biglam/hmd_newspapers huggingface dataset:
The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-09-12

PENITENTIARY ESTABLISHMENTS IN
FRANCE.

It appears from a report just issued by a committee
of the J rench National Assembly, appointed to inquire
into the system of conducting penitentiary establish-
molts, that there are 24 penitentiaries in France de-
voted exclusively to young girls, three of which are
public, viz.—that of St. Lazaire, in Paris, one in the
department of the Nevers, and one at Pontoise. With
the exception of the latter, which is of recent founda-
tion, all these establishments are under the direction
of religious communities. On the 31st of Decem-
ber, 1869 (which, according to the report of the com-
mittee, is the date of the last return made), there
were 1,612 young girls in these penitentiaries. The
total number of adults of both sexes liberated in 1869
was 140,664. Of these about 4,000 were subjected to
the surveillance of the police after their liberation ; and
it is estimated that, at the present time, there are
nearly 17,000 young people in France thus under the
watchful eye of the gendarme, the sergod-de-rille, and
the detective. Of the 1,774 liberated in 1869, 251 were
not 16 years of age, 111 were totally incapable of gain-
ing their existence, 83 had received no education what-
ever, and I,29lreturned to their homes after their im-
prisonment.