The Express.
London, England, 1853-09-12 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, MONDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 12, 1853.

BIRMINGHAM BOROUcill PRISON.

• ELEVENTH DAY.
BIRMINGHAM, BATuzDay.
This morning the inquiry was reaumed ; the

commissioners having seam transferred their sittings from
the Queen's Hotel to the gaol, for the purpose of examining
priaossen on the spot. The case of a little boy named
Edw. Plant who, it had been alleged, had been punished
with extraordinary severity, was part gone into.
With reference to this boy it had been averred that he
mitered the gaol in good health ; that In a short time, in
consequence of the punishment he received and the de-
privation of food, he was redaeed to a state of great ex-
haustion, in fact to a mere skeleton.

This prisoner was brought up from his cell to the room
in which the eommissionen sat ; he is very little for his
age (l 4) ; at first he cried very much, and was manifestly
afraid that further punishment awaited him. Mr. Welsby
took the boy by his side, and presently made him assured
that no harm was intended ; then the following was elicited
from him :—" I came into the gaol about a year sine, for
picking pockets. I had been here previously, and when I
came in the second time, I was punished fer something I
had done in my cell before I left at my first imprisonment,
but which they did not then find out. Before I was tried
at the sessions, I was sentenced to fourteen days without
my bed until ten at night, without gas, and without seeing
my friends. I remember being put in the punishment
jacket. I forget what it was for, but I was strapped to the
wall, and had the collar on my neck. I had that punish-
ment for three days and a half; on one day from ten
in the morniag until ten o'clock at night. The other two
days I was let down at sir at night. On these days I had
half a pound of bread in the morning before the jacket was
put on, and half • pound at night after it was taken off-
The jacket hurt my arms and chest very much. I was in
pain all over."
Capt. Williams—l see by the book that he was punished
when he was " for trial"—for defacing furniture in his cell
—three days bread and water. This was in October. Then
is another punishment of a similar character in November.

Mr. Webby—Did the governor sentence you to be
punished ?
Witness—Yes. I drew a nun on my elate.
Mr. Welaby—Surely that never could have been con-
verted into damaging cell furniture.
Capt. Williams—The entry as to the October punish-
ment is " wilfully marking and defacing cell furniture."
Witness—l n damaged the furniture in any ether
way than by scratching my slate with a nail.
[The learned Chief Commissioner in suitable terms
warned the poor little outcast, who, hardened in sin as he
has become by the severity of his treatment in this prison
and the sad neglect of his infant life, promised with many
tears and sobs to behave better hereafter. The other por-
tion of his examination elicited the fact that from the
severity of hi punishment and the deprivation of his food,
he became extremely ill—he was put upon better diet and
is fast recovering.]
Brown, one of the warders, was next called. He de-
posed that he had put the boy in the punishment jacket
seven times; that he was deprived of his bed and left in
the dark as often, and that he had worked at the crank for
as long a period as he had himself stated.
Mr. Blount, the surgeon. was examined by Dr. Baly in
reference to his treatment of the prisoner, but nothing int'
portant wee elicited from him.
I The Bev. Mr. Sherwin corroborated all the evidence as to
the state to which the boy was reduced by the punishment
be reatved. . . . _

salsohnester, admitted that he had reported
ell OD In Plant's last admission to the gaol that
be a slate when he was there on a former oc-
:112 he which he had not been punished ; and he ad-
that his notion of prison discipline was that prisoners
retamsnitba jos aonl should be punished for undiscovered
prima they were last its inmates. This
wham poodased a slits which a boy named Taylor had
damaged by scratching into it his copy, "God has fed
me."
Capt. Williams asked—la that a copy in frequent use
hero ?
Witness—lt L. - . .

641. it ? Did it newer occur to you that
a prisoner is not liable for punishment for any offence
committed before be left the gaol in the event of his again
being sent them for another offence ?
Witness—l should have thought lapse of tuns would
have made no difference ; but I am responsible for punish-
ments. I simply thought it my duty to bring these cases
before the governor. Prisoners frequently do damage the
day before they leave the gaol ; and I have known one in-
stance, at least, of a punishment being indicted on their re-
turn to it. . _ _ . .

Dr. Baly—When ths boy was punished for Injuring the
slate, had be been tried, or was he " for trial t '
Capt. Williams referred, and ascertained that at the
date of the punishment the boy was " for trial."
Lieut. Austin, the governor, was examined in reference
to this matter, and he stated that he never had inflicted
punishment for the offence described by Wood, under such
circumstances. He remembered (he said) a boy being
brought before him for damaging his slate, but he simply
admonished him.

Wood, again recalled, said that bin impression u to the
fact was unchanged, notwithstanditig Mr. Austin's denial

of it.

Bartley Kearney, another prisoner, was then examined.
Ile detailed the cruelties practised towards him, as they
appeared in the Express from the evidence of the wit-
nesses of them. Thts boy's story of himself is a truly pitiable
one. He said—l am not sixteen years old, and this is the
eighth time I have been in gaol. I have had the punish-
meat jacket on from seven in the morning till ten at night.
The put my breakfast into my mouth by bits at a time,
and I have had as many as three or four buckets of water
thrown over me at ono time. I had a note to go to Mr.
Ellis's Reformatory School, but my father wanted me to
work instead.

