9 1 ^== 33 U 6 3 7 RY FACIL =—^ THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES PRISON DISCIPLINE AMERICA- BV FRANCIS C. GRAY *• PRISON DISCIPLINE AMERICA. FRANCIS C. GRAY BOSTON: CHARLES C. LITTLE AND JAMES BROWN. MDCCCXLVII. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1847, By Francis C. Gray, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. boston: printed by freeman and bolles, devonshire street. "mil ADVERTISEMENT The statements in the text, for which no other au- thority is cited, are founded, so far as relates to the Eastern Penitentiary in Philadelphia, on the printed reports of the officers of that institution ; as to the prison at Charlestown, on the like reports, on the re- cords of the prison, on communications from the warden and the chaplain, and on personal ohservation; as to prisons in Great Britain, on official reports and parlia- mentary documents, especially on the evidence taken before a committee of the House of Lords last spring. It would be presumptuous to assert that there are no mistakes in this pamphlet. But it is enough for my purpose, if there are none, which affect materially its arguments or its conclusions. F. C. GRAY. Boston, November 10, 1847. *_* •a-f ."V* -_i. -■%, ■^ CORRECTIONS. Page 56. Near the hottom, for " the scheme was put in operation, but abandoned after a few years trial," read " an attempt was made to put this scheme in operation, but it was soon abandoned." Page 97. Note. The Census of 1S45 is more correct and makes the black population of Boston appear to be 1.61 per cent. See Shaftuck's Census of Boston, p 41. Page 112. Seventh line from the bottom, before " Philadelphia" insert " prison at." Page 130. Third line from the bottom, for " latter " read " former." Page 164. Eighth line from the bottom, for "pass an hour every day in," read, " walk every day to." CONTENTS State of the question, ...... 1 Experiments and progress of opinion in America, . . Cl5 '/ The State Prison in Charlestown, .... 47 Discharged Convicts, . , . . . . , 55 ■ Model prisons of the two systems, . . . . 61 Solitude and society, ....... , 68 V Industrious habits and skill, ..... 71 "^ Comparative earnings, ...... 77 Bodily and mental health, ..... , 8p Number of deaths, ....... 94 Number of cases of insanity, . . . . . 100 Experience of New Jersey, . . . . .114 Experience of Rhode Island, ..... 121 Amount of society provided for convicts, ... 123 Opinions in Europe, ....... 131 Poland, 135 France, 139 England, Millbank, 153 " Pentonville, 163 " Parkhurst, 172 Scotland, Perth, 173 County Jails, ........ 175 New Scheme of British Government, . . . 177 Results, as to American Prisons, . . . .181 Appendix, ......... 185 PRISON DISCIPLINE IN AMERICA. The extensive and systematic inquiries and experi- ments, which have been made in this country during sixty years past, in relation to Prison Discipline, have given to our accumulated knowledge on this subject almost the character of a science. Many general con- clusions in it are established, and many questions, once the occasions of violent controversy, are now determin- ed in a manner, which conunands universal assent. That stinted food, constant confinement, total privation of social intercourse should form no part of any system ; that all systems should provide -for entire separation at night, and for vigorous exercise and useful labor, in- stead of the fatiguing and unprofitable toil of the tread- mill, by day ; and that no more nor greater punish- ments should be inflicted than are requisite for the attainment of these objects and for the preservation of order ; these, and other propositions once doubted or even strenuously denied, are now admitted by all. 6 One of the most important questions, "which remains to be decided, and one which has recently excited great zeal and interest here and in Europe, is this : Whether the daily labor of prisoners should be carried on in workshops containing several in company under con- stant supervision ; or by each alone in entire solitude ; and it is now proposed to consider this question, espe- cially as it is illustrated by the experience of certain prisons in the United States. This diversity forms the chief distinction between the two systems of prison discipline generally known here as those of Auburn and of Pennsylvania, as they are now administered in the United States. It is not designed, however, to discuss the general merits of these systems ; nor indeed would it be easy to give a definition of them, since each of these terms is used in different times and places to convey very different meanings. The Pennsylvania system for some years before 1829 prescribed the constant confinement of each convict to a solitary cell by day and by night, without permission to labor. For several years after- wards, it permitted labor, but prohibited all intercourse between the convicts and any other persons, excepting then religious teachers and other official visitors, and denied them all knowledge of anything transpiring beyond the walls of the prison, even of the situation of their families and friends. At present, visits may be received from well-disposed persons, admitted by per- mission of the inspectors, and are indeed represented to be an essential part of the system. The Auburn sys- tern also, as administered not only in Auburn itself, but in other places, has sometimes allowed, if it did not prescribe, the frequent application of blows by inferior officers, and other severe punishments, which in Massa- chusetts were disapproved from the beginning and r-"never tolerated in practice. Even when the discipline i \ established in any particular prison is known, in all its i \ details, there is still great diversity of opinion, as to| what portions of it are to be deemed essential to the^ system, what only accidental, and what mere abuses ; so that the same name, be it Auburn or Pennsylvania, may convey entirely different ideas to different persons, and be often used in one sense, and understood in an- other; and thus remarks made with reference to a system, as it existed at one time and place, and per- fectly true when thus understood, have in fact been misrepresented as intended to apply to it at others, and grave charges of dishonesty and falsehood most unjustly founded on such misrepresentation. It is obvious, that these and similar disputes about words, while they lead to much bitter crimination and recrimination, can have no tendency in any manner to elucidate the truth. In such discussions, there is neither propriety nor justice in impeaching the motives of those who differ from us. They cannot be supposed to have corrupt motives for preferring one system to another ; and if pride of opinion, or any like cause leads them to mis- represent facts and arguments, they are probably un- conscious of it; and their errors should be met by evidence and by reasoning, not by vituperation. Coarse 8 and vulgar epithets add no weight to argument ; but are always strong indications of a weak cause or a weak advocate, often of both. It is to be hoped, that there are few among us, who would imitate the exam- ple of some transatlantic writers recently cited here, m casting such foul aspersions, few, who would be so reck- less as to repeat them publicly without reprehension, and think to excuse themselves on the ground, that they merely state, but do not adopt them ; forgetting, that as such an excuse would be no justification in a court of law for repeating words of slander, so it is no apol- ogy for disseminating any imputation on the veracity or integrity of others in a court of conscience or of ho- nor. But enough of this. There is little danger that such aspersions will have any material influence on the public mind, or that they will injure any but those who invent and those who circulate them. There is danger, however, that those not acquainted with the subject may be misled by the speculations of distinguished foreigners, who, wanting a sufficiently long experience in their own country and not suffi- ciently acquainted with our experience, maintain cer- tain statements and conclusions to be absolutely and universally true, which so far as this country is con- cerned, are known to be erroneous ; and whatever may once have been thought of them, are now entirely ob- solete among all intelligent men conversant with the practical operation of the different systems of prison discipline among us. No such man would now assert or echo the asser- 9 tion, that in all the prisons in America where social labor is established, every violation of rule is punished on the spot by blows inflicted by the inferior officer, who witnesses it ; or would argue or echo the argu- ment, that such punishment must of necessity be en- forced, in every prison adopting this mode of labor ; when he must know, that of the two Penitentiaries on this system existing in Massachusetts, one has never admitted any such punishment at all ; and in the other neither this nor any other punishment can be inflicted for any offence whatever, by an inferior officer, or by any other authority than the head of the prison him- self, who, after deliberate hearing and consideration of the complaint and the defence, at the end of the day's work, may cause stripes to be inflicted in his own presence, not exceeding ten, to which number he is restricted by the express regulations of the prison ; and who inflicts even this punishment very rarely. No such man would assert, that there does not ap- pear to have been any case of hallucination or insanity in the Eastern Penitentiary of Pennsylvania, before the year 1838, and that though many such cases after- wards occurred, a few days generally sufficed to effect a cure in them ; when he must know, from the official reports of the same Penitentiary, that the first asser- tion is entirely erroneous, though exact statements of the numbers of insane were not regularly made for the years previous to 1837 ; and that the second assertion, if once too hastily countenanced, has since been so completely disproved, that we find in the Report of 10 the Physician of that Penitentiary, for 1846, the fol- lowing passage : " It will be seen by the table, that many of the cases of in- sanity that occurred within the year, were of a partial nature ; but it must be confessed, that the tendency of all seems to be to pass into dementia. Than this, no other result could well be antici- pated, as it is utterly impossible to afford the patient the benefit of judicious moral treatment within the walls of any prison ; and the unaided effects of medical remedies would be often more injurious than useful. It is true that the noisy and turbulent may be fre- quently reduced to submission by so called modes of treatment that have certainly more the character of punishments than of remedial measures ; but under the deceitful calm thus produced the delusions still exist, and the quiet and automatic order that is considered as evidence of restoration to health, is in reality the result of an almost complete obliteration of the mind. Insanity I believe to be quite a curable disease when taken in its early stages, and when the physician can command all the necessary requisites for its treatment ; but if the patients are perpetually subjected to the discipline of a penal institution, and they be really insane and not malingerers^ I do not hesitate to state my belief, that the per centage of recoveries and non-recoveries will be found to be in an inverse ratio to what they are said to be in well regulated asylums. " This opinion naturally suggests the question, ought not the prisoners who become insane, to be immediately transferred to a Lunatic Asylum, where their restoration to sanity may be looked upon as comparatively certain, instead of subjecting them to treat- ment that must almost in every instance render them helpless for life ? I think this question must almost invariably be answered in the affirmative ; for surely if the crime be considered only deserving of a temporary incarceration, it would not be just to visit the offender with a punishment worse than death." Eighteenth Re- port, 57. 11 These remarks are not intended to convey any cen- sure on the able and learned men, who made those statements. Those which were erroneous at the time when uttered, were so, no doubt, from inadvertence or misinformation; and it is not wonderful, that even those inhabitants of Europe who are best informed on this subject, should not be well acquainted with the actual condition of our prisons, when we ourselves, with all our habits of looking to Europe for informa- tion, know so little about theirs. As to such of these statements and conclusions as are proved to be incor- rect only by our own subsequent experience, for these they are in nowise responsible, relying as they did on the best evidence in their power at the time. But the wonder is, and it is no slight one, that the results of brief experiments made long ago by our- selves, transmitted hence to Europe, and there received on our authority, should, after many years, be brought back here and held up by some among ourselves as conclusive and binding on us, in opposition to our own more deliberate judgment upon more mature experi- ence ; as if the first hasty deductions from our own short and imperfect observation were clothed with some mysterious and inviolable sanction by passing through foreign lips, and the echo of our own voices were the response of an oracle. It is no such echo, that we are told to worship. Taking no shame to ourselves, therefore, for deriving knowledge from experience, and holding ourselves en- tirely unfettered by our own early and hasty observa- 12 tions, and just as free to alter our present opinions hereafter, upon sufficient evidence, as we now are to change, on good grounds, those heretofore expressed; it is proposed to inquire what plan of prison discipline appears, from the evidence now before us to he best adapted to our present wants and condition. The idea of holding ourselves perfectly indifferent, neither ex- pressing nor forming any opinion whatever, until a long and mature experience shall enable us to form one likely to be definitive, however plausible it may seem in theory, is preposterous in practice ; since it is im- possible, while we postpone forming any opinion, to postpone action also ; for in this case to do nothing is to act. What is to be done while this long experience is accumulating ? We must in the mean time have some sort of prisons and some sort of discipline. In establishing and administering these, surely it would not be wise to take no heed to the knowledge we pos- sess, because we do not possess more ; or to be so daz- zled by the speculations of others, as to disregard our own experience. Endeavoring, then, to avoid those expressions which have been so frequently used in different senses as to make it difficult to apply them without danger of being misunderstood, such as Anhurn, Pennsylvania, separate, congregate, &c., let us consider what are the prominent features of the system now adopted in theory and en- forced in practice in this vicinity. It provides for the entire separation of the prisoners by night ; for training them up to active and dUigent labor in some useful occupation during the day, in company with others, but under such constant supervi- sion, as may best tend to prevent any dangerous or corrupting intercourse, thus giving them at the same time and during all their time of labor, the benefits of healthy exercise, industrious habits and social existr ence ; for their religious and moral improvement, for their instruction in classes and for thek physical health and comfort, and it permits no more or greater punish- ments, than are absolutely requisite for these objects and for the preservation of good order ; and these to be inflicted only by authority of the head of the prison, after due hearing and deliberation. The advocates of labor in solitude will readily concur in the propriety of all these provisions, excepting those for labor in company and instruction in classes. And since all the objections urged against social instruction exist also against social labor, so that if labor in classes be allowed, no one will contend that instruction in classes should not be allowed also ; the whole discus- sion may practically be confined to a comparison of the relative advantages and disadvantages of having the labor of the convicts carried on in society or in solitude. The other provisions above stated, and many more, such as the precise nature of the punishments, the allow- ance of overstint, &c., whether deemed essential or not so, have no bearing on this discussion, inasmuch as, whatever decision may be adopted mth regard to any of them, is equally compatible with either mode of labor. 14 The great danger to Ibe guarded against in this dis- cussion by those really in search of truth alone, is that which chiefly retards improvement in the physical and other mixed sciences ; an obstinate attachment to hasty generalizations, the assumption upon insufficient evi- dence, and sometimes on mere speculation without evi- dence, of general propositions, axioms or principles, and a pertinacious adherence to them in spite of sub- sequent experience. In this pertinacity lies all the evil. To reduce what we know on any subject to general expressions, is highly useful, tending to methodize the knowledge we already possess, so that it may be more easily remem- bered and applied, and at the same time to guide our inquiries and experiments for the acquisition of more knowledge. But it should always be kept in mind, that though in the abstract or pure sciences, there are fundamental principles independent of experience and necessarily true, yet in the mixed sciences, in which all speculation must be founded on experience, and corrected by it, all our generalizations, call them prin- ciples or what you will, can be nothing more than the deductions of fallible reason from imperfect knowledge, and are therefore merely provisional. The conclusions of abstract science are deduced from axioms, which the human mind cannot conceive to be erroneous, and of course are more certain than deductions from experi- ence, since this rests after all on the evidence of the senses, which we know to be capable of deceiving us. And as all our deductions in the mixed sciences have 15 no other foundation than experience, they cannot be more certain than the evidence on which it rests, and may of course be countervailed by the Ul^e evidence. This consideration is peculiarly important with reference to sciences, which, like that of prison discipline, are yet in theii' infancy. For where our knowledge is very extensive, so that our deductions are supported by long, varied and uniform experience, we act on them with as much confidence as if they had the certainty of mathematical demonstration ; though this they can never acquire, nor can they for a moment be main- tained in opposition to a single well-established fact. The mischievous consequences, which have resulted, in this country, from an unyielding adherence to hasty opinions on this subject are so remarkable, and tend so fully to illustrate the origin, history and present condi- tion of this new science among us, as well as to guide our future investigations ; that it may be instructive to present a brief sketch of the progress of opinion and of improvement here in relation to it. The first persevering and efficient efforts in America to reform the whole system of prison discipline were made by " The Philadelphia Society for relieving the miseries of public prisons," established in 1787. The statements made of the condition of the prison in Phil- adelphia at that time are such, that if they were not supported by high, uniform and uncontradicted author- ity, it would be impossible for us at this day to believe them. It is represented as a scene of promiscuous 16 and unrestricted intercourse, and universal riot and de- bauchery. There was no labor, no separation of those accused, but yet untried, nor even of those confined for debt only, from convicts sentenced for the foulest crimes ; no separation of color, age or sex, by day or by night ; the prisoners lying promiscuously on the floor, most of them without anything like bed or bedding. As soon as the sexes were placed in different wings, which was the first reform made in the prison, of thirty or forty women then confined there, all but four or five immediately left it ; it having been a common practice, it is said, for women to cause themselves to be arrested for fictitious debts, that they might share in the orgies of the place. Intoxicating liquors abounded, and in- deed were freely sold at a bar kept by one of the offi- cers of the prison. Intercourse between the convicts and persons without was hardly restricted. Prisoners tried and acquitted, were still detained till they should pay jail fees to the keeper ; and the custom of garnish was established and unquestioned; that is, the custom of stripping every new comer of his outer clothing, to be sold for liquor, unless redeemed by the payment of a sum of money to be applied to the same object. It need hardly be added, that there was no attempt to give any kind of instruction, and no religious service whatsoever. Such are the naked facts. The following representation of the state of the prison, while these and similar enormities prevailed there, is contained in the " Notices of the efforts to improve the Prison at Philadelphia, by Roberts Vaux." 17 " On the day of the adoption of this constitution, the society elected its officers and committees, who proceeded to an immediate fulfilment of their important and benevolent duties. " It is much to be regretted, that the first minutes of the acting committee, which contained, doubtless, a mass of intelligence which would now be deeply interesting, cannot be found. Recourse has therefore been had to a few of the venerable persons, who, after a lapse of almost forty years, survive to relate some of the occur- rences connected with their early labors in this field of beneficence and patriotism. Their representations of the condition of the jail, and of those confined in it when their visits commenced, are truly appalling. A brief sketch of these will serve to prove at once the immense difficulties of the undertaking, and the moral courage which must have been exerted to overcome them. The prison, as already stated, was at the corner of High and Third streets, then nearly in the centre of the population of the city. It is said to have been an injudiciously-contrived building, with subterraneous dungeon for prisoners under sentence of death. What a spectacle must this abode of guilt and wretchedness have presented, when in one common herd were kept, by day and by night, prisoners of all ages, colors, and sexes ! No separation was made of the most flagrant offender and convict, from the prisoner who might perhaps be falsely suspected of some trifling misdemeanor ; — none, of the old and hardened culprit, from the youthful and trembling novice in crime ; — none, of the fraudulent swindler, from the unfortunate and possibly the most estimable debtor ; and when intermingled with all these, in one corrupt and corrupting assemblage, were to be found the disgusting object of popular contempt, besmeared with filth from the pillory — the unhappy victim of the lash, stream- ing with blood from the whipping post — the half naked vagrant — the loathsome drunkard — the sick, suffering with various bodily pains — and too often, the unaneled malefactor, whose precious hours of probation had been numbered by his earthly judge. " Some of these deplorable objects, not entirely screened from the public eye by ill-constructed walls, exposed themselves daily at the windows, through which they pushed out into the street bags 18 and baskets, suspended upon poles, to receive the alms of the pas- senger whose sympathy might be excited by their wails of real or affected anguish ; or if disappointed, they seldom failed to vent a torrent of abuse on those who were unmoved by their recitals, or who disapproved of their importunity. To increase the horror and disgust of the scene, the ear was continually assailed by the clank of fetters, or with expressions the most obscene and profane, loudly and fiercely uttered, as by the lips of demons, " The keeper derived his appointment from the sheriff of the city and county of Philadelphia ; and had been for many years retained in office, on account of his supposed competency for a charge so disagreeable, as to excite neither desire nor competition on the part of persons better qualified to occupy the station. In- deed the circumstances, under which the incumbent had been long connected with criminals, caused him to be suspected of a more intimate knowledge of the depredations committed in the city, than comported with that unblemished reputation which ought to belong to such an officer. Whether justly suspected or not, certain it is, that he viewed the first interference of the members of the society as altogether improper and unnecessary, and contrived to interpose every possible obstacle to the prosecution of their plans ; a deport- ment which went far to confirm the unfavorable opinions enter- tained of his character. An anecdote, related by one of the acting committee, exhibits at once the disposition of the jailer, and a specimen of the arts to which he resorted for deterring the mem- bers of that body from the discharge of their duties. The gentle- man alluded to was a clergyman, (the late William Rogers, D. D.) who, believing that benefit would result to the prisoners from an occasional sermon, called on the keeper to inform him of his in- tention to preach ' on the following Sunday.' This proved most unwelcome intelligence to the keeper, who instantly declared that such a measure was not only fraught with peril to the person who might deliver the address, but would involve also the risk of the escape of all the criminals, and the consequent pillage or murder of the citizens. To this the clergyman answered, that he did not anticipate such a result, and for himself he did not apprehend even 19 the slightest injury. Leaving, however, the keeper utterly uncon- vinced, he waited upon the sheriff, who, on being told what had passed, issued a written order to the jailor, to prepare for the in- tended religious service. At the appointed time the clergyman repaired to the prison, and was there received with a reserve bor- dering on incivility. The keeper reluctantly admitted him through the iron gate, to a platform at the top of the steps leading to the yard, where a loaded cannon was placed, and a man beside it with a lighted match. The motley concourse of prisoners was arranged in a solid column, extending to the greatest distance which the wall would allow, and in front of the instrument prepared for their de- struction, in the event of the least commotion. This formidable apparatus failed to intimidate or obstruct the preacher, who dis- coursed to the unhappy multitude for almost an hour, not only un- molested, but as he had reason to think, with advantage to his hearers, most of whom gave him their respectful attention, and all behaved with much greater decency than he expected. This ser- mon, it is asserted, was the first ever delivered to the whole of the prisoners in Philadelphia, and perhaps it preceded every attempt of the kind in any other city. Be that as it may, the duty in this case was performed under very extraordinary circumstances. Not long afterwards, when Bishop White, the President of the Society, was about to ofiiciate in the same prison, the keeper, with similar de- signs, very significantly advised him to leave his watch on the out- side of the gateway, lest it should be purloined ; but the intimation was disregarded, and the service administered without molestation." Page 12—17. The Pliiladelpliia Society, condemning all these abuses, and earnestly recommending their correction, laid it down, in the outset, that the great engines of correction were solitude and labor. Such was the effect of their appeals to the Legislature, and their influence on public opinion, that an act was passed on 5th April, 1790, at their suggestion. 20 " This act repealed all the former laws upon the subject, and com- pleted the essay of the penitentiary system ; after providing the pun- ishment of hard labor for certain offences, it directed, in the 8th section, that the commissioners of Philadelphia county should cause a suitable number of cells to be constructed, six feet wide, eight feet long, and nine feet high, ' for the purpose of confining therein the more hardened and atrocious offenders,' who may have been sentenced to hard labor for a term of years. Separation be- tween convicts, vagrants, and persons charged with misdemeanors, was directed to be enforced ' as much as the convenience of the building would admit.' The convicts were to be clothed in habits of coarse materials, uniform in color and make ; the males were to have their heads and beards shaved close, at least once in each week ; they were to be sustained on the coarsest food, and held to labor of the hardest and most servile kind, during which they were to be ' kept separate and apart from each other, if the nature of their several employments will admit thereof ; ' and ' where the nature of the employment requires two or more to work together, the keeper of the jail or one of his deputies shall, if possible, be constantly present.' A subsequent section enacted, that if pro- per employment could be found, the prisoners might also be per- mitted to work in the yard ; provided it were done in the presence, or within view of the keeper or his deputies. The numbers of hours of work was also prescribed, viz. : eight in November, De- cember, and January, nine in Februaiy and October, and ten in every other month. " An act, passed on the 22d of April, 1794, (3 Smith's Laws, 186,) provided, (sect. 11,) that persons convicted of crimes, which by former laws were punishable with death, (except murder in the first degree) should be kept in the solitary cells, on low diet, for such portion of the term of imprisonment, (not more than one half, nor less than one twelfth part thereof,) as the court in their sen- tence should direct and appoint. The act of the 18th April, 1795, (3 Smith's Laws, 246,) enacted that the inspectors of the prison should have full power to class the different prisoners, in such man- ner as they should judge would best promote the object of their 21 confinement. The provisions of the act of 1790, which directed that the clothing of the convict should be of the coarsest materials, and their labor of the hardest and most severe kind, were repealed ; as was also a clause of the same act, which allowed the keeper of the prison a commission of five per cent, on the sale of articles manufactured by the convicts. " These are the chief provisions of the acts relating to peni- tentiary punishments. It will be seen, upon examination, that they contemplated a system of classification, at least, as between the tried and untried, of severe and unremitting labor during the hours at which labor is practicable by day-light ; and of separation of the offenders, during the period of labor, where the nature of the em- ployment permitted of it. No provision was made, however, for any general system of solitary confinement, nor even for the soli- tary confinement of any class of criminals, during the whole period of imprisonment. All that appears to have been contemplated was solitary confinement, for a greater or less term, according to the sentence of the court, and the subsequent return of the offender to the society and intercourse of other convicts. Certainly, no pro- vision was made for separate dormitories, or separation during meals. The size of the cells, which the act of 1790 required to be constructed, seems to negative the idea of their being intended for the separate confinement of individuals. The cells in the Au- burn prison are only seven feet long, seven feet high, and three and a half feet wide, and are sufficiently capacious for the intended purpose. The area of the cells at Philadelphia, according to the directions of the act, was to be more than twice this size, or as 48 to 21. It is evident that the limits of the prison would not have admitted of the construction of cells of this size for more than a small number of prisoners. And it soon became evident, that the cells constructed by the commissioners were not suffi- ciently numerous even for ' the more hardened and atrocious offenders.' Consequently, the intercourse between the convicts, both by day and night, became constant and corrupting." Report of the Commissioners of Pennsylvania, December 24, 1827. 