The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1862-04-15 00:00:00

EXPORT OF THE VISITING JUSTICES.

The prison, on inspection, had been found to be in
:perfect order. There were no complaints, and the
governor reported that the conduct of the officers had
been good. The number of prisoners in custody were
131 males and 26 Females; in the infirmary, 4 melee and
1 female ;in custody for trial, 3 males and 1 fonaM,
and on bad for trial 4 males. There were, in addition,
three males in custody for trial at the Summer Assizes.
The nr tuber of prisosers during the quarter had been
260, against 233 in the corresponding quarter last year—
increase 27. Of tkis.nunsber 111 were froni H. 51. fleet.
The daily average of prispnera for the quarter MSS 137
males and 20 females, being 7 less than the correepond-
ing quarter last year. The punishments for the quarter
had been 23. being 5 less than the corresponding quarter
laitysar. Tim disbursements for the year had teen
£270 12s. 1/d.,..th0 MUMS leerier last year 21:062
At 5d., being a decrease of k. 71 17s. 6.1. The price of
wheat for the quarter hail been £l4 10s. 54. being
31. 7d. iver quarter lower than the same quarter last
year. lime price of bread had been lid. per lib. loaf,
being the same as last year. The cost of maintenance per
heel had been 2.4. 64. ; salaries, 2s. 21., warming and
retaliation, is., bedding, clothing, and other necessa-
ries' , 10d., toted, 6s. 6d., being 8.1. per head more than
lest year. Three boys, at the termination of their re-
spective aenteneer, had been removal to the reformatory
at Milborne. The report was received and adopted, and
Mr. Posree moved there-appointment of the committee,
observin that those gentlemen who resided at a dis-
tance' and could not attend the committees, would do
well to withdraw their names.—The CHAIRMAN said
that perhars such gentlemen would signify their
inability to attend. A letter of the Inspector of
Prisons, received from the Secretary of State, as to the
dark sell and the punishment of the prisoner, Patrick
Lannon, referred to at the !ass Ses4ons, was read by
the Clerk, is follows :7—l beg leave to acknowledge the
receipt of your letter, dated 21st inst., transmitted by
direction°, the Secretary of State,Sir George Grey, fenny
loptort thereon, a letter from Lord Portman, inquiring
whether on the occasion of my last visit to Dorchester
Gaol, I had examined the dark mill wherein prisoners
are placed for solitary confinement, and if so, whether I
was satisfied of its fitness for that purpose. In reply, I
beg to say that no prisoner was undergoing 'solitary con-
finement at the time of my visit in August. It is proba-
ble that I did not especially examine the dark cell, with
which I was well acquainted from previous inspections,
therefore, as it appeared to me on perusal of Lord
Portman's letter that there might exist some other dark
cell of more recent construction to which my
attention had not been directed, I yesterday proceeded
to Dorchester to make further inquiries, and found that
the cell referred to by his Lordship was no other than
that which I had formerly examined. It is situated
on the ground floor of the building, and mea.sures in
I t.oea about 46 square feet, and as it has the very
mustsl height of 11 ft. 4 in., its =hied contents are
'Adore than 500 ft. No part of the prison is warmed or
"...artilicially ventilated ; and as • dark cell must be, by its
--net:ure, devoid of windows, endeavours have been made
to eompensate for this deficiency by three openings M
thmsvalle, and one large sit in the door, which taken
I together, gi '43 better ventilation than prevails in any of
tbe ordimary sleeping sells of the prisms, when the
windows of the latter is closed. As thetefore, the cell
in question is as sell ventilated as the defective
, e of the prison' allows, &arias it only participates.
in he game degree QS UR other mile, in the want of
rivernith, I canuot, apart from other considerations,
regard it al unsuited to the purpose to which it is &plied.
It is necessary, however, to add that the "unusual
,agvarity of solitary confinement as carried out in Dor-
chester Geol," the long periods for which it is some-
times inflicted, end the very scanty amount of food
&Hexed to i prisoners confined n the dark cell for long
terms, (the latter being without parallel as fax as I
I know in any other prison) combined with the imperfect
ventilation .of the oell. under that mode of punish-
ment it is impossible to noneeive • more
fearful infliction, as regards the health of the
prisoner. That this observation my be clearly under-
stood, it Is necessary to state, that in the prison in
question, one pound of bread per day with water is the
only allowance to prisoners in the dark cell for the
whole time which they may be confined, whereas in
other prisons no prisoner is kept for more than three
days upon that scanty diet, two pints of gruel and
half a pound of breed being added daily after the ex ideation
of three ch ye. That this is not merely a speculative
objection will be seen by the perusal of the following
case .---On the 17th August last, Patrick Lavaca was
sentenced to three days bread and water in the dark
cell, by toe govener, and being Mathieus while there,
Maw put in irons by his order. On the 20th, &Visiting
Justice, upon a continued complaint, extended the
punishment in the dark cell for ten days and the use of
irons for three daya, longer. On the lfitl: of September,
the same man having struck another prisoner was
replitced In the dirk cell for 10 days longer, so that
this prisoner passed 26 days in the dark cell between
the_l7th August and the 30th September, 'during four
. . . .

