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compartments, and the period of labour is ten hours per day. There has not been one instance of a recommittal since the erection of the mill; before, returns were frequent. The house of correction at Winchester continues to be distinguished for good order and industry: the mills have been in active operation. The total amount of saving to the county, from the labour of the prisoners, for the last two years and three quarters, has been 20491. 4s. 6d. A school is attended daily, under the direction of the chaplain.

In the county gaol at Maidstone, a building is enlarging for the separate confinement of female prisoners: they will be placed under officers and attendants of their own sex; a plan which, it is trusted, will be generally followed throughout the country. In this prison, great attention is paid to the moral instruction of the prisoners. Schools for the adult as well as juvenile prisoners are formed in several of the wards, under the direction of the chaplain.

At the gaol at Rochester, debtors, felons, and misdemeanants, are indiscriminately confined together; and proofs are not wanting of the evils resulting from this neglect of classification and discipline. A young man, the son of honest parents, and whose moral character had hitherto been unsullied, was confined for a small debt. He had not been liberated longer than a month, before he was again committed as a criminal; and his ruin may be directly traced to the corrupt association to which he was exposed during his confinement. Two men were lately apprehended for robbing their master: one of whom, on his entrance, was admitted as king's evidence. He associated indiscriminately with the other prisoners; and when the trial came on, he refused to recapitulate his testimony: his accomplice escaped, and justice was defeated.

The house of correction at Brix

ton has been completed. Six treadwheels are here kept in constant operation; and the hard labour, and spare diet, combined with judicious regulations for the exclusion of the friends of the prisoners, have already rendered the name of Brixton a terror to offenders in the vicinity.

At the house of correction at Northallerton, the stepping-mill has produced a great effect. Such has been the diminution in the number of committals, that at times the mill is but half employed, from the want of prisoners to work it.

In many prisons, the practice still continues of using irons in ordinary cases, with a view of insuring the safe custody of the prisoners. The Committee are inclined to think that the security which irons afford has been greatly overrated. The use of fetters bas a tendency to relax the vigilance of prison officers; and probably, if the circumstances were examined, it would be found, that in a large proportion of cases in which the escape of prisoners has been effected, irons have actually been used. The custom of ironing prisoners was formerly very general. It is satisfactory to observe the gradual discontinuance of this practice, which is likely before long to be altogether exploded. At Newgate, at no very distant period, fetters were used in every yard: no irons are now to be seen, with the exception of those on capital convicts, who wear them not for security, but as a distinctive punishment. Few gaols in England are less secure than the Bridewell in Tothill Fields, where fetters were long deemed absolutely necessary; but even here they are now altogether dispensed with; and it is to be regretted that they are not disused at several large prisons, which, in other respects, are well conducted, and where their discontinuance might reasonably have been expected. In the prisons to which the Committee refer, the practice is not confined to convicted prisoners: persons committed even

for trial, are also subjected to this unmerited mark of personal degradation. Blackstone remarks, "The law will not justify gaolers in fettering a prisoner, unless where he is unruly, or has attempted his escape;" and Lord Chief Justice King answered those who advo cated the use of fetters as a security," that they might build their walls higher."-But if ironing a convicted prisoner be unwarrantable, how much more strongly is the custom to be condemned, when the untried are fettered? a practice not only contrary to law, but repugnant to every principle of justice and humanity.

Experience has fully confirmed the efficacy of the discipline treadmill; and the Committee feel as sured that the labour which it ordinarily enforces, so far from being injurious, is highly beneficial to health. It induces moderate and uniform exertion in the open air, in an erect and unconstrained position of the body; weight, not force, being requisite in the operation. These salutary machines are now introduced into a considerable number of gaols, and are intended to be erected in many others.

In a late session of Parliament, a bill was passed for providing for the more effectual punishment by hard labour, in various cases of aggravated misdemeanors, and crimes below the degree of felony. It authorizes the courts of justice to unite hard labour with imprisonment.

The Commitee strongly recommend affording assistance to prisoners, who on their liberation are destitute,and whose conduct, during confinement, has been satisfactory. The period of discharge is one of great difficulty to the criminal, when a small sum is much needed, and is often essential to preserve him from want or crime.

At Newgate, the Ladies' Association for the improvement of the female prisoners, persevere in their arduous and important labours. Constant work is provided, and the

prisoners are uniformly instructed in religious and moral duty. The schools are in excellent order. A prison-dress has been recently allowed by the magistrates, at the suggestion of the Committee. The ladies have still to regret that the crowded state of the wards renders it impossible to confer on the prisoners the benefits which result from proper classification and inspection; increasing order and decorum prevail in the general demeanour of the prisoners; and there have been many encouraging instances of females, who, on their liberation, have fully proved that the kindness which they have experienced has not been lost, nor the instruction which has been imparted to them forgotten.