22 Under the act of 1790, before the end of that year, twenty-four solitary cells were built for the safe keep- ing and proper correction of the obstinate ; moral and religious instruction was provided for, by introducing bibles and other religious books, by having divine ser- vice performed once a week by the clergy of the neigh- borhood, and by allowing other edifying persons access to the prisoners at all times ; a regular course of labor was kept up ; the stxes separated ; spirituous liquors prohibited ; improper connections from without excluded ; and the refractory confined to solitude, low diet, and hard labor ; jail fees and garnish being at the same time abolished. In the reports of the Inspectors to the Governor of the state, dated Dec. 7, 1791, when the system had been in operation about one year, is this passage : " From the experiments already made, we have reason to con- gratulate our fellow-citizens on the happy reformation of the penal system. The prison is no longer a scene of debauchery, idleness and profanity ; an epitome of human wretchedness ; a seminary of crimes destructive to society ; but a school of reformation, and a place of public labor." An account of this system was published in 1793, when it had been somewhat more than two years in operation, drawn up by Caleb Lownes, one of the in- spectors of the prison, from which we learn, that in case of improper behavior, which had very seldom happened, the prisoners were removed to the solitary cells, and abridged in their diet, any material variation from the rules of the prison being thus punished. There had 23 been only one instance of refusal to work, which was in this way soon remedied ; and but one other case of a wilful violation of the rules among the male prison- ers had occurred, which was that of two men fighting, who were both punished in the same manner. The men convicts were lodged on the second floor of the East wing, a floor containing five rooms, each of nearly twenty feet by eighteen, one of them occupied by the shoemakers for a shop, one for the tailors and barber, and the other three for lodging rooms. From this and other authorities, it is clear, that those engaged in the same occupation labored together during the day, and that many slept in the same room together at night. It is stated, that with an average of rather more than one hundred convicts, the penitentiary was conducted for several years with encouraging success. At one time however, it is remarked that the number was only thirty-seven ; of whom ten were women. This was on the third day of December, 1792, and the smallness of this number may be explained by the consideration, that as nearly two hundred were par- doned in the two first years, many of them may have been released at nearly the same time. The result of these improvements for those two years is set forth in the same account. After stating that of the large number thus pardoned only four had been returned ; it proceeds as follows : " As several of those thus discharged were old offenders, there was some reason to fear that they would not long behave as honest citizens. But, if they have returned to their old courses, they have 24 chosen to run the risk of being hanged in other states, rather than encounter the certainty of being confined in the penitentiary cells of this. We may therefore conclude, that the plan adopted has had a good effect on these ; for it is a fact well known, that many of them were heretofore frequently at the bar of public justice, and had often received the punishment of their crimes under the for- mer laws. " Our streets now meet with no interruption from those charac- ters that formerly rendered it dangerous to walk out in an evening. Our roads in the vicinity of th3 city, so constantly infested with robbers, are seldom disturbed by those dangerous characters. The few instances that have occurred of the latter, last fall, were soon stopped. The perpetrators proved to be strangers, quartered near the city, on their way to the westward. " Our houses, stores, and vessels, so perpetually disturbed and robbed, no longer experience those alarming evils. We lie down in peace, we sleep in security. " There have been but two instances of burglaries in this city and county for near two years. Pickpockets, formerly such pests to society, are now unknown. Not one instance has occurred of a person being convicted of this offence for two years past. The number of persons convicted at the several courts have constantly decreased ; thirty and upwards, at a session, have frequently been added to the criminal list : at this time, when both city and county courts are but a few days distant, there are but Jive for trial ! Such have been our measures, such is the state of things, and such the effect. If any one can assign other causes for them, than are here adduced, they must have other opportunities, other means of information than I am acquainted with." Lownes on Penal Laws of Pennsylvania. It is not at all surprising, that those, who had wit- nessed the previous condition of the prison, should speak of it, at that time, with unmingled and unbound- ed admiration. But it may well surprise us. with our 25 present experience, that such an instantaneous and complete reform, not only in the prison, but in the whole condition of society, as some of these statements would indicate, should be supposed to have been brought about by this new system of prison discipline, from the very first moment of its adoption. Perhaps other causes might now be discerned cooperating with it, but it is not material to the present purpose to discuss them. The facts of course cannot be doubted, and it is enough that no other cause for them appears then to have been thought of, and that they were ascribed to this alone. As these statements were more and more widely cii^- culated, it was natural that this new penitentiary sys- tem, as actually established in Philadelphia, should be hailed throughout America, and wherever known in Europe, as absolutely perfect. True, it did not enforce the entire solitude originally suggested by the Phila- delphia Society ; but, on the contrary, employed many together in the same workshop by day, and lodged many in the same room at night. But its triumphant success seems to have precluded all questions on this head; and the very idea of separating each convict from all others, either by day or b}^ night, if not for- mally renounced, appears to have been entirely lost sight of, for many years. Many other States, indeed all those which, within twenty-five years afterwards, were willing to establish the best of all possible sys- tems of prison discipline, built penitentiaries, some at great cost, which were exactly adapted to this system 26 as it existed practically in Philadelphia, and which allowed a like degree of intercourse by day and by night. Prisons were established upon this plan, at New York, in 1796; Pvichmond, Va. in 1800 ; Charlestown, Mass. in 1804 ; Windsor, Vt. in 1808 ; Baltimore, Md. in 1811 ; Concord, N. II. in 1812 ; Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1816. Similar prisons were also established in New Jersey, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Meantime this system, on further trial in Philadel- phia, was seen by those who watched its operation closely, to produce results very different from those first ascribed to it. The earliest indication we can now trace of this change was an increase in the number of convictions. It has been seen that their diminution during the first three or four years was relied on as conclusive proof of the success of the system. Their number had giadually diminished from 131, in 1789, to 45, in 1793. But it gradually rose again to 145, in 1796, thus somewhat exceeding the number before the reform, but so little, as not to authorize the conclusion, that the result of this new system itself, at that time was either an increase or a diminution of the number. From this time till 1807 it increased at least as fast as the population ; and thenceforward in a manner quite alarming. In a statistical view published in 1817 by the Phil- adelphia Society, the Penitentiary is spoken of as an institution which " abeady begins to assume, especially as respects untried prisoners, the character of an Eu- 27 ropean prison, and a seminary for every vice, in which the unfortunate being who commits a first offence, and knows none of the arts of methodized villany, can scarcely avoid the contamination which leads to ex- treme depravity, and with which, from the insufficiency of the room to form separate accommodations, he must be associated in liis confinement." p. 23. Tliis change is ascribed to the increased number of prisoners, and it is remarked, that in the beginning, " the rooms in the prison and the prison yard afforded convenient and ample room for the separation and emplo^nnent of the convicts." It was probably by some such general and vague remark as this, that the Commissioners of Mas- sachusetts, or their informants, were subsequently mis- led to make the statement contained in their report in 1817, that " during a few years after the establishment of the penitentiary at Philadelphia, this institution was provided with sufficient room and the proper accommo- dations for the separation of the convicts from each other. By the vigilance of the keepers, all intercourse and communication was prevented by day, and at night the prisoners were lodged in solitary cells." p. 87. The incorrectness of this statement is certain from contemporary and official documents, as well as from the publications of the Philadelphia Society itself A similar error is made in the same repoii with regard to the penitentiary at New York, of which it is said, that it " was as successful in its operation, as that of Penn- sylvania formerly was, while under like favorable cir- cumstances, when the prisoners were properly assorted 28 while at work and at meals, and the influence of soli- tary confinement at night was added to that of a faith- ful inspection on the part of the keepers during the day." The rooms in the New York penitentiary were 12 feet by 18, and originally designed for the accom- modation of eight persons in each, which number was soon exceeded. At the present day, all men in this country, however they may diifer on other points, con- cur in the opinion, that allowing convicts to remain together in the same room at night without restriction or control, must be fatal to any system of prison disci- pline. No doubt the CAdl resulting from this practice was rendered more extensive and more obvious by the increased number of the prisoners ; but under any cir- cumstances, it would now be deemed altogether intol- erable. Yet from 1793 to 1801, notwithstanding the in- crease in the number of convicts in Pennsylvania, we find no objection to this practice, and indeed no men- tion of it or of its consequences by the officers of the prison or from any other quarter, not even from the Philadelpliia Society. But in 1801, in 1803 and sub- sequently, tliis excellent and vigilant society presented memorials to the legislature of the state reminding it, that they had originally recommended solitude as well as labor, and requesting that provision should be made, if not for entire solitude, at least for separating the convicts into smaller classes. These however pro- ducing no result, the evil became at length so exten- sive and alarming, that in 1817 they published to the 29 world the statistical view above cited. Tliis appeal at once roused the public mind and gave a new turn to the current of opinion in America. The discussions to which it gave rise, led in a few years to the univer- sal admission, that the system practically in operation in Philadelphia ever since 1790, and which had been adopted and pursued by so many other States, had been too hastily deemed perfect, on the strength of a few years experience, and too implicitly adhered to, in spite of so many more years experience of its evils ; and that the prisons founded on it were in fact not schools of reform as had been fondly fancied, but semi- naries of utter depravity and corruption. Thus completely disappointed in their expectations of success from the system first established in Phila- delphia, and afterwards in so many other places, cer- tain zealous advocates of a reform in prison discipline, by a revulsion not unnatural, resorted to the opposite extreme, and since labor without solitude had failed, proposed the plan of solitude without labor. Some of the most prominent arguments in favor of this new scheme were professedly founded on the principles of the human mind and the nature of things and other such "branches of learning" as are usually resorted to only for want of better reasons, and less frequently used to aid us in forming opinions than in defending opin- ions already adopted. In themselves and independent of experience, they are little worth, since who shall determine in what the nature of things and the princi- ples of the human mind consist? 30 It was alleged, in substance, that the principles, upon which the avoidance of crime is founded and repent- ance brought about are these : " 1. A tiresome state of mind from idle seclusion ; 2. Self-condem- nation arising from deep, long-continued and poignant reflections upon a guilty life. All our endeavors, therefore, ought to be direct- ed to the production of that state of mind, which will cause a con- vict to concentrate his thoughts upon his forlorn condition, to ab- stract himself from the world, and to think of nothing except the suffering and the privations he endures, the result of his crimes. Such a state of mind is totally incompatible with the least mechan- ical operation, but is only to be brought about, if ever, by complete mental and bodily insulation." Mease on Penitentiary System, p. 73. This frame of mind cannot take place " so long as a convict is occupied by manual labor, or the slightest occupation either in society with fellow-convicts, or in a solitary cell." If the promotion of this is the main object, if it is good, that some time should be devoted to it, the more time there is devoted to it the better. It should engross the whole time. Let religious in- struction and repentance be the only occupations of the convict, from which his attention shall never be distracted by worldly intercourse or worldly toil. Thus his reformation will be more speedily accomplished; and the time of his imprisonment may be shortened, with benefit both to himself and to the public. Such was the conclusion adopted by many intelli- gent and benevolent men, influenced by no other mo- tive than a sincere desbe to promote the interests of humanity. Whatever may be thought of the correct- 31 ness of the conclusion itself, it by no means follows from the premises. The argument on which it rests is false logic, for the premises are particular, while the conclusion is universal. If unrestricted intercourse or unremitted toil be a mischief, it is plain that they should be restrained and limited ; but it does not follow, that they should be abolished. If some time for medi- tation is good, it does not follow, that it is better to meditate aU the time. Some time for sleep, for exer- cise, for society, is good ; but it does not follow that the whole time should be devoted to either. It is better to restrain appetite, than to indulge it without limit. Is it, therefore, best of all to annihilate it ? Surely not. It is a question of more or less, and the just limit in any case can only be determined by experience ; aU reasoning on it a priori being futile. Yet such reason- ing, and false reasoning too, was not without its influ- ence in establishing and maintaining for a time a sys- tem, which however humanely intended, caused, in fact, much disease of body and of mind, tenninating not infrequently in death or insanity. In 1818 an act was passed by the legislature of Pennsylvania providing for the erection of a peniten- tiary at Pittsburg, " on the principle of solitary con- finement of the convicts as the same now is or hereaf- ter may be established by law ;" and directing that it should " be constructed on the plan exhibited to the legislature by the inspectors of the city and county of Philadelphia." This prison was not completed so as to receive convicts till July 1, 1826. It was designed 32 for solitary confinement without labor, and when built it was found, that there was perhaps no trade or occu- pation, at which a convict could work in any of the cells. It was subsequently found also, that the cells were so constructed as to admit free conversation among the convicts, and this prison was taken down in 1833, and another built in its place, intended to pre- clude all intercourse and to provide for solitary labor. Yet even of the first prison the inspectors say, in 1829, "Constant confinement ui these cells is found incom- patible with the health of the convicts, and we have found it necessary to permit two or three to be out alternately, which gives an opportunity of intercourse to about twenty, that greatly diminishes the benefit of solitary confinement." The penitentiary at Philadelpliia, called the Eastern, and built in conformity with an act of March 20, 1821, was originally intended, like that at Pittsburg, for soli- tary confinement without labor, but was not completed for the reception of convicts till 1829, in which year an act was passed providing for the introduction of solitary labor into the penitentiaries of Pennsylvania ; and since that time this has always formed a part of their system. The progress of opinion and of improvement on this subject in the State of New York was not dissimilar. The attention of these two great States was early called to it from the circumstance, that their capitals rivalling each other, and far surpassing any others in America, in population, wealth and luxury, were the chief thea- 33 tres of temptation and of crime. Some distinguished citizens of New York visited Philadelphia in 1794, to examine the penitentiary there and become acquainted, in all its details, with the practical operation of a sys- tem which was declared to have produced such instan- taneous and wonderful results ; and on their represent- ation to the legislature of the State a new penitentiary was established in the city of New York in 1796, on the same system, providing for regular labor by day, but not for entire separation either by day or by night. A report to the Senate of New York, in 1822, con- tains the following statements : " For a few years after the first establishment of our state prison, the institution seems to have idealized all the most sanguine hopes of its humane projectors. The name of it inspired some dread among criminals, and its government was conducted icith a degree of zeal and attention which often gives flattering success to new institutions, but which can hardly he expected to last ahoays. Accordingly in the report of 1803, we find that the labor of the convicts came within a small ainount of the expense of their sustenance, and the inspectors express an opinion, ' that no penal system in any state was less expensive, or more fully answered the intended purpose ;' but this report contains the first ominous intimation that ' there mil soon be a want of room.'' * " For eighteen successive years since that time, the state prison reports exhibit a distressing struggle against embarrassments and difficulty of every kind. They state the overwhelming number of convicts ; their profligate and abandoned character ; the impossi- bility of making their labor maintain them ; pecuniary embarrass- * Meaning, of course, not a want of room for solitary confinement, for of this there was no thought, but for containing the convicts without crowd- ing them. 34 ment in the affairs of the prison ; enormous denniands upon the public treasury, without the intermission of a year ; new and fruit- less endeavors to make labor productive ; the fearful progress of the prisoners in corrupting one another ; and finally, fires and dan- gerous insurrections." In 1817, commissioners appointed by a special act to examine the state prison, describe tbe prisoners as mutually corrupting and being corrupted by each other, and as leaving the prison more confirmed in their vicious propensities than when they entered it. In 1820, another board of special commissioners admits, that from some cause or other, '^ 'penitentiary pimiskments have entirely failed of producing the results originally anti- cipated from them ;" and that crimes have multiplied to an alarming degree. The report of the committee of 1822 contains also the following passages : " Neither have any exertions been omitted to remedy the defects, which from time to time have been observed, and to furnish motives to the prisoners for reformation. Expensive establishments have been formed for their employment at labor, by which they would acquire the means of an honest livelihood. Schools are established in the prison ; a very worthy and pious clergyman is employed for their religious instruction, and rewards are reserved for the most deserving, derived from part of the avails of their labor. Classifi- cations have been introduced according to their supposed moral characters ; and finally, laws have been passed to exclude from the prisons all who are convicted of small offences. Still the number of convicts is greater now than at any former period, and they are described in the official report as ' desperadoes,^ and ' the most abandoned and profligate of the human race.'' " Upon the whole view of our state prison system as hitherto con- ducted, your committee are compelled to adopt the conclusion, that 35 so far as reformation is concerned, it has wholly failed ; and not only so, but that it operates with alarming efficacy to increase^ dif' fuse and extend the love of vice, and a knoivledge of the arts and practices of criminality.'''' Report to Senate, 44. " Punishment is not revenge ; and rightly considered, it has less reference to the subject of it, than to the spectators. That punish- ment would be most proper, which, with the least suffering and pain inflicted upon the recipient, should make the strongest impres- sion upon the public mind. " But to make any impression upon the minds of either convicts or the public, there must be suffering ; and to make any adequate impression, such suffering as will excite feelings of terror : and the highest and best purpose of punishment is only then well answered, when the punishment inspires the minds of observers, especially of youth, with a salutary horror of the consequences of criminality. But whatever may be the individual opinion of the committee, they have borne in mind that nothing can be made effectual, which the public sentiment does not sanction. They have further considered the necessity of putting an end to that wasteful course of expend- iture, which for so many years has exhausted the resources of the state upon prisons and prisoners ; and they have concluded, that more perhaps cannot usefully be done at present, than to begin a reformation which future legislatures may in their wisdom perfect, as time and experience shall enable them. " The most important alteration which they have to recommend, is the abandonment of labor as an engine of punishment, and the substitution of severe but short confinement in cells, with solitude, silence, darkness, and stinted food of coarse quality. With the abandonment of labor in any prison, may be given up a vast and expensive list of shops, implements, inventories of stock, and bad debts, with the expenses of a guard ; a separate agent may be dis- pensed with, and a diminution of perhaps half, effected in the ex- penses of rations for the prisoners. The necessary expense of keeping one thousand prisoners in one prison, will then be a small amount for each.''"' Report to Senate, 48, 49. 36 A report, drawn up by men of great distinction and influence, and published by the Society for Preventing Pauperism in New York, in 1822, sets forth the senti- ments then generally entertained there, in the follow- ing language : " Wherever solitary confinement has been tried, it has produced the most powerful consequences. In the state prison of Philadel- phia, offenders of the most hardened and obdurate description — men who entered the cells assigned them, with every oath and imprecation that the fertility of the English language affords — beings, who scoffed at every idea of repentance and humility, have, in a few weeks, been reduced, by solitary confinement and low diet, to a state of the deepest penitence. This may be set down as a general result of this kind of punishment, in that prison. In the New York penitentiary, many striking instances of penitence and submission have also been afforded. Where prisoners were peculiarly refractory and vicious, they have been placed in solitary cells, and insulated from every human creature. Even the mes- sengers who carried them their food, were enjoined not to utter a syllable in the discharge of their diurnal duties. The most over- whelming consequences were the result. The spirit of the offender was subdued, and a temper of meekness and evidences of contri- tion displayed. A resort to this discipline never failed to accom- plish its end. " But, it will be asked, do we recommend an entire suspension of all labor in our penitentiaries ? We answer in the negative. We are sensible that such a proposition would not meet with cur- rency in the different States, nor do we, at present, perceive the necessity of its general adoption. But the committee would re- commend that solitary confinement be adopted, to a far greater extent, than has heretofore been thought of in this country. They would separate this punishment into two kinds : first, solitary con- finement, without labor ; and secondly, solitary confinement, with labor. Could these two methods, in the treatment of offenders, be 37 universally and exclusively adopted in the various penitentiaries of this country, and all intercourse and all kinds of communication among prisoners be prevented ; could they be wholly precluded from even seeing each other's faces, a new era would soon appear in the history of our criminal laws. " It appears to the committee, that in all cases where the con- vict is of a desperate character, and where his crimes are great and manifold, that his imprisonment should be spent in complete solitary confinement, free from all employment, all amusement, all pleasant objects of external contemplation. Let his diet be moderate, and suitable to a man placed in a narrow compass for the purpose of reflecting on his past life, and on the injuries which he has done to society. This would produce other effects on ex- perienced offenders, than imprisonment, with several hundred brother villains, where free intercourse, by day and by night, is permitted ; where rich soups and airy apartments are prepared for their reception, and where a school for guilt is established — where all the evil passions of man flourish in rank and poisonous luxuriance. Six months solitary confinement, in a cell, would leave a deeper remembrance of horror on the mind of the culprit, and inspire more dread, and prove a greater safeguard against crimes, than ten years imprisonment in our penitentiaries, as they now are managed. Who but would shudder at the bare idea of returning again to the dreary abodes of wretchedness, sorrow and despair, in the narrow limits of a solitary cell ? The memory of long and miserable days, and of sleepless and wearisome nights once spent there, would come over the mind like the dark cloud of desolation, and terrify and arrest the guilty in the career of out- rage. Employment tends to destroy the effects here pointed out. It diverts the mind, calls forth a constant exertion of the physical faculties, and renders men unconscious of the lapse of time. To felons, whose minds should be broken on the rack and the wheel, instead of their bodies, and who can only have their obstinate and guilty principles crushed and destroyed by severe treatment ; no kind of labor should be given, while it is intended that solitude, complete and entire solitude, should be left to do its effectual work. 6 38 Sooner or later, this mode of punishment will be adopted in the United States. It is founded on sound principles of philo- sophy, applicable to the nature of the human species." Report, pp. 51 - 53. " The other kind of solitary confinement might be designated for the most hardened felons, after they passed through a sufficient course of discipline in solitude, without labor. Their first relief should be the application of their time to that sober industry which they had discarded for the devices of guilt and the commission of crimes, before their sentence to the penitentiary. It would also be proper for another class of criminals, of a lower grade, who might .^ be doomed to solitary imprisonment and hard labor in the first in- stance. It is believed, by the committee, that the punishment would be found severe, salutary and effective. A long period of solitary confinement, without any labor, would have an unfavorable effect on the future ability of the convict to be useful in his peculiar pursuits. His mechanical capacity might be impaired by long in- ertness. Report, 54, 55. These passages sufficiently indicate the opinions then prevalent in New York, and which had already induced the legislature of that State to pass an act authorizing the inspectors of the Auburn Prison, hegim in 1816, and partly built on the old plan, " to alter or change the interior plan originally adopted so far as to render the same more suitable for confining each prisoner in a separate cell." It was not, however, the purpose of the legislature of New York to establish the system of solitary confinement without labor defini- tively and universally, but merely to apply it to some of the more obdurate offenders, and even this by way of experiment. An account of the Auburn Prison by the keeper. 39 published in 1826, gives a statement of this experi- ment and of its results. " The legislature passed an act, April 2d, 1821, directing the inspectors to select a class of convicts to be composed of the oldest and most heinous offenders, and to confine them constantly in solitary cells. At this period, the legislature and public at large had become so dissatisfied and discouraged with the existing mode and effects of penitentiary punishments, that it was generally be- lieved, that unless a severer system was adopted, the old 'san- guinary criminal code must be restored. In dread of such a result, the legislature ordered the experiment of exclusive solitude, with- out labor, and it is now believed, that in avoiding one extreme, an- other was fallen into. " In pursuance of this law, on the 25th day of December, 1821, there were selected eighty convicts and put into solitary cells. " These convicts were kept remote from the rest, and where visiters were not allowed to go, but where an officer remained, day and night, as well to guard against the possibility of mischief or accident, as to enforce a perfect silence in the cells. " They were not allowed to speak, except to the chaplain and to inform the officer they were sick, on which the physician was sent to examine them, and if necessarj^, they were removed to the hospital : other convicts brought their food to their cell doore, un- der the eye of an officer, and carried away what was necessary. Great care was taken by whitewashing and cleansing, to keep their cells and clothing pure and wholesome ; and they were pre- vented from lying down in the day time. " For a considerable time, we had the most entire confidence in the success of this experiment." G. Powers, on Auhurn, p. 32. " A report was made to Governor Yates, as directed by said act ; and in the summer of 1823, he visited the prison, personally, examined the solitary convicts, and af\er consulting with the in- spectors and agent, determined to pardon them all, gradually, as their names should be sent him by the inspectors, except some, whose sentences would soon expire, and a few others to be put to labor, and which was done accordingly. 