The Express.
London, England, 1849-07-07 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS.—FRIDAT, JULY 6.
The Earl of SuarrEsause (D. putt' Speaker) took
seat at 6 o'clock.

PRIVATE BUSINESS.

SECOND READING.—Taff Vale Railway (Extensios
is Merthyr T)thil)
THIRD READINGS.—Orest Yarmouth Unveils Bridge
and Navigation Improvim-ni ; Werthesn's Patent (for Im-
provements in manufacturing fur into fabrici) ; Bills.

SHERIFF 01. WESTMORELAND BILL.
This bill went through committee.
BUENOS AYRES.
Lord COLCHESTER gave ro•ice that hie would, on
Tuesday mat, ask a question as to the progreu of our ne-
gotiations with Buenos Ayres.

PRISON DISCIPLINE.
Lord BROUGHAM rose, pursuant to notice, to move a
series of 12 :violations on the subject of prison discipline.
He might say, of all the sulj eta which heti ever attracted
attention, there was not one of greater importance than
prison discipline. The criminal law was of the highest im-
p rtance to the community, sad the manner in which
punishment might be distr buted over offending men.
But, without a good system of prison discipline,
criminal jurisprudence and procedure would not produce any
good result—no reformation would be effected in the criminal.
In fact,aa interior code, with good prima discipline, could not
fail to produce salutary effects. Nothing need be added to
Our criminal code ; it depended no the execution of the law
as it now existed, and he should be satisfied in laying the
matter generally before the house. About two years ago
their loidshil a appointed a committee to inquire into the
execution of the criminal law, and they examined 33 Eng-
lish judges, besides Irish and Scotch judges, governors of
prisons, solicitors, and many other persons. The conclusions
to which the committee came were embodied in the report,
and he need not recepi.ulate them. If he were go back to
the period when Sir T. F. Buxton directed his attention to
this subject, and show the state of the prisons then, they
would be utonishe d at the facts which be had then pub-
hailed ; they would be gratified at the improvement which
had taken place; but they would also be mortified to find
how much remained to be done. He did not agree with Sir
T. F. Buxton end Mrs. Fry in their opinions; but they saw
much harsh and cruel to. atment to complain of and deplore,
and their indignation wan so roused that they carried their
feelings far enough to give rise to the epigram that they
would convert prisons into palace.. They forgot that a
prison should be a place of suffering and punishment, t xcept
for untried jr ilOrerS and debtors—but to the latter it ought
to be t nything but a place of enjoyment—it ought to be a
place of punishment to them. Sir T. Buxton described the
want of system reed uniformity, and the manner in which
prisoners were treated and mingled together. The noble
and learned lord here read I lutes from Sir T. F. Buxton's
book, published in 1818, by which it appeared that
prisoners, in Duey muds, n ere put in irons before trial, and
eight different systems were pursued in twelve different
gaols. Much of this irregularity was now done away with;
but there still prevailed in every °the- respect the greatest
dissimilarity as to the tried and untried, and the treatment
of juveniles. All thi., however, was in alum of being
remedied ; but in eve ry respect this irregularity of system
gave rise to every abuse, and was an obstruction to the due
administration of the criminal law. With respect te transpor-
tation, all the judges and almost all the other witnesses, prison
inspectors, cleats of swim. governors of gaols, crown solici-
tors, and others, almost all agreed that transportation was
indispensable, and that imprisorment should precede it.
Transportation, however, would only do when colonies were
in their infancy, for when they In came peopled with inno-
cent society, it was a grievous infliction upon them to send
out large bodies of criminal. amongst them. IL, now came
to the autject of benevolence or charity, which be would not
wish to touch with a rouvh hand ; but benevolence, to earn
the name, must be beneficial—there must he the executed
purpose as well as the worthy intention. Foundling hospi-
tals, the result of ill directid benevolence, were, perhaps,
open to some objections. They had given rise, without
doubt, to child murder. Good-in'entioned people thought
they prevented child murder; but it was not so. Benevo-
lence was also practised in some !pole. He looked upon
Reading gaol to be in the nature of a public nuisance. By
the rules of that gaol bard labour was excluded, and it had
the worst effects. Their lordships bad examined criminals
before their committee, and they gloried in their shame.
Now, in Reading pa I the sentence of bard labour was a
dead letter—the only labour they were aver employed at
was to work a crank to pull up water to wash themselves;
and in order that they might net be inconvenienced, ten men
were employed to do what two could easily perform. One
prisoner, whose hands were delicate, was not employed at
this work, so the reverend chapleia had stated, his delicacy
of touch was so great, that he WAS exempted from it—was he
an artist or a maker of mechanical instruments? No, he
was a pickpocket. (" Hear, he a'," and laughter.) There
were in Reading gaol 140 prise lure daily, but in Coldbath-
fields, which had been so much reviled, there were 1,034
a day, and 870 actually performed hard labour, honestly,
according to their sentence. The Weir gof the prisoners in
this airy and cemforteble prison at Reading, cost 151. a head
per annum, and their " palatable diet" WI. 10s. ; they
therefore cost 451. a tear each. In Celdbathtlields, how-
ever, they orly cost 111. a year each. In Reading the