or five ilsys Of which time- he was in iron's. I venture
to affirm that no man can undergo such a punishment
as this without risk of serious and lasting injury to
his vital powers, and sin glad to be able to add that
the interference of the surgeon mitigated the severity
of the last period of confinement by giving to the
prisoner seine additional food and removing him for a
few nights to his own cell. Signed—John S. Perry.
The Visiting Justices reported that:— Having
considered the report made by tile Inspector of prisons,
Mr. Perry, to the Secretary of State, Sir George Grey, in
August hot re:pectin/ the dsrk cell for the confine-
ment of iiiractoly prisoners in Dorchester Gaol, find
that in addition to the gnostical whether the cell used
by refrwatory prisoner' vu or was not a proper place
, for their confinment, the report embraces several
other matters connected therewith which have been
forth' first-time broneht to the notice of the Visiting
Justices by the Inspector of prisons. The question as
regards the cell itself needs no comment, as it has been
answered toy the Inspector in his reportin the following
terse:—" I cannot, apart from other considerations,
consider it unsuited for the purpose to which it is
applied." These other considerations, having reference
to the warming and ventilating of the whole gaol, are
subjects in which the Visiting Justices do not think it
clesiraide to enter. The other points requirinrnotice
are these—" that the severiey of solitary confinement
as carried out in the Dorchester .gaol is unusual;"
second, that "the food allowed to prisoners confined in
the dark cell for long periods is of very scanty amount,
anti that this mode of punishment is rendered
a more fearful infliction as regard. the health of ,tha
prisoner than in most prisons.' The particular ease of
Patrick Lennon, is cited in supportof there assertions.
With regard to the fist of these statements, the
remark is not justified, as the prison returns chow that
in the last 14 years there have been only 17 cases in
which solitary rionfitiensimt haw been resorted