40 " These measures were adopted for two reasons : First, that their punishment was changed and increased beyond their sentence : Secondly, that the health and constitutions of these surviving con- victs had become alarmingly impaired. " The said act, of April 15, 1823, authorized courts, at their discretion, to sentence convicts for second offences to solitaiy con- finement not exceeding two years. But there is not a convict now in this prison thus sentenced. " By the close of the year 1823 the solitary convicts were, prin- cipally, released, and a majority of them by pardon ; since which, exclusive solitary confinement has been discontinued, though the act requiring it is not yet repealed." G. Powers, p. 35, 36. " A number of these convicts became insane, while in solitude ; one, so desperate, that he sprang from his cell, when his door was opened, and threw himself from the fourth galleiy, upon the pave- ment, which nearly killed him, and undoubtedly would have destroyed his life, instantly, had not an intervening stove-pipe broken the force of his fall. Another beat and mangled his head against the walls of his cell, until he destroyed one of his eyes. " Nor was the effect of this constant confinement more favor- able to reformation, than to bodily health. Of those who survived its shock upon their constitutions, twelve have been reconvicted and returned to this prison, whose average confinement, in soli- tude, was about twenty months. It is proper to observe, that several convicts, of the solitary class, arc still in prison, who were released from solitary confinement and put to labor. " One of those pardoned committed a burglary, in this vicinity, the very first night after being released from a long confinement, but escaped conviction on some technical ground. " Some others are known to have so conducted as to be a terror in their neighborhoods, who have not been reconvicted of crimes, and not one instance of reformation, among that class, has been known." G. Powers, p. 36. " In view of these facts, it cannot be considered singular, that an entire change of opinion was wrought on the subject of exclu- sive solitary confinement, without labor. 41 " We now believe, that solitude, combined with labor, applied to convicts under the rigid discipline of this prison, is much better calculated to achieve the end in view, and is, perhaps, the best possible middle ground between the two extremes of penitentiary punishment, " The diversion and exercise arising from labor, which the con- victs now enjoy, are certainly no more than is indispensable to mental and bodily health : and their earnings should have some consideration with the government. " There is no doubt that uninterrupted solitude tends to sour the feelings, destroy the affections, harden the heart, and induce men to cultivate a spirit of revenge, or drive them to despair ; although such may not always be the effect upon martyrs and patriots, whose devotion to liberty, or religion, may sustain their bodies and minds in health and vigor while suffering in a righteous cause. Yet solitude, to a certain extent, is indispensable in prison dis- cipline. A degree of mental anguish and distress may be neces- sary to humble and reform an offender ; but, carry it too far, and he will become either a savage in his temper and feelings, or he will sink in despair. " With all the privileges enjoyed by the convicts in this prison, insanity is no uncommon occurrence. There are several now, more or less insane, who uniformly behaved well before their de- rangement, and who have never incurred any corporal punish- ment since their confinement. " A desire, frankly to acknowledge and fully explore a danger- ous error, which we believe has been fallen into, in carrying the doctrine of solitaiy confinement entirely too far, is the only apology for the tedious length of this article." G. Powers. pp. 37, 38. The total failure of tliis experiment in the summer of 1823, led to the establishment of what is often called here, the Auburn system, involving social labor under strict inspection, with the prohibition of aU inter- 42 course, during the day ; and the solitary confinement of each convict by night. The experience of the other States which had adopted the Pennsylvania system of 1790, of social labor with- out separation at any time, was similar to that of New York and Pennsylvania, and the progress of opinion in them substantially the same. In all of them this sys- tem was so far superior to the system, or rather to the utter confusion previously existing, that it was every- where, for a few years, the theme of constant, and often of exaggerated praise, though nowhere followed by such loud plaudits, and such high hopes as in Philadel- phia, one reason of which no doubt was, that in the smaller prisons of the less populous States, the evils previously existing had not been so great or obvious. But every^vhere, after a longer experience, it was con- demned not only as ineffectual, but as demoralizing and pernicious. The following extract is from a report made to the Society for the Prevention of Pauperism in the city of New York, in the year 1822 : " It is unnecessary to describe the internal and external structure of all the penitentiaries in the United States. The description of the oldest already mentioned, may be taken as a data. The Vir- ginia, Maryland, New Hampshire, Vermont and Ohio prisons do not deviate from them in any particular, as to redeem the system from the errors which have been enumerated and which we shall illustrate. The rooms are all too large, and none of the prisons constructed on a plan to prevent the constant intercourse of crim- inals, or to divide and keep them in distinct and proper classes. " Here is one of the fundamental errors, that has defeated the 43 grand object of the penitentiary system in the United States. This is the greatest of all the defects that time and experience have re- vealed in the lapse of thirty years. It accommodates the internal police of our prisons, to the ruling propensities of human nature, and gives indulgence to the leading passions and inclinations of man. It baffles the adoption of all other rules and principles of discipline and organization, and we might as well attempt to raise a superstructure without a foundation as to make efforts for the per- fection of a criminal code, while its first requisite is wholly wanting. " The erroneous construction of our penitentiaries, has not, until recently, attracted that deep attention throughout the countiy which it deserves. For several years, everything relating to the system was viewed as a matter of experiment, and so far as it was adopted, it proved so much superior in its moral consequences, to the old sanguinary codes of the colonies, that the gain was deemed matter of congratulation, although the grand end was not attained. Besides, the number of convicts was much smaller than it is at present, the superintendents were frequently changed, the chain of observation was broken, and if the sagacity of observation detected defects, they were not so presented to the legislatures of the dif- ferent sections of the Union, as to awaken their apprehensions. Hence, one State after another, each having distinct municipal laws, and distinct constitutions of government, went on imitating Penn- sylvania and New York, in the erection of prisons, and adopted the errors and vices of the system, without an anticipation of disastrous consequences. The last prison on the old plan was erected at Cin- cinnati, in the State of Ohio, in 1816." But in only three other States was the plan tried of confinement in constant solitude without labor, and then only on a portion of the prisoners, and by way of experiment : Maine, New Jersey and Virginia ; and in all thi'ee its effects on the bodily and mental health of the prisoners led to its abandonment. It was main- 44 tained longest and latest in New Jersey. It was sta- ted by the keeper, near the end of November, 1826, that the cells were built in 1820, and that since that year seventy-seven convicts had been sentenced to solitary confinement for eighteen months, two years, and one three years and six months, but only one of those dis- charged had returned. This last fact was urged as a reason for continuing tliis system in Pennsylvania. It appeared however afterwards, that the convicts in soli- tary confinement in New Jersey, could have free communication with those in the opposite and con- tiguous cells, so that the longer continuance of this sys- tem there than in any other State is not surprising. Such was the practical result of the two earliest great experiments made in America for the improve- ment of prison discipline ; the first involving daily labor without any solitude, and the second, constant solitude without any labor ; and such the progress of opinion in relation to them. Both at first deemed perfectly successful, by those who established, and who administered them, they were both, at last, universally condemned, and were followed by two dif- ferent systems, that of daily labor with solitude by night only, originating at Auburn, and that of constant solitude with labor, first established in Pennsylvania ; whence their names. The latter is now in operation in that State, and in New Jersey ; the former in aU the other States in America, which have any system at all. The single characteristic above-mentioned is still maintained in each ; but in other respects, many of them 45 once deemed essential, both these systems have been greatly modified ; and the changes have generally been such as tended to mitigate the original severity of the systems. Thus in the year 1832, the official report of the warden of the Philadelphia prison ascribes the diminution in the number of committals to the know- ledge of the nature and discipline of the establishment, and particularly three important features in it. " 1st. The entire separation of the convicts, both by day and night, and the seclusion from all except their keepers. 2d. Their being deprived from all intercourse or knowledge of every kind, with either their family or friends. 3d. That the friends of the system would use their endeavors to discourage the granting of pardons, so that the punishment might in all cases be certain ; and the determination of the board of in- spectors to refrain from recommending the governor to pardon, as has been the practice in the old prison." Fourth Report. And in the report for the year 1836 the inspectors cite, as a correct account of their system, a passage from Mr. Crawford, of which the following sen- tences show the strictness of the seclusion then main- tained : " I do not wish it to be inferred that moral corruption can result from intercourse so limited, yet when men are day after day thrown into the society of each other, the irksomeness of imprison- ment becomes impaired, and its terrors materially diminished. The Eastern Penitentiary imparts no such relief Of the convicts with whom I conversed, many had been previously confined in the New York and other prisons where corporal punishments were fre- quent ; but these persons have declared that that discipline was less corrective than the restraints of continual solitude. When pris- 7 46 oners are associated, it is extremely difficult to cut off all inter- course from without. The arrival of new, and the discharge of other convicts, form constant channels of communication. In the Eastern Penitentiary the separation from the world is certain and complete. So strict is this seclusion, that I found, on conversing with the prisoners, that they were not aware of the existence of the cholera, which had, but a few months before, prevailed in Phila- delphia. The exclusion of all knowledge of their friends is severely felt, but, although every allusion to their situation was accompanied by a strong sense of the punishment to which they were subjected, I could perceive no angry or vindictive feelings ; I was indeed par- ticularly struck by the mild and subdued spirit which seemed to pervade the temper of the convicts, and which is essentially pro- moted by reflection, solitude, and the absence of corporal punish- ment." Eighth Report, p. 6. Yet in the report for 1845 the inspectors say, "In- tercourse with the prisoners is constant and beneficial, and their solitude exists only in the imaginations of those who prefer to condemn before they understand this system of penitentiary punishment." And they quote with approbation tliis passage from a distin- guished writer : " The separate system has but one essential condition ; the abso- lute separation of the prisoners from intercourse of any kind with each other. On this may be ingrafted labor, instruction, and even constant society with the officers of the prison, or with virtuous i persons. In fact, these have become, in a greater or less degree, component parts of the system. In constant employment the pris oner finds peace ; and in the society with which he is indulged an innocent relaxation and a healthy influence. This is the Penn sylvania system." Seventeenth Report, p. 8. Provision has also been made for instruction sinc when adniiited. $ 17 12 2 3 Cases arisinj in ) the prison. $ 109 31 32 46 Now since it appears, that where the color is dis- tinguished, the number of whites and the number of blacks becoming insane in the institution, are almost exactly equal, it is the natural and necessary pre- sumption, that the same proportion exists, where the color is not distinguished ; and of course, half of this undistinguished number 46 should be added to each. To the 31 kno^vn to be white, let us add then the 23 necessarily believed to be so, and we have 54 cases of insanity in an average white population, as appears from table (B.) of 229. * No statement. 107 This for nine years, is six each year, or 26.20 new cases of insanity, annually, for every thousand people. Even if we suppose that there was actually no case of insanity in 1842, base our calculation on ten years it would reduce the average number of new cases among whites only, from 26.20 to 23.58 in a thousand, which does not at all affect the argument, for there ought not to be more than one in a thousand. The former number is no doubt to be correct. Table (E.) shows the cases during the same time in the prison at Charlestown, in Massachusetts. The report of the physician for the year 1838, contains the following statement : " During the year, one man has, in the estimation of the physician, become insane. It is worthy to remark, that this is only the second case of insanity, which has occurred in this penitentiary during the last ten years," * p. 38. * The third report of the Prison Association of New York, contains what purports to be a synopsis of all the reports of the different State Prisons of the United States, of which copies had been received by them, and from which they believe that they have extracted every important fact which can be necessary for the elucidation of the subject. It is unfortunate that their collection was not more complete ; the reports from New Jersey, being confined to the year 1846, and those of the Eastern Penitentiary of Pennsylvania, to that and the preceding year. Many if not most others which should extend through several years, are also imperfect. But this is our common misfortune ; and as the fact ap- pears, at a glance, on the face of the documents, it can mislead no one. Very little observation, however, will disclose instances of omission and inaccuracy, of which the synopsis itself aiFords no indication or correction, so that we cannot know whether to rely on its accuracy in any particular case or not, and thus its chief value as a substitute for the originals is lost. The passage above cited from the report of the physician of the State 108 Such cases occur there so rarely that the official re- ports sometimes omit to state their non-occurrence, and the number of insane appears only from the statement of the manner in which the different inmates of the prison are occupied. This statement of course, exhibits the whole number in the prison at the time. In order therefore to ascertain the precise number of neAV cases occumng in each year, it has been neces- prison at Charlestown, is condensed into the few followino- words : " During the year, one man has, in the estimation of the physician, be- come insane." Not the slightest intimation is contained in this synopsis, of the fact asserted by the physician in the same paragraph, that only one case of insanity had previously arisen in the prison for ten years. Now the maker of the synopsis might have disbelieved this assertion, and if so, might have noted his disbelief of it, though it is not disbelieved on the spot ; but professing to present a document containing every important statement of fact, he ought not to have omitted this, which is certainly far from unimportant. In the synopsis of the physician's report for the Pittsburgh prison, in the year 1845, it is said, " In the report of the prison for the year 1843, Dr. Smith states, that from January, 1839, to January, 1844, there had been 525 convicts in the prison, and from this number but one case of in- sanity is recorded." If this last assertion is here meant to be ascribed to Dr. Smith, we find in the synopsis of his report for that year, contained in this work, no such statement. And whether it be intended to be ascribed to him or not, it would appear from the same synopsis to be in- correct ; inasmuch as the physician's report there for the year 1840, in enu- merating the diseases of prisoners, contracted in prison, during that single year, specifies no less than 3 of dementia. Can this be so in the originals 1 When the original reports from the same prison directly contradict each other, it should be noted, otherwise we cannot be sure, that the mistake is not confined to the synopsis. It is to be hoped, that the Association will cause it to be revised and corrected, and continue their endeavors to ex- tend it ; for if its execution were worthy of its admirable design, no more valuable contribution could be rendered to this science in America. 109 sary to recur to the records which, while they exhibit notliing inconsistent with the published re- ports, enable me to present a table showing the new cases in each year, and whether they originated in the prison or not, similar to that which has been deduced from the official reports of the State prison of Pliiladel- phia ; and for the same time. The law appointing a commission for the removal of insane persons from the prison to the State Hospital at Worcester, was passed in 1844, and in the course of that year, seven were thus removed; the five men- tioned in the table, and two more admitted in the same condition in 1829 and 1836. (E.) New cases of insanity in the Penitentiary at Charlestown, Massa- chusetts, in each year since 1836. sent to hospital at Worcester, sent to hospital at Worcester. Whole numbe . Insane when admitted. 1837 183S 1 1839 1840 1 1 1841 1842 1843 1 1 1844 2 2 1845 1 1846 1 1 7 5 Deduct insane ) when admitted. J 5 2 sent to hospital at Worcester, sent to hospital at Worcester, cured in prison, delirium tremens, cured in prison. It appears then, that only two cases of insanity have originated in the prison at Charlestown during 110 ten years past, which is one in 1474, less than one in a thousand, accurately .68 in 1000; so that the cases of insanity thus originating among the white prisoners alone in Philadelphia, have been almost thirty-six times as many, as 'among all the prisoners, white and black, at Charlestown. Of the two patients cured in the Charlestown prison, instead of being sent to the State Hospital, one, having recovered his tranquillity before the commissioners met, requested that he might be allowed to remain there and work. His request was granted and he soon regained liis health. The other was admitted in a doubtful state of sanity, occasioned by the long continued use of ardent spmts, and was entirely cured by the regimen of the prison, in a few weeks. It would be idle to ascribe the immense difference between these two prisons in this respect to climate or to any circumstance connected with their geographical position or other local cause, for there is no reason to suppose that there is more insanity among the pop- ulation at large near Philadelphia, than near Boston. The census of 1840 would make it appear, that there is a great deal less in Pennsylvania than in Massachu- setts, the difference being nearly as 58 to 81 ; but the details of this census are little to be relied on, it is probable the proportion of insane is about the same in both. Dr. Brigham, superintendent of the Re- treat for the insane at Hartford, says, that "in the year 1835 there were received into three of the insti- tutions of Massachusetts from that State alone 124 Ill patients who became crazy that year" and estimates that this was not more than half the number who be- came insane during that time. Twice that number, or 248, would be one in 3000, which seems a low estimate. Sir Benjamin Brodie, one of the commissioners for Pentonville, states that in that prison, which was first opened in December, 1842, the cases of insanity in the first year were a little more than 9 in 1000 ; but that this excessive proportion was occasioned by peculiar causes, which after that year ceased to operate. He does not say what they were. The insanity for the three years since has been about as 1.48 to 1000, or very nearly one in seven hundred ; and he doubts whether this is more than in the population at large. He means cases of positive insanity, not including par- tial delusions. If this be taken as the rate in England, though there are obvious reasons for believing that the rate here is less than there, we could hardly put it so low as 1 in 3000, less than a quarter part of the num- ber. It would seem extravagant to put ours lower than 1 in 1000, or about two-thirds of the insane persons that there are in England, in proportion to the popula- tion. But this would give 800 new cases of insanity every year in the State of Massachusetts ; and 120, or 10 every month, in Boston alone. This is obviously too much ; and perhaps Sir Benjamin may be mistaken in the conjecture, that the rate in Pentonville prison, viz. 1.48, is not greater than in the population at large ; for this would give more than 21,000 new cases in 112 England and Wales every year ; and in London and its suburbs alone nearly 2700, more than 50 every week; a number not credible without further evidence. On the other hand, the estimate of Dr. Brigham, of one in 3000, making only 248 for Massachusetts, and 40 for Boston, seems too small, considering what a large i)roportion of the insane are cured, with our pre- sent means and appliances, during the first year of their illness. Perhaps 1 in 2000, or 400 to Massachusetts and 60 to Boston annually, is the lowest rate, that can justly be assumed, as 1 in 1000 is certainly the high- est. The rate in the prison is very little more than one in 1500, viz. one in 1474. It is not intended to found any precise conclusion on the fact that this is so nearly midway between the two extremes ; but it authorizes the assertion, that on comparing the cases arising in the prison, with the most reasonable esti- mates of those in the rest of the community, it does not appear that insanity within the prison here is greater than elsewhere in the vicinity. It win be observed that the rate of insanity spoken of by Sir Benjamin Brodie as excessive, and as only to be accounted for by peculiar causes, is hardly more than one-third of the ordinary average rate in Philar delphia. If this last prevailed throughout the State of Pennsylvania, there would arise in that State more than 45,000 new cases of insanity every year ; and in the city and county of Philadelphia alone more than 6,700, a proportion exceeding that of deaths in the prison there, though tliis is so much greater than among persons of 113 the same age in its vicinity, exceeding, indeed, that of deaths in the whole population, including infancy and old age, which have no counterparts in the prison. At the same rate, there would be nearly 21,000 new cases of insanity annually in Massachusetts, and about 3,144 in Boston, a number far exceeding that of the deaths. What would become of us, if our weekly list of deaths were accompanied by a still longer list of insanities, and it were known, that this was not a rare calamity, but the ordinary course of events here? This city would be at once depopulated. Yes, even Boston. Its inhabitants would flee from it, as from the seat of a pestilence. Such are the necessary deductions from the expe- rience of Pennsylvania and that of Massachusetts. To ascribe the difference between the results of the two as to health and sanity to any local causes, would be too absurd for refutation. To ascribe them to any cause whatever not local, has not the slightest effect upon the argument. For if that cause, be it what it may, be equally frequent under both systems, it must produce the same consequences in both, and cannot account for any difference in their results. If, on the contrary, it is most frequent under one system, then this greater frequency itself, and all its consequences, are justly to be ascribed to that system. But the tables above given, appalling as they are, do not afford the full measure of this evil ; for it is most important to remark that they contain no cases but those of actual death or insanity. No case of debil- 114 ity or disease, bodily or mental, is entered here, until it reacli that last extremity. Now is it possible to be- lieve that there are no such cases, that all those, who have not attained this fatal consummation, are full of health and vigor, and able to go forth and battle man- fully with the world ? It cannot be. Many more must be treading the dark and downward path, who are yet more or less distant from its end. It is the natural, nay, it is the r.ecessary presumption, that a mode of treatment which utterly destroys the health and reason of so many, cannot leave those of others en- tirely unimpaired. Is it consistent with justice or human- ity to inflict a punishment which has this tendency ? The experience of New Jersey, the only other State of the Union, in wliich the system of solitary labor now exists, is not less instructive. This system was intro- duced there in October, 1836. The first report, made in November of the following year, is a picture of com- plete success ', the moral condition of the convicts and the efficiency of the punishment are spoken of as pecu- liarly gratifjdng ; there had been little sickness and no death; and there had been preaching almost every Sunday by the clergy of Trenton, and visits from other pious persons. We are even told that the convicts re- moved from the old prison to the new, almost to a man, regret that they were ever placed at social labor, and dread meeting their old associates in crime after their discharge. " This simple fact" — as the Inspectors are pleased to call it, though it can be nothing more than their opinion, and this founded on no better evidence 115 than the representations of the convicts themselves, which, on such a point, are peculiarly worthless — "this simple fact alone speaks volumes as to the vast superi- ority of separate confinement with lahor and instruction, in ameliorating the condition of the convict, over every system of prison discipline that we have any knowledge of." With the unqualified preference of their own system, in all respects, to every other so often exhibited by re- formers, especially in the newness of their reform, the inspectors make the following remarks : " But when we turn to the moral degradation, too glaring in those cells, where the miserable inmate has never been blessed with even the rudiments of moral culture, would you witness the stern severity of the Pennsylvanian system of separate confinement with labor, in its most appalling form, you will find it there ; where the unfortunate victim of neglected education is placed, by his violation of a law, of which, perchance, he is ignorant ; without one ray of hope glimmering upon his benighted mind, save the occa- sional instruction he receives from a keeper, the casual official visitors who may chance to call upon him, or the distant voice of the minister of the gospel, in his labor of love on Sabbath after- noon. All else to him is one vast vacuum ; the mind has nothing else to rest on for relief; labor and sleep are his only comforters ; and, in his distress of mind, he either sinks down into stupidity, an object more of pity than of punishment, or, reckless of life, in his narrow cell, he sets the majesty of the law at defiance, resists the authority of his keepers, and subjects himself to the salutary re- straints necessary to sustain good order in the institution." But in the very next year, the fact that the health and intellect of the convicts are seriously affected in the prison, is fairly stated j though there seems to be 116 a disposition, then and for some years afterwards, to ascribe it to any cause but the true one. It appears that during the second year the deaths were three per cent; and we have the following statement from the physician: "The close confinement of prisoners in the New Jersey Peni- tentiary, so different from that of the old prison, must give rise to the question, whether being debarred from open air, sunlight, and suitable exercise, does not produce derangements of the system of a peculiar character. From the observations of the past year, I am convinced that there are diseases peculiar to the prison, and which will make the report less favorable to the health in the institution than what is expected. " The tendency to glandular obstruction is seen in almost every prisoner who has been confined in the cells for more than a year, when he is in the least degree indisposed. The complexion is pale, of a dropsical hue, such as continued shade almost always pro- duces, and the symptoms of disease of the internal organs are of the character that mark the languid action which prevails under such circumstances. Some fost mortem examinations have been made, and in all of them the lymphatic glands were enlarged to an enormous degree, indurated and obstructed. There is reason to believe, had these deaths occurred in out-of-door practice, the same state of this important part of the system would not have been found. The obscure pains and dyspeptic symptoms that trouble many of the prisoners, are owing, no doubt, to similar obstructions, which must be regarded as the effect of solitary confinement, such as obtains in the New Jersey Penitentiary. The ranges of cells that have a southern exposure, and into which a small portion of direct sunlight is admitted, are the most healthy. In them there is less disease than in the others. " The effect of solitary confinement upon the mind deserves some notice. In many instances there is remarked that weakness of intellect which results from an unexercised mind. The nervous system must suffer with the other parts of the body, from the causes already mentioned. If the prisoner's mind, on his admis- ir sion into the cell, has not been of a reflective character, and capa- ble of exercising itself on abstract subjects, imbecility is soon manifested, which leads him to amuse himself in the most childlike employments. If this confinement were continued for many years, such individuals would, no doubt, become permanently in- jured in their faculties." The Inspectors, however, think differently, and their remark upon the subject is this : " The influence of close confinement, and the expulsion of the sun's rays on the health of the prisoners, is a subject which has particularly engaged the attention of the physician, and to his re- port we respectfully refer you for the result of his observation. On this subject we will remark, however, that we have seen no evi- dence of the ruinous effects on the constitutions of the convicts, which have been ascribed to this mode of imprisonment. The prisoners generally present a pale and rather unhealthy appearance ; but this, we believe, is in consequence of living