For the last twenty months, the ladies have kept an account of the number of convicted women, who, on being placed under their care, were found to have received some degree of education. From this register it appears that of 119 prisoners-being the whole number who were able to read-not one had attended a school on the British system, and oue only had entered a national school: in this last case, the individual confessed that she had remained there but two weeks, so that it may fairly be excluded from the account. It also appears that but three had been in the habit of attending at Sunday schools. These simple facts speak volumes, and furnish incontestable proof of the supreme importance of religious instruction. When it is considered that the schools in question have been in extensive operation in the metropolis for many years; and that by far the greater proportion of the female convicts who enter Newgate are under twenty-five years of age, these circumstances are peculiarly deserving of notice, and strikingly evince the great value of these institutions.

The cordial disposition of the magistracy throughout the coun

try, to second the humane designs of the Ladies' Associations, has been highly praiseworthy: with their concurrence, visiting female committees have been formed in the prisons at Bedford, Bristol, Carlisle, Chester, Colchester, Der by, Durham, Dumfries, Exeter, Glasgow, Lancaster, Liverpool, Nottingham, Plymouth, and York,

and also at Dublin.

In Ireland, the progress of improvement has been very satisfactory. The Irish Government have evinced great anxiety on this subject; and the manyexcellent charges of the judges on the circuits have had great influence in impressing the magistracy and grand juries with the importance of correcting the abuses of the county gaols. The legislative acts lately passed have given a powerful stimulus to amendment. By one of these acts gaol fees have been abolished in Ireland; a grievance long and severely felt. Prison schools, labour, and classification, are exciting great attention in this country..

The Committee have continued to extend relief to distressed boys, and others who were destitute, on their discharge from the prisons of the metropolis, and were desirous of abandoning their vicious habits. During the past year, a considerable number have been received into the Temporary Refuge, who, on their liberation, were without money, character, or friends, and who possessed no means of procuring employment. Without the assistance thus afforded by the Society, it is scarcely possible but that these guilty, yet unfortunate, objects, must have again resorted to crime for support. The Committee refer, with great satisfaction, to the success which has attended their exertions in this establishment; but add, that the number of objects relieved has necessarily been limited by the low state of the Society's funds. The following particulars will convey a general idea of the history of the lads

in this institution, and the nature of the relief extended to them :

W. B. aged fourteen.-This lad was corrupted by some bad boys in the neighbourhood where his parents resided. They persuaded him to abscond from his home; and by them he was initiated into the ways of vice. After having been a short time in prison, he was received into this establishment. He expressed a wish to go to sea, and was sent on a voyage in the merchants' service. He conducts himself well, and to his master's satisfaction.

J. G. aged twelve.-This child absconded from his father's house, and associated with bad boys for two months. He was then taken up for theft, and after trial was received into the Temporary Refuge, where he remained eight months: he was then delivered to his father. He now conducts himself extremely well, and works at his father's trade. Twelve months have elapsed since his discharge.

H. P. aged thirteen.-The father of this boy has been separated for many years from the mother, and now lives with another woman. She declared that she would not continue with him, if his child remained under the same roof. In consequence of this, the unnatural father turned him out of doors. He maintained himself for about six weeks by begging and holding horses in the street: at length, in a state of starvation, he stole a loaf of bread out of a baker's shop, was apprehended, and sent to prison for one month. From the Temporary Refuge, he was, after some time, sent on a voyage in a merchant vessel, and has behaved so well that the captain bas desired that he may be apprenticed to him.

J.S. aged sixteen. He never knew his father, and his mother has been dead some years. He was in three several employments; the first with a stationer, where he learned part of the business, and in the two others as an errand boy. Unfortu

nately for him, two of his employers became bankrupts; and upon the failure of the last, this lad was thrown upon the town completely destitute. He then fell into evil courses, and was imprisoned twice; once for passing forged notes, and the second time for picking a gentleman's pocket. Upon his discharge from Newgate, he solicited admission into the Temporary Refuge, and, after remaining there four months, was received into the permanent establishment. He is now engaged in the bookbinding department, where he takes a leading part, and bids fair to be a useful member of society.

The Committee next invite the attention of the public to the progress of prison improvement in foreign countries.

