The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1819-12-31 00:00:00

sr_irs
REPORT FROU THE SELECT COMMITTEE 014
THE STATE OF GAOLS, Re.

[Ordered by The Howe of Comments to be printed 12tA
July, 18191

REPORT.

The Select Committee appointed to Ineptlre info the Nato
and D.seripii tttt of Gaols and other Places of Conine-
ment, and into the best Method of providing for she
Reformation, as well as the safe Custody and Puni.lostrot
of °Wenders, and to report the sante, with their Obser-
vations thereupon, to the 11iiiete;--and to whom dm
R. (Tort respecting Swimmers of Transportation, presented
in 1812; the Repel on Prisons, presented in 1815; the
ftepori• tin the Police of the Metropolis, presented la
Ma, 1817, and 1818; the Statement of the number of
Persons crip:tally Convicted, and the Anneal Rennin of
Commitments presented iii the present Session: the Re-
turns respecting New South Wales, presented to the
House on the oth slay of April last ; She Aerment of the
Gaols in the Visited Kiogilin, with the members of Per-
sons ermined in esch; and the Petition of the Corpora-
tion of the City of Loudon; were tttttt Illy referred ;.~
have considered she said Matters, and haws agreed upon
the following Report :
Your C tttttt Miler hove long been engaged in an
extensive examination of persons, who appeared to
them hest qualified to attired them useful informs..
tioli on the various subjects referred to them. There
comprise not wily the state of the ;nods and other
!dices of confinement iii every part of the United
Kingdom, in point of accommodation, arrangement
and system of inseisgement, together with such im-
provements as ought be suggested by experience
and judicious observation ; but also, in conformity
to «lett allocated to them to be the intention of the
House, the condition of transported convicts in
New South Wales, with all the circumstances nee
cessarily connected with the administration of that
singular and extensive establishment. They have
been led to an early investigation of this latter Nth.
ject by an attention to the particular situation of
witnesses now *or England, the benefit of whose tes.
tiiimuy might hove been last by further delay. In
pursuing this pert of the inquiry they have entered
into an examine of the state rod natural re-
sources of the country itself. considered as a colony,
as well as in its more immediate connesitm with the
systrrn of crintioal jortsprudence, and of the man-
ner its which the local government has been con-
ducted, under both those views of the subject.
This investigation has necessarily brought ender I
their observation many subjects of discussion be-
tween
different individuals and the present Go.
vernor, in submitting which to the consideration of
the House, as they have thought themselves bound
to do, they have to remark, that in many instances
they have only had the opportunity of hearing the
complaint or objecti stated, without the possibie
'sty of receiving a complete justification and au.
swer. They therefore suspend all comment upon
these transactions till the delay of • future Session
may afford the means of receiving further infix.
'nation.
The time occupied in this part of the inquiry
has necessarily interfered with the progress winch
might otherwise have been made in the examination
of some of our domestic establishments; and your
Committee have been obliged to leave some parte.
cuisine and not unimportant branches, entirely un-
touched. Still less have they been able to prepare
and .uhmit to the House. the observations which
might be expected from them oil the whole of this
subject. The importance of it, in all its branches,
has been amply telt by your Committee; and they
therefore trust it will be deemed worthy of future
consideration in the ensuing Session of Parliament.
In the mean time, they hove thought it right to ley
before t,.e House the whole of the evidence which
they have taken, and which, for the el eeeee under-
standing of it, they have arranged under the distinct
heads into which it is naturally sub ivided, without
regard us the order of time in which the witnesses
happened to he examined.
They cannot, however, conclude this statement,
without adverting to one particular subject, which
has been brought tinder their notice by the Petition
of the City of London, and which, from its more
immediate pressure, has attracted the particular
attention of the Committee. They allude to the
still crowded state of the gaol of Newgate, and the
cotsseritierit impossibility of affording the suitable
classification to the prisoners confined in it. They
have, iii this and iii other instances, not thought it
necessory to repeat the inquiries which have led to
the information contained in the Reports of pre-
vious Committees of this House ; but the result of
the whole enema to theta conclusive, that in order
to produce any further reform in the system of nos
prtioninetit adopted in that prison, it must either
he enlarged in point of space, or some means most
be resorted to, for le...seising the number of persons
there coutlited, unless a much greater diminution
of crime takes place than cau reasonably be ex-
pected. The former of these objects is siecesearily
attended with much difficulty, and it is to the
latter that the attention of the Committee has been
particularly drawn.
They Lave observed, that the number of crimi-
nals tried, at the Old Bailey; and consequently,
previously committed to Newgete (which is the
comity gaol fur Middlesex as well as London), for
offences committed in that county. were in the last
year in the proportion of more than seven to one
' fur those committed in the City of Laudon ; that
of these, a very large number, amounting to 1,2.00:
in the last year. were for grand lercenies, not ea.
pital, which would, according Is) the general POI&
lice in other counties, have been tried at the Qielties'
ter Stssim.s. They have ascertained front thel.lidet
inforinntioe, that if Oil class of prisoners wore init
committri: to Newgete, which they heed not b!, if
they rennsi.ted for trial iii the county where'vhe
ofteuce was committed; and if the convicts tfnilet
anisette of transportetion were regularly retifovek
as has latterly been the case, before thefieit rum
rote *meg Session ; there would be ample roothquelitl
such cid,itication of the remaining pririblere TO
could be required. by means of certain alletrittion
of the iidezior of the preettit building, tittichhi4
been suggested to them. They hate ley feirtiiiit
natured. that such a regtrfer m00r..;0 .110eitii=
Ports, may to future be relied on. emit . hivil
therefore told the more satisfaction in roailar Ohl
to ILA die media of removing the only titlsri titii.
donna to the execution of this impurikilileagirge:
mesa. They have furifi.r footle', that slalkfllif
rein practieol objeetion is raised to the i AWN' triksi
ptisorrra st the Svosious House. Cher salkilritiie
thirkillar what twortarrily must arise fi Vbaittale