entirely in the shade, and not an effect of disease. In corroboration of this, we have observed that some who present this appearance most strong- ly, enjoy uninterrupted health." In the third year the Report of the Physician con- tains the following observations. " There are some among the convicts, who came from the old prison. While there they were in strong health, and for the first two years, in this penitentiary, complained little. Now they have become debilitated, are languid, and exhibit decided symptoms of a decline of their physical powers. " Among the prisoners are many cases of insanity. Some on their admission showed symptoms of derangement, and since then have continued in the same state." And again ; " Among the prisoners there are many, who exhibit a childlike simplicity, which shows them to be less acute than when they en- 16 118 tered. In all who have been more than a year in the prison, some of these effects have been observed. Continue the confinement far a longer time, and give them no other exercise of the mental facul- ties than this kind of imprisonment affords, and the most accom- plished rogue icill lose his capacity for depredating with success upon the community.'''' ! ! In the report for the fourth year we have the foUow- ing statements of the physician : " The effect of solitary confinement on the prisoners in this in- stitution is well determined, however different it may seem from what is reported of other similar establishments. As the punish- ment is carried out in this place, the result upon the convict is a diminished force of his organs generally ; and particularly a weak- ening of the muscular fibre ; obstruction of lymphatic glands, and vitiated nervous action. The mind suffers, in this state of the organs, when absolute derangement does not take place. " In this prison, as much attention is paid to the health of the convicts as the nature of their confinement will admit. Whole- some food, abundantly supplied, sufficient clothing, cleanliness, kind treatment, all tend to make their situation as comfortable as possible. When sickness requires a departure from the law, the convict has a nurse in his cell, or he has the privilege of taking the air in the yard. As far, then, as this mode of treatment ex- tends, eveiy opportunity is afforded to make the system of punish- ment tolerable. But still the injurious effects are a constant cause of complaint among the prisoners ; and as they are making appli- cations for pardon on this ground more than an}- other, the physi- cian is constantly solicited for certificates of health, under the be- lief that his statements will go far to induce the court to suppose a further confinement will destroy the life of the petitioner. Some have been pardoned for this reason, who have died soon after they left the prison. "As the tendency of the present system is injurious to the health of the convict, such alterations ought to be made in the arrange- 119 ments of the prison as will insure the greatest degree of health, consistently with the plan of solitary confinement. Some change ought to be made in heating and ventilating the cells. This is im- periously demanded. Confinement in a small, urrv'entilated room will produce anywhere, and on almost any animal, the very effects which have been observed in our penitentiary. Some pathologists have lately been trying experiments on animals to prove the defects of a sufficiency of air and light, and the results of all their trials have been a development of tubercles in the lungs, and glandular obstruc- tions — the very state of the organs that is produced in our prison. It was said in a former report, that 2)ost mortem examinations had shown excessive glandular obstructions ; and also, that of all dis- eases, those of the chest were the most unmanageable. " There are now amongst the 152 prisoners, 12 deranged men. More than half of these were fit for a Lunatic Asylum when they were received. Instead of receiving any benefit from their con- finement, they became confirmed in their malady." Li the sixth report of the physician we have the conckision of the whole matter. " Knowing the circumstances, under which mind and body suffer most, care is taken to avoid all such evil, as far as practicable. And now, while we admit the enervating tendency of solitary con- finement, we can report for the last year no death amongst an average of 141 prisoners. There have been but a few on the sick list at any time during the year, and no case of insanity has origi- nated in the house during this time." The cause of this great and extraordinary change may be learned from the physician himself. " These very favorable results arc to be attributed to the con- stant employment furnished the convicts, and also to the treatment the prisoner receives on the first appearance of disease. If his mind begin to fail, and he shows symptoms of derangement, another convict is put with him in his cell. This invariably re- STORES THE PATIENT." 120 The uniform success of the remedy shows the true cause of the evil ; as the nature of the remedy shows its extent. Enormous, indeed, must that evil have been, if the remedy was not worse than the disease. It is certainly a striking instance of blind attachment to a theory, of obstinate adherence to a single idea, that, — in order to prevent the corruption, which is assumed to be the result of the few stolen words, which may be exchanged, during social labor, under vigilant inspec- tion by day, — convicts should be allowed unrestrained, unwatched, unlimited intercourse during the w^hole night. It will be said, however, that this indulgence in cases where alarming symptoms appear, is not the system itself, but only an exception to it. This is ad- mitted, but even as such, it is liable to these objections : 1. That depending on the arbitrary discretion of an officer, it must lead to individual preferences, and to inequalities of punishment, at different times and places under the same government, which would be inconvenient and unjust. 2. That it is an exception; and provides only for cases in which alarming symptoms threaten the reason or the life of the convict, and not for the far greater number, who exhibit no terrific indications of disease ; but whose nerves and bodily and mental faculties, lose all their firmness, elasticity and \\goY, and are reduced to that state of depression and de- bility which, though it has sometimes been deemed one of the best results of this system, tends in fact to disqualify them utterly for the active duties and labors 121 of life, by rendering tliem incapable of firm purposes or persevering efforts of any kind. 3. That the most artful and inveterate criminals, those most disposed to boasting of the past, to imme- diate corruption, and to schemes of mischief for the future, will find it easy, by simulating insanity or disease, to obtain inthnate and unrestricted intercourse "with others by night ; for after the general rule is once dispensed with, the scrutin}^ in each particular case is not likely, on such a question as this, to be very searchino' ; and thus such intercourse will in fact take place, in those cases where it will be the most pernicious, and be precluded only where it would be the least so. 4. That a system, which requires any exceptions at all of this nature, is in itself an intolerable system. In the State of Rhode Island, the system of solitary labor was once established, but after about four years trial, abandoned. There, as in other places, high ex- pectations of success were indulged in the outset, and apparently confirmed by the first years expe- rience, although they were not expressed with the en- tu'e and unqualified assurance so often noticed else- where. Prisoners were first admitted in November 1838. The first report of the inspectors contains nothing touching the effects of the system upon the convicts ; the second, made in October 1839, has the following remarks : " It is as yet but the very commencement of an experiment in this State to diminish crime and reform criminals. There is good reason to anticipate successful results, and to believe, that it may be carried on without pecuniary loss to the State for the support of its convicts." 122 Again : " Of the effect of the discipline and regimen of the State prison upon the convicts, the inspectors have a very favorable opinion. Experience shows it to be beneficial rather than injurious to health." Ill the tliii'd report, in Octolber, 1840, the physician says, that there had been a great amount of sickness, and mentions as causes of it bad ventilation, occasioned by stopping the flues to retain the heat, and the want of more air and exercise than the discipline of the prison would allow. In the next report are found the following remarks of the inspectors : " By the warden's report it will be perceived, that the labor done in the prison is not a source of profit to the State. This re- sults partly from the fact, that solitary confinement prevents con- stant inspection. Many are inclined to be idle, and the under- signed believe that the cases, in which the taking away of labor would be considered by the convicts to be a hardship, are very rare." " The inspectors further repoi't, that the experiment of solitary confinement has not, since the prison has been in operation, proved perfectly satisfactory. They fear the effect is to injure strong minds, and to produce imbecility or insanity in those that are weak. They recommend your honorable body to consider if you ought not to direct the erection of workshops, in which the convicts may be compelled to labor, under constant supei-vision." The fifth report of the inspectors, contains this passage : " The affairs of the prison have been conducted on the same plan as during the previous year. Since the passage of the law, authorizing corporal punishment, no case has occurred to require its infliction ; but the advantage of possessing the authority is ap- parent. The undersigned, respectfully renew their recommenda- 123 tion, that you would cause a full examination to be made both of the State prison and county jail, with a view to deciding whether the present mode of separate confinement is not expensive to the State, and injurious to the minds of the convicts." In the year 1843, the system of solitary labor wa; abolished by law, and that of social labor substituted with satisfactory results. The warden of the prison in Rhode Island, who was also a physician, states, in a report, dated October 30, 1844, the result of his ob servations on the numerous cases of insanity, produced there by separate confinement. He considers this disease to be somewhat analogous in its character to I the delirium tremens, the latter being occasioned by the sudden withdrawal of an unnatural but habitual stimulus ; while the former arises from the privation of society, not only an habitual, but a natural stimu-l lus, and one necessary to the healthy action of the \^ brain. He states, that this insanity for the most part ap- { peared after a confinement of from six to eigMeen months.* J To aU this it will be answered, as it has been to like statements, — " That the separate system does not pro- liibit any amount of society, but only the society of convicts. It admits as many visits as are requisite from virtuous persons." It admits them, indeed. But does it provide for them ? Or can it do so ? For it is not an abstract theory, but a practicable sj^stem, which it is my purpose to consider. Let us first see what is in fact done in Philadelphia ; for it is not easy to believe, that what is not done in that great and * See Appendix, No. II, 124 benevolent city for its favorite institution, is likely to be done anj^where else in America. Mrs. Farnham, the highly intelligent Matron of the female depart- ment, in the penitentiary at Sing Sing, in Nev?- York, having visited that of Philadelphia, in the year 1846, makes the following statement : " Great pains have been taken by the citizens of Philadelphia and other parts of the State, since the erection of this prison, to give the system introduced there its highest efficacy. Their hu- manity and zeal are well known, and have been the theme of too frequent and warm praise to require notice from me. This prison and its system of discipline have together constituted an object of peculiar and earnest interest in Pennsylvania. Its original design was to inflict a greater degree of punishment than could be procured under the associate system. Its primary char- acter and aim have, however, been much modified, and the desire to separate the criminal from his associates for purposes of pun- ishment, has gradually been supplanted by the theory of secluding him from the influence of vicious associates, for the purposes of moral regeneration. His position is now declared to be, not a solitary, but a separate one ; that is, separate from his associates in crime, from men equally abandoned, or worse than himself. All this seems very rational, and would be in fact so, and there- fore liable to little objection, if with this separation a sufficient amount of stimulus and exercise could be afforded to the nervous system and the mental powers generally of the criminal. But these, it will be confessed, must flow to a large extent, from ming- ling with his fellow beings ; from participating in their thoughts and emotions, from sharing their labors, from sympathizing with their afflictions, and being made glad by their joys. " In an examination of this system, therefore, one of my par- ticular objects was to ascertain what amount of social intercourse was afforded to those who were placed under its operation. With the advantages which I have named, it would be idle to suppose 126 that a state of things more favorable to a liberal and sound ad- ministration of the system will be anywhere realized than in Philadelphia. I was exceedingly interested, therefore, to ascertain how far all these advantages permitted the prisoner to conform to the laws of his mental being, in respect to the particulars which I have named. The largest average which was given me of the time spent by each person in social intercourse, was by the warden. He thought it might be fifteen minutes of each twenty four hours — perhaps toith a great majority not so much. Those prisoners with whom I spoke, thought seven minutes would be a large state- ment of the amount of time spent by them in society ! A few who were peculiarly situated gave much more than this. But these were exceptions, existing under temporary and precarious causes. The periods of imprisonment range, in most countries, from one year or less to the length of the natural life. For terms of time, therefore, varying from those of short duration to the whole of the natural life, persons condemned to this system must suffer a solitude so entire, that fifteen minutes out of each twenty- four hours will include the entire time spent in the presence or communion of a fellow-being ! At least such must be their con- dition until a state of society is found very much in advance of any now known." Rationale of Crime, edited by E. W. Farnham, 1846, pp. 132, 133. The physician of the Eastern Penitentiary, makes also in his report for 1845, this statement : " On the intercourse of the convicts with the inspectors, warden, moral instructor, schoolmaster, apothecary, and physician, I shall not enlarge ; suffice it to say, that the bi-weekly visits of acting inspectors, enable them to see all in confinement at least twice during their two months on duty. The moral instructor and schoolmaster, devote their whole time to the service of the institu- tion ; the warden and physician visit every inmate once every two weeks, (many daily or twice daily, as circumstances may require,) and the apothecary, (an intelligent student of medicine,) as often 126 as his professional services may be required, or at any other time his leisure or inclination may dictate." Seventeenth Report^ p. 67. Having seen what is in fact done in PMadelpliia, it may be worth while to consider what is practicable, and on bringing this question to the infallible test of arithmetic, it will be found that more than is done there could not well be accomplished. It appears, from the above table marked (B.) that the number of prisoners has been on an average for the last ten years, 364 ; let 360 be taken as more convenient for this mode of calculation. It is stated that the moral instructor employs from seven to eight hours a day, say eight. In this time there are 480 minutes, which is one minute and one-third for each prisoner. It is not to be supposed that he sees them aU every day. He states himself, that he makes each day from sixteen to twenty visits. Suppose twenty, and allowing no time for passing from one cell to another, each visit is of twenty-four minutes, and each prisoner sees him once in eighteen days. If the visits are more frequent, they must be shorter ; or if longer, more rare ; for they can amount in all to no more than a minute and one-third per day. The same estimate applies to the schoolmaster. The warden, con- sidering his other important avocations, cannot probably devote more than two hours every day to visits, or one- fourth part of the time employed by the teacher ; which wUl afford to each prisoner an amount of visiting, equal to one-third of a minute each day, and as he sees every inmate once a fortnight, each visit may be of four 127 miaiites and two-tliircls. Allow as much for the phy- sician, and as much more for the apothecary, and we have altogether from these officers within the walls, three minutes and two-thirds per day. The inspector's visits are made tmce a week, but cannot be supposed to occupy more than six hours ; which will amount to a minute twice a week, equiva- lent to one-third of a minute a day. As they see all in confinement once a month, each of the monthly visits would be of ten minutes. A committee of the Pliiladelpliia Society visits the prison not oftener than once a week, and it does not clearly appear whether so often. If they employ as much time as the inspector, or six hours in each visit, since they go half as often, it is equal to one-sixth of a minute per day. Or supposing that there are always nine of them present, and that they visit separately, we should have a minute and a half each day. If we allow that the governor, legislature, judges, juries, sheriffs and benevolent persons aU taken together, occupy as much time in visits as the warden, or two hours every day, a large allowance, it will make one-third of a minute more, giving two minutes and one-sixth for all persons without the walls. In allowing so much as six hours to the visits of the inspectors, and of the committee, and in many other respects the time given above is obviously over- rated very much, and in almost aU respects not a little ; and yet altogether it does not amount to six minutes a day ; though it includes everything but the visits 128 of the overseers or turnkeys to open and shut the doors and cany to the contacts their meals, and the materials for their work. These are merely momentary, and can- not be supposed by any one to occupy in the whole more than five minutes a day. And as some indi-sdduals, from illness or other causes, must require more than the average time from the officers, within the walls, others must receive less than the average; and hence we see abundant confirmation of ihe warden's statement, that the time spent with a great majority was not so much as fifteen minutes in the period of twenty-four hours. The tables abeady given, show the result of the system, as now administered in Philadelphia, allowing less than fifteen minutes a day of human intercourse to each convict. How much it would be requisite to provide in order, not merely to prevent those terrible results, but to maintain in. full health and vigor the nervous system and all the faculties of body and of mind, is a question which, in the absence of sufficient e^-idence, must be left mainly to conjecture. No one probably would think of less than two hours a day. If we suppose this duty of \dsiting to be assigned to chaplains, as it usually is, and each to be employed eight hours daily, which is as much as can be required, one chaplain for every four contacts would be neces- sary to accomplish the object. The work would pro- bably be divided, and one chaplain give half an hour a day to each of sixteen convicts. But then three others must give half an hour apiece to each of the 129 same sixteen in order to furnish them with the time specified ; and however this duty be distributed among them, their number must amount to at least one-fourth part of the prisoners ; or to ninety-one in Philadelphia, and seventy-four in Charlestown. Even to provide them with society for one single hour in the twenty- four, would require half these numbers. And who would dream of proposing to the State of Massachu- setts, to employ and pay seventy-four or even thirty- seven chaplains for the State prison, or ask that of Pennsylvania for the still larger number ? It has been said, however, that virtuous and benevolent individuals might be found to perform this task without compensation. What — seventy-four persons, or half that number in Massachusetts, who would thus de- vote not a part of the day, but the whole day and every day, year after year, to visiting the inmates of the prison ; or twice that number who would give half the day, or four times that number who would give two hours a day to this object, continuously and regularly ! Let those believe it who can. It is a de- lusion. Besides it is requisite not only to find a suffi- cient number; but to find them fit for the purpose. There are many worthy and benevolent persons, who would be quite as likely as any body to undertake this task, who, if they talked to the prisoners as they talk about them, would do more harm than good. The report of the physician of the Philadelphia prison for 1846, contains some remarks pertinent to this subject, which may be cited. 130 " Tlioufrh a sincere believer in the moral and intellectual advan- tages which the prisoner will derive from judicious conversation with official visitors, I would nevertheless suggest that the desire for his improvement, and the tact and judgment necessary to direct him in the right path, may not always be combined in the same individual ; hence motives most benevolent and praiseworthy in themselves may either prove barren of good, or be productive of mischievous results." Eighteenth Report, p. 64. " As many of the sentences appear very unequal, even those well acquainted with their history, and the prisoners generally being entirely ignorant of, or incapable of reasoning on the respective merits of their own cases and those of others, with whose trials and periods of imprisonment they happen to be familiar, they are but too apt to consider theirs to have been decided more by the vindictive feelings of witnesses or judges than by any settled principle of justice. As such feelings would not only pervert the functions of both mind and body, but seriously interfere with moral reformation, the most earnest efforts should be made for their removal. Indeed prisoners, either from an honest conviction or the love of deceiving, are but too apt to endeavor to impress others with the belief, either of their entire innocence, or that their sentences are disproportioned to their crime, and visitors, who are not on their guard, may give credence to their statements, and condole with them accordingly. Now this should never be ; as no good, but positive injury, will arise from such credulity, by either encouraging the prisoner, if insincere in his deceit, or if sincere, in his belief; still further leading him to suppose himself to be the victim of a harsh law, and all those who administer it to be his enemies." Eighteenth Report^ p. G6. One disadvantage of social, as compared with soli- tary labor, much insisted on, is this ; that the convicts employed in the latter will he more able to recognize each other after theh discharge, and to tempt each other to new crimes. Tliis is true, especially with 131 regard to those employed in the same workshop ; and it is a disadvantage. But it has been extravagantly overrated by those who have placed too much confidence in the statements of the culprits themselves. When two or more persons, formerly convicted, are again imprisoned, having united in the commission of a new crime, if you believe the story of each, they have all been tempted, and no one the tempter. We want some further and better evidence to show the actual extent of this evil in practice. In the meantime it should be considered that many of the convicts knew each other before their imprisonment, many will never meet afterwards, some are corrupt and need no temptation, some are reformed and will not be tempters. As to the idea, that a man may be driven to commit a crime, by the threat of denouncing him to his employer as a convict, however, that may have once been here, or may now be elsewhere, it is now so here no longer. The fact is generally known to the employer, or if not, no discharged convict, under our present arrangements, finds any difficulty in getting a good place, or in keeping it if he is diligent and sober. Besides the man who should make such a threat, if it should come to the knowledge of the agent of the State or of the Society for Discharged Con- victs, would find his footsteps tracked by the police, and on his first offence would be sure of detection. This con- sideration, therefore, cannot be considered as at all coun- tervailing those before mentioned in favor of social labor. The example of Europe has been most emphati- cally cited on this subject, again and again. It is 132 said, that the opinion of all the governments and of ahnost all the men there, especially the most enlight- ened, is in favor of solitary labor ; and that we should bow to their authority. In matters of science we have been accustomed to do so, and very naturally. Their ancient, great, and wealthy institutions, abundantly provided with the means of pursuing every investiga- tion ; the concentration in the metropolis of each na- tion of a large portion of its eminent men, encouraging, stimulating, instructing and rivalling each other ; the rapidity and facility of intercourse between nation and nation ; the facts that the pursuits of science there, like all others, are crowded, so that even for this boundless harvest the laborers are not few; that in this, as in other departments, there is a great subdi- vision of labor, and that multitudes can obtain a live- lihood and distinction by the cultivation of science; all these give them advantages over us, which are only counterbalanced in a few rare cases, by our geo- graphical position, or some other peculiar circumstance. While, however, we listen with grateful and sincere respect to their teachings, we should not be blind fol- lowers, but enlightened pupils, exerting our intellect as well as our memory, capable of doing credit to our masters, appreciating their merit, imitating their example, and combining their experience with our own. In this one science of prison discipline, our ex- periments have been more extensive and varied than theirs, and this they seem themselves to have admitted by repeatedly sending eminent men as commissioners 133 to America to inquire into the results of those experi- ments ; and theii* reports, embodying the information they received, with the result of theii' own observa- tions, are highly valuable contributions to our know- ledge on this subject. But it should be remembered, that most, if not all these commissions, came to this country between ten and fifteen years ago, when the systems here spoken of were comparatively recent, and when even those who administered them, were hardly yet familiar with their operation. Increasing knowledge having rendered us continually more ' and more compe- tent to direct our inquiries properly and to draw just conclusions from them, our experience of the operation of these systems for the last ten years is not only longer, but more valuable in proportion to its length, than all which preceded it. Inhabitants of Europe indeed may have received the annual reports from our prisons. But there are many things necessary to a thorough acquaintance with the practical operation of a system, which are not and cannot well be inserted in these. And of this they are aware, or why send any commission here at all ? These reports might have been obtained without that ceremony. It is true, therefore, on this subject, more than on most others, that their opinions are not to be implicitly adopted by us, but to be fairly scrutinized, and their experience compared with ours, especially when the only practical question for us is, what system is best adapted to our own wants and condition. The exam- ple and opinions of Europe, however, have been so 134 frequently, earnestly, and indeed imperatively urged upon us, that it may be proper to make some more particular remarks upon the subject. It is undoubtedly true, that the opinion which pre- vailed among the eminent men assembled at Frankfort in September, 1846, to discuss the subject of prison discipline, was in favor of solitary labor, or the Penn- sylvania system, with modifications ; and this opinion appears to be now generally entertained among the na- tions of the European continent. But in most of them it is purely speculative ; few, if any, ha^dng had such expe- rience of the actual operation of the two systems, as to waiTant any judgment whatever on a question so emi- nently practical. They refer frequently to the expe- rience of America, often exhibiting, however, a want of acquaintance with it, especially in recent times, which is hardly surpassed by our ignorance of theirs. It should be remembered that in many of those countries the present system, or rather practice, for it does not deserve to be called a system, is the same in substance which was prevalent when John Howard first entered those dens of pollution, where convicts herded together by day and by night, without disci- pline, without occupation, without instniction, and, but for the walls that surrounded them, without re- straint, indulging in promiscuous and unbounded license. No wonder, that looking as they do to this country for information, they should prefer, of the only two systems now existing here, the one which seems most remote from their own ; upon which last, now 135 that their attention is called to it, they justly look with unmingled abhorrence. This arises from a natural, benevolent and honorable impulse, but one which, want- ing experience to guide it, leads them to excess. It is possible also, that there may be circumstances in their condition, or peculiarities of their institutions, which may account for tliis preference, and without a knowledge of which we cannot tell how far we ought to be influenced by their opinions. This may be illus- trated by an example. Count Skarbek, of Poland, stated, at the convention of Frankfort, that the prison which had existed since 1835, at Warsaw, and three others, designed as houses for detention before trial, which had been ordered to be built in Poland, were calculated for the separate system. It should, however, be known to the reader, that in most parts of the continent of Europe, persons ac- cused are not released, on giving bail, as they may be in all but capital cases among us, but are put into houses of detention or jails, and instead of being admonished, as here, to say nothing, which can criminate themselves, are taken before the magistrate as often as he pleases in or- der to undergo private and searching cross-examination. Long before our systematic improvements in prison dis- cipline were thought of, it was not uncommon to order the accused to be kept in entu^e solitude, until his exam- ination should be finished. No one can wonder, that the contest between an astute and thoroughly-trained magistrate and a prisoner, without knowledge or ex- 136 perience, and ignorant of the precise bearing of most of tlie questions put to Mm, and of his answers, should usually end in self-contradiction enough on the part the latter to ensure his conviction ; especially when it is considered, that the standing of the magistrate with his colleagues and with the public is naturally not a little affected by his reputation for success in such examinations. It is true, that these examinations, which are reduced to writing, are not^ strictly spealdng, evidence, but only considered as adminicida of testi- mony, and in many countries no prisoner can be con- victed on these alone. Two witnesses must be pro- duced against him. But it very often happens, that these witnesses say nothing to touch a hair of his head, so that for anything they know of the matter, he might go scathless as the judge himself, if it were not for the reading of these unfortunate adminiciila, whereupon conviction is sure to follow. When this process of examination has been continued as long as the magistrate thinks fit, it is formally closed, and the accused is sent back to the jail, there to be detained for trial. Count Skarbek, states, that it is the design of his government to extend the system of separate confine- ment by day as well as by night to cdl prisons. Yet that up to that time, they had confined this system to houses of detention for persons accused. As to prisons for convicts, he expressly states, that it had only been attempted to improve as far as possible the discipline of those, in which the prisoners lived in common ; ex- 137 cepting in a single instance, in wliich a great cloth manufactory at Sieraclz, had been converted into a prison, on the Auburn system for 166 prisoners, where they were entirely separated by night, but labored together during the day. Prisons in which each in- dividual has a separate cell, whether administered un- der the Auburn or Pennsylvania system, he calls cellular prisons, and contrasts them with those where prisoners live in common. The Count states, that only two cases of insanity had occurred in the house of detention at Warsaw, during the ten years since its establishment, and men- tions facts, which show that these cannot be ascribed to its system of discipline ; but as we are not informed what length of time is usually occupied by the ex- amination, during which alone the prisoner is separately confined, it is impossible to form any judgment of the weight or bearing of this statement. The French report of the proceedings at Frankfort contains Count Skarbek's speech, in which are the following passages. They are very literally translated, even the punctuation being preserved. " The house of detention at Warsaw contains 166 cells and 20 halls of from 12 to 14 beds for those prisoners whose examination is closed ; and the three other houses of detention in the Provinces only contain cells proportioned in number to the wants of their localities, and have only two common halls designed for smug- glers and those condemned to less than three months' imprison- ment, who are employed in the internal service of the house." " This brief statement of what has been done hitherto for Peni- tentiary reform in the Kingdom of Poland, cannot yet promise 138 great results with respect to the influence of the system upon the morals of the people, for such results can only be obtained when the system shall have been developed in all its parts and fully put in operation throughout the whole country. Yet what I can affirm, is this : 1. That the state of health, in the cellular pris- ons, is far more satisfactory than in the prisons in common. The past year, in which Typhus fever decimated the prisoners in these last prisons, shows that the cellular system secures the in- mates against contagious diseases ; for in the establishments of this kind, even in that which is constituted according to the Auburn sys- tem, that dreadful disease has scarcely seized a victim ; and while the mortality in them remained, as in ordinary years, at 3 per cent., it exceeded 10 per cent, in the prisons in common.