 
 time. Nobody ever said a word tome; even 
 Johns never went any further than to pop my 
 trap down once or twice, and after a brief 
 survey of the scene within, retire with an 
 expressive snort of patient disgust, and so I 
 always retained this hour for my own amuse- 
 ment. At five minutes past eight o'clock the 
 warder on duty would come round and collect 
 all the tools the men had been using for their 
 work during the day. Each man's tools — these 
 consisted of the scissors, hammers, sailraakers' 
 needles, &c., used for mat-making — were placed 
 outside his cell on the floor, and then when the
 
 152 //^r Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 warder came round the following morning to 
 unlock the doors each man's tools were passed 
 back to him as^ain. Just before I left Xshire 
 an order came down from the commissioners 
 that a card was to be placed outside each man's 
 door, containing: a list of the tools he had in 
 daily use; and a further order, that before a 
 prisoner left his cell, either to go to chapel, 
 exercise, or for any other purpose, he was to 
 place his tools on the cell table, and the warder 
 who let him out was supposed to see that they 
 were all there. A few days later another order 
 came down that whenever a warder, or any 
 other prison official, opened a cell-door, the 
 prisoner was immediately to lay any tool he 
 had in his hands on the floor, and leave it there 
 until the warder left the cell again. This last 
 order was sent down in consequence of a 
 warder in one of the Midland prisons having 
 been nearly murdered by a prisoner, who 
 attacked him, on his coming into his cell to 
 give him some directions, with a pair of large 
 mat-shears, and as nearly as possible knocked 
 his brains out. At 8.30 the warder ao-ain came
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 153 
 
 round to double-lock all the cell-doors, and to 
 see the prisoners were in bed, and, that finished, 
 made a third and final tour round the corridor, 
 turning out the gas and violently thumping 
 each door to make certain that it was duly 
 fastened. One would have thought that these 
 were precautions enough, but the authorities 
 did not seem to think so, for at ten o'clock, 
 when the night watcliman came on duty, he 
 used to go all round the prison, and re-inspect 
 all the doors. At least this was what he was 
 supposed to do, but as a matter of fact he had 
 three or four pet doors in each corridor that 
 he used to thump unmercifully, passing by the 
 next without trying them at all. Unfortu- 
 nately my door was one of liis proteges, and 
 every night, at about a quarter past ten I used 
 to hear him come paddling along the coridor in 
 his stocking feet, until he arrived at my cell- 
 door, and then he used to relieve his feelings, 
 and considerably disturb mine, by a sounding 
 thwack on the door. He had another unhappy 
 victim on the opposite side to me, and then he 
 left all the rest of the prisoners in peace and
 
 1 54 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 quietness until lie arrived at the far end of the 
 corridor again, where he had another familiar 
 friend. It was quite useless to go to sleep 
 before he had been round, as he always woke 
 me, so I never attempted to do so until I had 
 got rid of him, but then I soon fell asleep ; for 
 a prison daj is a very long day, a very weary 
 day, and one longs for sleep, with its sweet 
 oblivion of all the jDetty trials and annoyances 
 that are of daily occurrence in a prisoner's 
 life. Such was my daily routine for three long 
 months, each day bringing the same mono- 
 tonous round of duties — the same faces, same 
 food, same everything. Twice a month we had 
 a break in the prevailing sameness. 
 
 On the second Tuesday in each month the visit- 
 ing justices came round to inspect the prison, 
 hear complaints, and what they pleased to call 
 transact business (which consisted of standing 
 round the fire in the committee-room discus- 
 sing the latest local gossip); and on the last 
 Friday in the month the government inspector 
 came down to inquire into the condition of the 
 prison and issue new regulations. On both
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 155 
 
 occasions a vast deal of preparation was made, 
 the prisoners having to give their cells an extra 
 washing out, and to carefully examine all their 
 scanty furniture, and see that there were no 
 spots or specks about it. Gradually, however, 
 the preparations made for the former have 
 been a-ettino* smaller and smaller, for since 
 the prisons have been under government the 
 powers of the visiting magistrates have been 
 so extensively curtailed that it is difficult to 
 see what they come to the prisons at all for. 
 By stretching their authority to its utmost 
 limits they came to the conclusion that they 
 might allow me to have my toothbrush in my 
 cell, but when I apphed for leave to have a 
 bath they decided that although they might 
 allow a man to keep his teeth clean, it was 
 quite beyond their power to give him permis- 
 sion to extend his ablutions any further. I 
 tried hard to find out something that they 
 would be empowered to order me, and for this 
 reason was continually making applications to 
 them, but never got beyond the tooth-brush. 
 The only remnant of their ancient power that
 
 I 56 Her Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 tliey still retain is the being able to order a 
 prisoner to be flogged, if tlie governor brings 
 one before them for any very gross breach of 
 discipline. In old days their power was 
 supreme, and they bitterly resent their pre- 
 sent ciplieric condition. It was just the kind 
 of fussy, prying, old-womanish sort of work 
 that was admirably adapted to the capabilities 
 of the Great Unpaid. They had the appointing 
 of all the prison officials, from the governor 
 downwards, and the power of dismissing them 
 if they did not suit, so they were of course 
 treated with that extreme deference and re- 
 spect that we instinctively pay to those upon 
 whom our bread-and-butter depends. All this 
 is now a thing of the past ; and the authority 
 originally vested in them has been handed over 
 to the government inspector, and the deference 
 of the warders has in a great measure been 
 transferred with it. Formerly anything that 
 the justices disapproved of became the subject 
 of apologetic inquiries and explanations ; now, 
 any complaint they make is met with the
 
 Their Effects and Defects, 1 5 7 
 
 stereotyped reply, " The matter shall be men- 
 tioned to the government inspector." 
 
 The poor old magistrates are dreadfully in- 
 dignant at the present state of things, and have 
 continually memorialized and interviewed the 
 Home Secretary, but without avail. It seems 
 a very great pity that when government had 
 all these old fogies ready and anxious to do 
 this visiting work for nothing, it should 
 go to the expense of appointing a staff of 
 prison inspectors at high salaries. It seems a 
 still greater pity that the taxpayers should have 
 to pay some 9000/. every year, when there is 
 not the slightest necessity for it. I say there 
 is no necessity for it, because I am perfectly 
 satisfied that anyone who is acquainted with 
 the practical working of the present system of 
 inspectors would agree with me that there is 
 no adequate gain for the money expended, 
 either in the preventing of ill-treatment to the 
 prisoner, or increased efi&cacy in the staff. On 
 the contrary, affairs would be far better and, 
 of course, more economically managed by re-
 
 158 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 verting to the old system, and doing away 
 with the inspectors altogether. Let us take 
 Xshire Prison as a typical example of the 
 two systems : Here there were twelve respect- 
 able county magistrates willing to give up one 
 afternoon each month to an examination of the 
 condition of their county prison. This com- 
 mittee comprised the eldest son of a peer, four 
 baronets, five representatives of old county 
 families, one retired doctor, and one banker; 
 the latter's wealth being allowed, I suppose, in 
 these plutocratic days, to make up for his want 
 of blood; while the medical man had been 
 very wisely placed on the committee as being, 
 from his professional knowledge, able to form 
 a correct opinion of the bodily health of the 
 prisoners and the sanitary condition of the 
 prison. I have perhaps been wrong in stating 
 that the old gentlemen appointed the banker 
 on account of his wealth, for I fancy they did 
 it with an ulterior view to his capabilities in 
 financial arithmetic, for they had no sooner got 
 him on the committee than they made him 
 secretary and treasurer, and, to his credit be it
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 1 5 9 
 
 said, from that day forward their accounts 
 became intelho^ible. The whole twelve did not 
 of course come every Tuesday, but there were 
 always six or seven of them. The social posi- 
 tion of the large majority of the committee 
 was in itself a guarantee that all inquiries 
 and reports would meet with an honourable 
 and straightforward examination, while their 
 immber insured a full and careful one. In 
 addition to this numerical advantage thev were 
 far more likely to form an impartial opinion of 
 any complaints made by the prisoners than 
 government inspectors would be; for the 
 latter have always previously held appoint- 
 ments in either the convict or prison service, 
 and are naturally biased against the prisoner, 
 and in favour of the governor. Their exami- 
 nation of the prison, too, was far more metho- 
 dical and exact ; and in addition to this, they 
 used to arrive at the prison just before dinner- 
 hour and lunched off a portion of the same food 
 as was served to the prisoners. In this way Ihe 
 cook was obliged to prepare the food properly 
 once a month, thus enabling the prisoners to
 
 1 60 Her Majesty'' s Prisons : 
 
 discover if their meals were "up to regula- 
 tion" on other days, as they only had to com- 
 pare them with the " magistrates' Tuesday." 
 
 They used to listen to any complaints of ill- 
 treatment made by prisoners with the greatest 
 attention, and ask questions enough for a state 
 trial ; but in old days they were unfortunately 
 rather prejudiced in the warder's favour, as he 
 was sure to be some ]protege of their own ; but 
 now that the government make all the appoint- 
 ments there would be very little fear of any 
 miscarriage of justice on this score. They used 
 to thoroughly examine the prison from top to 
 toe when they came, and for a week before- 
 hand the warders and prisoners would be 
 scrubbing here, painting there, and polishing 
 somewhere else, until there was not a spot in 
 the whole place you might not have eaten your 
 dinner off. A speck of dirt to them was like 
 water to a mad dog, and some of them no 
 doubt rode to death the hobby for cleanliness. 
 One of the baronets, for instance, had a pleas- 
 ing habit of spitting on his finger and then 
 running it along the tops of the cell-doors.
 
 Their Ej^ccts and Defects. 1 6 1 
 
 under the shelves, and various other out-of-the- 
 way places that he imagined the prisoners might 
 have omitted to clean. The banker, too, was 
 inclined to 0:0 about the cells on all-fours, 
 trying to find a scratch on the floor, or a piece 
 of whitewash knocked off the wall. Fearful 
 was the row in the prison when, on one occa- 
 sion, the aforementioned baronet discovered a 
 cobweb on the ceiling of a prisoner's cell ! 
 Oliver Twist's asking for more was nothing to it. 
 
 Sir A B and the rest of his colleagues 
 
 stood round the cell-door with uplifted hands 
 at the depravity of a man who could be so lost, 
 so base, so vile, as to have a " Cobweb — 
 
 ACTUALLY A COBWEB ! — ON HIS CEILING," 
 
 It is true that the cobweb was so small 
 that they had to send for the clerk to bring a 
 sheet of note-paper, in order that, being laid 
 upon white paper, they might be the better able 
 to inspect it. The size, however, did not alter 
 
 the enormity of the offence, and Sir A had 
 
 a written report made of the matter, and then 
 ordered the cobweb to be enclosed in the sheet 
 of paper and placed in the clerk's office among 
 
 VOL. II. M
 
 1 62 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 tlie other archives of the prison. The prisoner's 
 punishment for this awful crime was, I beheve, 
 three days dark cell, and there was a serious 
 consultation held as to the advisability of flog- 
 ging him. Now, my readers must not suppose 
 that this is any imaginary or exaggerated 
 story; it is a simple statement of facts. Of 
 course there Tvall always be an ass or two on 
 every committee, and where a committee was 
 composed of county justices one would naturally 
 expect a considerably larger number. And I am 
 not at all sure that the asinine element is not a 
 very useful one for the purpose of investigating 
 complaints of alleged ill-treatment. There is a 
 stubborn patience in the four-legged ass that is 
 reproduced in his two-legged prototype in the 
 form of an obstinate persistency to get to the 
 bottom of a thing, and which takes no heed of 
 trouble or time so long as it can hear itself 
 talk, and eventually obtain, or imagine that it 
 has obtained, the information it required. The 
 advantage of this is, that it is exceedingly diffi- 
 cult for a man to answer a running stream 
 of questions without contradicting himself.
 
 Their Ejects and Defects. 1 6 
 
 
 
 unless he is really telling the -whole truth. 
 A knave, too, is deceived by the apparent 
 simplicity of the questioner, and, becoming 
 over confident, makes some slip that is quickly 
 seized upon by one of the other justices blessed 
 with brains and common sense. At all events, 
 with all their little weaknesses, the justices 
 examined the prison thoroughly, entering every 
 cell, and taking considerable trouble to inquire 
 into all complaints that were made. The 
 government inspector, on the contrar}^ used to 
 dance through the prison in no time ; attended 
 by the governor and chief warder, and preceded 
 by the warder of the corridor to unlock the 
 cell-doors, he would come prancing along, and, 
 as each door was opened, would just glance at 
 the stage card, say, " Have you any complaints 
 to make ? " and, receiving a reply in the nega- 
 tive, pass at once to the next cell. 
 
 If any complaint was made by a prisoner 
 the inspector immediately turned to the gover- 
 nor and asked him what he knew about it, and 
 between them they dealt out a very summary 
 kind of justice, and it was commonly stated, 
 
 M 2
 
 1 64 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 all over the prison, that if a prisoner made any 
 complaint the governor was certain to punish 
 him for some alleged breach of discipline before 
 the week was out. "Whether this was true or 
 not I cannot say, but I do know this, that I 
 on one occasion made a complaint to the in- 
 spector, and from that day forth the governor 
 did what he could, in a quiet way, to make 
 me uncomfortable. The circumstances of the 
 case were sufficiently typical to deserve more 
 than a passing notice, and I may as well give 
 a brief account of them here. 
 
 After I had been at Xshire for some three 
 months, Australian meat, preserved by salt, was 
 served out for our Friday's dinner, in lieu of 
 ordinary Australian beef, preserved by heat, 
 that we had been in the habit of having. This 
 new issue of salt beef was musty and bad, and, 
 after carefully studying the government dietary, 
 I came to the conclusion that the governor 
 had no power to serve out salted Australian 
 beef to us. 
 