to by Viaiting' inatices, and of these
mike 12 in the dark cell, and only one
414 dayecontinnous. With regard to the emend, the
quantity of Mod hitherto-allowed in that fixed by the
rules of the prison, and sanctioned by the Secretary of
State, there is no instance in which any prisoner
his 'lettere I in health by reason of such confinement.
With respect to the ease of Patriot Liners, it is suffi-
cient to remark that it was an extraordinary instance
of mutinoqs conduct and insubordination, requiring an
extraordinary 'remedy. That the puuishuient first
awarded having failed in its object—that of preventing
a repetition of the offence, and that in an aggravated
form—a mooed infliction became necessary, the result
of which is that the prisieer has niece been well con.
ducted, and instead of suffering in heal* is now in
excellent health. In oonelnaten, with regard to the
rerearks of the Inspectorlis to the interference of the
sungeon 4-'00304 ot nviolt,Litkeon, no such inters
femme on the part of the surgeon could be said to have
taken l ice, as the Visiting Justice, when he ordered
•the pneiehment, specially directed the attention of the
surgeon t 3 the prisoner. The Visiting Justices have
`ordered, tliet.iinJutora the. oiet in all cases of solitary
confinement beyu& &the days shall be increased,
agremibly to the suggestion of the Inspector.
Mr. FOSTER said he wished termite a few observations,
as the reporteis being present, it would go forth to the
world, that the Visiting Justices had behmed with
great cruelty to the prisoners. It was an unjust report,
Vilighe no to have been made to the Secretary of
' is the wsy it had been, for, as the Inspector had
vim d the prison many times, he ought to have
mentioned it if there were any thing wrong. He
supposed the noble Chairman had written to the
Secretary of State, that the cell was an improper one.
—(Lord
PORT/lAN, "o,")—There wait another thing—
hen the Inepore6r atme down to inspect the prison,
he never said anything shoot Patrick Lennon, which
must have been brought to Lis notice in some undue
way, and showed that them had been something going
,on which ought not to be in the gaol, and that there
'OM a sort 'of espionage to pick up something or other.
H. said he was glad to add that by the interference of
the surgeon, tho severity of Lennon's sentence was
mitigated ; hut such was not the case, for it was the
Visiting Justices who called the attention of the
surgeon to the prisoner. As a proof his sentence was
not a severe one, after he bad been 'moaned three
days, he was exceedingly, mutinous, so touch no, that
when the barber went in to shave him he knocked down
the warder, and the turgeon called for assistance to put
Ilkina in irons, because he declared he would take a
isar-4 and cut his throat. The Visiting Justices
having been called in, ordered Ibis confinement tan days
longer. He then west to work and had his full rations.
Be Was again brought up for wutinotun conduct, and
•essis .000dned for three days by the governor. Be was

let out after the first day, thinking that would b
sufficient, but he was no sooner oat than be began his
old games, lirA of all by striking one of the prisoners
without provocation. To prove he as not
kept on the low diet, the inspector said two daysiatter he
Wll5 put in the cell he was allowed a pint of gruel at
night. and allowed to sleep in his own cell the greater
portion of his tine, the same as the other prisoners.
With reprd to punishments, they made it irule that
the visitors generally should be. summoned, and that
two or three should hear the ease. .

_
The CHAIRMAN explained !why the inspector had
visited the prison. It would be recollected that at the
biat session!, some reference was made to the man in
tin "Ishielt hole," and his friend Mr. Gordon took up
the matter with the seal he usually did matters of that
kind, alscl felt inclined to go into the question. As
the Obeli waif informed on the subject, he (the noble
Chairtuin) tokt him ho had better give soine time to
Ise hovdthe matter really stood, promising that he (the
ethble Lord would ascertain whether the inspector
really enfilidered the cell fit for the purpose intended.
He accordingly wrote to the Secretary of State, desiring
him to see whether the inspector of prisons bad so in-
spected the cell, as it might have been that, beings man
of experience, he did not do so on every occasion. Hav-
ing; thererole,-rikielied this reply froth the Secretary 61
State, he felt it his duty to forward it to the visiting
justices. His lordship reiterated sonic rentarks ballad
made at the former sessions, to the effect that in cases
of subordination of an aggravated character, the gaoler
had no right to take the law into his own hands, and
that his duty was, not to summon one visiting justice
only, but all the visiting justices. If however, after all
had been summoned, only one attended, lie could act.
The Court had deputed important duties to the visiting
SlUNlooll—they were the eyes of the Court, and their
eyes were the gaoler, the chaplain, and the surgeon,who
were bound to communicate to them anything they saw
wrong; and he did not believe they would refuse to
hear their officers. The chaplain had wished to speak,
but lie did net think the Court wanted • disotesiOu
between him and the visiting justices, but he might,
perhaps, be allowed to observe that the word " espion-
age" had escaped Mr. Foster's lips without meaning
anything offensive to their officers. It merely meant
that they used their eyes without telling the justices,
and that in future they should tell the justices what
their eyes had seen.