* * How greatly readers are liable to be misled by an abstract not carefully made, may be learned by comparing with the above an article, which ap- peared in the Boston Daily Advertiser of July 27, 1847. It is headed thus : "present state of prison discipline in EUROPE. " The communications, made to the Penitentiary Congress at Frankfort, in September last, from the different countries of Europe, furnish an au- thentic account of the present state of Prison Discipline there, and par- ticularly of the extent to which the Pennsylvania or Separate System has been adopted. It may not be uninteresting to present some facts which have been gleaned from these communications." " Separate System Prisons in Europe.''^ Its account of the prisons of Poland is in the following words : " In Poland, the Separate System has been for a long time in success- ful operation. A Prison on this system was built at Warsaw in 1835, which contains one hundred and sixty-six cells. In 1843 an appropriation was made to build three other prisons on the same system. Count Skar- bek, a Councellor of State in Warsaw, and much devoted to the cause of Prison Discipline, stated at the Penitentiary Congress as follows : (1) ' The health of the Separate Prisons in Poland was more satisfactory than that of the Congregate ' ; and, (2) ' During the ten years since the occupation of the Prison at Warsaw, there have have been only two cases of mental alienation, one of which declared itself the morning after the 139 In this State any person accused and not able to procure the bail required for his release, is committed to jail for the purpose of securing his appearance at his trial, and for this purpose alone ; and any restraint whatsoever imposed on him, which is not necessary for this purpose, or for preserving good order in the prison, would be deemed a vdolation of his rights ; nor can he be subjected hy compulsion to labor or to idleness, to solitude or to society, any further than is necessary for the accomplishment of these objects. The same may be said of witnesses in criminal cases, who, if there is reason to believe that they will not appear to give evi- dence on the trial of the accused, may be confined, unless they can give security for their appearance. It is for this purpose alone that they are confined, and not as asserted by a recent French writer, with the fan- tastic design of securing the integrity of their testimo- ny, for which it would indeed be a singular expedient.* But little as is generally known here about the arrest, and the other was caused by too hasty treatment of the pUque {Plica Polonica) ; but the latter patient has been completely cured." The last sentence is an exact translation of the Count's words as con- tained in the French Report. But it will be seen that nothing is said of the 20 halls containing from 12 to 14 beds each, in all from 240 to 288, which are mentioned in the first passage above cited, in immediate con- nection with the 166 cells, without a comma between them; and that the second passage is transmuted into a singular phrase, which is marked as a quotation. • " On emprisonne pr6ventivement les t6moins en Am^rique, pour s'as- surer de la fid6]it6 de leurs depositions. On use de singuliers expedients contre la iiberte dans ces pays de liberte." Moreau-Christophe, sur la projet de lot. p. 86. 140 discipline of i^risons in most parts of the continent of Europe, much information at least with regard to opinion in France, may be derived from the pro- ceedings in the chamber of deputies. The sentiments of a large number of the members on this subject are perhaps best exhibited in a report, made in 1840, by ^Ir. De Tocqueville, on behalf of a commission of the chamber, and in another report, made by the same distinguished statesman, on behalf of a similar commission in 1843. These reports, however, have not yet been definitively acted upon by the chamber of deputies. They set forth at length the reasons of the com- missions for abandoning the system of prison dis- ciphne then existing there, which involves the con- finement of convicts in common, without effectual restraint by day or by night. To these it is unneces- sary to refer, as no doubt exists here on that subject, and any discussion of it has long been entirely ob- solete ; so that no one would now think of instituting any comparison at all between our two systems or either of them and prisons in common. The reports set forth, also, the reasons of the commissions for pre- ferring solitary to social labor. These last reasons, or such of the most prominent among them as have not already been noticed, may require a few remarks. The commissions admit in the outset that the sys- tem of solitude by night, with labor in common but in silence during the day, precludes the grosser im- moralities and prevents in part the moral contamina- 141 tion of the existing prisons ; and that it makes labor more productive and is less expensive to the public than the system of labor in solitude. The severity and frequency of punishments requisite in the opinion of the commissions for administering the system of social labor, are much dwelt on, and it is asserted that " in all the American prisons on this sys- tem a violation of the rule of silence is punished by a certain number of lashes j and that the only American prison, where the lash was not used in 1831, has since adopted it." To all Americans the incorrectness of these statements is well known. The commissions allege that silence cannot be per- fectly maintained ; and that though it may be pre- served to such a degree, as to prevent the grosser cor- ruptions, yet the prisoners will still be able to make known to each other their former history and their future plans ; and that at any rate, the rule of silence wiU be so often violated, as to lose that power of repressing crime, which seems to them to be the chief merit of the system. Undoubtedly, a few stolen words are sometimes exchanged in the prison, but it is not believed here, that any sustained conversation, or any detailed communication of former adventures or of conspiracies for the future, can take place without detection. Nor is it, perhaps, possible to prevent all communication whatever between prisoners in any other manner, than by placing each of them in a solitary building under a separate roof The sole ob- ject of prohibiting conversation in our prison is to 19 142 prevent corrupting and disorderly intercourse, and tliis it is supposed can be accomplished, and is accom- plished here without frequent or cruel punishments. As to the influence of the rule of strict silence in repressing crimes, it may certainly be doubted whether any man among us finds his horror of being sent to the State prison much increased by the reflection that, if he get there, he will not be allowed free conversa- tion with the convicts. One striking consideration, in the opinion of the French commissions, is the fact, that most of the agents who have been sent from Europe to America, to observe on the spot the practical operation of our different systems of prison discipline, though some of them before their visits favored the system of social labor, all returned with a different opinion, being con- vinced of the powerful effect upon the minds of crim- inals of the separate system, though they saw it only in its most harsh and austere form. No doubt, the effect of prolonged separate confine- ment upon the minds, the nerves, and the health of the prisoners, is always striking and sometimes even dreadful; and this effect was for a few years con- sidered by many Americans as well as by foreigners, to be conclusive evidence of repentance and reforma- tion. That it is not so in fact, when the prisoner is kept in solitude without labor, but only a proof of debility in body and in mind is now admitted ; and though it is less speedy, less universal and less terrific when he is allowed to labor, yet so far as it does exist, it must be ascribed to the same cause. 143 The commissions think that the system of constant separation must be more easily administered than that of social labor ; and that this last must necessarily re- quire a much greater degree of vigilance, ability and trustworthiness in all the inferior officers ; such a degree indeed as can hardly be expected from men in their posi- tion. The warden of the Eastern Penitentiary of Penn- sylvania says, in his sixth annual report, — " The Pennsylvania system is one of privations rather than pun- ishments ; such it certainly has been during the last year, for very few cases have occurred requiring severity of treatment ; with an increased number of prisoners, we have had fewer cases of re- fractory conduct than at any other period. This improvement I mainly attribute to the salutary change made in some of the under officers during the early part of the year. In all institutions it is important to have good officers, but in an establishment where the prisoners are kept separate and alone, particularly so ; they have few opportunities for conversation, and when these do occur they are embraced with avidity, and the temper, morals and dis- position of those who have almost the exclusive communion with them must have great influence on the criminal. The improve- ment I have alluded to, has therefore satisfied me that I was right in the changes that I made." Sixth Report, p. 7. It is known, also, that instances of the infliction of unlawful and cruel punishments have formerly occurred in that prison. These have not been mentioned, and are not now mentioned as belonging to the system, for they were mere abuses, and were corrected as soon as they came to the knowledge of the legislature. But this liability to abuse is in itself an objection ; and since, under the separate system, these things take 144 place in the absence of all witnesses, the prisoner is entirely at the mercy of the officer, unless the asser- tion of the former is taken as conclusive proof, in which case the officer is in the power of the convict, and must grant him all the indulgences which he may choose to demand. It is the opinion of the commissions that under the system of social labor, there are no means of maintain- ing discipline excepting the lash ; for hard labor can- not be imposed, since the prisoners already work as hard as they can ; silence is no punishment, for it is the uniform rule ; and solitary confinement can rarely be applied, because the number of solitary cells is limited ; and besides, it takes the prisoner from his work. With great respect it may be replied, that where each prisoner is confined in a solitary cell every night, there must be at least as many cells as prisoners ; and that to take them from their work, as far as is neces- sary for preserving the discipline and good order of the prison, is not only unobjectionable but in the end profitable. The whole objection rests on an erroneous idea of the frequency and duration of the punishments necessary to be inflicted for the maintenance of good order in a prison. It is perfectly obvious that every punishment, which can be applied under the system of solitary labor, may be as well applied under the system of social labor, together with the additional punishment of solitary confinement by day. The commissions think that men work with more diligence, and that a trade is learned sooner in soli- 145 tude tliaii under the constant inspection of a master and in the presence of fellow-Avorkmen ; and assert that this is proved by experiments made in America, England, and France. This allegation has been often made in general terms by the advocates of solitary labor. But when we ask the grounds of their opinion, we are met by the assertion, that men will work of necessity to relieve the weariness of solitude, and that all their attention will naturally be directed to their work ; or if we insist on evidence, are told perhaps of some one, who made a shoe after four days' teaching, or of a man who was so constantly at his loom, that he would not quit it for company nor hardly for his meals. Such particular instances, however, which are recorded because they are uncommon, prove nothing as to the usual course of events ; and although a man will resort to labor as a relief from solitude, it does not follow of necessity that his labor will be steady and efficient ; nor is it likely to be so, unless supported by a fixed habit of exertion previously acquired. To ascertain what its character actually is, we must look to its results. The table of earnings given above, is one piece of evidence on this point, and the juvenile department at Millbank will furnish another. We are informed that in the year 1839, the Inspec- tors-general of prisons in France met in council, and after long discussions came to the conclusion, by a large majority, that it is iwmhle to learn and practise a useful trade in solitary confinement. If this were ad- 146 duccd to repel the allegation that it is impossible, it would be, so far as their opinion goes, to the purpose. But it does not countenance the proposition which it is brought forward to support, that it is easier to do this in confinement than in company. No one ever doubted its possibility. The suggestion of the commissions, that the plan of solitary labor will produce so great a reform in society, and diminish so much the number of criminals, and the length of their imprisonment, as ultimately to lessen the expense of justice, is a mere conjecture ; and the idea that the French people suffer less than other na- tions from solitary confinement, and other privations wliich they know to be unavoidable, even if correct, would only show that a system fitted for them, might be ill adapted to others, in which case their experience can be no guide for us. Under the head of Opinion of the Royal Academy of Medicine, both commissions- cite the conclusion of a report made to that learned body on the 5th of January, 1839, by a commission of its own members, consisting of five eminent physicians. That conclusion is to the following effect : " If the commission had to express its opinion what penitentiary system should be preferred, it would not hesitate to decide for the system of Philadelphia, as the most favorable to reformation. The commission having to declare itself only as to the sanitary question on the different systems, is convinced, that the system of Pennsylvania, that is to say, continuous solitary confinement by day and by night, with labor, and conversation with the officers and inspectors, does not shorten the lives of the prisoners, nor en- danger their reason." 147 Any one who has seen the conclusion thus cited by the commissions, but not the document containing it, will naturally desire to know whether it is founded on abstract principles, or on experience. If on abstract principles, high as the authority is from which it em- anates, it can have little value in a science so purely inductive as this. But this could hardly be the case in Paris, where the learned men of the present day are the foremost to insist on an invariable adherence to the great rule, that in all the inductive sciences principles must be deduced from facts, and not facts from princi- ples. This conclusion then was undoubtedly founded on experience. But on whose experience ? Surely not on their own ; for the first place in France where the separate system was introduced was the prison of La Roquette in Paris, an establishment for boys, and at the time of that report this system had been in opera- tion there not more than six months, and that only partially. It was in all probability founded mainly on the experience of America, as represented to them. Not at all doubting that those distinguished men decided correctly on the evidence before them, it is necessary to consider what that evidence was, in order to determine how much weight should be attached to their opinion at the present day. At that time the latest report which they could have received from the Philadelphia prison was that read in the Legislature of the State on the 8th of February, 1838, giving an ac- count of the transactions of the year 1837, the very 148 first in which the number of cases of insanity in that prison began to be regularly reported. Independently of this, our experience in this country was at that time very imperfect The system had not then existed here quite ten years, and it requires some time to put a new system into operation, some knowledge to make accurate observations, some experience to con- duct a good experiment; and all the experience of America then was infinitely less accurate, complete and valuable than that which we have since acquired. The opinion of the Commission of the Chambers on the mental effect of separate confinement is as fol- lows: " Even if mental diseases were a little more frequent in the new prisons than in the old, the commission would still say, without hesitation, that this reason, however powerful, is not suffi- cient for abandoning the system of separate imprisonment with all the social advantages that attend it. " The old prisons caused physical suffering, and it was in this way maiuly that they repressed crime. The successive improve- ments since introduced into the system, now permit a certain de- gree of comfort to be enjoyed under it. " If imprisonment spare the body, it is just and desirable, that it should leave some salutary impressions on the mind, thus attacking the evil at its source. Now it is impossible that a system specially designed to make a strong impression on a great number of minds, should not drive some of them towards madness. If this evil is, as the commission believes, very rare, however deplorable, it is still to be preferred to the thousand evils engendered by the existing system." The existing system in France last mentioned, is that of living together da}^ and night without occupa- tion, and almost without restraint, and anything is bet- 149 tei* than that. But the sentiment previously expressed will not probably be adopted here. If suffering is to be inflicted because it is suffering and to deter others from crime, let it be inflicted upon the body and not upon the mind. Shame, mortification, remorse, the natural consequences of guilt are the inflictions of Pro^ddence, and must be endured, but the human in- tellect is too delicate an instrument, too precious, too little understood, to be made the subject of experi- mental torture at the hands of man. The idea that a mode of discipline which debilitates the mind of the convict can promote his reformation is entirely errone- ous. He needs all its elasticity and all its firmness to enable him to maintain his resolutions of amendment. Both Commissions of the Chamber append to their respective reports a note which contains the following statement. " Before 1838 no case of insanity or of hallucination appears to have shown itself in the Penitentiary of Philadelphia. At that time several are observed. One or two prisoners were on this ac- count pardoned. From that moment the cases were multiplied but in opposition to the usual course of mental diseases a few days were generally sufficient to cure the patient. May we not suppose that some of these cases so easily cured and appearing in a prison remarkable for the good health of its inmates, were feigned, either in the hope of some temporary indulgence or of obtaining a pardon ? " Now it has abeady been seen, that five cases of in- sanity are mentioned in the Official Report for 1832.* In the Physician's Report for 1833 one person is * Page 105, above. 150 spoken of who, though in good health on his admission, became insane in prison, not however, as the physician thinks, in consequence of the mode of confinement. And in the report for 1834, two of the persons dis- charged are stated to have been insane at the time. In the Warden's Report for 1835 he remarks that, ob- servation shows that there are many more idiots and insane in prisons than was supposed ; and though he does not confine the remark to his own prison, it is obvious what it means. As to the statement that a few days were always sufficient for a cure in such cases, without inquiring what authority there might have been for it at that time, we may learn how the fact stands at the present day from the statement of the physician, contained in his last report, that for 1846, which has already been cited.* Such are the opinions which now prevail extensively, and perhaps generally, in France. The experience of America does not afford them the support, which they claim from it, but appears to have been greatly mis- represented or misunderstood. As to the experience of France itself, the first prison providing for constant confinement established there was that of La Roquette, designed for children alone, to whom this system, ac- cording to the universal sentiment in England and America, is altogether inapplicable. It is not neces- sary, therefore, to speak of that prison here, though it there assumes the merit of entire success. * See page. 10. 151 The other prisons on the same system in that cotin- try, have been established too short a time to afford any experience to be at all compared with our own. It has, indeed, been gravely nrged, that the experience of nineteen prisons for three years is equivalent to that of three prisons for nineteen years. This idea is alto- gether novel, and can hardly need a grave refutation. If it were just, a sufficient number of school boys might rival the experience of a Nestor. It has been already shown that aU experiments of this kind have for a time been deemed successful, even those which turned out at last to be the most pernicious. Some account of the French system, though not suffi- cient to make us acquainted with its practical opera- tion, and enable us to imitate it, may be found in a letter from Paris to the mayor of Boston, published by the city government last winter. It is stated, that each convict there is visited every day by the director, surgeon and other officers named, in all amounting to seven. If this be so, and if each of these officers find time to appropriate six hours, or three hundred and sixty minutes every day, to these visits, each visit to five hundred prisoners, for such is the number proposed for each of those prisons, could not be longer than three quarters of a minute, and the whole seven visits would occupy but about five minutes in a day. Probably, however, these official visits are in fact, as the commissions propose, obligatory only once a week, in which case every pris- oner would see each of his seven visitors for about i 152 five minutes once a week. TMs as before would of course give him altogether five minutes of company every day. Perhaps it may be designed that these visits should be much like those described in the third report of the inspectors of prisons, for the home district in England. They state, that they have frequently seen a governor visit 500 prisoners in separate cells in the course of a very few hours ; and they describe the manner in which visits are made by the governor and by the surgeon. " An officer precedes them in their rounds, and has already opened two or three cells in advance, and the governor or surgeon passes on from one cell to another almost as soon as an officer passes down a line of troops, stopping whenever a case re- quires further inquiry or communication." Now this species of formal review is highly useful no doubt, and ought to be continued ; but it does not amount to much social intercourse, nor detract much time from the loneliness of twenty-four hours of un- mitigated solitude. For the rest of his visits, the prisoner must rely on the voluntary benevolence of friends and strangers. From the same letter we learn, that each prisoner ex- ercises, of course alone, an hour every day in one of a series of courts, some of which are adorned with flowers, and refreshed with fountains. As there is a considerable part of the year in our climate when this exercise could not be taken more than eight hours in a day, it would be requisite to have one such court or garden for every eight convicts, that is, more than sixty for 500 prisoners and nearly forty in Charlestown. The Commissions of the Chamber of Deputies con- demn the unnecessary rigor shown in Pennsylvania, and consider the relaxations they propose as essential to the success of their system. How much aid they expect from benevolent societies and individuals does not appear. Nor is it important for us to inquire ; for in this as in many other particulars, that which may be very practicable in France, may be out of the ques- tion in America. The legal and social institutions and habits of Eng- land resemble our own much more than those of the rest of Europe do, and we know much more about them. In that country also, there have been far more extensive and varied observations on this subject, than in any of the continental nations. The experience of their great national establishments and its results, needs only to be briefly stated, in order to show how far the English system resembles that of solitary labor as administered here, and how far, such as it is, it has bcOT successful there, or might be appropriate in Amer- ica. The first national penitentiary was built at Millhank, near London. It was opened, partially, to receive women in 1816, and for men in 1817, and completed in 1822. Its inmates consisted of those convicts who, having been sentenced to transportation, had their pun- ishment transmuted for confinement in this prison by warrant of a Secretary of State. In consequence of a 154 contagious disease which broke out in this prison in the winter of 1823, ascribed by some to a reduction in the quantity and quality of food, which had been made to meet the popular complaint that convicts in the prison lived better than honest laborers without, the prisoners were all removed and the jail remained closed till 1824 ; since Avhich time it has been con- stantly occupied. The prisoners were originally di- vided into two classes, in each of which it was intended that they should pass half the time of their confine- ment. Those in the first class, after coming out to wash, eight at a time, in the morning, pursued their several occupations in their cells, till it was the turn of their ward to work at the water-machine or at the corn-mills. The prisoners of each ward, thirty- two in number, worked four times a day in company at these machines for half an hour each time in sum- mer, walking afterwards in their ow^n airing-yard for a quarter of an hour, and then returning to their cells. They wall^ed two and two, and were allowed to con- verse with theu' companions, provided the conversation were not carried on in a loud voice. The arrangements made for the schools, and calcu- lated particularly for the first class of prisoners, were as follows. The schools were held on two evenings in every week, the number of pupils in each school be- ing sixteen, and the school lasting about an hour and a half The convicts belonging to this class labored sepa- rately in their cells. To what good end it is difficult 155 to imagine, since they were allowed to converse, unheard by the officers, every day during their walks. Convicts of the second class worked several together in larger cells by day, but were kept separate at night ; and they walked more in their court yards, and worked less at the machines and mills than those of the first class.