 By referring to the dietary it will be seen 
 that in the table of substitutes there is nothing
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 165 
 
 wliatever said about Colonial beef preserved 
 by salt ; tlie substitutes permitted in the list are, 
 Colonial beef preserved by heat, and American, 
 or other beef, preserved by cold. There is a 
 special table concerning cooked salt meat, but 
 that refers to ordinary English salt meat. The 
 prisoners were all grumbling about the beef, 
 and, as I was quite satisfied that the contractor 
 had paid some of the officials a handsome per- 
 centage to accept it, I determined to have a 
 talk with the chief warder about the matter, 
 and, if that would not do, to appeal to the 
 governor. On the first opportunity I had I 
 mentioned the subject to the chief, teUing him 
 that the meat was salt, mouldy, and bad, and 
 not at all equal to the meat we had been accus- 
 tomed to have served out on Fridays ; and that 
 in addition I was perfectly satisfied that they 
 had no authority to issue it. 
 
 "I know it's salt," he replied, "it's meant 
 to be ; it is .corned beef, and I always consider 
 that it is far better than the fresh, and, as a 
 rule, the men prefer it." 
 
 I knew that this latter assertion was not
 
 1 66 Her Majesty' s Prisons : 
 
 correct, but I could not tell him so, as lie would 
 naturally have wanted to know how I obtained 
 the information. I pointed out to him though, 
 that whether the prisoners preferred it or not 
 had nothing to do with the matter, as it was 
 not a question of what they preferred, but of 
 whether the government regulations permitted 
 the authorities to issue salt Australian meat, 
 and that, although the prisoners might prefer 
 chicken and ham, it could not be given them, 
 because it was not on the dietary, and as they 
 could not have what they would like they had 
 no business to be forced to accept what they 
 did not like. 
 
 "Wait a moment," he said, "I will go and 
 get a dietary card." 
 
 In a few moments he returned with a large 
 office dietary in his hand, and I pointed out to 
 him the clauses I had referred to. 
 
 "You will see that there is a special table 
 with regard to cooked salt meat there," I said; 
 " but that refers to English salt meat." 
 
 "Yes, I know that," he replied; and having 
 established this fact, I proceeded to attack 
 him upon the quantity of meat issued.
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 167 
 
 C ( 
 
 AYell, then, even supposing jou liad a right 
 to issue salt Australian beef, I am receiving a 
 deficient quantity, as I should be entitled to 
 54 ounces everv Fridav, instead of the 3| 
 ounces I at present receive." 
 
 "Whv," he asked, "you are only in the 
 third class ? " 
 
 " Yes," I said; "but if you will refer to the 
 dietary you will see that in that class of diet I 
 am entitled to 3 ounces of English beef ; but, 
 if the authorities choose to substitute salt 
 English beef I am entitled, by the table, to 
 an increase of a quarter of an ounce per ounce, 
 or 4^ ounces in lieu of 3. Now, if this 
 distinction is made between English meat, we 
 are surely entitled to the same increase, if salt 
 Colonial beef is issued instead of fresh Colonial, 
 under these circumstances I should be entitled 
 to of ounces of salt Colonial meat, as that 
 would be the exact proportionate increase on 
 the 3f ounces of fresh Colonial authorized by 
 the table of substitutes." 
 
 He made no answer to this, but said he could 
 not stop any longer, but he would think the 
 matter over. On a subsequent occasion I again
 
 1 68 Her Majesty' s Prisojis : 
 
 discussed the matter witli him, but without avail, 
 and, as the salt meat continued to be issued, 
 and was apparently getting worse and worse, 
 I appealed to the governor. I explained the 
 state of things to him in the same way as I 
 had previously done to the chief, but, although 
 he had evidently — from his manner — discussed 
 the matter with the chief, he simply said he 
 would " see about it." 
 
 Whether he did see about it or not I have no 
 means of knowing, but, if he did, he kept it to 
 himself, for morning after morning passed with- 
 out bringing me any answer to my application, 
 and the salt meat was still issued. 
 
 I now decided to refer the matter to the 
 government inspector ; although I got several 
 friendly hints from the warders that I had 
 better leave the matter alone, or the governor 
 would make it unpleasant for me. This, of 
 course, only made me the more determined to 
 carry out my intentions, for, if there was any 
 truth in these reports, it was highly advisable 
 for me to be made aware of it. 
 
 Accordingly, upon the next occurring visit
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 169 
 
 of the inspector, I made my complaint to him. 
 He Ustened to what I had to say; asked to 
 look at the dietary card, and then, turning to 
 the governor, said, " AYhy do you give them 
 salt meat? " 
 
 " Because the contractor sent it down," 
 replied the latter. 
 
 " Very well," said the inspector turning to 
 me, " I will talk the matter over with the 
 governor." 
 
 What the result of the talking over was I 
 never learned, but the salt meat continued to be 
 issued until the supply sent down by the con- 
 tractor was used up, and then we received 
 fresh Colonial beef again, so that my appli- 
 cation attained its aim in the end. I am sorry 
 to say, however, that the personal results to my- 
 self were exactly in accordance with the hints 
 I had received : my application to write an 
 extra letter was refused, I was not allowed to 
 continue the pleasant office work upon which I 
 was now employed, but was ordered back to my 
 cell to commence mat-making again. The 
 doctor was asked by the governor to take away
 
 1 70 Her Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 the extra food I was ordered and to replace me 
 on the ordinary prison diet, and in a dozen 
 different ways I was made to understand that 
 I could not make successful complaints to the 
 inspector with impunity. As the charge about 
 the food is a grave one, I think I had better 
 relate the exact circumstances that autliorize 
 me to make it. A week or two after the salt 
 meat episode with the inspector, the doctor 
 came down one night to my cell and asked me 
 " How I was getting on ? " I told him I was 
 pretty well, and he then said, — 
 
 " Oh, by the way, do you think you could do 
 without your milk ? " 
 
 "No, sir," I rephed, "I don't think I 
 could." 
 
 " Well, you see the governor says the in- 
 spector does not like to see men getting extra 
 food, and the governor asked me whether you 
 could not do without your milk now and be 
 replaced on the ordinary diet?" 
 
 " I don't see how I can, sir," I replied, 
 " and if you will ask the warder of my corridor 
 he will tell you that I eat hardly any of the
 
 Their Effects and Defects. i 7 1 
 
 food served out to me, and live entirely on my 
 mornino- and evenino- allowance of bread and 
 
 O O 
 
 milk." 
 
 " To be sure, to be sure," answered the 
 doctor ; " you sliall still liave your milk. A man 
 in your state of liealtb. requires some extra 
 nourisliment, and you sliall have it." 
 
 So I kept my milk all right, but it was only 
 thanks to the doctor, and although it may 
 possibly have only been a curious coincidence, it 
 is a very funny thing that no objections to the 
 milk were made before ; and a still more extra- 
 ordinary circumstance was, that at this very 
 time there were some fourteen other men in the 
 corridor on extra diet, but no alterations were 
 made with regard to them, and they all con- 
 tinued to receive their extra allowance whether 
 the inspector liked it or not. Now I feel 
 pretty certain that if I had made a complaint 
 of this kind to the visiting justices, they would 
 have taken very good care that 1 did not suffer 
 for it in any way. The very first visit the 
 inspector made gave me conclusive evidence of 
 the utter inability of his visits for preventing
 
 1 72 Her Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 ill-treatment of prisoners by the warders. I 
 noticed on tlie occasion of tlie visit in question, 
 that the inspector stayed some moments in one 
 of the upper cells of the corridor, and guessed 
 there was a complaint being made. After he 
 had completed his rounds I heard him sharply 
 reprimanding one of the warders, though I 
 could not be positive which of them it was (I 
 am morally certain it was old Bob), for the row 
 was going on at the far end of the corridor. I 
 could hear, however, that the warder was trying 
 to make some excuse ; and then I heard the 
 inspector, in a loud and angry tone, say, 
 " Nonsense, you know perfectly well that you 
 have no business to strike a prisoner on any 
 pretence whatever ;" then his voice sank again 
 to its ordinary pitch, and I was unable to hear 
 the rest of his remarks, although I could tell 
 that he was still making it pretty hot for the 
 warder. A few moments later there was total 
 silence in the corridor, and the bang of the 
 glass door leading into the office passage told 
 me that the inspector had left. He had been 
 gone about five minutes when I heard the
 
 Their Effects and Defects. i 73 
 
 warder come stamping across tlie corridor, 
 dash open one of the cell-doors, and shout out 
 in a furious voice, " You ungrateful young 
 scoundrel, I'll teach you to tell the inspector ;" 
 then there was the thud, thud, of heavy blows 
 or kicks, interrupted by a scream of agony, and 
 followed by a succession of short spasmodic 
 screams, evidently produced by intense pain. 
 The cries re-echoed through the cells with a 
 startlino; distinctness : and then sudden shrieks 
 of " Oh, don't, sir ; don't ! don't ! don't ! " inter- 
 mingled with the gruff voice of the warder, 
 hoarse with passion, declaring, with many oaths, 
 that " he'd teach the young scoundrel to tell 
 of him," told me plainly enough that the 
 unfortunate prisoner was being again knocked 
 about. A few more muttered oaths, the 
 slamming of the cell-door, and the shuffle of 
 feet across the corridor, showed me that the 
 warder had left the prisoner's cell and returned 
 to the warder's office. The prisoner still con- 
 tinued to utter loud cries, intermingled with 
 ejaculations of pain, and in a few moments I 
 heard the warder o^o across again to the man's
 
 1 74 Her Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 cell and declare with various fresh oaths that 
 " he'd give the young ruffian a fresh dose, 
 if he didn't keep quiet." While this parley 
 was l^eing carried on I heard the door from the 
 office passage open, and the chief warder call 
 out, — 
 
 " I won't have you ill treat that man ; he has 
 a right to complain, and you leave him alone." 
 
 The warder replied " that he didn't see 
 why he was to put up with being reported," 
 but the chief called out sharply and authori- 
 tatively, — 
 
 " Come out of that cell at once ; if you don't 
 I'll go straight to the governor." 
 
 Then I heard the cell-door slammed-to, and 
 the warder muttering threats of future ven- 
 geance went back again to the warder's office; 
 and meantime the chief warder called out aofain 
 in a loud voice, — 
 
 " T won't have the man ill-treated ; if I hear 
 you go near his cell again I'll report you 
 straight to the governor. Now be careful," he 
 continued, " because I shall certainly keep my 
 word."
 
 TheU' Effects and Defects. 175 
 
 Then the office door slammed again, and the 
 chief had evidently returned to his other duties. 
 Loud cries still proceeded from the prisoner's 
 cell, and it was some time before they entirely 
 ceased. 
 
 It will no doubt be said that the chief warder 
 ought to have gone at once to the governor, 
 but I venture to say that eight chief warders 
 out of ten would have acted exactly as Water- 
 gate did. Again, it may be asked why the 
 prisoner himself did not report the matter to the 
 governor when the latter went his rounds the 
 following morning, or to the inspector on the 
 occasion of his next recurring visit ? 
 
 The best answer to these questions is perhaps 
 that neither of these courses was taken in the 
 above case, and no doubt the arguments used 
 by the warder, whether persuasive or threaten- 
 ing, to prevent the prisoner making any further 
 stir about the matter would be equally effica- 
 cious in any parallel case that might arise. 
 At all events, from whatever cause, it distinctly 
 proves that the visit of the inspector is not the 
 slightest protection to the prisoner. The very
 
 1 76 He}'- Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 fact of a warder daring to commit such an open 
 violation of all rules and regulations, proves 
 beyond a doubt that the warder considered that 
 he could behave as he did with perfect impunity, 
 for he must have known that detection of the 
 act would have resulted in his dismissal, and he 
 would not have been likely to run the risk of 
 such a severe punishment as this unless he had 
 been perfectly satisfied in his own mind that 
 there was virtually no risk to run. Here again 
 I think satisfactory proof may be adduced that 
 the visiting justices would be far more likely 
 to prevent cases of this kind occurring than 
 the inspector. In the first place, there are sure 
 to be two or three sharp inquisitive fellows 
 amongst their number, who, once a complaint 
 of this kind is made against a warder, keep 
 continually making inquiries about the conduct 
 of the particular warder for months afterwards ; 
 secondly, there are sure to be one or two 
 earnest men amongst them who make it their 
 business to inquire most carefully and fully into 
 all cases of ill-treatment, and, having nothing to 
 do with any other prison but their own parti-
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 177 
 
 cular one, are enabled to concentrate tlieir whole 
 attention upon any case that comes under their 
 notice requiring special watchfulness. Thirdly, 
 three-fourths of the prisoners are sure to be 
 natives of the county in which the prison they 
 are in is situated, and consequently are certain to 
 know, and be known, by some of the visiting 
 magistrates, and if persistent ill-treatment was 
 being carried on in the prison, it would be sure to 
 leak out and come to the ears of the magistrates 
 sooner or later, and once on tlieir guard, they 
 could easily discover the truth or falsehood of 
 the report. In short, I maintain that with the 
 magistrates ready and anxious to perform the 
 work the prison commissioners require done, 
 viz. the proper and satisfactor}^ supervision of 
 our local prisons, the continuance of the present 
 staff of prison inspectors is a most unnecessary 
 and useless expense to the country. Any addi- 
 tional supervision (if the government thought 
 it necessary) might easily be arranged for, by 
 letting the prison commissioner for the dis- 
 trict visit each prison in his district once every 
 three months, and such an arrangement as this 
 
 VOL. 11. N
 
 lyS Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 would give every security that eitlier tlie 
 government or public could possibly think 
 necessary. In addition it would be a real act 
 of charity towards the commissioners them- 
 selves, for from all accounts they must often be 
 very hard pushed for something to do, and as 
 they get a thousand a year a-piece, they might 
 just as well do something for their money. It 
 is commonly reported in the prison service that 
 the chairman of the commissioners (Sir E. du 
 Cane) is such a glutton for work that he shuts 
 himself up in a little private room at the Com- 
 missioners' Office in Parhament Street, and does 
 all that is to be done himself; even to the issu- 
 ing of the circulars, keeping his colleagues in a 
 state of indignant inactivity, for they naturally 
 resent being treated as mere ciphers. 
 
