The Press.
London, England, 1853-10-08 00:00:00

SPIKE ISLAND.

AmoNG the public institution" which have attracted
the visits of the Admiralty during their late official
visit to tlneenstown harbour, by no means the
smallest share of attention has been deviated to the
convict establishment on Spike I •41:mil. The impor-
tance of this, as of all other home places of deten-
tion for criminals, has been enormously increased
by the recent act which almost obliterates transpor
tation front the list of punishments awarded by our
tribunals. The island has accordingly formed the
Abject of protracted investigation by Sir .1. Graham
and his colleagues, and a detail of its eonstitution
and management alders at the present 1110111e1H
many points of no small interest to the public.
Spike Island has only been used as at depUt for
criminals since 1547, when the Irish gads were over-
crowded with convicts, and was then begun only as
au experiment. The plan, however, succeeded so
well that in three years afterwards the depUt was
arranged on a permanent footing, and the convicts
were put to the labour of constructing fortitivati s
on the island, and levelling the hard rocky ground
inside the ramparts. The Owe is used as at gene
ral prison, to which all convicted ibersons sentenced
to transportation in any part of Ireland are sent, and
hitherto they have been detained here, and left to
labour on the works, till an opportunity uttered to
send them to Vali Dienmen's Land. Under time re
cent alteration in the law of transportation it is not
likely that any more of them will be sent beyond
sea; but they will pass the whole, or at least a large
portion, of their period of punishment on the
island. There are at toresent upwards of •.!,1110 con-
victs in the establishment. It would hardly be cor-
rect to say confined in the prison; for the common
notion of a prison gives a very inadequate idea of the
treatment of the convicts at Spike island and at
other government works where convicts are em-
ployed. Front six in the morning till six at night
all who are not disabled by sickness are out in the
open air. They work in gangs of from twelve to
twenty persons each, but they are not chained to-
gether nor manacled in any way. The only appa-
rent restraint upon them is the presence of a turn-
key, who, with am bawled musket, attends and superin-
tends each gang. Some of them are employed in
ing rock and levelling the ground within the
enclosures; others are engaged in dragging trucks
leaded with the materials so obtained to other parts
of the ground; a few who have been taught in prison
the craft of the stonemason are at work hewing the
stabiles or building the rampart ; the feebler ones are
employed in laying dome turf upon the glacis ; but
all are kept front morn to night in occupation of one
kind or another. Nor is there much Recount taken
of the previous habits or condition in life of a crimi-
nal. Once placed under time surveillanee of the au.
thorities on Spike Island, the thews and sinews of
the man are more looked to than time delicacy of his
former habits, or the respectability of his former po-
sition in society. As a proof of this it may be men-
tioned that nu distinction is made between the eon-
viet Kirwan and meaner rutilans—he is set to the
same bard and degradieg task work with the rest.
Sickness alone is allowed as an excuse from labour,
anal a man is no sooner so convalescent as to be out
of bed than he is set to such light tasks as his
strength will permit. Titus convicts who are not
qualified for harder tasks are engaged knitting
stockings for themselves and their companions.
The knowledge of a ire& is also allowed in some
degree to determine the nature of their wen-
'mantel ; for all the requirements of the convicts in
food, clothes, ate., are procured within the prison
itself. At six in the evening their work is finished,
when, if they please, the means of instruction are
afforded them, in the shape of schools, a chaplain,
and a well-chosen library. It may be supposed,
however, that the labour to which they have been
put for twelve hours does not leave much mental
energy for intellectual pursuits. The food which
they receive is on a low scale : their breakfast con-
sists of stirabout and milk ; their dinner also chiefly
consists of liquids; on Sundays alone are they at
lowed to partake of a small morsel of animal food.
The works in which they are engaged are under the
immediate direction of officers of the Engineer', and
there is a party of Sapper; and Miners on the island
to direct the work of the convicts; and it
is imps►s-
sible to survey the extent of the work alone, and te
remember that it has all been executed since.
without 1., i.s t struck with the energy and efficiency
with wi'acli lee labour limit been directed. The Most
appr.ead priu.siples of modern defensive engineering
lime guided tit. it uperatiens, mind, though there is
still the work Of 311 My years iu the present condition
of the place, still. iiieler the skill of time engineers
guiding the rude la of the eouviet, Spike Island
is already assumes pesitien of a fortress of the
Ant den. Vt itl re Ito the treatzaeut of couvietbis