* In the year 1832, this second class was aboKshed, and thenceforth every prisoner worked alone in liis cell; and in 1837, on the appointment of a new governor, conversation in the yards was prohibited and various other restrictive measures adopted, all de- signed to carry out as far as possible the principle, as it was called, of non-intercourse. As early as the 11th of May, 1839, the deaths and cases of insanity had become so frequent and alarm- ing, that a distinguished physician was called in to visit the prison twice a week for six months ; and in February, 1840, the eminent Dr. William Baly was appointed with the consent of the Secretary of State to visit the prison twice at least in every week for the space of twelve months, in order, " that the con- dition and health of the prisoners and the physical effects of the discipline should be narrowly watched by a competent medical man, in conjunction with the resident surgeon." Dr. Baly, accepted the appointment, and made his * Holford on Millbank, p. 68, &c. 156 report in May, 1841. Considering the remarks made on this report by the superintending committee, and the character of its author, it is greatly to be regretted that the British government has not seen fit to pub- lish it. The inspectors of the home district express their opinion, that this impaked state of health must be at- tributed to some other cause than the increased strict- ness of the separation and discipline, which had then recently taken place. But the remedies prescribed by Dr. Baly, and the success of those remedies leave no doubt on this subject. The official reports of the superintending committee of the Millbank penitentiary for the years 1841 and 1842, will make this ap- parent. [Extracts ft'om the Millhank Report for 1841.] " Great alterations have been made in the discipline of the in- stitution. In consequence of a distressing increase in the number of insane prisoners, the committee, under the sanction of Dr. Baly's report, which will afterwards be noticed, came to the reso- lution, that it would be unsafe to continue a strict system of sepa- ration for the long periods, to which the ordinary sentences of prisoners in the penitentiary extend. They therefore, proposed that the system should be relaxed with regard to all classes of prisoners, except two, viz., military prisoners, (whose sentences m general are extremely short,) and persons convicted of unnatural offences ; and that, as to all other prisoners, the prohibition of in- tercourse should be limited to the first three months after their admission, and that upon the expiration of that period, they should be placed under a system of modified intercourse, consisting of permission to converse during the hours of exercise, with two or more fellow prisoners ; the privilege to be suspended for miscon- 157 duct; and such a classification, with reference to age, education, character, and conduct, to be adopted, as would render the in- dulgence as little injurious as possible, in a moral point of view. The committee also proposed, that wherever the medical officer should have reason to believe, that the mind or body of any pris- oner was likely to be injuriously affected by the discipline, he should have the power of suggesting a change in the particular case. " The rules for effecting the foregoing alterations, having re- ceived the sanction of the Secretary of State, were brought into operation on the 14th of July last. " A sufficient time has not yet elapsed, to enable the committee to form an accurate judgment of the comparative merits of the old and new systems, in their various important bearings. They are, however, inclined to believe, that no scheme of discipline in which intercourse between prisoners, however modified, forms an essential part, is ever likely to be made instrumental, either to the prevention of crime, or to the personal reformation of con- victs, in the same degree as a system of separation. Whether the latter system can be rendered compatible with the maintenance of the mental sanity of prisoners, is a subject of much controversy, and can only be determined by actual experiment, accompanied by such advantages as are proposed in the model prison. " It was solely with the view to the prevention of insanity, that the change of discipline was introduced here in July, 1841. During the five succeeding months of the year, only two prisoners became insane, both of whom, under medical treatment in this institution, speedily recovered their reason ; but one of them in the present year has suffered a relapse, and has been removed to Bethlem Hospital. As far therefore as can be judged from the present short experience, the change in the discipline appears to have had the effect of ren- dering the recurrence of mental disorders less frequent ; but the lapse of another year must be awaited before a positive conclusion can be safely formed." " Dr. Baly having been appointed in February, 1840, for the purpose of narrowly watching, in conjunction with the then resi- 158 dent surtreon, the health and condition of the prisoners, and the physical effects of the separate system in the penitentiary, com- pleted his report in May, 1841. That report has led to the change of discipline above described, and to various other altera- tions, some already completed, and others still in progress, such as the enlargement of the airing-yards, the filling up of the moat, the improved system of warming and ventilating the cells, &c. It is only an act of justice to Dr. Baly, to state, that his report is a most able and elaborate document ; it not merely embodies the results of his unremitting observation at the penitentiary during fifteen months, but it takes a searching and comprehensive view of the difficulties connected with the subject of imprisonment, fortify- ing its conclusions throughout by statistical data, drawn from a variety of sources, both foreign and domestic. It is, in short, a document calculated to throw important light on the science of prison discipline." [Extract from the Millbank Report for 1842.] " In their last report, the committee stated, that in consequence of a distressing increase in the number of insane prisoners, a great alteration had been made in the discipline of the institution, and that the separate system had been relaxed. The general outline of the new system, which came into operation in July, 1841, is, that the prohibition of intercourse between prisoners, is now lim- ited to the first three months after their admission, and upon the expiration of that period, they are placed under a system of modi- fied intercourse, consisting of permission to converse, during the hours of exercise, with two or more fellow-prisoners. This priv- ilege is liable to be suspended for misconduct, and the governor is empowered to adopt such a classification, with reference to age, education, character and conduct, as may render the indulgence as little injurious as possible in a moral point of view. A year and a half having elapsed since this important alteration, the com- mittee feel, that they have had sufficient experience to justify them in forming an opinion of the comparative merits of the new and old systems. It was solely with a view to the prevention of in- 159 sanity, that the new sj^stem was introduced, and in that important point it may be regarded as having been successful ; for during the eighteen months preceding the introduction of the system of modi- fied intercourse, fifteen prisoners became insane, whereas during the eighteen months succeeding, five cases only of insanity have occurred. " Intercourse between prisoners, however modified by limitation of numbers, or checked by the power of classification, can hardly ever fail to be injurious on moral grounds. Considering the past habits of the generality of the prisoners, it is too much to expect that their conversation will be harmless ; they walk in parties of three each, and there is no officer to overhear what passes be- tween them ; but there have been many instances where prisoners have been so disgusted by the language of their companions as to have complained of it ; and it is to be feared that the evil thus occasionally brought to light, bears but a small proportion to that which continually circulates without detection. " The produce of the prisoners' labor has been considerably less than it was under the separate system. " It is some satisfaction to know, that in several instances, the privilege of intercourse has been employed as the means of im- parting and receiving good, and that some prisoners, who entered the establishment in a state of deplorable ignorance, have ac- quired valuable instruction from their companions in their daily walks." It was also provided at Millbank, in 1841, that the prisoners of unsound mind, "with such scrofulous or debilitated persons as most required relaxation of dis- cipline, should he classed together and called invalids, should walk apart from the other class, which required garden exercise, and while in the garden, be allowed to converse promiscuously ; and, moreover, that when- ever the surgeon might think it necessary, two or 160 more prisoners under treatment for insanity, might be placed in the same room, and while there, have the privilege of conversation, an infirmary assistant being with them at night. After the establishment of the Penitentiary at Pen- tonville, the Penitentiary at Millbank was converted into a Depot for the reception of all convicts sentenced to transportation, from all parts of Great Britain, pre- viously to then- shipment. The whole number of com- mitments to this Penitentiaiy for the last four years is 13,000 ; but in this number the persons transferred to Pentonville, and afterwards sent back, are twice count- ed, so that the number of separate prisoners is some- what less. The number of cells is about 1,000, and the greatest number of prisoners at any one time has been 1484. In this prison, the adult prisoners are kept separate by night, and while at labor by day, as far as their number will permit. With regard to juvenile convicts at Millbank, that is, those under the age of 20 years, no attempt is made to keep them separate, but they work together by day and sleep in one room at night, but always under the supervi- sion of officers. It is stated, that in the year 1845, the average daily number of such juvenile convicts was 203. They were employed in social labor, and the result of that labor was, that while the average earnmgs of the whole prison including them, was ^£4.9.51 per head in a year, the average earnings of the young convicts em- ployed in social labor taken alone, was £7.6.6 each. The inspectors, in their official report for that year, as- 161 sign as the first reason for this difference, that " by the establishment of the juvenile ward, which has been in full operation the whole year, more than 200 prisoners worked together, hj tvJiich means considerable facilities are afforded for instructing them in trades and for super- intending the work carried onV Capt. J. K Groves, who has been Governor of Mill- bank for four years past, and to whose custody have been thus committed from all the Prisons in Great Britain, the convicts sentenced to transportation ; and during the last two years the convicts who, having completed theii' preparatory education at Pentonville, were sent back to Millbank to pass a few weeks in modified intercourse before their transportation, in his testimony before the Lords' Committees on the 23d March, 1847, volunteers, as the result of his observa- tion, the following statement : " I might be permitted to remark, that in the course of my ex- perience as the Governor of the Millbank Prison, I have observed in those prisoners who have left it, and in prisoners coming from dif- ferent prisons, a very great indisposition to labor ; and it is this aver- sion to work which I have been endeavoring to counteract during the time I have been Governor of the Millbank Prison. It is my firm opinion, without undervaluing the agency of religious instruc- tion, that habits of industry are not sufficiently inculcated or at- tended to in those prisons that have come under my observation. I do not think that a spirit of industry is sufficiently enforced as a matter of discipline. However, there is a great difficulty in ob- taining work in almost every prison. I was asked a question, whether I thought that a system combining hard labor at home upon the public works would be a good system ; I think it would, under proper regulation, because there would be a sufficiency of 162 work to ensure a proper quantity being done, and thereby habits of industry would be acquired by the prisoner, which I think to be a very great agent in any reformatory process." Capt. Groves states particularly, that he was much disappointed in the first draft of 200 sent to him from Pentonville, and that they were very unwilling to work. The worst class of convicts, those destined to Norfolk Island, remain at Millbank about six months ; the ma- jority, on an average, about four months, and some only a few days. Those in the Juvenile Ward remain there from twelve to fifteen months. The deaths at JMillbank, in 1843, were 1.89 per cent. ; in 1844, they were 1.87 per cent., and in 1845, 1.51 per cent. But of these, the juvenile class, who live and work together, formed by far the smallest pro- portion ; the deaths among them in 1845, being only .98 per cent, while among the adults alone they were 2.53 per cent. There were four cases of insanity in the whole Prison in that year, which, on an average number of 984, is 4.27 in a thousand. In the same year, 1837, in which the strictest sys- tem of separation that ever existed at Millbank, was established there, the Inspectors of Prisons for the Home District in England, in their annual report, set up a comparison between what they style the separate and silent systems of prison discipline, and express their uncj^ualified preference, on every account, of the former. Their report of the next year is a still more elaborate argument in support of the same sentiment, 16: comprehending all the reasoning and all the evidence which had appeared in any quarter in its favor, to- gether with the opinions of several eminent men on the same side. In consequence of these Reports, and of the repre- sentation of the Inspectors, that the construction of the buildings at Millbank rendered it impracticable to keep the prisoners entirely separate from each other at all times there, the new Penitentiary was built at Penton- ville, in perfect conformity with their vieAvs, and was intended to be a model for aU England. The prisoners were to be men, selected from all those sentenced to transportation in Great Britain, between eighteen and thirty-five years of age, whose sentence was for not more than fifteen years, generally those condemned for a first ofience, and such as were in per- fect health and seemed to be best fitted for the disci- pline of the institution. The Surgeon at Pentonville had discretionary power to refuse to receive any one, Vv^ith whose appearance on examination he was dissatis- fied. It was intended, that after an average confine- ment of eighteen months, they should be transported to Van Diemen's Land, but subject to different degrees of restriction on their arrival there, depending on their conduct in prison. The Government indeed positively required, that no one should be admitted to this Peni- tentiary who was not irrevocably doomed to transport- ation. The Chapel is divided into stalls, so that while all the prisoners see the preacher, they cannot see each 164 otlier. But as it contains seats for only half the num- ber of prisoners, each convict attends prayers but once a day, and hears three sermons in a fortnight, that number being preached every Sunday. Two days in the week, beside Sunday, are devoted to instruction, which is given by the principal schoolmaster in the chapel, and by his three assistants in the separate cells. As only every alternate stall is occupied in school hours in order to prevent communication, no more than one sixth part of the prisoners are present at the same time, and each school lasts two hours. They read and recite aloud, and there was a case of punishment in 1845 for "wilfully creating laughter, and causing interruption and confusion in the school by improper questions and remarks." Very nearly half the whole number of punishments inflicted on the prisoners are for communicating or attempting to communicate with each other. The prisoners take turns in cleaning the corridors every morning, which occupies an hour, during which time several are in company with each other, but under the supervision of an officer to prevent all intercourse. They likewise pass an hour every day in their exer- cising yards in company, but under similar supervision and at fifteen feet distance from each other. But in order to prevent their recognition of each other in future, each prisoner while exercising, washing the cor- ridors, or passing to or from the chapel, is obliged to wear his cap-peak over his face ; that is to draw down the leather visor of his cap, which is long enough to 165 reach to his mouth, and has holes in it to peep through. This is deemed to constitute complete separation. All their work however is done in solitude ; for which there seems to be no good reason, since their cap-peaks might be so contrived as not very greatly to impede their labor, and in that case they might, in the open air, or in large workshops, at fifteen feet dis- tance from each other, have labor and exercise at the same time, and a great deal more of both. The most striking peculiarities, however, of this mas- querade are the reason for it and the termination of it. In the second Report of the Commissioners of the Pentonville prison we find the following passage : " The utmost vigilance has been exercised in order to maintain inviolate that important principle of separate confinement, which deprives prisoners of the means of recognizing each other on leav- ing the prison. To effect this object, each prisoner when out of his cell for any purpose, wears his cap with the peak down, which is sufficiently large to cover his face as low as the mouth, and effectually prevents prisoners from becoming acquainted with each other's features." The British government appears to have been fully aware of the immense importance of this jorinciple, and determined to carry it out to the uttermost ; and ac- cordingly, in order to "make assurance double sure," and to render it absolutely impossible that any one of these prisoners should ever recognize another, they caused them, on leaving Pentonville, to be placed, three or four hundred together, on board a convict ship, and to make a voyage of four or five months to Van Diemen's 22 166 Land, without cap-peak, mask, visor, veil, or any other concealment of their features whatsoever. Let us now consider the result of this system ; re- marking, however, that as the situation of the prison is healthy, as its inmates are picked men, and as it is not uncommon to send back to Millbank or to the Hulks those found to be unfit for the discipline of the institution, and to procure medical pardons for those affected with consumption or other fatal disease, that they may go out of the prison to die ; the health of the prisoners, after all this sifting, ought to be far bet- ter and the deaths much fewer than that of persons at large of the same age in the vicinity. But if the medical pardons are counted as deaths, as they ought to be, this is far from the fact. For the four years during which the prison at Pentonville has been occu- pied, the actual deaths have been 6.64 in a thousand, the deaths, including medical pardons, 15.70, and those in the population of London, between twenty and forty years of age, 10.60 in a thousand. The cases of insanity were for the first year, 9.03 in a thousand, for the whole four years 2.29, and for the last three years alone 1.48. But this does not include cases of delu- sion. If these were included, the proportion would be more than three times as great as that last mentioned. The cases of mania all occurred within the first four- teen months, nine of the twelve cases of delusion within the first ten months, and the other three from the fifteenth to the twenty-first month. The first embarkation of prisoners from Pentonville 167 was made on board the Sir George Seymour in October, 1844, and consisted of 345 who had been in the prison from fifteen to twenty-two months. The Surgeon- superintendent of that ship states, that he " experienced some difficulty in berthing and arranging these men, who, apparently from not having been associated to- gether for some time, were slow in comprehending orders, and equally slow in obeying them, though evi- dently tractable and willing ; in fact, they had lost their gregarious habits, and did not again acquire them until after some weeks." " The sudden change from great seclusion to the bustle and noise of a crowded ship, produced a number of cases of convulsions, attended in some instances with nausea and vomiting, in others simulating hysteria, and in all being of a most anomalous character. The re- cumbent position, fresh air, mild stimulants, &c. were found beneficial in all these cases, and after three days the convulsions disappeared." In a subsequent letter tliis officer says, that his ex- pression as to the loss of gregarious habits had been greatly misunderstood, " that he only meant that the men had lost the habit of acting in concert as prisoners generally do ; that so far from this being a matter to be regretted, he considered it a great gain, as the gen- eral habit that prisoners have of acting together is in- jurious." He adds, " that there was no want of energy amongst them, no lassitude, and that he decidedly would have preferred them to other convicts as active, cleanly and industrious ; that they were physically as 1G8 well and morally better." He says also, that the con- vulsions were altogether hysterical, and were propa- gated by imitation, and ceased after the third day, leaving no bad effects. The commissioners of Pentonville ordered that thence- forth the prisoners should " be associated together " at Millbank, for a few weeks previous to embarkation, which shows that they did not think these indications of disease entirely unimportant, and that they could guess thek cause. The great gain, which the prisoners derived from losing their gregarious habits, does not appear to have been of much practical use to them, since they reacquired those habits after some weeks. Whatever confidence may be placed in the Surgeon- superintendent's opinions, at least as much must be placed in his statements of fact, and to be slow in comprehending orders, and slow in obeying them, how- ever gainful it may be on^ board a convict ship, is no qualification for earning a living in this country. The Surgeon-superintendent of the Maitland, which sailed from England for Van Diemen's land in June, 1846, having on board 299 convicts, of whom 196 were adults from Pentonville, the rest boys from Millbank and Parkhurst prisons, says, " there has not been any decided case of mental imbecility on board this ship, but I have observed several laboring under a sluggish- ness of intellect, a slowness of thought and action, for the first few weeks they w^ere on board, but which has now entirely worn off." As the convicts in tliis coun- try must go forth, at the end of their imprisonment. 169 into society unfettered and unrestrained, to earn their own living, a system which renders them incapable of doing so even for a few weeks cannot be adopted. When the only alternative, for however short a time, is starving or stealing, it is not to be expected that even the most reformed of our convicts should be saints enough to choose the former ; and once returned to their old courses and their old companions, they will not of their own accord quit them again. The official reports of the commissioners for the gov- ernment of Pentonville are all pictures of complete success. The last, dated March 10, 1847, recapitulates their early prophecies of the perfect operation of this system, and claims for them the merit of complete ful- filment ; dwelling particularly on the immense benefit conferred upon the Australian colonies by sending there Pentonville prisoners, and on the eager desire of the colonists to receive them. But before that report was written, a cry from those distant regions had already reached the ears of the British ministers, and had led to a scrutiny, the result of which was a determination, that the transportation of convicts to Australia must be suspended for years, if not abolished forever. Probably it would be abolished, if it were not for the difficulty of deciding in what other manner to dispose permanently of three or four thousand convicts a year. It may be remarked also, that at the time when this last report was made, some of the individuals connected with this institution, speaking under that deep sense of 170 personal responsibility which can never be so strongly felt by any official board, express themselves with a degree of hesitation as to the perfect success of this system, somewhat different from the unbounded con- fidence of earlier days. The chaplain, in his last report, dated February 13, 1847, observes that "the monotony of solitude has been broken every day by social ivorship, in which they take a part and feel an interest — an immense support to the mind — and weekly more than once, by collect- ive instruction in school." He states, that the greater part have not been unduly depressed, and when they begin to take an interest in trade or education are re- markably cheerful. His report contaiiis also the fol- lowing passages : " But asserting thus my conviction as to the favorable resuhs in general of the experiment in Pentonville as regards mind, I am compelled, by another year's most anxious observation on the actual working of the system, to say that there are cases where it is oth- erwise, — i. e. where men taking no interest in religion, or books, or trade, and having no confidence in any one, make their confine- ment one of almost absolute solitude." " My impression is, that cases likely to prove unequal to separate confinement are generally discoverable from three to six months after reception." " Now there seem to me to be several conditions of mind from which danger may be apprehended, viz. " 1. When, from sullen obstinacy, no interest is taken in any instruction given here. " 2. When, from want of capacity to learn books or trade, there is no progress. 171 " 3. When, naturally active and energetic, it has ceased to make progress. " 4. When it dwells intently and exclusively on any one sub- ject." " The duration of separate confinement here has varied from fifteen to twenty-two months ; and a great number of these men had undergone, from their conviction to their final departure from England, fully two years' confinement. " Now certainly very many, indeed I would say the most, of those who endured longest imprisonment, appeared to me not to have suffered materially in any respect. They seemed, however, to have become less robust, or to speak more correctly, according to my own impression, from distinct recollection of them on en- trance, positively delicate. Almost every one of them complained of a loss of strength. " But, however this may be as regards the physical energies of the men, there seems no sufficient reason, on moral and religious grounds, for wishing for any extension of the period of separation beyond eighteen months, but the reverse.'''' * " I have therefore desired to see here not only the advantages which separation affords for breaking off" old habits, for instilling right principles, and for forming new habits of thought and right feeling, but also some well-directed means for giving them daily exercise in the active duties of religion and society, before they pass from their almost solitary condition here, into the world again. " I think it should never be forgotten that what is aimed at in all the costly efforts for the reformation of men here, is not only to keep them from further evil and final destruction to themselves, but also to fit them for society and the active duties of life, and that both these objects cannot be fully secured by separate confine- ment. " From what I have observed of the men upon their being brought together prior to embarkation, and especially on the first * The italics are the chaplain's. 172 of these occasions^ I am persuaded that much additional good would be accomplished, after a period of separate imprisonment, by a well-ref'ulated system of associated labor, instruction, and worship. " Men really reformed would prove, as I have seen them on board the ships referred to, most useful to their fellow prisoners ; the greater part would prove capable, I am confident, of being raised to proper feelings as men, and the thoroughly bad would be sooner discovered than is possible under separation, and disposed of as they deserve." Major Jebb, one of the commissioners for the man- agement of the Pentonville prison, and high authority on this subject, in his testimony given before the Lords Committees, March 22, 1847, uses very guarded lan- guage. Having stated that the prisoners are very carefully selected as fit subjects, between the ages of eighteen and thu'ty-five, free from all diseases, which would render them likely to fail under the separate system, especially from any predisposition to insanity or consumption, carefully examined by the medical officer at Millbank before being sent to PentonA'ille, and again by the medical officer there, who may refuse any one ; he adds, " With these limitations the discipline has been generally safely carried out, as far as I have had an opportunity of judging. I think we might make some little modification in those cases, where the health apparently is beginning to fail ; some little modification in those cases would be ne- cessary, in order to insure a better result than that which we already have had." Of the prison at Parkhurst, though a national insti- tution, it is not necessary to speak in detail, since it 17' is not so much a penitentiary for men, as what we should call a house of reformation for juvenile offend- jers. Its inmates are selected from those sent to Mill- bank for transportation, under the age of sixteen years. They pass two or three years in this prison. Eor the first four months the prisoner v;orks and takes his meals in his cell, but is taken out of it twenty minutes in the morning to wash, shortly afterwards an hour to attend in the chapel, an hour and a half for exercise, two hours at school, and fifteen minutes for evening prayers, at all which times, as well as in the chapel on Sunday he is in company with other boys, but is not allowed to speak to them. After this period of probation, he is placed in a ward containing between one hundred and two hundred in- dividuals, who work together, take their meals together, and exercise together, and are allowed free conversa- tion while exercising in the yards four times a day ; but who are at all times under the inspection of war- dens. This institution, first opened in December 1838, has been eminently successful. There has been no case of insanity, and the deaths have been somewhat fewer than among the free population of the same age in the vicinity, as they have been with us in Charlestown. The general penitentiary for the kingdom of Scot- land is at Perth. The prisoners confined there are not destined to transportation, but at the termination of their imprisonment return into society ; and in this re- spect that prison resembles our own more nearly than 23 174 the penitentiaries of England do. The system of disci- pline imitates that of Pentonville, excepting that the prisoners receive all their instruction in their cells. This amounts on the average to about seven minutes in a day. They exercise in yards and galleries in com- pany sixty-four minutes and a half every day, with the same mummery of cap-peaks as at Penton^olle ; but at the distance of six feet from each other instead of fif- teen feet. To prevent their overstepping this limit, a long rope is provided having loops in it at this distance from each other, in one of which each prisoner inserts his hand, while he walks round the yard for his sixty- four minutes and a half This procession, which must resemble the march of a gang of gaUey slaves more than anything else, being an appendage to the separate system, is no doubt admired by those, who consider the marching of the prisoners at Charlestown, in a single file from their cells to the chapel, as a violation of the rights of man ; and who maintain, " that aU these enforced evolutions of grown-up men, tend to destroy the individuality of char- acter, to lessen self-respect, and to degrade responsible beings into irresponsible machines." The testimony in relation to the prison at Perth, before the Lords Committees, taken April 16, 1847, is not entirely satisfactory. Not that any doubt is en- tertained of the integrity of the witnesses ; but some of their statements seem to invite a little cross-ex- amination. For one instance, the sheriff of Perthshire stated, that " unless from indisposition, or a tendency 175 to weakness of mind, or some other sufficient cause, the separation was carried out strictly." It is important to know what and how many are these sufficient causes, and in what manner they are provided for. Is it by permitting the invalids to be put together into a garden and allowed free inter- course with each other by