 The days slipped away somehow or the other, 
 and as soon as the first three months were over, 
 and I was " eligible for emplotjment of trust in the 
 jjvison,^^ I applied to the governor to know if I 
 could be employed at office work, and received the 
 usual answer of " I'll see about it ;" but in this 
 case he really did see about it, and a couple of
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 1 79 
 
 mornino's later told me there ^vas some writing: 
 for me to do, and that he would give orders for 
 me to commence my new work on the following 
 Monday. "When that day arrived I was let out 
 of my cell after the governor had gone his 
 rounds, and conducted to a fair-sized room 
 adjoining the committee-room, and on the 
 opposite side of the passage to the governor's 
 and clerks' offices. It was furnished with a 
 large leather-topped table and some half-dozen 
 most comfortable chairs, and having a large 
 window looking out upon the warders' garden, 
 seemed a perfectly palatial abode after three 
 months of cell life. I found the table covered 
 with a mass of papers, and Wigan, the clerk, 
 came in to show me what to do. It seemed the 
 governor was having an al^^habetical list made of 
 the prisoners sent to this prison for the last 
 twenty years, with the number of convictions 
 recorded against each of them, and the date and 
 number of the Criminal Registry in which all 
 particulars of them might be found, if required. 
 There had been a naval prisoner employed on the 
 work for some three or four months, but he, 
 
 N 2
 
 1 80 Her Majesty s Prisons . 
 
 poor fellow, having gone out of liis mind, had 
 been taken off to the Asylum, and from the 
 mess he had left things in it was quite time they 
 did take him there. In addition to this I had 
 to write up the daily labour book; balance 
 weekly the provision and extra diet books, 
 and between whiles sort, examine, and arrange 
 all the commitment warrants for the preceding 
 four years. Later on I had to mount on boards 
 the new rules and resfulations issued for 
 female prisoners ; make copies of the governor's 
 answers to official inquiries ; draw up the daily 
 percentage of the various religious sects in the 
 prison (a return of which had been called for 
 by the Home Secretary, and this necessitated 
 of course a careful examination of the Criminal 
 Register for the two preceding years) ; make out 
 the monthly average of prisoners, male and 
 female, with a list of the different kinds of work 
 at which they were employed ; draw and cut 
 out on cardboard large letters to be nailed on 
 mat frames, to enable the mat maker to insert 
 names or letters in the centre of mats ordered 
 for hotels or public buildings ; examine all the
 
 Their Ejects and Defects. 1 8 1 
 
 library books, making a note of such as were 
 torn, defaced, wi^tten on, or otlierwise damaged; 
 and a liost of minor jobs. 
 
 I have made this brief enumeration as show- 
 ing the ample means placed at my disposal for 
 obtainino- a thorouo'h insisfht into the manage- 
 ment of the prison and the ordinary treatment of 
 prisoners, as well as being able to form a pretty 
 correct opinion on the comparative merits of 
 the late and present system of conducting 
 prisons, with regard to the suppression of crime 
 and economy of expenditure. 
 
 The balancing of the provision books used 
 to be a most amusing performance ; and if the 
 store accounts are kept in the same manner in 
 the rest of her Majesty's prisons, it is no wonder 
 that Government finds it difficult to make them 
 pay. I generally used to find that the cook 
 had issued about forty pounds of bacon in the 
 month, and yet, according to the book, only 
 received from the storekeeper perhaps fourteen 
 or fifteen pounds. It was the same with regard 
 to several other items in the book ; and when I 
 drew Wigan's attention to these curious dis-
 
 1 82 Her Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 crepancies, he would say, " Oh, never mind; I 
 have forgotten to put down the last lot I issued 
 to the cook, but I'll make it all right ;" and the 
 necessary amount was filled in and things made 
 " all right." 
 
 The arranging of the commitment warrants 
 employed me for some time, and most interesting 
 work it was. Perhaps it may sound curious to 
 hear such a seemingly prosaic thing as a 
 commitment warrant called interesting ; but it 
 must be borne in mind that this document 
 becomes the receptacle of all kinds of informa- 
 tion concerning the prisoner. Any gross 
 breaches of discipline committed by him are 
 endorsed on the outside, and if he has been 
 flogged, a little paragraph in red ink notifies 
 the fact and states at what iiour the punishment 
 was inflicted, and gives the names of the ofl&cials 
 who were present. Any serious illness he may 
 have had whilst in prison is also stated here, 
 and the number of days he was detained in 
 hospital. If the police make any inquiries 
 about him, or furnish any information concern- 
 ing his past career, the documents are carefully
 
 Their Ejects and Defects. 1 8 
 
 folded up inside the warrant, together with 
 any other letters of inquiry that may have 
 been forwarded by his relations or friends. 
 Again, should the prisoner write any letters 
 that the governor considered it advisable to 
 keep a copy of, or write any containing matter 
 contrary to the rules and regulations, or should 
 there be any correspondence with the Home 
 Office about him (with regard to the advisability 
 of discharging him, either on the score of ill- 
 health, or for any other reason), all the various 
 documents find their way into the seemingly 
 inevitable warrant ; and lastly, in the event of 
 the man dying from natural causes or suffering 
 the extreme penalty of the law, every particular 
 is safely stowed away in the same receptacle. 
 But even now I have not finished, for his stage 
 paper (containing the number of marks he 
 earned and the labour he was employed at), 
 his door-card, with his name, age, trade, &c., 
 and the number of times, if any, that he had 
 been reported to the governor, and the printed 
 description-paper filled in l)y the receiving 
 warder on the prisoner's admission, containing
 
 1 84 Her Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 an exacfc description of his personal appearance, 
 distinctive marks, number of previous con- 
 victions, and a liost of minor particulars, were 
 also carefully folded up and placed inside the 
 warrant. 
 
 One of these warrants could not be found, 
 and I had to go through the whole lot, care- 
 fully opening and examining every paper they 
 contained. Whilst engaged at this work I 
 came across some most curious records ; and 
 as I kept a diary, in which I carefully noted 
 down all cases of interest, I have thoroughly 
 reliable data to refer to. Some of the letters 
 addressed to the governor by the relatives of 
 prisoners were most ludicrous. 
 
 One old woman sent a letter, offering the 
 governor a nice fat canary bird if he would be 
 kind to her son, and addressed the letter to 
 "Mr. The Turnkey." She wrote two or three 
 other letters on the same subject, always holding 
 out promises of the canary, with a bulletin of 
 the bird's health at the time of writing. She 
 invariably finished her letters with " Your hum- 
 bler servant, M W . God bless you all!"
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 185 
 
 Another woman lieaded lier letter " To the 
 Guvnor," and commenced " Dear sir, I hope 
 you excuse me call you such, but 1 don't know 
 your name," and went on to ask if he would 
 allow her, " as a broken-hearted niece," to send 
 a quarter of a pound of snuff to her aunt, who 
 had just been sent to prison. 
 
 Other letters were written in what is vulgarly 
 called the high-falutin style, and had evidently 
 involved considerable study of some cheap 
 " Polite Letter Writer. " Of this sort of letter the 
 following specimen is a pretty fair sample : — 
 
 " Sir, — I should indeed feel much obliged if 
 you would inform me per return how my 
 unfortunate brother is getting on, and whether 
 his health is impaired. 1 can assure you my 
 family have felt it most keenly to know that 
 he is in prison. It was through having got 
 drunk, in consequence of having been falsely 
 and maliciously informed that the young woman 
 with whom he had been keeping company was 
 receiving the addresses of another. I can 
 assure you, sir, the lad has never had any
 
 1 86 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 reprimand, mucli less judgment, passed upon 
 him by any one of civil authority before, and 
 has always conducted himself well. I really 
 hope that you will extend to him that kindness 
 and consideration which your discretion will 
 permit. Perhaps you will kindly inform me 
 whether his incarceration involves hard labour." 
 
 The description of the gentleman undergoing 
 the incarceration was as follows : — Trade, 
 servant ; age, twenty ; degree of instruction, 
 imperfect. 
 
 Another letter of this description commenced, 
 " Dear sir, I hope you will pardon me thus 
 addressing you, but I hope the feeling of an 
 anxious parent will be an ample plea for the 
 intrusion." After various inquiries after the 
 health of her " dear boy," and a fervent request 
 that an " enclosed epistle " might l)e given to 
 him, the letter finished up with " Trusting in 
 your generosity and urbanity." 
 
 The dear boy in question was an able-bodied 
 
 seaman, aged twenty-seven, of H.M.S. J , 
 
 sent to prison for forty-two days' hard labour
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 187 
 
 for " breaking out of liis ship, taking a boat 
 from alongside, and remaining absent twenty- 
 one and a half hours." 
 
 Other letters there were of inexpressible 
 sadness, and which, though rough, ill-written, 
 and ill-spelt, had a world of pathos in the 
 words of farewell that instinctively told one of 
 the weary, heartsick craving to look once 
 more on the face of the receiver — letters 
 written by men dying alone, unwatched, un- 
 cared for, in the dreary prison hospital, without 
 one loving word, one pitying look. 
 
 There were other letters, sadder even than 
 these; letters that fascinated one with a 
 shuddering morbid longing to know their con- 
 tents ; the last farewell letters of those who had 
 been sentenced to death, and were shortly to 
 suffer the last penalty of the law. There were 
 some other letters that reflected very little 
 credit on the magistrates and police concerned 
 in tlie case. They were contained in the 
 warrant of a woman named Thomas, aged 
 twenty-two, single, an " unfortunate." She 
 was brought before a Mr. L , on the 11th of
 
 1 88 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 February, accused of sleeping in an ontbouse on 
 the night of the 10th, convicted as a vagrant, 
 and sentenced to seven days' hard labour. She 
 was driven over to the prison in the police cart 
 on the following day (the 12th of February), and 
 on arrival was so ilj that the governor sent for 
 the doctor, who examined her, and reported 
 that she was quite unfit for labour of any kind, 
 and needed the greatest care to save her life ; and 
 yet the wretched woman had been sent here 
 for trying to get a little shelter on a cold Feb- 
 ruary night. She was placed on extra diet, and 
 with the help of considerable attention on the 
 part of the doctor and the matrons was suffi- 
 ciently well to be discharged when the seven 
 days had expired. Meantime, the police had 
 written to inform the governor, as is customary 
 in such cases, that they intended re-arresting 
 her, and requesting him to let them know at 
 what hour she would be discharged from prison. 
 Being, I suppose, aware of this, the doctor 
 endorsed her discharge as follows : " P. Thomas 
 ioas admitted into gaol very unwell^ and in a state 
 of great dehility. It ivas for some time doubtful
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 1S9 
 
 luhether she ivoiild be sufficiently recovered for 
 discharge ivheii her sentence expired. She needs 
 rest and medical treatment^ being quite unfit for 
 
 luork. — Signed. , Xshire County Prison.'' 
 
 On lier discharge from the prison on the 18tli 
 of February, she was arrested by the superin- 
 tendent of the F Borough Police, and, not- 
 withstanding the medical certificate, taken off 
 
 at once to F , a town some forty miles 
 
 distant, and necessitating a railway journey of 
 nearly two hours. On her arrival, she was 
 handed over to the county police and taken to 
 the police-station. The same afternoon, Feb- 
 ruary 18th, she was brought before the magis- 
 trates and sentenced to fourteen days' hard 
 labour. She was then taken back to the police 
 cells, to be removed on the following day to 
 Xshire. When the next day arrived she was so 
 ill that the local doctor had to be called in, and 
 by his advice she was removed to the work- 
 house infirmary, where she remained until the 
 21st, when she was certified fit for removal, 
 and sent off to Xshire under police escort. She 
 was received at the prison on the afternoon of
 
 1 90 Her Majesty'' s 'Prisons : 
 
 the 21st, and tlie warrant was endorsed : 
 " Received into the "prison in an exhausted state 
 
 the effect of fits. — Signed, , Surgeon^ Xshire 
 
 Prison." 
 
 Captain C , wlio was at this time 
 
 governor, was disgusted at the way in which 
 the woman had been treated, and wrote to the 
 borough magistrates complaining of the conduct 
 of the poHce in the matter. The magistrates 
 of course took the part of the police, declared 
 there must be a mistake somewhere, and pro- 
 mised to communicate with the superintendent 
 of the borough force and let the governor know 
 the result. 
 
 A few days later a letter came from the 
 mayor of the town, enclosing one he had received 
 from the superintendent, sayiug that he (the 
 mayor) " hoped the governor would see from 
 the enclosed that there was no blame attaching 
 to anybody ; but that, on the contrary, the 
 woman had been treated with every attention." 
 Whether this would be the view of the case 
 taken by an impartial person, can be easily 
 judged by a little careful consideration of the
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 1 9 1 
 
 followino; letter which was the enclosure referred 
 to : — 
 
 " To the Mayor of F . 
 
 " SiE, — I beg to acknowledge the receipt 
 of your letter containing a complaint made by 
 the governor of the Xshire Prison with regard 
 to the treatment of the woman Thomas. I re- 
 arrested the woman on her ■ discharge from 
 prison, and then brought her down by rail to 
 
 F . As long as she was in my hands she 
 
 appeared to be quite well ; but a short time 
 after I had handed her over to the county police 
 she was taken with a fit, and remained so, more 
 or less, the remainder of that day and the 
 following night. The next morning, Tuesday, 
 19th inst., she appeared much better, and Dr. 
 
 B advised her being removed to the Union, 
 
 where she remained until the morning of 
 Thursday, 21st inst., when, at her own special 
 
 request and with the sanction of Dr. B , she 
 
 was removed to Xshire." 
 
 The letter finished up with an attempt at an 
 injured-innocence kind of grumble that the 
 governor of Xshire Prison should presume to
 
 192 Her Majesty' s Prisons : 
 
 suppose that a member of the police force could 
 do wrong. 
 
 The question one naturally asks after the 
 perusal of the above letter is : if the woman 
 was " taken with a fit, and remained so, more 
 or less, the remainder of the day " (whatever 
 that may mean), how and when was she brought 
 before the magistrates ? The date of the 
 warrant proves that she was before them on the 
 18th of February, and it makes one curious to 
 know whether she was " more or less in a fit " 
 whilst her case was going on, and if so, whether 
 the magistrates considered fourteen days' hard 
 labour good for fits. 
 
 The F magistrates had already earned 
 
 an unenviable notoriety among merchant sea- 
 men, for it was openly asserted that they 
 invariably convicted any disobedient seamen 
 that were brought before them, with an utter 
 disregard of both evidence and justice. 
 