At their last anniversary, they had the pleasure to announce some highly interesting particulars relative to the proceedings of the Prison Society of Russia, formed under the immer'iate patronage of the Emperor Alexander. This noble institution is pursuing its important objects with great zeal and success. Many improvements have been effected in the prisons of St. Petersburg regular employments are carried on by the prisoners, and a depôt is established for the sale of goods made by them, the produce of which has amounted to a considerable sum. Various articles are made for the service of the army, and some of the public de partments. Hard labour is enforced on criminal prisoners, and a salutary provision has been made for debtors, who were before in a very destitute condition. The Ladies' Committee, under the personal influence of the Princess Mestchersky, is indefatigable in this Christian work. This distinguished female daily visits the prisons, and reads a portion of the Scriptures to the convicts. From a report of the state of the town prison in September last, it appears that, of upwards of two hundred prisoners, there CHRIST. OBSERV, APP.

was not one sick person in the hospital, although before the present regulations were in force, nine or ten persons were usually sick in each ward. Auxiliary Prison Societies have been formed at Archangel and Orel, with a Ladies' Committee attached to each, for the purpose of visiting and relieving the prisoners; and encouraging prospects are held out that similar associations will speedily be organized in all the principal towns. From the capital of Russia, these benevolent exertions have extended even to the remote districts of Siberia. New prisons, on the penitentiary system, are to be erected in different parts of Russia, after the most approved models.

InPrussia also, encouraging prospects are now presented. A society was forming at Berlin for the improvement of the gaols in the Prussian dominions.

The Paris Society, for the amelioration of the prisons in France, have collected and published a large body of useful information, on the state of the gaols throughout that country; and some valuable reports have been drawn up by the council, for their regulation and improvement. The king contributes 50,000 francs annually, towards the promotion of the Society's views, and his munificence is liberally supported by other branches of the royal family. The effects of improved discipline are strikingly exhibited in the prison Montaign, for soldiers committed for insubordination and other crimes. This prison has for the last three years been under the occasional inspection of Marshal Suchet, who states, that, when he first entered upon his duty as visitor, the prisoners were in a dreadful state of vice and disorder; and that, for some time after the commencement of his visits, he was obliged to be attended by guards for protection. The present state of the gaol exhibits a very pleasing contrast: all is restored to order and 5Q

decorum. Mr. John Venning (the brother and worthy successor of the late Mr. Walter Venning, in the charitable work of prison reformation,) found one hundred and twenty prisoners learning to read and write, and submissively attending to the instructions of a young teacher. They were closely employed, and several had been so completely reformed in their babits, that, on being discharged, they were, by the Marshal's recommendation, restored to their regiments, and have since obtained promotion.

Dr. Holst, of Christiana, is engaged in preparing for the press a work, containing an account of the best regulated prisons in England, with suggestions calculated to facilitate the introduction of similar improvements in Norway. The necessity of ameliorating the state of the prisons in that country appears to be strongly felt.

The patriotic zeal evinced by many distinguished individuals in the cantons of Switzerland, to improve the condition of the prisoners has been highly praisewortby. The Council of State at Geneva have passed a law for the establishment of a new penitentiary prison.

It is with no ordinary pleasure we state, that the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal may now be ranked among the foremost of those European states whose earnest desire to ameliorate the state of prisons promises so much to the interests of humanity. It appears that, immediately after the re-establishment of the Constitutional Government in Spain, the Cortes then elected occupied themselves in applying remedies to some of the most obvious evils of the prison system. They decreed that no prisoner should be confined in any unwholesome or subterranean apartment, or in any place not visited by the natural light of day. They also ordered that no chains or fetters should on any occasion be em. ployed. Those dismal cells which

were long the scenes of grief and suffering, have in consequence been destroyed. In some of them torture was secretly applied, and chains were used of intolerable weight. The dungeons were dark, dreary, and unventilated. At Madrid, cells were in use from which prisoners have come forth in utter and incurable blindness. There were others, in which the body could rest in no natural position, neither sitting, standing, kneeling, nor lying down!

One of the first steps of the Cortes was to appoint from their own body a prison committee, whose attention is specifically directed to the state and improvement of the prisons. The Committee of the Cortes, in their Report, propose, that in all the cities and principal towns in the kingdom, prisons shall be built in the most approved situations, and on the best principles of construction; that the government of a gaol shall be deemed an bonourable appointment, and be given to a military officer of established character, who shall be personally responsible for the security and discipline of the prisoners, and for carrying into effect the prison_regulations; that the magistrates shall elect all other officers of the prison, and frame the regulations, which must be submitted to the approval of the Government; that all prison-fees shall be abolished; that there shall be a system of classification according to age, character, and crime; and that labour shall be introduced, the severity of which shall be proportioned to the offence of the prisoner, and his conduct during confinement. The Committee of the Cortes further remark, that the loss of liberty, and the punishment adjudged by law, are all that society has a right to inflict upon the convicted criminal; that it has no authority to add to his miseries, by confirming the hardened in their guilt, eradicating every remaining feeling of virtue, or by corruptly associ

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