day, or by lodging two or more of them in the same room at night ? To be frequently in company with others having cap-peaks over their faces, is the daily practice both at Perth and Pentonville, and we are assured by grave governors and by reverend chaplains, that the pris- oners, who have been thus associated every day for months, can never recognize each other after their dis- charge ; and what is more, we are expected to believe it, in spite of every day's experience to the contrary. Surely it is impossible to step into the street, or to look into it, without recognizing many persons, whose features we are not in a position to see ; and it is no more easy for us to distinguish an individual merely by his size, form, bearing, gait and other movements, because we have seen his face at some other time, than if we had not done so. It is not necessary to consider the discipline of the borough and county jails in England, though some of them have adopted a system of separation similar to that of the penitentiary at Penton\dUe, because it ap- pears from the evidence before the Lords Committees last spring, that in none of them is this system carried out so thoroughly as in that penitentiary, and that iA 176 most of them it has been established but a short time. Beside which, the sentences of most of the persons committed to these prisons are for comparatively brief periods. In the five years ending with 1843, of nearly eighty thousand persons sentenced to imprisonment after trial by jury in England and Wales, more than seventy thousand were imprisoned for a shorter term than one year ; and of three hundred and twenty- eight thousand, imprisoned after summary conviction before magistrates, more than three hundred and twen- ty-six thousand were sentenced for less than a year, and more than two hundred and fifty-three thousand for less than two months ; many for seven, fourteen, or twenty-one days. Imprisonment for very short periods cannot produce reform by eradicating old habits or establishing new, nor tend for the most part to prevent crime in any other manner, than by inspiring a dread of the pun- ishment. How far this should be carried, and in what manner it may be rendered most effectual in any par- ticular place, depends so much upon the state of so- ciety and of public opinion in that place, that no general rules can be laid down upon the subject, — with our present limited experience of the various schemes, which have been suggested, — excepting such as hu- manity wiU dictate to every one. The laws of this State already provide, that in county jails, or houses of correction, no two prisoners, other than debtors, shall ever occupy the same room, except for work, unless in case of absolute necessity ; 177 — that debtors shall be kept separate from those ac- cused or convicted of crimes — the accused from con- victs — minors from notorious offenders — those ac- cused or convicted of mere offences, from those ac- cused or convicted of infamous crimes — that no two of these various classes shall ever meet, except for labor or for moral or religious instruction, and that no communication shall be allowed between prisoners of the different classes. Whether any further pro- visions may be necessary in relation to these matters need not now be discussed. The British government, enlightened by experience, has determined to make an important change in its whole system of secondary punishments ; and last June, a plan was submitted to Parliament for this pur- pose, which will undoubtedly be definitively acted on at the next session. It proposes, that convicts under sentence of transportation, shall pass from six to eighteen months, — one year on an average, — under a system of discipline like that established at Penton- ville, and shall afterwards labor together in gangs on the public works in Gibraltar, or Bermuda, or in the new harbors of refuge in England. The time fixed for their labor is to bear some relation to the length of their sentences, so that one condemned to seven years transportation will after four years of labor be, in case of good conduct, entirely discharged, whereas the greater criminals, sentenced to much longer terms of transportation, after laboring on the public works for the time allotted to them, would be 178 transported to one of the Australian colonies, to earn their own living there, but prohibited from leaving the colony during the time of the original sentence. This would greatly diminish the number of persons transported; for, while seven years is the shortest period for which this punishment is inflicted in Great Britain, it is also the most common. Great importance also must be attached to the statement of Captain Groves, that it is always difficult to obtain sufficient employ- ment in the prisons of Great Britain ; whereas it is obvious, that on the public works the men might be kept constantly and actively occupied. Thus it appears that the new system now proposed to be established there, provides for one year of Pen- tonville discipline, followed by four or more years of social labor. During this latter period, we are told that the prisoners are to receive moral and religious instruc- tion, and to be entkely separated from each other by night. This is well. And if it is designed also to furnish them, during the intervals of labor, with the means and opportunity of such intellectual culture as they are capable of receiving, — to guard carefully thek intercourse by day, — and to prevent their hav- ing free and uncontrolled conversation by night ; it is a design worthy of the greatness, the wisdom, and the benevolence of England. If not — those establishments are likely to become what our older prisons were, mere schools of depravity and guilt ; and it behooves her to hold out to such prisoners every possible inducement to enlist abroad, and remain there. Let her beware that I 179 they never return at any time, or in any event to her own shores. Better recall the " wolves, her old inhabitants." It is worthy of notice, that in the debates in the House of Commons, on the third and tenth of June last. Sir George Grey, expressed his concurrence in the opinion of Sir Benjamin Brodie and Dr. Ferguson, who had both been on the commission for the management of Pentonville prison, that the utmost watchfulness and discretion on the part of the governor, chaplain and medical attendants, would be requisite in order to ad- minister the system established there with safety, and Sir James Graham repeated the same sentiment. Now, why urge the necessity of extreme caution, if there is not extreme danger? We hear nothing of this ne- cessity with relation to Parkhurst or to Charlestown. And if there is great danger that the bodily and mental health will in many cases be so deranged as to require medical interference, is there not a certainty, that in many more there will be a degree of debility and de- pression not amounting to positive disease, which no vigilance can detect; in which the intellect will be enfeebled without being prostrated, and the nervous system seriously impaired, though not absolutely shat- tered ? These effects when perceived, may perhaps be deemed hereafter, as they have been heretofore, to be evidences of reformation. But it is a capital error to suppose that they promote or indicate any real im- provement of the morals or of the intellect. As the British government, however, already pro- poses to reduce the average time of confinement at Pen- 180 tonville from eighteen months to twelve, and appears to be aware of the necessity of the utmost watchfulness in this matter, it may be presumed that it will ex- ercise such watchfulness, and if further experience should recommend it, will confine the application of this system of social separation and laborious idleness, to three months or three weeks ; the less the better ; though it cannot be expected entirely to abandon an establishment, which was built at so great a cost, and with such lofty predictions. But there is surely nothing in this model system, which we need wish to imitate. Their daily walks are unnecessary here, for vigorous toil is exercise enough. We need not set apart two days in the week for the moral and intellectual culture of our prisoners, for their labor is not so oppressive and exhausting as to prevent their having the strength, as they have the time for it every day ; and this daily variety of occu- pation seems to us better than to give the whole day to one pursuit alone ; far better than one whole year of Pentonville education followed by four years of un- mitigated toil. It is not pretended, that the system established here is perfect. Far from it. It is hoped that it may go on improving from year to year, and still be regarded as an experiment, a system upon trial ; and not one whose invariable success we are willing to vouch for, or to the future support of which we are in any man- ner pledged. The system which will produce a com- plete reformation in all convicts, or in most of them, is yet to be discovered. 181 Still less is it presumed to urge its adoption on other countries, or to express the slightest regret or aston- ishment, that they do not prefer it to their own. It may well be, that a mode of prison discipline fitted for Massachusetts, with its few hundred convicts, is inapplicable to England with her thousands. It may be that France, with her immense resources, and her sisters of charity and her brothers of charity, can furnish every one of her convicts with a constant suc- cession of virtuous companions ; and that other nations of Europe may have special reasons unknown to us for establishing difierent systems. Of these things they must judge for themselves. But without the slightest disposition to dictate to them, we do not feel called upon in relation to this subject to submit to their dic- tation. Considering, then, that from the experience of our own country hitherto, it appears that the system of constant separation as estal)irshed Here^ even when ad- ministered with the utmost humanity, produces so many cases of insanity and of death as to indicate most clearly, that its general tendency is to enfeeble the body and the mind; — considering that the results of labor tinder our different systems, where both are best enforced, abundantly show, that ha bits of in dustry and skill in laborious occupations, may be more speed- ily an4-efieetually acquired by working in company with: ^hers under the constant inspection of a master, than they usuall y are in entire soljtiLde ; — considering that our system of social labor is found to afford suffi- 24 182 r^ient gratification of the natural instinct for society to prevent any more frequent derangement of the , health or of the intellect in prison than takes place ' in the community at large; — and considering that this system may be maintained, and is maintained l--^mong us without frequent or cruel punishments ; — it may be concluded that it ought to be persevered in, until stronger evidence than has yet been produced, shall show some other system to be better adapted to our condition. Amiable enthusiasts among ourselves may tell us, that the benevolence of the people of Massachusetts will supply the State Prison at Charlestown, with thirty or forty gardens embellished w^ith flow^ers, and re- freshed with fountains throughout the year ; and that for every four convicts committed to it, there will be found one enlightened, accomplished and discreet man, w^ho will gratuitously incarcerate himself with them to afford them the benefit of his society. But the sober judgment of New^ England w^ill not be deluded by such dreams. And even if it were possible to admit such impossi- bilities, any system, however modified and improved, which allows none but solitary labor, though it pro- vide abundant means and opportunities for exercise and for society, is still exposed to this great objection, that such labor must be interrupted for the purpose of exercise and for the purpose of society, and is always liable to be interrupted and made desultory by the listlessness or caprice of the convict ; and that there- 183 fore it will not be that diligent labor, from which alone, according to John Howard, honesty is to be ex- pected ; without which a subsistence cannot be earned in an industrious community ; and which can be made easy in no other way than by being made habitual ; — so that under such a system, only a portion of the day can be given to either of these three essential objects. Whereas they are all combined together under the system of social labor, in which all the time occupied by work is given to each of them ; and thus the prison- ers in general have at one and the same time every day, eight hours of diligent and useful toil, — eight hours of manly exercise, — eight hours of social exist- ence, — and time enough left for penitence and for in- struction. APPENDIX . No. I. ( p. 79. ) [From the Boston Courier, corrected by the compiler.] Comparative Expense of the New Penitentiary in Philadelphia, and the State Prison at Charlestown, from 1828 to 1846, inclusive — on the authority of the Auditor-General's Reports for Pennsylvania, and Slate Prison Documents for Massachusetts. New Penitentiary in Philadelphia - — Paid from State Treasury. a o Authority — Page of Audit- or's Report. Inspectors and others, on ac- count of New Penitentiary. 5S o o 73 ConveyingCon- vicls. Bounty to Con- victs. Amount charg- ed to coun- ties for sup- port of their Convicts. 1828 28—29 4,000 672 19 1829 5,000 1,000 00 411 27 1830 32—33 4,000 3,784 50 1,159 U 1831 « II 3,746 53 1,177 96 1832 35—36 4,045 43 1,144 05 1833 37—38 40,000 4,312 50 1,350 22 1834 " " 80,000 4,379 91 1,636 57 243 00 1835 39—40 70,000 6,796 18 1,612 99 204 00 4.406 08 1836 47—48 15,000 10,502 28 1,627 82 226 00 9,475 42 1837 40-41 12,993 75 809 37 564 00 9,564 28 1833 47-48 20,000 13,993 00 1,496 84 375 00 14,043 81 1839 41—42 18,044 76 683 94 332 00 14,623 94 1840 39—40 14,694 24 619 73 449 00 16,730 44 1841 42-43 15,599 58 1,155 49 405 00 17.860 23 1842 43—44 14,100 00 908 62 406 00 11,027 33 1843 32—33 8,000 7,872 48 332 00 7,313 38 1844 34—35 8,000 00 381 11 8,638 01 1845 34 8,000 00 692 00 4,229 79 1846 44 8,000 00 145 00 246,000 159,870 14 17,047 24 4,268 00 117,913 01 State Prison at Charlestown — Paid from Prison Treasury. Year Earnings above Expenses above Earnings above Expenses above Expenses. Earnings. Expenses. Earnings. 1828 12,167 07 1839 4,363 27 1829 7,599 70 1840 179 43 1830 6,897 02 1841 1,015 92 1831 477 31 1842 931 36 1832 4,192 32 1843 5,022 11 1833 6.995 57 1344 268 68 1834 7.646 23 1845 807 35 1335 7,000 00 1846 504 98 1S30 13,428 25 1837 2,773 64 45,960 02 36,637 18 1838 56 94 1 186 The larger sums in the first column relating to Pennsylvania were probably for improvement and enlargement of buildings, and additional blocks of cells. The salary of officers in the new Penitentiary in Philadelphia is paid from the State Treasury, irrespective of the earnings of the prison labor, which is inadequate to pay other expenses. The sal- ary of officers at Charlestown is paid from the Prison Treasury, out of the earnings of prison labor, and amounts to more than $15,000 annually. The expense of conveying convicts is paid from the State Treasury in Pennsylvania, and from the Prison Treasury in Massachusetts ; but it does not appear from the Au- ditor-General's Report in Pennsylvania, what proportion of the above items belongs to the new Penitentiary in Philadelphia, and wh&t to the prison at Pittsburg, nor whether they all belong to both. The amount charged to counties for the support of their con- victs are items given by the Clerk in the new Penitentiary in Phil- adelphia, in October, 1845. The column of items of bounty to convicts is what was given to convicts connected with the new Penitentiary in Philadelphia ; whether at the time of their discharge, or while in prison, is not stated in the Auditor-General's Report. The earnings above expenses at Charlestown are proceeds of prison labor above expense for food, clothing, bedding, salary of officers, bounty to convicts — consisting of a new suit of clothes on discharge, and from three to five dollars in money to each, ac- cording to the distance he has to travel, his behavior in prison, and the probable use he will make of what is given him, the expense of transporting convicts from county prisons, and small incidental expenses — not heavy sums for erecting new buildings, or making extensive repairs. There have been appropriations by the Legis- lature of Massachusetts, of several thousand dollars, for repairs and improvements, new shops, &;c., since 1828. In the right-hand column of expenses above earnings, the salary of officers is always included, which is the heaviest item of ex- pense in the prison at Charlestown, but not more than it should be, where the prison sustains the high character of the prison at Charlestown, and is to so great an extent a self-supporting institu- tion. It appears from the above table, that — There were paid from the State Treasury in Penn- sylvania to prison inspectors and others, on ac- count of the new Penitentiary in Philadelphia, from 1828 to 1846, inclusive . . . $246,000 00 In the same prison for salary of officers . 159,870 14 Amount carried forward . . . $405,870, 14 187 Amount brought forward . . . $405,870 14 For conveying convicts ..... 17,047 24 Bounty to convicts connected with the new Peniten- tiary, 4,268 08 Charged to counties by new Penitentiary for support of their convicts ...... 117,913 31 Total in nineteen years .... f 545,098 77 While, at the same time, in the State Prison at Charlestown, Mass., the earnings exceeded the expenses in certain years ..... 45,960 02 And in other years, in the same range of time, the expenses exceeded the earnings . . . 36,637 18 Leaving a balance of gain to the prison at Charles- town, after paying all the expenses as above specified (not including improvements and new buildings) of $9,522 84 No. II. (p. 123.) [ This Report of the late Dr. Cleveland is inserted here as con- taining views founded on actual observation, which may suggest further inquiries on the part of those who have opportunity to make them.] SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE WARDEN OF THE RHODE ISLAND STATE PRISON. To the Honorable General Assembly of the State of Rhode Island, October Session, A. D. 1845. The undersigned, Warden of the State Prison, and Keeper of the County Jail in the county of Providence, respectfully submits the following statement of " receipts and expenditures " of said estab- lishments, together with a table showing the " circumstances of each convict in the State Prison," during the year ending Septem- ber 30, 1844, as by law required. He would further state, that he has heretofore circumscribed his annual report within the requisitions of law relating to the annual accounts and statistics of the Prison, without, however, deeming himself to be interdicted from the course pursued by the officers of similar establishments elsewhere, in presenting to the inspectors, or to the Assembly, as occasion may require, the results of their ob- servations, with a view to a full understanding of the system which 188 they are called upon to administer, and to all the improvements which time and experience may suggest. The undersigned will therefore take this opportunity of considering, without unnecessary prolixity, several subjects connected with the mode of imprison- ment here adopted, by way of a general answer to questions not unfrequently asked, and entitled to a reply from an officer whose position and duties should enable him, if faithful to his trust, to give the information required, in a plain and satisfactory manner. The inquiry is frequently made, " How does the present system succeed in comparison with that which, in its main feature of labor in strictly solitary confinement, has been discontinued .? " It is well known that this Prison was constructed and established upon that plan, and that the principle of strict seclusion has been given up for reasons deemed imperative. By an act of the General As- sembly of this State, passed at the January session, 1843, the inspectors of the State Prison were vested with full power and authority to cause the prisoners then under sentence, or who might thereafter be sentenced to said Prison, " to be enlarged of their confinement, by permitting such prisoners to perform labor in the corridor of said Prison ; by permitting more than one person to remain in a cell, or a nurse to be with them in case of sickness ; by admitting them to the yard of the Prison in the daytime ; by admitting such communications to and from their friends, and among themselves, and to receive such books and articles as might be necessary, under such rules and regulations as said inspectors might establish, and furnish to the warden, from time to time, con- sistent with the safe-keeping of said prisoner." The first of these provisions was immediately carried into effect, by causing the prisoners to perform their labor upon a platform erected in the corridor of the prison. Subsequently, a convenient workshop has been erected for the purpose ; and the prisoners are assembled together on the Sabbath for religious exercises. Does the result justify the change ? is the question. The under- signed is impelled by several reasons, ni addition to that already suggested, to make a public reply to it. The change was, from a sense of duty, by him respectfully urged upon those having the authority to advise its adoption ; and after a careful observation, extending through a period of more than four years, of the inju- rious and alarming efTects of solitary imprisonment upon the men- tal and physical condition of those who were the subjects of it. It has been recently suggested, by a foreign writer of distinction, that the system of solitary imprisonment in this state failed through the mismanagement of those charged with the duty of carrying it into effect — an imputation which shifts the radical fault of the system itself upon the administration of it, and which may be 189 deemed worthy of notice and refutation. Further, the undersigned believes it to be due to the cause of general humanity, that all mistakes of the penal code, so soon as discovered, should be so freely and distinctly explained, that there may be no clanger of their repetition, here or abroad ; and that the amendment of them may be carried to the account of " public justice, which, at the present day, has been disrobed of the purely vindictive character formerly associated with it ; lays the hand of reluctant severity even on its most deserving victims ; avoids all unusual, unneces- sary, and cruel inflictions ; and looks not only to the security and protection of society, but to the welfare of the prisoner ; regard- ing, in the spirit of Christian benevolence, every crime, however great, as a still greater misfortune, both to the offender and to the state." In these remarks, I am very far from designing to reflect on the intention and object of any, who were instrumental in devising and establishing this Pi"ison upon the plan of solitary labor ; joining as I did with the gi-eat majority, who required its erection, by their votes. The plan was generally approved, and widely sanctioned, at home and abroad. The " old jail " system, of herding together, within a narrow compass, prisoners of eveiy age and degree, with its attendant consequences of moral and physical pollution and degradation, was condemned by all ; and public opinion, impelled by the prevailing theory of the day, as approbated by the most enlightened philanthropists of this and other countries, very natu- rally oscillated to the other extreme, and demanded the experiment of entire seclusion of the offender, with wholesome labor, and with the exertion of such moral means as should afford to him the hope of amendment and restoration, (when the limits of the law should permit,) as a purified and reclaimed member of society. But the system, thus founded in the most honorable and humane intentions, had the inherent and incurable defect of being in oppo- sition to the laws of the physical nature of its subjects, which no human laws can change. Under the old plan of promiscuously herding together by day and night, the prisoner was debased and brutalized ; under the new, he is, in too many instances, carried through " a slow, corroding process," to the derangement, or de- struction, both of body and mind. This tendency of the solitary system, it is ti'ue, was predicted, upon natural principles, by some eminent opponents, whose benevolent sagacity forewarned, though ineffectually, the friends of Prison reform of the result which they might expect ; but experience was necessary to exhibit it, and at an expense which it is painful to contemplate. " The errors of philanthropy are among the most injurious and 25 190 ditKcuIt to avert, as they are associated with good motives, and sup- ported by the zeal of honest men." It is to one of these, and to its correction, that I have, for the reasons given, now solicited a portion of your attention. Before proceeding to particulars, I would make the additional remark, that, though the number of prisoners here confined has been small in comparison with those in the Prisons in some other and laro-er States, no better opportunity was ever afforded to observe, with care and in detail, all the effects of imprisonment on the con- victs than that which has been here presented. Commencing as I did with but three prisoners, and having con- tinued for six years, with an increase of about ten prisoners in each year, I have been enabled to become particularly acquainted with each individual upon his admissioi?, and minutely to notice every change that took place during his confinement. That the failure of the system of labor in solitary confinement, in the Rhode Island State Prison, was not fairly attributable to the defect of its administration, appears at once from a statement of the mode and regulations of imprisonment here, which were the same as those adopted in older establishments elsewhere. The Prison was erected at a large expense, and is well and substantially built, to answer the purpose designed. The cells, being intended for constant habitation and workshops, were made large on that ac- count, being, in the lower ranges, eight feet broad, fifteen feet deep, and eight feet high. From the second range, about three feet in depth are taken off by the corridors ; but from the pitch of the roof, the upper cells are higher, and contain about the same number of cubic feet as the others. Each cell has a pine floor ; is sufficiently lighted for the performance of any mechanical labor, with two squares of glass, each 14 inches by 5 ; is furnished with an abundant supply of pure water, and is warmed in cold weather with hot water circulated through iron pipes. The prisoner is comfortably clad, and sleeps in a wooden bunk, on a pallet and pillow of straw, (unless through sickness or infirmity a feather bed be allowed,) with such quantity of bedding as he may desire. The labor required was, as now, from fifteen minutes after sunrise to one hour before sunset, with two intermissions of half an hour each, for meals, from the 20th of March to the 20th of September ; and during the rest of the year, from fifteen minutes after sunrise to 8 o'clock in the evening, with the same intermissions ; the use of a light for one hour being also allowed after the close of the even- ing work. Suitable medical advice end attendance were also furnished. Proper persons were licensed as moral and religious teachers, who visited the prisoners, principally on Sundays, for the purpose of in- 191 struction ; and preaching on Sundays was occasionally had in the corridor, the doors of the cells being opened as "fur as they could be without permitting the prisoners to see or communicate with each other. The Bible, books of prayer, tracts, and several other works of a moral nature, were also furnished to them, together with writing materials on Sundays. Communication in any form, with any person, was, as now, prohibited, excepting with the in- spectors, warden, and other officers of the Prison, the physician and moral instructors ; and no prisoner, in any case, was permitted to leave his cell, except once in three months for bathing, and in case of sickness, under the prescription of the physician, for exer- cise, not exceeding fifteen minutes a day, in the corridor. Corpo- ral punishment was excluded by law from the Prison, until shortly before the solitary system was mitigated ; and the only penalties inflicted were the deprivation of food, water, furniture, and bed- ding, for a longer or shorter time, in cases of refractory conduct, as the occasion might require. No partiality was shown among the prisoners from regard to their previous position in the world. Then, as now, the strict rule of this prison was to treat all, in all respects, precisely alike, with indispensable exceptions only in cases of sick- ness and infirmity. The whole system was carried into effect un- der the constant supervision and frequent visitation of a board of inspectors, having strong confidence in its superiority, and respon- sible to the legislative body for the discharge of their duties. Be- fore entering upon the duties of his office, the warden visited sev- eral Prisons in other States, upon the plan about to be carried into effect here, to possess himself in detail, and from observation, of the best modes of procedure, in order to an exact conformity with the most approved models. Before a change was made in the original plan of the Prison, by order of the legislature, an inquiry was instituted, in that body, into the operation and result ; and no complaint or suggestion was made that the original plan had not been properly and completely carried into effect, or had failed from any departure or innovation, authorized or unauthorized, on the part of its administrators. In addition to this, on inquiring for the model of solitary imprisonment, which our censor. Dr. Julius, of Berlin, holds up for imitation, and for non-conformity with which his strictures have been elicited, it is found to be the " New Model Prison," situated near the Caledonia Asylum, in the suburbs of London, which was put in operation four years after this, and in which the prisoners are permitted to assemble for religious worship on Sundays, disguised in hoods, and sitting in separate boxes, and also to take the benefit of air, sunshine, and exercise, in separate yards provided for that purpose, with " shelters or covered ways," that they may not even lose the privilege of going out in inclement 192 weather. It certainly betrays a lapse of memory, or a confusion of ideas, in our learned friend and visitor, to discover an identity in the American system of close confinement, as anywhere practised, with the very distinct system of the London Prison referred to, which appears to go even beyond the Auburn system, in allowing exercise and diversion out of doors. I submit, therefore, to your honorable body, upon this brief and incontrovertible statement of facts, that the punishment of solitary imprisonment was administered here in its ordinary and most ap- proved mode, and proceed to exhibit its consequences, and what I deem to be their physiological causes. Among the small number of prisoners at the onset, the bad effects of solitary imprisonment upon the mind were very apparent, not leading me, however, to consider them as arising from the peculiar confinement and discipline to which they were subjected. Like others, I attributed these effects to the prevalence of bad practices, according to a common notion among the medical attendants of similar establishments. In my capacity of keeper of the County Jail, beside debtors, persons accused and convicted, and occasion- ally madmen, dangerous to go at large, I had frequently under my observation, on commitment by the magistrates of the city of Provi- dence, vagrants of the most wretched description, who were seized with that species of derangement called delirium tremens^ arising from the sudden deprivation of an accustomed excessive stimulus of the brain by ardent spirit. In observing these cases, I was for- cibly struck with the similarity of the symptoms in those who had become deranged in the State Prison^ after a confinement of from