 While I was at Xshire, they, on one occasion, 
 convicted six seamen of disobedience, and sen- 
 tenced them to six weeks' hard labour apiece ; 
 but after the men had been in the jDrison for
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 193 
 
 four or five days, an order was sent down from the 
 Home Secretary for the release of \\\q whole lot. 
 
 Before PHmsoll's Act was passed these 
 amiable justices used to be in their glory, and 
 while the winter gales were blowing, as many 
 as thirty and forty disobedient seamen a week 
 were sent up to the prison by these glorious 
 specimens of the Great Unpaid-. 
 
 It was very curious the mania some people 
 (they were almost invariably women) seemed to 
 have for writing letters to prisoners that they 
 had never seen or heard of. They were, as a 
 rule, prosy moral lectures of the most common- 
 place description, and usually came enclosed 
 with a pink note to the governor, containing a 
 request that the prisoner might be allowed to 
 have the letter if he (the governor) considered 
 that a word in season would be beneficial. 
 
 These kind of letters of course always found 
 their way into the warrant, for when tlie pri- 
 soner became entitled to a letter he was pretty 
 nearly certain to have one from his friends, and 
 being only allowed to receive one letter, he of 
 course declined to have anvthins: to do with his 
 
 VOL. II
 
 1 94 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 fair unknown correspondent. There were some 
 other letters of somewhat the same description, 
 but which might perhaps have done great and 
 lasting good ; earnest, hearty Christian letters, 
 written by sensible people who, without know- 
 ing the prisoner personally, knew something 
 about his or her past life, and being aware that 
 the prisoner in question was orphaned or friend- 
 less, sent the letter to the governor with a 
 request that if So-and-So did not get a letter 
 when the time arrived for him to be permitted 
 to have one, they would be much obliged if he 
 would let the prisoner have the enclosed. 
 Another curious thing was the number of 
 people in England who must have missing 
 relations, for a man who had died in the prison 
 after refusing to give any name to the magis- 
 trates, and without the police being able to 
 identify him, had his warrant full of letters 
 from all parts of England with inquiries from 
 people anxious to know if he could be the 
 relation they were in search of. 
 
 There were other things, however, besides 
 letters in the warrants, and the written reports
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 195 
 
 At 
 
 of the trial of two seamen named FitzGrilibon 
 and Austen, who were bronsfht before the 
 visiting committee charged with mutiny and 
 threatening to strike a warder, were very in- 
 structive, and from the careful inquiries I made 
 about the cases, proved how easily a prisoner 
 can be systematically ill-treated. Both of these 
 men were, from all accounts, impudent, ill- 
 tempered fellows, but that was no excuse for 
 the persistently unfair manner in which the 
 warders treated them. They were here while 
 the prison was still under the county authori- 
 ties, and in those days if a warder had a grudge 
 against a man he could get him kept working 
 at the treadwheel durino; the whole of his sen- 
 tence, for rule 12 of the county regulations 
 enacted that " Every male prisoner of sixteen 
 years and upwards, sentenced to hard labour 
 for more than fourteen days, is to be kept 
 durino- the whole of his sentence at hard labour 
 of the first class, for such number of hours, not 
 more than ten, nor less than six (exclusive of 
 meals), as may be prescribed by the visiting 
 justices, unless the surgeon certifies that he is 
 
 2
 
 1 96 He}'- Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 unfit for such labour, or the visiting justices 
 substitute, after the first three months of a 
 prisoner's sentence, hard labour of the second 
 class, or employment in the necessary service 
 of the prison, as a reward for industry and good 
 behaviour." All therefore a warder had to do 
 was to complain that a prisoner was inattentive 
 or idle, and the justices would of course keep 
 him at wheel labour. 
 
 At that time Johns was always the warder in 
 charge of the treadwheel gang, and he took one 
 of his afore-mentioned dislikes to FitzGibbon, 
 and was continually snarling and growling at 
 him. Not content with thus showing his dis- 
 approval, he proceeded to make FitzGibbon do 
 considerably more than his share of work on 
 the wheel. This could be perfectly easily 
 managed by making the same man go number 
 one on the wheel every day, as number one 
 is the first on and the last ofi", thus getting 
 some five or six minutes' more work on each 
 turn than the men at the other end of the line. 
 The men were worked in relays, fifteen minutes 
 on and fifteen off, so that unfortunate number
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 197 
 
 one, calculating tlie average day's work at eight 
 hours per day, had just one hour and a half 
 more work than the rest. This fact was so well 
 known that the order of sending out the tread- 
 wheel gang was alternately reversed, thus the 
 man who went out first in the morning was 
 sent out last in the afternoon. This arrange- 
 ment, however, was easily nullified by Johns 
 after the men had come out and taken their 
 places on the wheel, as all he had to do was to 
 order any man he disliked to change places 
 with number one. And in this way he used to 
 give FitzGibbon all this extra work week after 
 week. The man repeatedly complained that he 
 was being unfairly treated, but the old justices 
 were informed that it made no difference whether 
 a man was number one or not, and having once 
 got the idea into their heads, nothing FitzGib- 
 bon could say could get it out. 
 
 At last FitzGibbon' s patience gave out, and 
 one afternoon, on Johns ordering him to change 
 places and take number one, he rushed across 
 the wheelhouse to where Johns was standing, 
 shouting, " I have had enough of this, and I'll
 
 1 98 Her Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 give you one." And lie undoubtedly would 
 have " given him one," but fortunately for 
 Johns the miller warder, Humphrey, happened 
 to be just passing through the wheelhouse, and 
 with great presence of mind he sprang in front 
 of Johns and warned FitzGibbon to keep off, or 
 it would be the worse for him. This unex- 
 pected interference took FitzGibbon by surprise, 
 and he stopped short in his infuriated rush. 
 Johns, taking advantage of this diversion in his 
 favour, sprang upon the platform and rang the 
 bell communicating with the main building of 
 the prison, and the chief warder and two or 
 three subordinates were down at the wheel- 
 house in no time. The affair was reported to 
 the governor, and on the next committee day 
 FitzGibbon Avas duly arraigned before the visit- 
 ing justices. They listened to the evidence 
 given by Johns and HumjDlirey, and then Fitz- 
 Gibbon was asked if he had any question to put 
 to Mr. Johns. " Yes, he would like to ask him 
 whether he had not treated him differently to 
 any other prisoner." Johns replied " That he 
 only obeyed orders, having received special
 
 TJieir Effects and Defects. 199 
 
 orders to keep him (FitzGibbon) as much apart 
 as possible from the rest of the prisoners." 
 The chief warder was then examined to see 
 what he had to say on the subject, and was 
 more especially questioned as to whether num- 
 ber one on the wheel had more work to do than 
 anybody else. This he denied, and said it made 
 no difference, and on FitzGibbon asking him 
 whether he considered that he had had fair play 
 on the wheel, the chief in reply declared that he 
 had been treated like any other man. Now 
 whether the chief told a wilful and deliberate 
 lie in making this answer, or whether he really 
 beheved he was speaking the truth, it is impos- 
 sible to say, for I happen to know that he was 
 exceedingly stupid about the wheel, and it was 
 a long time before the warders could get him to 
 understand that number one did, as a matter of 
 fact, do a great deal more work than anybody 
 else ; but whether he was made to understand 
 it before or after this present affair, I have no 
 means of knowing. For Johns and Humphrey, 
 however, there is not a shadow of excuse, as 
 they both knew that the man had been most
 
 200 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 unfairly treated, but they both (although placed 
 on their oath) refused to own it. 
 
 The result of the inquiry was that FitzGibbon 
 was sentenced to be flogged, and received two 
 dozen cuts with the birch. 
 
 Austen's case was much the same, and oc- 
 curred about a month after the previous one. 
 Johns had been bullying him in the same way, 
 and one day while collecting a party of men, of 
 whom Austen was one, to take over to do some 
 washing, he was in a more than usually aggra- 
 vating temper, and kept worrying and abusing 
 Austen until the latter, losing all self-control, 
 stepped up to him and said, " I am not going 
 to be spoken to like a dog, and if you don't take 
 care, I'll knock you down." Johns immediately 
 called one of the other warders, and Austen was 
 sent back to his cell and reported to the gover- 
 nor. On being brought before the justices he 
 was also sentenced to a couple of dozen strokes 
 with the birch. This is a most severe punish- 
 ment, and the magistrates ought not to be em- 
 powered to order more than one dozen strokes. 
 It is a most significant fact that although these
 
 Their Ejects and Defects. 201 
 
 two men (FitzGibbon and Austen) were both 
 big, hardj, powerful men, seamen in the Royal 
 Navy, they neither of them ever got over their 
 castigation, and some five months later they 
 were both liberated on the recommendation of 
 the surgeon, who certified that they were both 
 suffering from atrophy, without the slightest 
 hope of ultimate recovery, ■ and they were 
 accordingly sent home to their ft-iends to save 
 the prison authorities the expense of burying 
 them. 
 
 The treadwheel arrans^eraents were all 
 abominably badly managed, and one or two of 
 the warders made a regular practice of using 
 it as a means for paying off any man they had 
 a grudge against, though I am bound to say 
 that there were only one or two of them who 
 were dishonest enough to lend themselves to 
 this kind of work ; and, luckily for the prisoners, 
 Miller, the warder who succeeded Humphrey, 
 was a good, honest, straightforward fellow, who 
 treated the men kindly and fairly, and set his 
 face against any attempt at injustice on the 
 part of any of the other warders.
 
 202 Her Majesty^ s Prisons : 
 
 How very easy it is for prisoners to be im- 
 properly placed upon the wheel may be gathered 
 from the fact that I found from the warrant of 
 a boy named Rowe that, although under six- 
 teen years of age, he had been regularly worked 
 on the treadwheel. In his description-paper 
 he was entered as fifteen years of age, and on 
 the name-card attached to his cell-door this was 
 again stated to be his age; yet, with these 
 figures staring them in the face, the warders 
 sent him out day after day to the treadwheel. 
 It is a great mistake that the commissioners do 
 not state in the rules issued to prisoners that 
 no boy under sixteen years of age is to be 
 employed at hard labour of the first class : it is 
 not sufficient to issue this reo-ulation to the 
 governors and warders, the latter will take 
 advantage of the ignorance of prisoners ; in 
 fact, the absurd things little boys are sent to 
 prison for, and the way they are treated when 
 they get there, is one of the most disgraceful 
 features in our criminal prison codes. 
 
 The present agitation with regard to juvenile 
 offenders was most urgently needed, and wher-
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 203 
 
 ever Sir Vernon Harcourt got bis information 
 from, he struck the right nail on the head, and 
 cut at the very root of the evil when he deter- 
 mined to stop the manufacture of criminals by 
 preventing any booby of a justice from sending 
 children to prison for little trifling offences 
 that would be amply and properly punished by 
 a good whipping. The Home Secretary has 
 made a mistake, however, in applying to the 
 county magistrates for advice on the subject, 
 for they are about the only class of people in 
 England who advocate the imprisonment of 
 children for so-called offences against the law ; 
 and until the administration of the criminal 
 laws are taken out of their hands and placed in 
 the hands of men who are properly qualified for 
 the work, there always will be injustices and 
 absurdities committed. 
 
 One most brilliant example of justices' justice 
 came under my notice, and as all the papers 
 afterwards passed through my hands, I was 
 able to form a pretty fair opinion of the case. 
 
 Two little boys named F and W , 
 
 aged respectively thirteen and twelve, were
 
 204 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 sent to the prison, and as one of them had the 
 coll directly under mine, and used to howl all 
 day long, to my infinite annoyance, I naturally 
 felt a good deal of curiosity about him. The 
 persistent way in which he howled was perfectly 
 appalling, and he would keep steadily at it for 
 the whole day. Yet one could not feel angry with 
 the boy, for there was a ring of genuine heart- 
 felt sorrow i^i his voice that convinced one that 
 it was not from mere temper or mischief that 
 he kicked up this terrible hullabaloo. 
 
 His companion in misfortune had a cell 
 exactly opposite, but he was perfectly quiet 
 with the exception of occasionally starting a 
 conversation with his friend in the vain hope of 
 soothing^ him. 
 
 On one occasion the howler had evidently 
 reduced himself to a state of desperation, for I 
 heard him call across to his friend, — 
 
 "'Enery! 'Enery ! " 
 
 "What do 'ee want?" replied Henry. 
 
 "If I die will you die?" groaned the 
 howler. 
 
 This pathetic appeal was stoutly and promptly
 
 Their Ejects and Defects. 205 
 
 refused by Henry, wlio was proceeding to 
 expostulate with liis friend, wlien one of tlie 
 warders arrived on the scene and informed the 
 boys if they were caught talking again they 
 would 0*0 into the black hole. 
 
 They tried in various ways to get the boy to 
 stop howling, but without the slightest effect ; 
 and on setting a few inquiries on foot about 
 the cause of this continually crying, I was told 
 that the boy was not crying over his own 
 troubles, but at the thought of what his mother 
 and little brothers and sisters would do without 
 him, as it seemed that it was on this child's 
 earnings as a ploughboy and farm labourer 
 that the family depended for their daily bread, 
 for they had no father. 
 
 The two boys had been charged before a 
 couple of county justices with stealing some 
 straw^berries from a garden, and sentenced to 
 one month's imprisonment and three years' 
 reformatory each. There were no previous 
 convictions against them whatever, and yet for 
 this trifling offence — and I maintain it was a 
 trifling oflence for boys in that position of
 
 2o6 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 life to yield to tlie temptation of jumping over 
 a lieclsre to pick a few ripe strawberries — these 
 wise justices solemnly put tlieir lieads together 
 and sent the boys to prison. 
 
 If one examines the case a little, one sees 
 what a cruelly idiotic course it was to take. 
 
 Here was this boy F earning his daily 
 
 bread, not idlino- about, and mainly contributino; 
 to the support of his mother and the younger 
 children, yet they send him to prison; and, not 
 content with that, pack him off to a reformatory 
 for three years, as if he had been an idle young 
 vagabond everlastingly getting into trouble. 
 
 His mother would now, of course, be thrown 
 on the parish for support, and in addition the 
 parish would have to pay the reformatory 
 authorities 2s, 8d. a week for the three years 
 the boy would be with them. 
 
