The Sun.
London, England, 1837-11-11 00:00:00

4. SYSTEM OF REMANDING AND Or BAIL.

The number of prisoners remanded by the Police Ma-
gistrates for further examination has much increased of
late. lam not able to account satisfactorily for this, but
if the Magistrates remand by way of punishment only,
such a practice is obviously improper. Out of 196 per-
sons whom I found in custody at Clerkenwell 52 were re-
manded for examination, and 122 committed for want of
bail. The system of bail I think extremely bad. Per-
sons are constantly required to find sureties for as-
saults and petty offences, who have no means of finding
them, and who have no alternative but to go to prison,
where they remain without labour or corrective discipline,
sometimes for very long periods. Again, respectable per-
sons, or gentlemen, who cannot find bail at the moment,
arc thus placed in a prison, where they are obliged to mix
with the filthiest vagrants and the most profligate offenders.
It would surely be better to sentence for a short period to
the House of Correction, with hard labour, or to impose a
small fine, or even to take the personal recognizance of the
party for his appearance, and run the risk of his forfeiting
it. As examples of the erroneousness of this system, I give
you the following within my own observation.
J. C-, in Clerkenwell prison, aged 17, committed for
want of bail, on charge of an indecent offence, with a man,
who give bail, but it was expected would not appear at the
Sessions. The boy, however, remained the meantime in

prison.
S. S—, committed to Westminster Bridewell—first to
the House of Correction Department, with hard labour for
three months, and afterwards to the gaol department without
labour, for twelve months for want of bail. The absurdity
of this is too glaring to require comment.
H. S--, a female i❑ a state of derangement had been
in A)leshury gaol seven months for want of bail.
J. A—, an idiot, in Springfield gaol for want of bail.
D..A—, aged 50, has been in Chelmsford gaol 2'.2
years for want of bail to keep the peace towards his own
father. He is regularly employed in the service of the prison
with his own consent, and has even been sent on errands
into the town. His situation is so comfortable that he ap-
pears to have no wish to leave it.

S.—SUMbIARY CONVICTIONS.

The expediency of extending the powers of Magistrates
in regard to summary convictions appears to me to turn
upon how far you can depend upon justice being properly
administered by magistrates. I should not be afraid to ex-
tend the jurisdiction of the London Police Magistrates to
all cases of larceny, but in the country there would at pre-
sent be a difficulty in arranging a proper tribunal. How-
ever, it should be remembered that the summary powers of
magistrates are already very extensive ; indeed so much so,
that a further extension of them would produce less charge
than many suppose. The malicious trespass Act, the larceny
Act, the revenue, game, vagrant, and police laws, give very
wide powers of summary conviction. The following sum-
maries of the classes of prisoners confined in several large
prisons at the time of my visits will exemplify this ;
WESTMINSTER. BRIDE\VELL.
Larcenies for trial ...
Ditto for examination ll
Convicted of felony
For bail
Convicted misdemeanants 3
Deserter 1
Debtors
Pawners and damagers (summary)
Assaults ditto 5
Vagrants......- ditto... llO

Total

NEW PRISON, CLERKENWELL.

Under examination
For bail
For trial, &c

Total

196

AYLESBURY COUNTY GAOL.

For trial
Convicted at Assizes and Sessions
Summary convictions for poaching, stealing turnips,
wood, &c., and petty trespasses
Debtors

Total ......

SPRINGFIELD COUNTY GAOL.

For trial
Convicted at Assizes and Sessions
Summary convictions for poaching, &c.
Ditto bastardy
Ditto vagrancy

Tot al

. 238

lIERTFORD COUNTY GAOL.

For trial _ 55
Convicted at Assizes and Sessions .. 2l
Summary convictions, principally for poaching
Debtors

Total

MAIDSTONE COUNTY GAOL.

For trial 9
Convicted at Assizes and Sessions
Summary convictions 132
Debtors

Total

SO3

You will see that. in these instances the inmates of the
prisons consist in the proportion of from one-third to one-
half of summary convictions, to which I should add the
follotving

Total number of prisoners confined in England
and Wales, in the year ending Michaelmas, 183.6,
(except the King's Bench and Fleet prisons), ac-
cording to the last Inspectors' reports
Deduct debtors
........ 11,882

87 245

Of which were summary convictions
or about GO per cent. The committals to Assizes and
Sessions according to the criminal tables for the last year
were 20,95-1, which leaves a still greater portion of pri-
soners not tried by juries, being in the ratio of about 7 to 2
to those so tried. The preceding estimate is therefore rather
under than over stated.
6.—JUVENILE OFFENDERS•
You are already so conversant with this subjects and it

has been so fully treated in the First Repprt of the Inspec-
tors of Prisons for the Home District, that I will only here
express my fear that juvenile delinquency in the metropolis
is rather on the increase. The gross number of boys, aged
16 and under, who entered the six metropolis prisons in
1835, was 2,855 ; and, in 1836. it was 3,132. It appears
by the criminal tables for last year, that of 20,984 offen-
ders committed for trial in England and Wales, 2,423 or
11.-3.sths per cent. did not exceed the age of 16 ; and of
3,350 so committed in the county of Middlesex, 404, or 12
per cent., did not exceed that age. I consider the total
number of offenders, not exceeding the age of 16, who an-
nually enter prisons in England and Wales, to be about
10,000, being from 10 to 11 per cent. on the whole criminal
population. This is a large proportion, especially when
compared with France and Belgium. In the former of these
countries the proportion of juvenile offenders is, I under-
stand, about 5, and in the latter 6 per cent. When the
bad effect of gaol contamination is considered,.and also the
very trifling nature of the offences for which young persons
are committed, the necessity of a change of system in regard
to them appears urgent. I found in Dover gaol three boys
under seventeen, who had been nine weeks in prison, waiting
their trial for stealing a handful of shrimps out of an open
shop window, and four others, who had been waiting their
trial several weeks for stealing 71bs. of lead. I trust that
great benefits will arise from the intended Reformatory
in the Isle of Wight. The plan and management of that
institution deserve the attention of your Committee as a
matter of great national importance.
7.—PRINCIPLE OF SEPARATION.
I take the liberty of suggesting, in conclusion, the expedi-
ency of adopting, to the utmost practicable extent, in the po-
lice station-houses, offices, and vans, the system of separation,
which, I am convinced, is the only sound method of prison
discipline. Much misrepresentation has gone abroad irr re-
ference to the separate system, in reply to which I would
refer the Committee to the Second Report of the Inspec-
tors of Prisons for the Home District, where the subject
will be found very fully discussed. I fear that the public
opinion has been in some degree prejudiced by the circula-
tion of loose statements respecting the mortality in the
American penitentiaries. Now, I understand that, accord-
ing to Dr. Julius of Berlin, who has lately returned
from a mission to the United States, by order of the Prus-
sian Government, the penitentiaries of Philadelphia and
Pitsburgh have on a series of years been more healthy than
any of the four penitentiaries of Richmond, Sing Sing,
Auburn, and Boston. The official report of Dr. Julius will
shortly be published, and in the meantime it is but right to
suspend the judgment upon this point. At all events no
objection founded on supposed injury to health can be ap-
plicable to the principle of separation as applied to police.—
I have the honour to be, dear Sir, very faithfully yours,
JOHN WARD.
To B. Hawes, Esq., M.P., Chairman.