Its unnecessary to repeat the story of the use of the pile
in capturing this prisoner in hie cell, and the indignities
practised towards him. Ile repeated them all in the course
of his examination. By his own showing he hue been a very
bad boy—not at all mended by all the cruelties practised
towards him in this gaol.
Cotterill, sen., the warder, was recalled. lie underwent
a very curious and searching rumination.

i Capt. Williams asked him—Do you know a woman named
Lee. the mother of a prisoner iu the gaol ?
Witness—l du.
Capt. Williams—Have you ever seen that woman?
Witness-1 have; I was passing her house "with a
friend," and I was called in.
Capt. Williams—Who was your friend ?
Witness—l am not sure; it might be my wife, and it
mik.ht be my wifo's sister.
Caps. Williams—Did Mrs. Lee give you anything?
Wi,nese--She inquired ab9ut her son : I told her he was
doing vo-y well, and just as I was going away she put half-'
iverown into my hand.
Mr. Webby—What was that for?
\Vitness—lt was to get same brandy for myself. I sup-
pose a return for my kinduem in telling her about her son.
Capt. Williams—Did you ever receive any other money
from this woman ?

..---
Witneu—Occe afterwards I received two shillings from
her. It we, quite against my will.
Capt. Williams—What was that fey?
Witness—l thought it was out of friendship. The money
was forceal into my hands after I had refused it.
Capt. Williams—Was it given you to procures mutton
shops fur the man and take them to him in the gaol ?
Witness—Certainly not.
Mr. Welsby—Did you resist taking the money ?
Witness—l did.
Mr. Welsby—But ultimately you took it?
Witness—I did.
Mr. Welsly—Then your ♦irtue yielded at jut.
Wi•n.•ss—l think there was not much virtue in the
transaction.

Capt. Williams--Well, we think that. Are thus any
other parties from whom you have received money ?
Witnen—No; I refusal it in Dodson's case.
Capt. you swear that you have not
received money from other persons under similar circum-
stances ? • •

- -
Witnes.—lll tell you if you'll refresh my memory.
Capt. Williams—Can't you tell us without your memory
being refreshed ?
Wigs/se—lf you don't refresh my memory, I must swear
that I haven't received money from anybody else.

TREATMENT OF THE FEMALE PRISONERS.
Ann Jenks, the deputy matron, wee examined on the
subject of the punishments inflicted on the female prisoners.
This witness stated that she remembered prisoners being
put on bread and water and handcuffed in Capt. Macon°.
chis's time. Once saw a woman strapped to the railing in
the central hall. The straitjacket was put on female pri-
soners occasionally in Capt. Maconochie's time, but only in
cases of great violence. The use of handcuffs had been dis•
continued since Lieut. Austin became governor, but the
strait jacket was much more frequently used. Had known
women contiued in the refractory cell, and their gas and
bed taken from them till tea o'clock at night. Hail seen a
woman strapped to the wall since Mr. Austin became
governor.
Capt. Williams—Who pats the straitjacket on the female
prisoners 7
Witness—The chief warder.
Capt. Williams—What, a man ?
Witneu—Yes.
Capt. Williams—Have you ever seen buckets of water
thrown over a female prisoner?
Witness—l have beard that than has been.

Capt. Willisms—How long since?
Witness—Half a year.
Capt. Williams—Who did that?
Witness-1 believe it was the matron. The woman was
making • great noise, and it was done to frighten her.
Dr. Baly—Are the female presoners, while in the strait
jacket, kept in the dark in their cells as late as nin' e at
nightitn?
W ess.—l have known it as late as that.
. .

Mr. Webby read from the punishment book a long list
of sentences of the punishment awarded to female prisoners.
They were mostly of this character—. Three days bread
and water "—" dark cell "—" punishment jacket "
" nine days bread and water," &c. With reference to
this last, the witness explained that after " three days
bread and water," there was always a day's interval of this
infliction.

Witncu further deposed—That she had known women
kept away from chapel as a punishment. The discipline
had been relaxed during the lut three weeks, and the
women had not behaved worse In consequence. Remem-
bered that in Captain bfaconochie's time the women were
released from their handcuffs as soon as thi.y were quiet.
Mary Jordaa, a first-clan warder, was next examined.
She said—l remember buckets of water being thrown over
a female prisoner. There were three or lour buckets. It
was done by the matron by order of the governor. I be-
lieve this prisoner was afterward,' in the lunatic asy:uut. I
remember seeing a prisoner named Miller strapped to the
wall.

-
The matron professing to be " seriously indisposed" and
unable to appear before the commissioners, they retired to
her apartment end examined her in prints. We were
afterwards informed that this woman admitted that she
had drenched a female prisoner as stated by the two last
witnesses, and that it was dens by the governor's orders.
After this the commissioners visited the juvenile ward of
the prison and inspected the creak labour cella. This in-
spection and the inquiries it led to occupied until five
o'clock, at which hour the inquiry was again adjourned
until Monday.