 The other boy ^Y , only twelve, and 
 
 crippled in one leg, was not likely to have been 
 earning his livehhood, but it would have been 
 far better to have given his family 2s. 8d. a 
 week to keep him at home than to have tainted 
 him with prison life, and sent him away amongst
 
 Their Ejjects and Dejects. 207 
 
 a lot of reckless young scamps at a reforma- 
 tory. 
 
 Tliere was anotlier case, almost equally as 
 bad, of two other little boys, Brown and Smith, 
 only eleven years of age. They had been 
 errand boys to a draper in a neighbouring 
 town, and Brown had stolen six sheets, and 
 Smith one. They were brought before the 
 borough magistrates, and sentenced to three 
 months' imprisonment, and twelve strokes with 
 a birch rod. 
 
 Now these, perhaps, were cases for a re- 
 formatory, but sending them to prison was 
 simple ruin ; at all events, I am afraid, it was to 
 Smith, for he was employed shell beating in 
 the oakum shed, and got talking with the other 
 prisoners, and, from what I used to overhear 
 going on, he got nicely grounded in vice long 
 before his three months were up. At the 
 expiration of his sentence Smith went out, 
 carrying with him letters for two of the 
 prisoners (one of them an habitual criminal) 
 with whom he used to talk while employed in 
 the oakum shed, and you may be quite certain
 
 2o8 Hei'- Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 that the sort of people he took the letter to 
 would do their best to get hold of such a smart, 
 nice-looking little chap as he was. 
 
 Another boy of fourteen years of age, who 
 had been sentenced to three months' imprison- 
 ment for stealing 2/. from his employer, was 
 also employed at this shell beatiug, and learnt 
 no end of evil from talking with habitual 
 criminals employed at the same work. I have 
 previously explained how the prisoners managed 
 to talk to each other while at work in the 
 oakum shed, but it was particularly aggravating 
 to see boys sent down to work there when one 
 knew that shell beating was classed as first 
 class hard labour, and that therefore no boy 
 under sixteen had any right to be employed at 
 it. I believe myself that the reformatories are 
 very little better than the prisons, as far as 
 weaning boys from crime is concerned, and 
 it would be a considerable step in the right 
 direction if government would pass a bill that 
 only utterly incorrigible boys were in future to 
 be sent to these places. 
 
 Why cannot the government start an in-
 
 Their Ejects and Defects. 209 
 
 flustrial scliool on the same lines as tlie one 
 started near Bruges by the Belgian Government 
 for homeless, friendless, and troublesome boys, 
 and which pays all expenses, and, in addition, 
 a very handsome percentage on the money ex- 
 pended by the Belgian Government in found- 
 ins; it ? When a man has been manufactured 
 into an habitual criminal, it is astonishing the 
 sum of money he costs the country, especially 
 if he only goes in for petty offences. I came 
 across one man in the Criminal Registry who 
 had been sent to the Xshire Prison no less 
 than sixty-five times in the last twenty years, 
 and had never had a longer sentence than three 
 months passed on him. His usual term was a 
 calendar month. Now, think what that man 
 must have cost the country in the way of wit- 
 nesses, law costs, and travelling expenses, to 
 say nothing of the expense of keeping him in 
 prison for four or five months in each year, 
 when, being a short sentence man, he would 
 be employed at unremunerative wheel labour, 
 and thus earn nothing at all towards his 
 board and lodging. 
 
 VOL. II. p
 
 2 1 o Her Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 There was another case of this sort, where 
 a woman had been seventy-three times in the 
 prison during the last fifteen years. I also had 
 ample means of seeing the utter uselessness of 
 attempting to prevent the so-called " social 
 evil " by imprisoning " unfortunates," and I 
 will give one fairly typical case of the many 
 that came under my notice while arranging 
 and classifying the commitment warrants. 
 
 Catherine P , aged seventeen, occupation 
 
 none (an unfortunate). Religion, Wesleyan ; 
 convicted for vagrancy on the 25th of June, 
 1872, and sentenced to fourteen days' hard 
 labour. Discharged from prison 9th of July. 
 Committed for stealing clothes, l7th of July, 
 
 1872, tried at the summer assizes, and sen- 
 tenced to three calendar months' hard labour. 
 Discharged on the 25th of October, 1872. On 
 the 30th of November, 1872, " being an unfor- 
 tunate," did behave, in St. Nicholas Street, in an 
 indecent manner; sentenced to one calendar 
 month's hard labour. Discharged on the 1st 
 of January, 1873. On the 6th of January, 
 
 1873, being an " unfortunate," did behave in
 
 Their Ej^ccts and Defects. 2 i r 
 
 Till indecent and disorderly manner, and, having 
 been previonslj convicted of being an idle and 
 disorderly person within the meaning of the 
 Act, was sentenced to two calendar months' 
 hard labour. Discharged the 6th March, 1873. 
 On the 16th of March, 1873, an unfortunate, 
 loitering and importuning, fourteen days' hard 
 labour. Discharged 29th of March, 1873 
 (30th, Sunday). On the 31st of March, 1873, 
 beinof a roa'ue and vacrabond, behaved in an 
 indecent and riotous manner in the public 
 highway ; sentenced to three calendar months' 
 hard labour. Discharged on the 30tli of June, 
 1873. 
 
 Now, here was this girl, convicted no less 
 than six times within a vear, and I have not 
 the least doubt that she has been going on at 
 about the same rate ever since. Now, these 
 are the sort of people that want to be sent to a 
 reformatory, for, if they could be kept to steady 
 work until they had formed habits of industry, 
 and were then placed in respectable situations, 
 there is not the slightest doubt that the number 
 of these most truly unfortunate people would 
 
 p 2
 
 2 1 2 Her Majesty s Pi'isons : 
 
 be sensibly diminished in a comparatively 
 short space of time. 
 
 The expenses of such an institution as I have 
 mentioned need not be very great, and would, 
 at all events, be far more economical to Grovern- 
 ment than the present system of sending these 
 poor creatures to prison for the best part of 
 each year. The great mistake made by the 
 well meaning but intensely stupid people who 
 have tried to legislate against this growing evil 
 has been that they have wilfully shut their eyes 
 to the fact that this kind of thing ivill go on, 
 and have always aimed at introducing re- 
 pressive measures instead of trying to keep 
 within bounds what is unfortunately con- 
 sidered by the great majority of the world to 
 be a " necessary evil." I have studied the 
 question very closely in all parts of the globe, 
 and discussed the matter with men of every 
 shade of opinion, and always came to the same 
 conclusion — that repressive measures are 
 worse than useless, and that the only wise 
 course to pursue is to keep the existing evil as 
 far as possible within bounds, and direct all
 
 Their Ejects and Dejects. 2 1 3 
 
 attempts at legislation to stopping tlie future 
 supply of the raw material. 
 
 While looking over tlie Criminal Registrj^ I 
 was struck by the intense mania displayed by 
 the criminal community for tattooing their 
 persons with all kinds of eccentric devices. 
 One would naturally imagine that they would 
 be the very last people in the world to cover 
 themselves with distinctive marks which it 
 would be impossible to erase, and by which 
 they could so easily be traced. Yet there was 
 scarcely a prisoner without tattoos of some 
 kind on him, and the majority were covered 
 with them. Some of the subjects chosen 
 were exceedingly curious ; one man, amongst 
 numerous other pictures, was described as 
 havino- his rio^ht forearm tattooed with a sea- 
 man on a rum cask and a tombstone. While 
 employed at this office work time passed away 
 very quickly, and the work I had to do was 
 mere play. I used to go up to my office at 
 nine o'clock in the morning and work till 11.20, 
 when the warder would come and fetch me for 
 chapel. Service over, I went back to my cell
 
 214 //i?r Majestyi' s Prisons : 
 
 for dinner, and as soon as I had finished this 
 meal I used to read (the schoolmaster kept me 
 well supplied with library books) until two 
 o'clock, when I was turned out for my hour's 
 exercise. At three I returned to the office and 
 worked until 5.30, at which hour my work was 
 over for the day and I went back to my cell 
 for supper, and was left to pass the remainder 
 of the evening how I pleased. The evenings 
 certainly were rather long, but if I got tired I 
 went to bed without waiting for the bell to 
 ring as none of the warders ever made any 
 objection. Once a fortnight I had the school- 
 master in to give me the fifteen minutes 
 schooling I was entitled to, and as I did not 
 require any instruction from him we used to 
 pass the time in conversation. This was a 
 great boon, for the continual silence becomes 
 terribly irksome after a certain time. I often 
 grumbled bitterly to the schoolmaster at his 
 not giving me the fifteen minutes every week, 
 which I was really entitled to according to the 
 government regulations, but he assured me 
 that it was impossible for him to visit a man
 
 Their Ejects and Defects. 2 1 5 
 
 more than once a fortnio-lit as lie was employed 
 at office work all the day, and only had from 
 six to eioflit on five evenino-s a week for m- 
 structing the prisoners. I still look back with, 
 lively gratitude to him for the kind and con- 
 siderate manner in which he always treated me, 
 and the unassuming good nature with which he 
 e'aye himself a considerable amount of extra 
 trouble to keep me well supplied with readable 
 books. He was an honest, decent fellow, and 
 all the time I was at the prison I never heard 
 a prisoner say a word against him, although I 
 know he reported several of them. One thing 
 that greatly struck me, wliile looking over the 
 commitment warrants, was the very trifling 
 offences for which, naval men were sent to 
 prison, and although the grandiloquent style 
 in which the offence Avas recounted made you 
 for a moment fancy that some really grave 
 misdemeanour had been committed, if you just 
 put the rigmarole into sensible English the 
 sentence passed seemed altogether out of pro- 
 portion to the crime committed. Take, for 
 instance, the following : — John Smith, found
 
 2 1 6 He7' Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 guilty of breaking out of liis sliip, stealing a 
 boat from alongside, going ashore, and re- 
 maining absent 21^ hours; sentenced to 156 
 days' (six lunar months) hard labour. The 
 plain English of this was that the man, seeing 
 an empty shore boat lying handy, quietly 
 dropped into her from one of the port-holes, 
 rowed ashore, and after spreeing about for the 
 best part of a day and night, quietly returned 
 to the dockyard, gave himself up to the police, 
 and was re-conducted on board his ship. He 
 had handsomely paid the owner of the shore 
 boat for leaving his craft in such a handy position 
 (a lucrative business is carried on by the port 
 boatmen by "forgetting" their boats close to 
 the men-of-war), so that all John Smith had 
 really done was to yield to the sudden tempta- 
 tion of getting ashore for a short spell. Take 
 a still harder case : — John Brown, stoker, aged 
 twenty-six ; otfence, striking his superior officer, 
 sentence, twelve months' hard labour. Brown 
 was the son of most respectable parents, but 
 instead of staying at home and entering his 
 father's business, most foolishly ran away from
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 2 1 7 
 
 school at the age of fourteen, and entered as 
 " a boy " in the Royal Navy. After doing two 
 years before the mast, he came to the con- 
 clusion that stoking would suit him better, as 
 the pay was considerably higher, and being a 
 strong powerful young fellow had no difficulty 
 in exchano'inof into this branch of the service. 
 He liked the sea and got on capitally for ten 
 years, and then one unlucky afternoon got 
 leave to go on shore at Gibraltar, returned the 
 worse for liquor, fell foul of one of the 
 engineers (an ill-tempered, bullying fellow), 
 knocked him down, and not content with this, 
 on the chief petty officer coming to the 
 engineer's assistance, he knocked him down 
 too. He was of course very soon secured and 
 placed in the guard-room. He was tried by 
 court-martial, and in consideration of the ex- 
 ceptionally good character he bore was let off 
 with twelve months. Brown's case was 
 rendered still harder from the fact that he had 
 been a steady, industrious man, and was en- 
 gaged to be married to a most respectable girl, 
 who, as soon as she learned that he was in
 
 2 1 8 Her Majestfs Piisoiis : 
 
 prison broke off the engagement, as her friends 
 very naturally objected to lier marrying a man 
 who had been in prison. Of course, everybody 
 knows tkat discipline must be maintained, but 
 where men. after great provocation, strike a 
 blow in the sudden heat of passion, or weakly 
 yield to the temptation (a great one to a sailor) 
 of getting ashore for a few hours, it seems most 
 unjust and unfair to treat them like criminals 
 and place them in common prisons. Where 
 sailors are convicted of theft or other crimes 
 rendering them amenable to the criminal law 
 of the land, one would have no objection to 
 their being treated like the rest of her 
 Majesty's subjects, but where the offences com- 
 mitted are simply and solely crimes because 
 they happen to be contrary to naval discipline 
 and good order, the men ought to be sent to 
 the naval prisons only. 
 
 Seamen are continuallv beinof convicted for 
 using insulting language to, or striking their 
 superior officers. More than half the seamen 
 that find their way into prison come for one or 
 other of these offences. Superior officer has an
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 2 1 9 
 
 imposing sound about it, and a civilian would 
 most probably imagine that one of the lieu- 
 tenants of the ship or at all events one of the 
 midshipmen had been the object of the assault. 
 Cases of this kind however are extremely rare, 
 and the " superior officer" is almost invariably 
 one of the numerous petty officers that the crew 
 of a man-of-war are so plentifulh' sub- divided 
 into. As a rule, it is some " officer " who a few 
 months before was a comrade of the offender, 
 and who now, joroud of his newly-received 
 authority, struts about bullying and nagging at 
 men able to knock him into a cocked -hat in a 
 fair stand-up fight. Of course this kind of thing 
 must be put down, but let men be sent to the 
 naval prison for offences of this kind. What is 
 still more unfair to seamen is that two men may 
 be found guilty of precisely the same off'ence, 
 and one will get sent to a civil prison to undergo 
 the punishment awarded him, while the other 
 will undergo his at the naval prison. Under 
 these circumstances the one man would be 
 twice as severely punished as the other, for the 
 diet and treatment of men in the naval prison
 
 220 
 
 Her Majesty's Prisons 
 
 is a very different thing to the way they are fed 
 and treated in the civil prisons. At the naval 
 prison at Lewes (at present I beheve the only 
 naval prison in England) the prisoners are fairly 
 well fed, and treated in quite a rational manner. 
 The dietary there is as follows : — 
 
 DIETARY FOR PRISONERS AT THE NAVAL PRISON, 
 
 LEWES. 
 