prisoners earned 2s. Bd. each a year, whilst in Coldbath fields
they earned 41. 6s. a year. Short committals were
also very injurious—they only took criminals away
for a short time, and then sent them back again perhaps
worse than before. The whole of the committals annually
in England and Wales was 100,000 prisoners, 66.000 of
whom were committed for the first time, and 33,000 were
re-commitments of persons who had been more than once
committed. Now, if all these criminals earned at the rate of
the Reading prisoners, the amount would be about 2,0001, a
year, whil.t, if they earned as much as the prisoners in
Coidbath Fields, it would he 66,0001. per annum. Their
average cost to the country was 291, a year, or 480,0001.
altogether, and the average value of their labour was 11. 9s.
each per annum. In America, the labour of the prisoners
produced sufficient to support them entirely; and in Bel-
gium and France the products of their labour very nearly
supported them. Ile had the authority of Mr. Chas.
Pearson, who had been the City Solicitor for 8 years, and
had devoted a great deal of time to the subject of prison
discipline. He also had the authority of Mr. M. D. Hill,
the Recorder for Birmingham, to support his views ; and
they said—let labour be the referniatoty principle in
gaols. It should not be made compulsory, except where it
was a part of the sentence. The object was to give prisoners
a motive for exertion—to make their comfort in the prison
depend on their labour, and to make the it well-being, when
they went out of the prison, in a certain degree dependent
on their labour too. It was also to make the duration of
their imprisonment depend on their successful voluntary ex-
ertions. (Cheers.) This systemnbad been tried at L.:-
maitre, in France, on juvenile delinquents, at Hamburg,
sad in 11 other establishments, partly in this country, but
chiefly on the cootie. nt, and in every cue with very great
success. After voluntary industry hod given habits of honest
labour, in hardly any instance had it been found that a re-
commitment had taken place. (Hear, hear.) It was only
by a long period of imprisonment end detention that them
good effects could possibly take pl tce. He meant that this
treatment should be applied to juvenile, offenders in parti-
miler ; but that the same system, it applied to other offenders,
would produce something of the same effect no person could
possibly doubt. What said Mr. Rushton, the police yeses-
trate, of Liverpool 1 He gave an instance of eighteen juve-
nile offenders, who were each under eighteen years of age.
Each of these, on the average, had been convicted nine
times ; one had been convicted seventeen, another
eighteen, and a third nineteen times. Of course it would
require a longer COMM) of reformatory discipline and
greater stringency of superintendence to amend these persons
than those who lad been only convicted two or three times.
The increase of commitments was most remarkable in this coun-
try. The population had increased 65 per cent. within the
last 40 years; the consumption of coffee and tea had increased.
76 per cent ; the consumption of spirit and malt had
increased 60 per cent., hut the crimes and committals heel
increased from OKI to 420 per cent. Thus committals had
increased six times more than the luxuries. A vast propor-
tion of this increase consisted of juvenile offenders, for
they amounted to bl per cent. of the committals,. Ono of
the greatest advantages of the 'poem which he recom-
mended would be that these javende offenders, when re-
formed and restored to society, would be on tbM2 side
against those rem ivers of stolen goods, end those " fencers,"
as they were called, who in most instances set them on. Ile
had now stated the object of his motion, and it only remained
for him now to ask their lordships to adopt the resolutions
he was about to propose, or, if they were not prepared to
adopt them now, to ask that they would be taken into serious,
consideration next session of par:isment. The noble and
learned lord concluded by moving the following resolutions:
That the legitimate nhiect doll imprisonment for Atom being to
detain t moos committed until trial, rod persons convicted for
punisbment or until oat sported or until gamut( d, it is smatter both
of justice and round policy that due mess. should be afforded in
every prison of so them:yang prisoners as to keep those who are de.
tanned fee trial sport In m those who are detained after conviction.
That it is further expedient to provide the mesas of separating dif-
ferent classes of prisoners, especially keeping the young apart from
old offenders• end that a perfect system of prison discipline would
shtelthfof the prisoner.•
also afford the WSW of f:ur:t7h,ueprs:els&:tiifyl,:i.ngt:p.rhoartioon::ors:both:enbrhtito:ririatehboanthdure
after trial.
That the food, raiment, and lodging of prironers after trial ought to
t of taonuidt.mbreethiaLmbcinge
titl:daimr.inhoouti:mf,:fteeacrimh:goo:
theromi"eonvieto as shall make ese.ry prison a place of
be.el.
That
scutthbvteeleoywlln,,td
stiherrhelreredestote.iestehtnhicteirneattolent,
dustrioos habits.
That the economy of prison further remlires melt aid to the nubile
funds asmay be obtained from the prism, labour.
That such branches e t industry ..ii.ly should be cultivated la
prisons as do not interfere with the industrious
canines
That it wears expedient, nttenever possible, t
Pisani:if toe rite such soufeligmpruondallMil"tlZheanin'tuyosbetibeateo . y '
the sell anti their work. • ..1 . ' 4
• •..
That, subject to the limitation in resolution, . 11, 13
or horticultural lebnar is laceuvlalent or AL,
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