six to eighteen months in solitude, to those manifested in the Jail in patients who became such after a confinement of but a few days, and undoubtedly from the abstraction of their accustomed excitement by drink. The appearance of similar effects, arising from apparently dissimilar causes, led me to an investigation of the subject, for the purpose, if possible, of ascertaining if such were the fact. From the uniformity of the symptoms of derangement, which made their appearance in a large number of the convicts in the State Prison, and were strongly developed in one sixth part of all who were there committed during a term of about four years, and all placed in the same condition, and under the same disci- pline, I was satisfied that all were affected by one and the same cause ; and being forcibly impressed with the identity of their de- rangement with that exhibited m the Jail, arising from the abstrac- tion of alcoholic stimulus, I at length was satisfied that the same general explanation extended to all the cases, though in one class of them no ardent spirit had ever been used to excess ; or, if so used, had been entirely abstained from from six to eighteen 19; months. In both classes of cases, I have come to the conclusion, that the derangement was produced by the abstraction of an accus- tomed stimulus to the brain, either natural, and requisite to a healthy action, or unnatural, and adapted to the supply of a morbid and injurious appetite, and thus necessary, by a bad habit, to the ordinary mental and physical action of the system. Persons who have never been deprived even of a small portion of what may be called their natural stivmhis, for any considerable length of time, are little aware of its salutary and indispensable influence. Every moment of our lives brings us under its action, through the external senses, in ten thousand various forms. The succession of day and night, the changing seasons through which we are constantly passing, are all in continual action upon the springs of life. The momentary and ever-changing objects which present themselves to the eye, the continual and rapid variety of sounds which fall upon the ear, and, in short, the perpetual succession of phenomena, which address themselves to the senses, are all, in a state of per- sonal liberty, and except in the periodical intermissions of sleep, constantly operating upon the brain, and supplying it with that normal stimulus so necessary to the production of moral, physical, and intellectual health. In fact, all the external senses are but so many avenues, through which new impulses to the system are con- tinually flowing ; all which, including also social intercourse, com- bine in their operations, and give a perpetual impulse to the human system. Now, suddenly abstract from a man these influences, to which he has been so long accustomed ; shut him up, with but scanty resources of his own to keep the powers of his mind in action, in a solitary cell, where he must pass the same unvarying round, from week to week, with hope depressed, with no subjects for reflection but those which give him pain to review, in the scenes of his former life ; after a few days, with no new impressions made upon his senses, where even the sound of his own hammer is lost upon his ear, and one unvarying sameness relaxes the attention and concentration of his mind, and it will not be thought strange, that, through the consequent debility and irritability of its organ, the mind should wander and become impaired ; in short, that the prisoner should have the " horrors," and that too from the same cause that produces the disease in the man whose system has be- come accustomed to other and greater stimulus than his, and has had that unnatural but habitual stimulus suddenly withdrawn. Is not the brain, as a physical organ, subject to the same laws that govern all other parts of the system } and may it not become para- lyzed or deranged for want of action, as well as from exhaustion of excitability by over-action } Perhaps it would be advisable to draw the parallel more speci- 194 fically between the two conditions of derangement to which I have alluded. If a man have safely passed through an attack of delirium tremens, arising from the abstraction of his accustomed alcoholic stimulus, he will never be liable to another attack so long as he abstains from that stimulus. The same is true, so far as my obser- vation extends, of the prisoner who has safely passed through the same ordeal in the abstraction of his accustomed stimulus to the senses, such as has been described ; and he will spend the re- mainder of his days, so long as he shall remain in prison without any interval of liberty, though for years in solitude, and never be subject to a like attack. But the consequences may be irreparable, and he may be very much reduced in the scale of being ; without energy or capacity, for action, and unfit to be restored to society ; his animal propensities invariably gaining the ascendancy over his moral and intellectual faculties, inasmuch as the ordinary stimulus necessary for the former has not been abstracted to so great an extent. Again, let the long accustomed stimulus of alcohol be gradually withdrawn from those, who, in consequence of a depraved condi- tion of the body, would otherwise be the subjects of delirium, yet such is the flexibility of the human system, such its power, gradually, within certain limits, to accommodate itself to changes of condition without sustaining material injury, that it may be done with impu- nity. The same is true, and has been repeatedly exemplified under my observation, in regard to the effects produced by the abstraction of the natural stimulus of the brain in solitary imprisonment; and, without a single exception, those who have suffered the greatest deterioration from solitude, are men who possessed the smallest portion of intellect, who depended almost wholly upon external influences to keep their brain in action, and who had their accus- tomed and necessary resources suddenly and almost entirely ab- stracted. But those who are blessed with better intellects, and who are consequently supplied with a stock of internal resources, upon which to sustain themselves, have been enabled gradually to let themselves down, and have become accommodated to their new and inferior conditon, without, or with less perceptible injury. Again, when the accustomed excessive use of ardent spirits is suddenly suspended, and symptoms of delirium tremens ensue, nothing is better adapted to relieve the patient than the adminstra- tion of his usual stimulus. The same is true in relation to that de- rangement produced by solitary imprisonment, in support of which, and more clearly still to show the identity of the two conditions of derangement under consideration, I shall now adduce a few cases of the latter, assuming that those of the former class, as well as the treatment of them, are too well known to require a description at this time. 195 Prisoner No. 6, white, aged 28 years, was sentenced to separate imprisonment for four years. His health was somewhat impaired ; but he was of temperate habits, possessed of ordinary intellect, but uncultivated, with large perceptive faculties, a nervous-sanguine temperament, and a good flow of spirits. He had passed a roving life, without regular employment. He showed symptoms of de- rangement about the twelfth month of his confinement. The principal feature of his derangement was a constant dread and fear of some imaginary danger. In this state of mind he attempted to commit suicide, to avoid being flogged to death, which he was sure would soon be done, though at that time corporal punishment was not allowed in the Prison. He was continued in solitude during the remainder of his sentence, and was discharged from Prison almost an idiot. As no one knew his name or home, and he was not in a suitable condition to be at large, he was placed in the County Jail for safe keeping. At this time, every indication in his appearance was, that he would never again be restored in the slightest degree. Being harmless, he was placed in one of the rooms appropriated to debtors, where, to my surprise, -after associ- ating with them for several months, he seemed to regain some glimpses of memory, which apparently had been lost for nearly three years. He is now in the Lunatic As^-lum at Concord, New Hampshire, in the hope of the restoration of his faculties ; but with what success, time has not disclosed. A similar condition of imbecility, I think, would often be conse- quent upon the excessive use, or the sudden abstraction, of ardent spirits, were it not for the fact, that, in extreme cases, the physical powers sink with the intellectual, and death overtakes the victim. But, according to my observations, where a long and excessive use of ardent spirit has been indulged in, although the animal functions may survive the shock of its abstraction, the moral and intellectual faculties never regain their original integrity. The same remark will, in my judgment, apply with equal truth to the individual whose system has received any considerable or long-continued derange- ment by the abstraction of his natural and accustomed stimulus in solitary confinement. Prisoner No. 8, white, aged 40 years, was sentenced for five years ; a man of temperate habits and good health, of inferior intellect, with strong passions, and a considerable share of cunning. His temperament was bilious-sanguine, and very much disposed to mirthfulness. He could neither read nor write, and was very ignorant, except of the expedients to gain a dishonest livelihood : his occupation irregular. He became deranged about the tenth 196 month of his confinement. Symptoms of delirium tremens were in his case more completely developed than in the preceding. I have found him in the greatest state of terror and alarm, in conse- quence of his seeing some one at his window, with a long pike, for the purpose of killing him. Under this impression, I have seen him crouched in some corner of his cell, where he could not be reached from the window, his whole frame in a state of tremor and agitation, indicating the greatest fear. Under this fear and excitement, he also attempted suicide. This state of delusion continued about six months, when he gradually recovered his com- posure, with the mental faculties much reduced. He remained four years in solitary confinement, at which time the system was abolished. But so great was his aversion to leaving his cell for labor ; that he was allowed to continue there during the remainder of his time. Prisoner No. 20, white, aged 32, was sentenced for twenty months. His constitution was impaired by intemperate habits. His mental faculties were feeble and uncultivated ; his occupation that of a sailor ; no marked indication of temperament, and an even but moderate flow of spirits. He exhibited symptoms of derange- ment about the twelfth month of confinement, which increased until most of the symptoms of delirium tremens were fully developed, such as tremor of the hands, tongue, and voice, profuse perspira- tion, a delusion of the senses, and great fear of personal injury from false causes, leading him to arm himself with whatever was in his possession, and give battle to his imaginary enemy with the greatest desperation. He continued in this situation to the expiration of his sentence, having once attempted suicide. After being discharged, his recovery was rapid, and in a few weeks he was apparently restored to a sound state of mind. Prisoner No. 40, white, aged 28 years, of strong constitution, good health, and of temperate habits, was sentenced for two years. His natural abilities were fair ; he was barely able to read, but had never learned to write. His temperament was bilious-sanguine, and of an ordinary cheerful disposition. He showed symptoms of derangement, with a tendency to commit suicide, about the tenth month of confinement, soon exhibiting several well-marked symptoms of delirium tremens. When under great apparent fear and excite- ment, he related to me a plot he had heard formed in the Prison- yard for taking his life ; that he had also seen one of the conspira- tors at his window, with a gun, for the purpose of shooting him, and that he had saved his life by lying on the floor immediately under the window, where the gun could not be brought to bear upon him ; afterwards, that they resorted to suffocation, by burning sulphur at his ventilator, and that he barely saved his life by 197 applying his face to the window, where he could breathe the external air. At this time, the law relating to the Prison had been so far altered as to allow two or more prisoners to remain in a cell. Accordingly, another prisoner was allowed to be with him, which alone appeared to be the cause of his recovery, after a i^ew weeks, when, at his own request, he was left alone in his cell, where he in a short time relapsed and exhibited all his former symptoms. The company of a convict was again allowed him, as before ; and in about four weeks he was restored, without afterwards relapsing into his former condition, though his companion was removed, as before. Of the forty prisoners committed while the strictly solitary sys- tem was in operation, ten, or one fourth of the whole number, (two of whom were blacks,) manifested decided symptoms of derange- ment ; seven so much so, as to unfit them for labor for a longer or shorter period, and five were discharged insane, two of whom recovered, and three now remain unrestored to a sound state of mind. Of the nineteen committed since the system was abandoned, three only, — two whites and a black , — have shown symptoms of derangement. One of them is No. 20, whose case has been de- scribed, who was recommitted in about twelve months after his dis- charge, and who relapsed into his former condition about the fourth month of confinement. One other, a black, was so much deranged as to disqualify him for labor, his health at the same time being much impaired, though good when committed. He died of dropsy of the chest, in the tenth month of his imprisonment, and in the sixth week of his being so far deranged as to unfit him for labor. The third is in tolerably good health, and is not disqualified for work, though laboring under constant anxiety, depicted in his counte- nance, from the hallucination that he is visited by tempters, whis- pering in his ear the suggestion to commit some criminal act. He showed symptoms of derangement about the sixth month of con- finement. I would here remark, from all the observations that I have been able to make, that but few men, and those strongly constituted, can be subjected to the discipline of solitary imprisonment, as it was here established, without becoming, sooner or later, through its de- pressing effects, more or less debilitated in some of their physical and mental operations ; and I have not the least doubt, that under this, as well as under other systems of imprisonment, hundreds of convicts have been most inhumanly punished, for the innocent exhibition of some eccentricities of conduct during the trying pe- riod of their imprisonment, when, upon every principle of hu- manity, they should have been treated with more than ordinary kindness and compassion. Effects somewhat similar to the above 26 198 are often, in a greater or less degree, produced by the stagnation of the active powers, after retirement from a long and energetic business life. The individual having secured a competency for the body, without having laid up any internal resources, finds himself sinking under this new state of mental inertia. Upon the with- drawal of the accustomed stimulus of business, nothing is left to keep up the healthy action of the brain, and melancholy, and oftentimes suicide, is the result, and from a cause similar to that which operates in the production of delirium tremens. Similar effects are not produced upon the mind upon retiring from literary labors and pursuits; and the reason is evident. The literary man carries with him, in his retirement, a store of food for thought and reflection ; and although his activity may be di- minished, there yet remains sufficient stimulus to support the brain under its somewhat altered circumstances, until it becomes adapted to them. The minds of literary men, however, sometimes be- come deranged under circumstances analogous to that form of de- lirium tremens arising directly from the excessive stimulus of ardent spirits. In both cases, the excitability of the brain, from excessive action, becomes exhausted ; and in both cases, the worst form of paralysis of that organ is the consequence. In some diseases, also, especially in the malignant form of typhus fever, where there is a sudden loss of the vital powers, a species of delirium ensues, very much resembling delirium tremens, and from which the patient is restored only by the use of the most powerful stimulants. Upon a review of facts like those I have now detailed, it is im- possible for me to hesitate in condemning the penal system of soli- tary confinement. Were it preferable in an economical point of view, — and the case is widely the reverse, — we could not hesi- tate in deciding the question between economy and humanity. " Political society has the undoubted right to vindicate its laws, by assigning to the violation of them such penalties as the public safety and welfare may require, and such as do not conflict with the paramount injunctions of the divine Lawgiver." " It is, as I believe, the right of society to take the life of an offender, if neces- sary ; but not to take his mind, or to subject him to any process of in- fliction of which mental derangement shall be an ordinary, and not an unusual and unexpected result. There is no pretence of neces- sity for any system that operates in this w^ay. There are others more safe, practicable and beneficial." " The legitimate objects for which judicial punishment are inflicted by the political state, are to administer retributive justice to the offender, to secure so- ciety against a repethion of his offence, and to deter others from imitating his example. The first object is accomplished by death, imprisonment, or other infliction upon the offender ; the second, by 199 the same means, and, still better, by his reformation ; and both the second and the last, by exhibiting a sufficient counterbalance of evil to weigh down any amount of pleasure or gain which may tempt him or others to do the like. And the amount of pain which society can inflict, is that which is strictly necessary in its own defence. All beyond this partakes of the crime committed, rather than of the justice which seeks to punish it ; is ' cruel and unusual,' and is at war with the sound principles of govern- ment and the dictates of humanity." The improved physiology of the present day, without denying the possibility of an insane mind, according to the popular form of speech, recognizes no such phenomena, in the present state of ex- istence, without a proximate bodily cause ; though the remote causes may be bodily or mental, or both. And as the causes of derangement in solitary confinement, both proximate and remote, appear so uniformly to be of a physical nature, and so fully ade- quate to the effects produced, I do not deem it necessary to dwell on any other than that which it has been my endeavor to ex- hibit, and which, if it have received any attention from others, has not been estimated as its importance requires. Without dwelling on the greater expensiveness of the solitary plan, its effects on general health, its failure to deter from crime, (according to the promise held out,) and various other objections, I would remark, that the advantage claimed for it, of greater calm- ness of demeanor and easier submission to the rules of the plaec, on the part of the solitary prisoner, has not been realized here. On the contrary, solitude has been found to produce restless irrita- bility, and a peevishness of disposition, impatient of the unnatural restraint imposed on the reluctant body and mind, difficult to be dealt with ; while, in the performance of social labor, in silence, the men have been better subject to control, and have required less frequent exertions of authority than before. When shut up in the cells, they exercised, under the cravings of the social instinct, which walls and chains cannot repress, every contrivance that ingenuity could suggest, by means of the window, and the pipes passing through the cells, to hold some communication with each other ; and they were more frequently successful than would have been supposed possible. While, on the other hand, when the strict se- clusion of the cell was done away, and the senses of the prisoners were once more opened to a portion of their accustomed impres- sions, and the social nature had been partially relieved, by permit- ting company without conversation, a very marked change came over the prisoners, and they manifested most clearly to the observer, by their great cheerfulness, alacrity in labor, and prompter com- pliance with orders, that their condition was much improved, and that they were sensible of it. 200 In the year preceding the discontinuance of solitary imprison- ment, there was an average loss from sickness of twenty-five per cent, upon the labor of the convicts. During the past year, under the system of social labor, the loss, from the same cause, has been about six per cent. The necessity and amount of punishments for disobedience and violations of rules have diminished in about the same proportion. It should be added, however, that corporal pun- ishment has been introduced under the new system, and no doubt has operated to deter from offences, although it has been adminis- tered to two prisoners only in extreme cases. Another supposed advantage of the solitary plan — that of afford- ing secrecy and seclusion to the prisoner, so that he may go forth into the world again without being recognized, and perhaps threat- ened or tempted by his associates — is, in practice, wholly illusory. For no man passes into Prison without an open trial, and the knowledge of friends and enemies ; and no inan can expect to pass out again without being remembered. A hope of concealing the imprisonment, as the basis of reformation and a new character, is almost sure to be defeated ; and I believe that " experience fully warrants the assertion, that the prospect of thorough and lasting reform is the best where the offence is atoned for on the spot where it was committed, and before its witnesses, by honest exer- tions, and a life of integrity." Without seeking a controversy with the officers of other Prisons, I feel, nevertheless, free to say, after an attentive examination of their reports, setting forth the great amount of derangement which prevails under the system of strict solitude, and more especially the reports of the Eastern Penitentiary, at Philadelphia, which was taken as our model, that, in my opinion, the main, prevailing cause of derangement in those prisons has been overlooked ; and that the cases as described have been erroneously attributed to the prevalent practice of masturbation. It is at the same time asserted, that the very worst and most hopeless form of derangement, arising from this source, viz. de- mentia, the condition of being demented, and prostrated in body and mind, is frequently curable, and the cases are reported. We read also of acute dementia, {acute depression, or decay of the faculties ! — a phrase which sounds somewhat strangely to an old- fashioned practitioner,) of " erotic enervation," of hypochondria, hallucination, and " deviltry,'''' among the list of causes ; from the description of which, I believe them to amount, in the whole, (ex- cepting the last, which is not precisely intelligible in this region,) to enervation of the brain, the organ of the mind, through the ab- straction of the greater portion of its appropriate and external stimulus. At all events, I shall be satisfied if I have said any- 201 thing to recall attention to this important subject, and to the closer investigation of the phenomena. If I am in error in this matter, I shall be more happy to be corrected than to detect the errors of others. If I am right, the boasted system of solitude may lose something of popularity, where it is still retained, and humanity will be the gainer. While it will be seen from the statistics of this Prison, before pre- sented, that the proportion of deranged has fallen from twenty- five per cent., under the solitary system, to ten per cent, of new cases, under the present, of solitude by night, with labor in com- pany by day, there is room for improvement, until this opprobrium shall, if possible, be removed, by reducing this deplorable evil to its smallest possible compass. This, of course, will be an object of solicitude with all concerned in the management of the Prison. In attending to the habits and dispositions of prisoners, it has been a question with me how far they would be benefited by inter- course or communication with friends on the outside. In some Prisons, occasional visits are allowed ; in others open letters are permitted to pass to and fro ; and in some, temperance newspa- pers are circulated. In this Prison, a stricter rule prevails, and no visitors, except those authorized by law, and except in extreme cases of sickness or otherwise, are permitted to see and converse with the prisoners. Without intending to interfere in this or other matters resting in the province of the inspectors, I may be allowed to say, that while there are some who may be almost said to be fortunate in being rescued from the base and contaminating asso- ciations with which they have been mixed up, and brought to this place, the case is different with others who have virtuous, sym- pathizing friends ; and there is a chord in the heart of the most erring, which can be touched by the hand of kindness, with an unfailing response. In looking over the writing-books which are fur- nished to the prisoners on Sundays, I have been occasionally struck with the home feeling manifested, and the yearning of prisoners after the better things that have been lost in the pursuits for which they had incurred the penalty of the laws. It is worthy to be considered whether a proper communication from abroad of the good influences of friends may not sometimes become an important element in the recovery of prisoners to a purpose of amendment, from which they will not so easily be swayed by their former temptations, on returning to the world. Among the great variety of topics which press upon my atten- tion, there are two popular errors relating to imprisonment, upon which I will offer a few remarks. One is, that the greater the severity practised toward a prisoner, the greater his punishment. It is very common, when improvements in Prisons are suggested. 202 for the greater comfort of the inmates, to hear the observation, that they ought to suffer, and the more the better ; that the way of the transgressor is hard ; and that the only way to benefit him is to make°a deep and lasting impression of wholesome severity upon body and mind. It is true that pain is the portion of the prisoner for his offences, and that he must suffer, and deeply suffer, to be benefited. But there is a limit which cannot be passed without defeating the ends of the law, in retribution, public security, and personal reformation, and perverting justice into cruelty without an object. Says an American writer, " It ought to be impressed on law- givers, and all who are called upon to administer penal justice, in any of its modes, that it is possible, and indeed too common, by excess of severity, to sink the prisoner heJow the capacity of being punished at all, in wearing out the vigor and sensibility of body or mind, or both." " Let those who, without due reflection, ap- prove of the utmost harshness and severity to prisoners, that they may be made to feel and reflect, consider but for one moment what must be endured in a State Prison, even where administered under the least stringent regulations ; upon the total seclusion of the prisoner from friends, and from the external world, and from the knowledge of what is passing in it, for months and years ; upon the suppression of the social nature, and the sufferings of the mind even in the most hardened, — and he will dismiss, at once, an opinion which wars with the superior sentiments of hu- manity." The second error, allied to the first, is, that this hai*shness and severity are necessary to prevent prisoners from repeating their offences, or committing others, and being brought back again to confinement. The very reverse of this statement is the truth. " Words of kindness have subdued hearts in Prison that were callous to bolts and bars." " The only hope of reforming a man in Prison, and preventing his being brought back again, after his discharge, is in appealing to his intellect and moral nature ; in dispossessing him of his revenge, if he have any, against his prosecutors ; in reconciling him to the justice of his sentence, and to the labor and deprivations to which he is subjected, as being necessaiy, and tending to his own good ; in treating him like a man, who, though fallen, is not lost ; in raising up his self-respect, enlightening his ignorance, awakening his conscience ; in making him feel that he is not an outcast, and that there are those who ' care for his soul,' and would be glad to see him renovated and restored to his place in society ; in governing him with firmness, but with as little severity as possible, and in showing him as much kindness, in every respect, as discipline will permit." With all 203 these means, accompanied by religious instruction, " the expecta- tion of reform in prison should not be too high, for reformation in the shade, where there is no temptation, like the virtue of hermits and monks, is endangered by exposure to the light ; and too fre- quently will not bear the contact of the world ; " and, further, " although in those who have committed what may be called crimes of excitement, there is often no deep-rooted depravity, yet the mass of convicts are those who are so broken down in moral character, as to be past recovery by any agency less potent than the special grace of God." " Hard usage will make a man very desirous to get out of Prison, but it will not prevent him from committing the crime that will send him back. And here lies the error of the advocates of severity. Conscience being seared, de- sire ascendant, temptation strong, judgment weak and easily de- luded by false hopes of concealment or impunity, the old offender is very apt to repeat his crime, at the first opportunity, notwith- standing the recollection of all that he may have endured in the very severest form of imprisonment. Where the greatest severity is practised will be found the greatest number of recommitments." The prisoners now committed here, possess as fair natural abilities as the average of the community ; most of them can read and write. A large majority of the convicts were addicted to the use of ardent spirit. All the cases of murder, — three in number, — and also all the cases of manslaughter, were instigated by " the demon of the distillery." Of the ffty-nine prisoners committed here, three have been committed a second time, but none a third. As appears by the physician's report, the general state of health in the Prison has been good for the year. One cause of the disproportionate tendency to affections of the lungs in inmates of State Prisons, is found in the general disuse of the voice, and consequent debilitation of the lungs, through the indispensable rule of continued silence. Reading aloud, rehearsing and singing in their cells, should be encouraged among prisoners, as a means of counteracting this evil. There are some other topics, connected with those already ad- verted to, which time and the space now occupied will require me to defer to some other opportunity. All which is respectfully submitted, by THO'S. CLEVELAND, M. D., Warden of the Rhode Island State Prison. Peovidence, October 30, 1844. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles ^^ ~^.-/ i..o u^ l-^-^-'-^ £ JUN2§}[ IWKNOV2 1994 *«>^ fHe tmRARv e^Vi»S/Tr OF CALIFOfflWA LOS ANGELES ilii iiihIiIiIiI „ ^ ^_ 3 1158 00114 8567 UC SOIITHI RN H[ l.KINAL LIIIHARY I ACII IIV AA 000 910 063 z fiFJI ^i nKImm