 Breakfast 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Dinner 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Supper 
 
 Ditto 
 
 ■ Sunday, 
 Tuesday, 
 
 and 
 , Thursday 
 
 r Monday, 
 \ Wednesday, 
 1 Friday, and 
 Saturday 
 
 ( 
 
 ■ Sunday, 
 Tuesday, 
 
 and 
 . Thui-sday 
 
 ■ Monday, 
 
 Wednesday, 
 Fi'iday, and 
 . Saturday 
 
 ■ Sunday, 
 Tuesday, 
 
 and 
 . Thursday 
 
 ■ Monday, 
 Wednesday, 
 Friday, and 
 Saturday 
 
 Oatmeal Porridge . . 2 Pints. 
 Milk 1 Pint. 
 
 Oatmeal Porridge . . 2t Pints. 
 Milk i Pint. 
 
 Beef without Bone . . 8 oz. 
 (weighed after cooking). 
 
 Soup 1 Pint. 
 
 Potatoes 1 lb. 
 
 Indian Meal Porridge . 3 Pints. 
 Milk \ Pint. 
 
 Bread 8 oz. 
 
 Milk \ Pint. 
 
 Bread 12 oz. 
 
 Milk \ Pint.
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 2 2 i 
 
 On Sundays, first class prisoners to have 
 ten ounces of beef witli soup and potatoes as 
 above. 
 
 Men whose sentences do not exceed forty-two 
 days to have two meM dinners a week, and 
 Indian meal porridge on remaining five days. 
 
 Half a pint of porridge less at each meal 
 that porridge is served, to all men before the 
 expiration of the first fifty-six days of their 
 sentence. 
 
 Sixteen ounces of bread in lieu of three pints 
 of Indian meal porridge at the expiration of 
 twelve months to prisoners in the first class. 
 
 By comparing the above dietary with the one 
 I have previously given it will at once be seen 
 how infinitely l)etter the men are fed at the 
 naval prison. The manner of treating the 
 prisoners too differs considerably, the confine- 
 ment being made far less irksome ; for the men 
 meet in a large workshop every day and do 
 their work together, and although talking is 
 strictly proliibited a very fair amount of it goes 
 on in a quiet way. The work consists of bend- 
 ing hawsers, turning and fitting blocks, making
 
 2 2 2 Her Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 fenders and various other nautical requisites. 
 The most unpleasant feature of the place is the 
 shot drill, an idiotic and senseles form of labour 
 chiefly designed one would think with a view 
 of rupturing men. During the first part of 
 their sentence men have to pass an hour-and-a- 
 half in the morning, and an hour-and-a-half in 
 the afternoon, at this delightful employment, 
 and I believe it is exceedingly hard work. It 
 consists of stooping down (without bending the 
 knees) and picking up a thirty-two pounder 
 round shot, bringing it slowly up until it is on a 
 level with the chest, then taking two steps to the 
 right and replacing it on the ground again. This 
 extremely simple operation is repeated until 
 the hour-and-a-half is up. I once watched the 
 prisoners at Lewes engaged in this cheerful 
 amusement, and thought I had never seen such 
 an idiotic waste of strength in my life. On the 
 same occasion I went all over the prison and 
 found it to be very clean and well managed, but 
 the sanitary arrangements were far from perfect. 
 It is a very small prisc»n, and the want of suffi- 
 cient accommodation here is the reason why the
 
 Their Ejects and Defects. 
 
 12.x 
 
 Admiralty send the seamen and marines to 
 civil prisons. It is a most false economy, and it 
 would be far less expensive in the end if the 
 Admiralty were to build another prison, or take 
 over one of the existing civil prisons and turn it 
 into a naval one. Under the present arrange- 
 ment the men get injured in health by the scanty 
 food and hard work, and their eyesight is almost 
 certain to be permanently affected by the con- 
 tinual o'lare of the whitewashed walls of their 
 cells. Men after they have undergone a sentence 
 in a civil prison are quite unfit for hard work on 
 board ship for at least a month or two (accord- 
 ing to the length of the sentence they have 
 undergone), and long sentence men are almost 
 always permanently injured in some way or 
 other. The way the Admiralty treat some of 
 the naval men is most extraordinary, and there 
 was a very queer case at Xshire while I was 
 
 there. The man in question, James P , an 
 
 able seaman, was tried by court-martial while 
 on a foreign station and sentenced to eighteen 
 calendar months' hard labour. While on his 
 way home a native rising occurred in one of our
 
 2 24 Hei" Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 colonies and the man-of-war in wliicli he was 
 being conveyed to England was ordered to pro- 
 ceed forthwith to the colony to assist in quelling 
 the outbreak. On the arrival of the ship at 
 the colony he was given his liberty and allowed 
 to risk his life for his country, and was treated 
 as a free man until his return to England at 
 the conclusion of the war. He had no sooner 
 arrived in an English port than the authorities, 
 discovering that there were still four months 
 of his sentence unexpired, quietly packed him 
 ofif to prison to complete his sentence. After 
 his arrival at the Xshire prison he sent a peti- 
 tion to the Admiralt}?- representing his case, and 
 asking to be sent back to his ship without un- 
 dergoing any further punishment, as he had 
 fought and bled for his country in the interim. 
 In due course an answer came down from the 
 Secretary of the Admiralty, saying that it was 
 quite impossible to remit any portion of the 
 senteoice, but as it seemed rather a hard case 
 they tvoidd dismiss him from the service at the 
 expiration of his term of imprisonment. This 
 was the most pecuHar way of compensating a
 
 Their Ejects and Defects. 225 
 
 man tliat I, or I expect anybody else, ever heard 
 of, and at first sight it seemed hardly credible, 
 but I carefully inquired into the case and found 
 it was perfectly correct. The man himself told 
 me that he had been born and bred to the sea, 
 and did not know what to do now that they 
 had cast him adrift. 
 
 Seamen convicted on foreisfn stations are 
 very unfairly treated in many ways. As soon 
 as they have been convicted they are sent back 
 to Eno-land in the first homeward-bound man- 
 of-Avar, and are confined in the cells on board, 
 and have to wear irons night and day, the 
 latter being a most useless and unnecessary 
 piece of barbarity, for they are sometimes three 
 and four months before they reach England. 
 On arrival, the prisoner is transferred to the 
 nearest civil prison, and no allowance is made 
 to him there for the three or four months' im- 
 prisonment he has undergone on board ship, 
 but he is placed on first class hard labour, only 
 allowed a plank bed to sleep on, and given the 
 same class of diet as though he had only been 
 convicted the previous day. This is manifestly 
 
 VOL. II. Q
 
 2 26 Her Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 unfair, for if civilians are transferred from one 
 prison to another, their stage card goes with 
 them, and they are placed in whatever class 
 the time they have served in the other prison 
 may entitle them to be in. Seamen ought to 
 be treated in the same way, for their punish- 
 ment on board ship is, I consider, far more 
 severe than it is while in prison, and a man is 
 not fit for first class hard labour who has been 
 lying in irons night and day for two or three 
 months. Altogether, the poor sailors have a 
 precious hard time of it, and how they ever 
 succeed in getting men to go into the service 
 is the surprise of everybody who knows any- 
 thing about it. 
 
 Meantime, my work in the ofiice had been 
 going quietly on, and proved exceedingly in- 
 teresting ; the only drawback being that while 
 up here I was entirely shut off from the prison, 
 and knew nothing whatever of what might be 
 happening in there during the day. This did 
 not at all suit me, as I wished to know all that 
 was going on, and I knew on good authority 
 that some very queer things went on occasion-
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 227 
 
 ally. I had now got tlirougli nearly half my 
 sentence, and about this time the salt meat 
 episode occurred, and I was ordered back to 
 my cell, " as there was no more work for me to 
 do at present." This was what the Yankees 
 call " rather too thin," as I happened to be just 
 in the middle of a whole lot of work, and the 
 clerk was so much in need of help that they had 
 no sooner got rid of me than another prisoner 
 was ordered up to the office to assist him. 
 
 I applied to the governor to know if I had 
 been sent down for any breach of discipline. 
 He said, " Oh no, but I have no more work for 
 you to do at present." 
 
 Knowing, as I did, that another man was 
 already employed in the office, I could only 
 conclude that this answer was what is vulgarly 
 called " a good 'un." I was determined to a^k 
 as many questions as I could about the matter, 
 so next time the inspector came round I asked 
 liim if he had sent me down from the office. 
 He hesitated a moment, and then said, "What's 
 that to you ? " 
 
 "AYell, 1 thought perhaps you would consider 
 
 Q 2
 
 2 28 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 my case, and give me employment of a similar 
 nature," I answered, " as the close confinement 
 told very much upon my health before." 
 
 " You were sentenced to hard labour : I 
 don't call office work hard labour." 
 
 " Yes, I know that," I replied ; " but the 
 doctor has certified me unfit for first class hard 
 labour, and, besides, I am eligible for employ- 
 ment of trust in the prison, and office work has 
 always been considered to come under that 
 head." 
 
 I suppose he could make no answer to this 
 argument, for all he said was, " I don't see 
 why you should be treated differently to any- 
 body else ;" and walked off without waiting to 
 hear any more. 
 
 I was considerably disappointed by this 
 strategic move on his part, as I should have 
 much liked to ask him why he had allowed me 
 to go on being employed in the office for three 
 consecutive months if it was not hard labour 
 and I had no business to be there. 
 
 It was a great nuisance to be shut up again 
 all day in one's cell, but I was afterwards ex-
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 229 
 
 ceedin2:]y orlad of it, as I was thus enabled to 
 know all tlicit was going on in the prison for 
 the following six months, and got a thorough 
 insight into the practical working of the 
 prison system. I got the doctor to exempt me 
 from mat-making, and so all I had to do was 
 to pick a little fibre and keep my ears open to 
 all that was going on. I tried to get Duke to 
 take me as his cleaner, but it was no go, he 
 evidently having the greatest contempt for my 
 cleaning capabilities. The billet of cleaner is 
 an eagerly-coveted one, as a cleaner gets any 
 amount of food to eat, and is employed out in 
 the corridors all day. Each warder is allowed 
 to take a prisoner to do the necessary cleaning 
 in his corridor, carry round the food trays, 
 apportion out each man's bread allowance, and 
 perform the thousand and one odd jobs that 
 daily require seeing to. The above duties are 
 all recognized by the authorities ; but, in addi- 
 tion, the cleaner has to do a whole lot of work 
 for the warder, which, although strictly pro- 
 hibited by the regulations, is invariably required 
 of him. For instance, he has to clean the
 
 230 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 warder's boots, brush his clothes, and, if handy 
 with his needle, mend them also, make his tea 
 the nights that he is on duty, and during the 
 eveninof clean the wife's and children's shoes 
 ready for the following day. The work all told, 
 however, is a mere nothing to a man accus- 
 tomed to hard work, and it does not take up 
 more than a quarter of the day to polish the 
 lot off, and the rest of the time is spent in 
 wandering round the corridor making up little 
 imaginary jobs. Every morning the cleaner 
 has to go rouud cleaning the spy-hole glasses 
 and the handles of the cell-doors, and whilst 
 thus employed holds a short conversation with 
 each prisoner in succession, which is easily 
 done through the glass spy-hole. If the man in 
 the cell has anything very particular to say, he 
 gently scratches the wire- gauze (that is placed 
 over the spy-hole) when he hears the cleaner 
 arrive at his door, and then the latter will 
 discover some grease spots on the slate flooring 
 outside the particular cell, and go and fetch a 
 bucket of water and commence to wash the 
 stains out, a proceeding which takes a consider-
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 23 i 
 
 able time and enables the man inside to say all 
 lie wants. 
 
 It is in tins way that information gets spread 
 all over the prison, and that arrangements are 
 made for dropping notes in chapel or while 
 at exercise. The warders always give their 
 cleaners plenty to eat, so as to prevent their 
 taking the food belonging to the other prisoners 
 while they are engaged in arranging the mess 
 tins on the trays ready for distribution. It is 
 simply awful the quantity of food some of these 
 fellows will consume when first they are 
 appointed cleaners. One fellow, after having 
 had three extra half-pounds of bread at his 
 breakfast, had the same day for his dinner a 
 fourth class dinner, a third class one, and my 
 pudding, so that altogether he had thirty-two 
 ounces of suet pudding, fourteen ounces of 
 potatoes, and ten ounces of bread ! and then he 
 actually asked for more ! The best billet of all 
 is to get made cleaner to the cook, which 
 simply means preparing the prisoners' meals 
 under the supervision of the cook, and having 
 as much to eat as ever you please — and good
 
 232 Her Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 food to — boiled meat saved from tlie amount 
 allowed out for soup, plenty of well-sweetened 
 cocoa, cheese, vegetables, and numerous other 
 perquisites. 
 
 Since tlie government have taken the prisons 
 over, the authorities have introduced the system 
 of only allowing short sentence men to become 
 cleaners. This is an exceedingly stupid and 
 unfair arrangement. Take, for instance, the 
 case of a man sentenced to four months' im- 
 prisonment,, he does his twenty-eight days on 
 the wheel, and is then taken out as a cleaner, 
 and has far less work to do, and more to eat, 
 than if he were gaining an honest living outside. 
 It completely nullifies the punishment, and only 
 renders the man anxious to get into prison 
 again as soon as the winter comes round or 
 times get hard. 
 
 Three months is far too long a time to keep 
 the same man as cleaner, for he gets to know all 
 the ropes, and is continually talking with the 
 other prisoners, and up to all kinds of mischief. 
 The long sentence men mewed up in their cells 
 for twelve, eighteen, and twenty -four months at
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 233 
 
 a stretch, and wlio really need change of ah' 
 and employment, are not eligible for these 
 billets. The only long sentence man I knew 
 get made a cleaner while I was at Xshire was a 
 man named Grey, a marine, who had in old 
 days served under the governor, and knew him 
 well. The governor let him go out as a cleaner, 
 although a few weeks later he refused to allow 
 one of the other warders to take out another 
 man (who happened to have exactly the same 
 sentence as Grey, eighteen calendar months), 
 tellino- him it was ao-ainst the regulations to 
 take a long sentence man, and that he must 
 look out for some one with a short sentence. 
 
 It would be far better in every way, and 
 prevent favouritism, if the commissioners would 
 issue a regulation that all men sentenced to 
 six months and over should, as soon as they 
 were in the fourth stage, be taken out in rota- 
 tion as cleaners for a week at a time. This 
 would be far better in every waj^, and by 
 depriving a man of this privilege who was 
 reported while waiting for his turn to come 
 round, the discipline of the prison would be
 
 2 34 -^<?r Alajesty s Prisons : 
 
 far more easily carried out, as prisoners would 
 be most careful not to forfeit tlieir cleaning 
 week if tliey could possibly help it. It would 
 also prevent, in a great measure, tlie constant 
 talking that now goes on between the cleaner 
 and the rest of the prisoners, as a man would 
 have no time to learn all the dodges of the place, 
 and would be afraid to try any pranks. 
 
 After about seven months of my sentence 
 had elapsed I became perfectly sickened with 
 the constant sameness of the food, and found 
 it impossible to eat it. I complained to the 
 warder of my corridor, who advised me to see 
 the surgeon on the subject. Acting on his 
 advice, I sent for the latter and laid the matter 
 before him. The doctor luckily happened to be 
 in a great hurry the evening I made the appli- 
 cation, and being, in addition, well primed with 
 good whisky, was ready to sign anything he was 
 asked, provided the warder going round with 
 him did not interfere and persuade him not to. 
 
 He came bustling down to my cell in a 
 desperate hurry, and said, " Hullo ! you want 
 some extra food, don't you ? "
 
 The 17' Effects and Defects. 235 
 
 " Yes, sir," I said ; " I wish you would let 
 me have some cooked beef on Sundays and 
 Wednesdays in lieu of the suet pudding ? " 
 
 " To be sure, to be sure," he interrupted. 
 " I'll do that for you. You don't want any- 
 thing else, do you ? " 
 
 " No, thank you, sir," I answered, and away 
 he hurried, grumbling that he had twelve more 
 men to see and was due home in ten minutes 
 from then. 
 
 He did not live far from the prison, and I 
 believe he was back there within the requisite 
 time, so I do not expect he wasted much time 
 in examining the twelve sick men. 
 
 The present dietary is totally insufficient 
 for long sentence men. It may be all very well 
 to keep men half starved, who only come in for 
 a week or a fortnight, because by the time they 
 are reduced to the last gasp their sentence 
 expires, and they go out to have a good feed. 
 But to keep men upon the present fourth class 
 diet for twelve months and two years is positive 
 cruelty, and a most false economy. Prisoners 
 break down again and again, unable to bear the
 
 236 Her Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 heavy strain upon tlie constitution entailed by 
 this semi-starvation. 
 
 Men engaged daily on hard bodily labour 
 must have sufficient food, or no constitution in 
 the world would stand it. It is perfectly useless 
 for the authorities to maintain that the present 
 allowance of food is enough to keep men in 
 health and strength, because, although the 
 dietaries may work admirably in theory, practice 
 distinctly proves that it is not the case. 
 
 While engaged balancing the provision books, 
 I carefully went over the list of men for whom 
 the surgeon had ordered extra food, and found 
 that there was not a single man who had been 
 in the prison more than twelve months, that 
 was not in receipt of extra food of some kind or 
 the other. 
 
 I had ample proof that the men really did 
 suffer from hunger, and know that after a man 
 had done about six months he was ready to eat 
 anything. I was astonished at the quantity of 
 salt that was consumed, and the continual de- 
 mand there was for " more salt," and at last 
 inquired what on earth the prisoners did with
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 237 
 
 all they got. I was told that the men were in 
 the habit of eating a spoonful or two after each 
 meal, in order to make themselves exceedingly 
 thirsty, as they were then enabled to fill their 
 stomachs out with a large quantity of water, 
 and, as the man who gave me the information 
 epigrammatically suggested, — 
 
 " You cannot feel hungry with a full 
 belly." 
 
 On one occasion the cook had made me some 
 paste, and there being considerably more than I 
 wanted, I asked one of the warders if I might 
 have what I required placed in an old mess tin, 
 and then let the rest be thrown away. He gave 
 me the requisite permission, and called to his 
 cleaner to come and find an old tin for me. 
 When the latter saw me preparing to throw 
 away the remainder of the paste he said to the 
 warder, — 
 
 " Don't let him waste that, sir ; give it to one 
 of the men." 
 
 " All right," said the warder, and the cleaner 
 took it from me, and emptying it into a mess 
 tin added a little salt, saying to the warder, —
 
 238 Her Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 " Sliall I give it to No. 7, sir ; lie is a very 
 hungry chap ? " 
 
 " Very well, come along," replied he, and 
 proceeded down the corridor to No. 7's cell. 
 
 I followed in their wake, for I was anxious to 
 see the denouement. On arriving at No. 7's 
 door the warder unlocked it, and the cleaner 
 handed in the paste, saying, — 
 
 " Here, taste that and see how you like 
 it." 
 
 " Ah, thank you," said No. 7, a big, raw- 
 boned Irishman. " I wanted something to eat 
 bad; I have been ill and very sick to-day. That's 
 fine," he continued, after having dipped his 
 fist into the tin and swallowed a handful of the 
 sticky compound it contained. 
 
 Later on in the evening I was going round 
 with the warder to light the gas, and as we 
 passed the man's cell he asked him whether 
 he liked what had been given him. 
 
 "Have you any more, sir?" was the sig- 
 nificant and truly Irish way of answering the 
 question. 
 
 It is, however, upon growing lads of sixteen
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 239 
 
 and seventeen that tlie unfortunate result of 
 this insufficiency of food is most plainly seen. 
 While I was at Xshire there was a case of the 
 kind. John Jones, aged fifteen, weight 10-i 
 pounds, was sentenced to two years' hard labour. 
 He did the first six months of his sentence while 
 the prison was still in the hands of the county 
 authorities, and some interest being taken in 
 his case, he was allowed to go out as cleaner. 
 He was a quiet, clever lad ; and when the prisons 
 came under government the warder did all he 
 knew to keep him on as cleaner, and as the boy 
 had got such a long sentence the inspector gave 
 the required permission. Consequently, nearly 
 the whole of this boy's sentence was served by 
 him under the most favourable circumstances ; 
 and yet towards the expiration of his sentence 
 he completely lost his health, and although 
 ordered half a pound of mutton daily by the 
 doctor, weighed on discharge, being now seven- 
 teen years of age, exactly a quarter of a pound 
 less than he weighed when entering the prison 
 at the age of fifteen. Nor had he increased in 
 height to any appreciable extent, and was able
 
 240 Hei"- Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 to wear on leavino^ the clothes he had come to 
 the prison in. 
 
 These are actual hard facts that can be veri- 
 fied at any time by simply referring to the 
 Criminal Registry, and must bear a certain 
 amount of weight ; for if a boy, owing to the 
 food and confinement, actually stands still as it 
 were for two whole years — years when boys, as 
 a rule, grow faster and fill out more than at any 
 other period — there must be something radi- 
 cally wrong with the present dietary. It is 
 commonly asserted by prison surgeons and 
 officials that prisoners usually gain weight while 
 in prison, and I heard this fact stated more 
 than once at Xshire. 
 
 When the Criminal Registry came into my 
 hands I carefully examined into this matter, and 
 found that more than ninety per cent, of the 
 prisoners lost weight. There was no possi- 
 bility of mistake on my part, because the weight 
 of every prisoner, on his arrival at and dis- 
 charge from the prison, is carefully recorded in 
 the Registry, so that I had only to turn over 
 page after page of it in order to obtain the
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 241 
 
 most satisfactory and conclusive evidence of tlie 
 real state of affairs. 
 
 It is difficult to conceive how the idea ever 
 sprang up in the official mind that men could 
 increase in weight on the present dietary, 
 knowing, as they must, or ought to, that the 
 regulation allowance of food is simply sufficient 
 to sustain life. When once, however, men get 
 a notion of this kind firmly into their heads, it 
 is well-nigh impossible to get it out again. But 
 *' facts are stubborn things," and if the com- 
 missioners take the trouble to refer to the ample 
 statistics they have at hand, they can easily see 
 how utterly mistaken they are in pompously 
 stating that "prisoners almost invariably in- 
 crease in weight while in prison." There is no 
 economy in half starving criminals, for on 
 leaving prison they are totally unable to do a 
 day's work (even if they could get it to do), 
 and either find their way into the workhouses 
 and hospitals, or are driven to the committal of 
 fresh crimes throuo^h weakness and hung-er. 
 
 While I was at Xshire an order came down 
 from the commissioners that the box system in 
 
 VOL II. E
 
 242 Her majesty's Prisons : 
 
 the chapel was to be clone away with, and the 
 whole chapel arranged in open seats. A couple 
 of extra carpenters were sent for to another 
 prison, and the work of demolition commenced. 
 For a month or more there was no service on 
 week-days, and gradually tier after tier of the 
 boxes disappeared, and rows of fairly com- 
 fortable seats, with continuous kneeling boards 
 running in front of them, took the place of our 
 old coffin-like edifices. Much as I disliked the 
 old arrangement I am bound to confess that the 
 new open seats were, in many ways, far more 
 objectionable, and if the boxes were only made 
 (as they easily might be) so as to allow some 
 chance of sitting in comfort, and with sufficient 
 space in front to permit the men to kneel, I am 
 certain that a return to the old system would 
 be decidedly beneficial in every way. 
 
 At present the chapel is simply used for con- 
 versation, and letter-passing and the constant 
 interchange of news, generally adorned with a 
 liberal allowance of oaths, renders serious atten- 
 tion to the service almost impossible. The 
 governor at Xshire was continually bringing
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 243 
 
 friends into the chapel on Sundays, and the 
 open seats enabled those sitting in the governor's 
 pew to see every prisoner distinctly. I believe 
 it was directly contrary to the regulations, but 
 he did it ao;ain and ao-ain. It would be far 
 better for all concerned if the authorities were 
 to make it a rule that only the officials them- 
 selves (not even their wives and children) were 
 to attend the chapel. 
 
 In the old county days the prison was a 
 regular " show place," and old Bob used to take 
 three and four " personally conducted parties " 
 over it every week. And a very pretty sum he 
 made of it ; for during the ten years he served 
 under the county he made enough to buy a 
 house, and nearly had a fit when the govern- 
 ment regulation came out forbidding strangers 
 to visit the prison. 
 
 When nine months of my sentence had ex- 
 pired, I began to suffer very much from the 
 close confinement, and became perfectly light- 
 headed at times. In addition to this, my eyes, 
 owing to the continual glare of the whitewashed 
 walls, became in such a state that the doctor 
 
 E 2
 
 244 ^^^ Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 forbade my using them in any way whatever. 
 I was now fairly stranded, and as it was per- 
 fectly dreadful to be sitting day after day with 
 my hands before me, I determined to try and 
 get the doctor to let me be employed about the 
 corridor, as that would be a great relief to both 
 my eyes and head. First of all, however, I 
 thought I would lay the matter before the 
 governor ; but as he did not go round the fol- 
 lowing morning I seized the opportunity of his 
 going round with a stranger in the afternoon, 
 and said, — 
 
 " If you please, sir, my health is very bad, 
 may I exercise in the corridor ? " 
 
 " Yes, if the doctor orders it," he replied, and 
 passed on. 
 
 That evening I sent for the doctor and laid 
 the matter before him. He carefully examined 
 my eyes, stethoscoped my lungs, and then said, — 
 
 " Want to go out in the corridor, do you ? 
 To be sure, to be sure. I'll make an order." 
 
 The following day I asked the warder if any 
 order had come down from the office about my 
 being about in the corridor, and he told me
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 245 
 
 that the governor had expressly ordered that 
 I was not to be allowed out in the corridor. I 
 thought that this was rather funny, for if the 
 doctor orders a prisoner anything, the governor 
 has no power whatever to interfere; so I 
 determined to send for the doctor again. When 
 I saw him he informed me that he had seen the 
 governor the previous evening, and strongly 
 recommended my being allowed to exercise in 
 the corridor, and finished up with, — 
 
 " It will be quite right when you see the 
 governor on his rounds to-morrow ; he will give 
 the necessary orders." 
 
 The governor came round the next day, but 
 did not say a word ; so the morning following 
 I stopped him and asked the question. 
 
 " The doctor only advised extra exercise," 
 he said. 
 
 " Oh, but the doctor assured me last night 
 that he had had an interview with you," I 
 replied, " and had strongly advised my being 
 allowed to exercise in the corridor." 
 
 He paused a moment or two in evident con- 
 fusion, and then said, —
 
 246 Her Majesty's Pi'isons : 
 
 " I particularly disapprove of anybody airing 
 in the corridor." 
 
 " But when I applied to you the other day, 
 sir," I answered, " you told me to apply to the 
 doctor." 
 
 He hummed and hawed, and, after a good deal 
 of hesitation, finally said " he would see the 
 doctor again on the subject." 
 
 This interview took place on a Saturday, and 
 the following Monday the governor stopped at 
 my cell as he was going his rounds, and said, — 
 
 " I have seen the doctor about you, and he 
 tells me there is no physical reason why you 
 should exercise in the corridor, and as I greatly 
 disapprove of anybody's exercising in the cor- 
 ridor, if you require any extra airing you must 
 take it outside." 
 
 " But there are other prisoners who exercise 
 in the corridor, sir," I replied. 
 
 " No there are not," he said shortly, and 
 commenced to move on ; but I was getting 
 what the Yankees call " considerably riled," and 
 was not going to let him depart with a flat 
 donial of that kind.
 
 Their Ejects and Defects. 247 
 
 (( 
 
 AVhj, there is No. 35 B exercising in the 
 corridor," I said ; " and 37 A always took liis 
 exercise in the corridor all the time he was 
 here." 
 
 He looked rather nonplussed at this, and 
 after a moment's hesitation said, — 
 
 " Well, that I know nothing about." 
 
 Of course, if he did not know what was 
 being done in the prison, there was no use con- 
 tinuing the discussion, so I gave it up for the 
 time being. 
 
 I was not at all satisfied about the matter, 
 for I knew that the governor had no right 
 whatever to have rescinded, or induced the 
 doctor to rescind, the order that had been made 
 for me to Lave exercise in the corridor. 
 
 Under the government regulations a prisoner 
 has the right of sending a petition to the Home 
 Secretary if he considers that he is being 
 improperly treated, though, of course, it is a 
 serious thing to take the responsibility of doing 
 so, as a commission would be sent down to ex- 
 amine into the whole case, whatever it was, and 
 there would be altogether a tremendous fuss.
 
 248 Hei" Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 I considered the matter for several days, for 
 I was greatly tempted to send up a petition, 
 knowing how distinctly it was laid down in the 
 regulations that anything ordered for a prisoner 
 by the medical officer of the prison was to be 
 immediately given him, and that the governor 
 had no power whatever to interfere about any- 
 thing that the doctor might order a man. 
 
 I took advice on the matter, and was strongly 
 urged to abandon the idea. The arguments 
 used were — 
 
 1st. That I had only got a very short time 
 longer to serve, and that it was not worth 
 while. 
 
 2nd. That things would be made very un- 
 pleasant for me if I did. 
 
 3rd. That while I should only be able to tell 
 my story publicly to the commissioners who 
 would be sent down, the governor would be 
 able to make all sorts of statements that I 
 should know nothing about. 
 
 4th. That whatever the Home Office officials 
 tJiought, they would feel bound to support the 
 governor ; and, —
 
 Their Ejects and Defects. 249 
 
 5tli. That Sir Edmund du Cane was reported 
 to be sucli a " cranky fellow that you didn't 
 know where to take him, and there was no 
 telling what fuss and bother he might not 
 make." 
 
 Notwithstanding all these arguments, I was 
 exceedingly loth to give up my intention ; but 
 I finally decided that " the game was not, per- 
 haps, after all, worth the candle." 
 
 Just about this time a medical man (I under- 
 stood he was one of the Millbank surgeons) 
 was sent down by the Home Office to report on 
 the health of the prisoners, and examine the 
 sanitary arrangements of the prison. If his 
 examination of the Xsliire prison was a sample 
 of the way he performed his duty, the Home 
 Office authorities might just as well keep their 
 money in their pockets. He came into the 
 prison about two o'clock, accompanied by the 
 governor and chief warder, and, commencing 
 on the south side of the corridor, went into all 
 the cells where there were prisoners, until he 
 reached my door. Here there was a brief con- 
 sultation held between him and the governor,
 
 250 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 and finally the governor gave orders that I was 
 to be inspected too. I had heard all the bang- 
 ing of doors, and this whispered conversation 
 outside my cell, and immediately concluded that 
 it was one of the visiting justices wandering 
 round to while away an hour. 
 
 When my door was opened and I saw a 
 young well-dressed man with a most irreproach- 
 able tall hat, I felt quite satisfied that my sus- 
 picions were correct, and when after a moment's 
 hesitation he mildly simpered out, " What's your 
 name? are you well?" and on his questions 
 being answered passed on to the next cell the 
 evidence was conclusive, for these were just the 
 kind of idiotic questions the justices generally 
 did ask. If I had only known that he was a 
 medical man inquiring into the health of the 
 prisoners I should have had a good deal to say 
 to him, but I naturally imagined that it would 
 be perfectly useless to give a graphic descrip- 
 tion of the state of my health to a visiting 
 justice, and so lost my opportunity. 
 
 On quitting my cell he decided that he had 
 sufficiently examined the prison, and so de-
 
 Thch' Effects and Defects. 251 
 
 parted with the governor. The efficacy of his 
 examination may be gathered from the following 
 facts. 
 
 He commenced, as I have already stated, on 
 the south side of C corridor, and came as far as 
 my cell ; he would thus pass seventeen cells 
 inclusive of mine. Of these seventeen, five 
 would be vacant, their occupants being engaged, 
 three as cleaners and one at the loom, while the 
 owner of the fifth was lying dead in the hospital. 
 He would thus have examined twelve prisoners 
 in this corridor, while the rest of the corridors 
 were left entirely unnoticed. 
 
 Now just as it happened there were no men ill 
 on my side of the corridor, but if he had taken 
 the trouble to go round the other side he would 
 have found three men ill, two so seriously as to 
 be obliged to keep their hammocks. When a 
 medical man is sent down he might just as well 
 examine the prison thoroughly, and each pri- 
 soner ought to be told that the visitor was a 
 surgeon from the Home Office, and then if they 
 had any complaints to make they would have an 
 opportunity of making them.
 
 252 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 There was a very sad case came under my 
 notice towards tlie end of my time. It was that 
 of a boy of eighteen, who was sent to the prison 
 to await trial on a charge of felony. The un- 
 fortunate creature was evidently what is popu- 
 larly called " soft," and the doctor was ordered 
 to examine him and see whether he was suffi- 
 ciently comjpos mentis to plead. On the night of 
 the examination in question the old doctor had 
 had a glass or two of his favourite beverage, 
 and the whole proceeding was ludicrous beyond 
 description. The doctor leant against one side 
 of the little table in the cell and the idiot against 
 the other ; every now and then the doctor would 
 lurch over towards him with a Prayer Book in 
 his outstretched hand, and ask him whether he 
 saw it and could read it. The poor idiot was 
 frightened out of his life, and could not make 
 head or tail of the whole proceeding, but was 
 ready to say or do anything. Ultimately the 
 doctor decided that he was quite sane enough 
 to know what he was about, and the boy was 
 accordingly tried in due course at the Quarter 
 Sessions. He was convicted and sentenced to
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 253 
 
 six months' hard labour. I imagine that the boy- 
 was simply soft, that is to say, there was no 
 actual madness, but he was an unreasoning kind 
 of animal ; and when it was explained to him 
 that he was going to be locked up for six 
 months, and he found himself back in the prison 
 with the fact staring him in the face, he became 
 desperate and tried to rush out of the receiving 
 ward. Of course he was promptly collared 
 and placed in a cell. He thought this bad 
 enough, but when he was ordered to take his 
 clothes oft' and have a cold bath it was indeed 
 " the last straw," and becoming perfectly frantic 
 he howled and yelled and rushed about like a 
 perfect maniac. "With considerable trouble 
 he was eventually washed and conducted to a 
 cell. He no sooner found himself alone than he 
 got hold of the bed straps and proceeded to try 
 and hang himself, and would undoubtedly have 
 succeeded in his attempt had not one of the 
 warders caught him in the act. The matter 
 was reported to the governor, and orders were 
 sent out that he was to be taken down to the 
 receiving ward again and placed in a cell
 
 2 54 Zr<?r Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 situated there that was specially fitted up with 
 a view to frustrating any attempt at self- 
 destruction. The cell in question is denuded of 
 all furniture, and prisoners occupying it had a 
 plank bed and bedding passed into them at 
 night and taken away again in the morning. 
 There was no gas in the cell, bat there was a 
 small thick round of plate glass in the lower 
 part of the door, and a movable gas burner in 
 the corridor with a reflector attached to it was 
 placed opposite this by the warder, and in this 
 way a certain amount of light found its way 
 into the cell. The cells in this part of the 
 receiving ward were terribly dark during the 
 day, for the wheelhouse ran along parallel with 
 the windows and blocked out every gleam of 
 sunshine, and between next to no daylight 
 during the day and the above described gleam of 
 gaslight at night, they were hardly the kind of 
 places to be considered desirable residences. 
 Plere the unfortunate idiot was located, and left 
 day after day week after week in semi-darkness 
 without any employment and with absolutely 
 nothing whatever to employ his mind. It
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 255 
 
 would have been quite enough to drive tlie 
 sanest man in the world raving mad in a couple 
 of months, and think what it must have been to 
 this poor soft-brained boy. At first he used to 
 howl and scream for an hour at a time, nothing 
 would pacify him ; then after three weeks he 
 took to simply moaning like some dumb beast 
 in mortal agony, and then after another week 
 or so he became perfectly quiet and used to lie 
 day after day stretched on the floor in a half 
 stupefied condition. This state of things went on 
 for about a month, and then the doctor decided 
 that the boy was insane, the necessary papers 
 were signed, and the unfortunate youth trans- 
 ferred to the county lunatic asylum to live at 
 the expense of the ratepayers for the rest of his 
 life. 
 
 The miserable boy was not even allowed to 
 have the exercise he was entitled to, because, on 
 the one or two occasions that old Bob let him 
 out, he lay on the grass and cried when he found 
 that it was impossible for him to run home ; and 
 as Bob considered this detrimental to prison 
 discipline and good order, he took the matter
 
 256 Her Majesty s Prisons : 
 
 into Lis own hands, and did not let tlie boy out 
 any more. It was a wretched, cruel case, and 
 reflected the greatest discredit on every one of 
 the higher officials of the prison. 
 
 It is a most extraordinary thing to me 
 what induced the authorities to continue the 
 use of treadwheels in the prisons ? They 
 are not the slightest use in any way. They 
 only waste an enormous amount of valuable 
 labour, which, if properly applied, would 
 very soon make the prisons self-supporting. 
 It is no punishment to a man accustomed 
 to hard work, and I have known case after case 
 of men applying for leave to go on the wheel 
 sooner than stay doing nothing in their cells. 
 I questioned several prisoners on the subject, 
 and invariably got the same reply, that " it was 
 hard work for the first day or two, until you 
 got into the knack of it, and then it was easy 
 enough." I used to go into the wheelhouse 
 sometimes and watch the men at work, and on 
 two or three occasions I got up and tried it my- 
 self, and although I must frankly own that I 
 should not have cared to do a day's work on it
 
 Their Effects and Defects, 257 
 
 myself, I became quite convinced that it was 
 simply a question of practice, and no punish- 
 ment whatever to an habitual criminal, or 
 indeed to any one accustomed to hard out-door 
 labour. 
 
 My time was now rapidly drawing to a close, 
 and the days seemed terribly long, but a slight 
 additional impetus was given them as a new 
 case, or rather an old case in a new phase, came 
 under my notice, and occupied my attention for 
 a few days. 
 
 An habitual criminal named Colls, who had 
 been convicted again and again, until both his 
 health and intellect had completely given way 
 under the incessant confinement and short 
 commons, had once more just completed his 
 sentence (twelve months' hard labour). The 
 day before he was liberated he was told by both 
 the surg:eon and warders that the best tiling he 
 could do was to go straight to the union, as he 
 was quite incapable of doing any work. Three 
 days after his discharge he was back again in 
 prison,with one month's hard labour for begging. 
 Old Bob, as usual, never took the trouble to 
 
 VOL. 11. S
 
 258 Her Majesty's Prisons : 
 
 mention tlie case to the doctor, and so Colls 
 was duly certified fit for first class labour, and 
 turned out to do his eight hours on the wheel. 
 A few days of this very soon did for him, and 
 he became so ill that the doctor ordered him to 
 be moved into hospital, and recommended his 
 release and removal to the union. The man 
 was duly released, and on arriving at the union 
 the authorities there decided that he was an 
 idiot, he was undoubtedly not in his right mind, 
 and informed the manager of the county lunatic 
 asylum that they intended sending him there. 
 This was strongly protested against by the 
 asylum authorities, and there was every chance 
 of a very pretty quarrel, when Colls took the 
 matter into his own hands and died. I made 
 some very careful inquiries as to why the man 
 had not gone to the union at first as he had 
 been advised, and was told that he had gone up 
 to the superintendent of police and tried to get 
 an order for admission to the workhouse, but 
 was refused, and told to go about his business. 
 Now this man being perfectly incapable, both 
 mentally and physically, of doing any work, had
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 259 
 
 absolutely no choice but to starve, steal, or beg. 
 Of tbe ten shillings that he had received on his 
 discharge he had spent four shillings the first 
 day, and the remaining six were stolen from 
 him at the place where he slept. This is only 
 one case out of many. There are, I believe, 
 hundreds of such cases occurring every week in 
 England. 
 
 Slowly, slowly the days crept along till my 
 last day in prison arrived, and I received orders 
 from the governor to go down to the receiving 
 ward and select what clothes I wished to wear, 
 from the portmanteau of things I had stowed 
 away in the store-room. 
 
 The eventful morning came at last, and 
 having received permission from the governor 
 to leave the prison at six o'clock in the morning 
 (prisoners are usually liberated at ten, unless 
 they have a long journey to take, and are unable 
 to reach their homes if kept till that hour), 
 I bade an early farewell to Xshire prison and 
 its many trials and troubles ; and though on 
 entering it I fancied that I had lost everything 
 that made life worth living for, I found long 
 
 s 2
 
 26o Her Majesty's Pj^isons : 
 
 before my time was served that my loss was as 
 nothing when compared with the " pearl of 
 great price " that it had been permitted me to 
 find, through the discipline, the reflection, the 
 solitude, and suffering of my prison life. Look- 
 ing back upon the fearful peril from which I 
 was snatched, remembering how utter was the 
 wreck, I can indeed say, with humble, deep-felt 
 gratitude, " He doeth all things well." 
 
 And now I shall soon lay aside my pen, 
 and let these pages go forth with their many 
 blemishes, their many defects, but still with an 
 earnest, hearty hope that by their means some 
 of the abuses of our present prison system 
 may be stamped out, some of the unnecessary 
 cruelties prevented in the future, and some better 
 mode of reclaiming criminals be adopted. 
 
 In conclusion, let me urge most strongly the 
 great desirability of keeping apart first offenders 
 and habitual criminals. This admixture is the 
 foulest blot of all upon the present system, and 
 the one easiest of removal. There is no reason 
 whatever why one corridor in each prison should 
 not be kept for first offenders, another for those
 
 Their Effects and Defects. 261 
 
 previously convicted, and a third for the so- 
 called habitual criminal. Let tlie rules and 
 dietaries be also drawn up in accordance with 
 this arrangement, the regulation becoming more 
 strino'ent, and the food more scantv, as men 
 proved their determination to continue in crime. 
 Above all, let the authorities try by every means 
 in their power to find employment for those 
 first offenders who are willing to work hard and 
 try and regain an honest name. 
 
 Lastly, let me say that in whatever I have 
 written concerning the oflScials of the Xshire 
 prison I have honestly striven to " set down 
 naught in malice and to extenuate nothing." 
 
 THE END.
 
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