The Sun.
London, England, 1853-09-07 00:00:00

HARD LABOUR IN PRISONS,

The great object at the present time appears to be, to
endeavour to attain some degree of uniformity in the
administration of the law in all prisons, with a view to
give effect to the recommendation of the House of Com-
mons of 1850, for enforcing separate confinement in the
case of all prisoners, whether before trial or after, and
for carrying out, in the case of the latter, the sentence
of the court in regard to hard labour.
The committee of the House of Commons made the
following resolution, bearing on the question of indi-
vidual separation, combined with the enforcement of
hard labour :

" That hard labour is not incompatible with indi-
vidual separation, and that where they have been tried
in combination, as in the county prison at Leicester, the
effect has been remarkable in the decrease of the num-
ber of committals under the Vagrant and Malicious
Trespass Acts."

As regards the general question of enforcing hard
labour, concerning which there is reason to believe that
much misapprehension still exists, I would observe that
the 4th Geo. IV. chap. 64, sec. 10, provides as fol-
lows :

" Due provision shall be made in every prison for the
enforcement of hard labour in the case of such prisoners
as may be sentenced thereto, and for the employment
of the prisoners. The means of hard labour will be pro-
vided, and the material requisite for the employment of
prisoners shall be purchased under such regulations as
may be made for that purpose by the justice in general
or quarter sessions assembled."
The Bth rule provides that—

"Every prisoner sentenced to hard labour shall, un-
less prevented by sickness, be employed so many hours
every day, not exceeding 10, exclusive of the time al-
lowed for meals, as shall be directed by the rules and
regulations to be made under this act."

In these rules will be observed the wide and proper
distinction which should exist between the treatment of
a prisoner under sentence of hard labour, as adverted to
in the foregoing act, and one who is entitled to em-
ployment, such as a prisoner in separate confinement
before trial, under the provisions of the 2 and 3 Viet.,
C. 56.

It may be difficult to mark precisely the line of de-
marcation where labour ends and employment begins ;
but it is reasonable to suppose that it was contemplated
in the act that hard labour should be strictly penal in ifs
character ; and I am confirmed in this opinion by what
I believe to be the fact, that treadwheels were first in-
troduced into prison immediately subsequent to the pas-
sing of the act, and were then used for enforcing such a
sentence.

Cells of the construction of those in Pentonville are,
however, scarcely adapted for hard labour, especially
during the summer months ; and I think a continuous
shaft, with separate crank handles, arranged in an open
shed, divided into small compartments by corrugated
iron partition, will in some respects be found preferable.
And this further advantage maykbe secured by the adop-
tion of such a plan that the ordinary cells of prisons
may be made available for separate sleeping cells, the
prisoners being separated in the open air all day. This
plan of working the discipline has been in operation at
Bristol for several years with the best effect, although
the prison is of a construction which is unfavourable
for inspection and discipline.
Where machines have already been introduced into
cells, the means of admitting more fresh air through the
windows will be desirable. The ventilation in the new
P_r_so,llB, when properly worked, is sufficienefor sedentary
'omutreoeyra"t, but real hard labour can only be carried
n
air.
veniently where there exists a free current of

I was led to recommend hand cranks as a means of
hard labour from their affording a better opportunity of
securing
from their the advantage of separate confinement, and
being more economical in the first outlay than
the erection of tread-whee 4 where they did not already
exist.

PROFIT ABLP. ANDeiIt74TjtACTIVE LABOUR.
In connection with this
that the lab
on is one which is frequen t-
°tour should be be made pro-
ly adverted to, viz.,
zial training, it would be
fitable, and that, as regards the
attractive to the prig
advantage to render it useful
Boners.
With respect to profit, the experience gained in a, p .
wheel to the
plying the collective power of a tread-wheel
manufacture of flour, or other purpose's, is, I believe, -
unfavourable.
I fully admit the moral advantage to be gained 1
)Y
a
long course of industrial training ; but I conceive -
h
these can only be obtained by the almost entire sacrtificate
of the distinction between employment and hard labour.
The greatest profit that can be realised under such
circumstances is, firstly, to deter others from crime, by
the accounts which a prisoner will give to his comrades
on his release ; and, secondly, to deter him from again
entering a prison if he can help it. It would obviously
be hopeless to anticipate the permanent reformation of
any considerable proportion of prisoners when the time
which could be devoted to their instruction has been too
limited to admit of its producing any permanent effect.
All such must be deterred by fear of punishment.
Sir John Kincaid, Inspector of Prisons for Scotland,
referring to the changes which have become absolutely
necessary in the discipline of the Scotch prisons, snakes
the following observations in his report for 1852 :
"To understand the nature of the changes just re-
ferred to, it may he necessary that I explain what the
Scotch prisons were until now.
"In my several annual reports, since I was appointed
Inspector of the district in 1847, I felt it my duty to ,:
bring under the notice of the Secretary of State the de- i
ofl
fe tivesystem of dealing with the criminal population I
Scotland; for at that time the law did not permit a
thief or aveagrernt to he sentenced to hard labour, nor a
juvenile
offender, be whipped ; all of them were neces-
sarily sent n
to prison, t
o
where they could not fail to dis-
cover that the labour was
much greater, than much less, and the comforts
; and
thus, most of them were accustomed to 1
out of prison
s,\vhile a first offence sent many
a one to prison whom
a stringentdu system of discipline
might have cured, the undue
more generally tended to makeetl comforts of time prison
" The act 14 and 15 Vict. c. 21em
7 confirmed criminals.
which
at length invested the judges and magistrates
passed in 1851,
authority so long needed—that of awarding
with the
sentences in all cases, and the whipping of boys not ex-
ceeding 14 years of age.
"The passing of this act having enabled the direc-
tors
of the General Prison Board to place the prisons of

Scotland on a system of discipline more consistent
with the welfare of the community, they immediately
proceeded to consider the measures best calculated to
give it effect ; but, as the different plans which sug-
gested themselves required information, it was towards
the close of last year before the new rules were sanc-
tioned and ordered to be enforced. They are shown
in detail in the fourteenth report of the General Prison
Board, and therefore it is only necessary for me to state
generally that they consist of—
" 1. An extensive use of crank machinery.
"2. Picking dry oakum to an extent that will make
it amount to hard labour.
"3. Instead of being furnished with the hammock
or bedstead, all convicted criminal prisoners, excepting
any whose age or infirmities would, in the opinion of
the governor and surgeon, render it unsafe, shall for the
first month after conviction, or for the whole period of
sentence where the duration of sentence is less than one
month, each be required to sleep on a wooden guard bed,
a sufficient quantity of covering being allowed for
warmth, and which in a properly-heated prison need not
exceed two blankets and a rug. After the first month,
such prisoners as shall have conducted themselves pro-
perly in all respects are to be allowed the usual bed and
bedding ; but the retention of this privilege shall in each
case be dependent on the prisoner's conduct.
" I ought to add, that prior to the adoption of this
system in any prison in the district, the General Prison
Board had taken the opinion of the eminent medical ad-
visers of the board, that the system was in no respect
calculated to injure the health
of the prisoners.
" In Scotland the system is scarcely yet in full opera-
tion, so that it would be premature to remark on its
working ; but as the reformatory system of discipline
had (in this district at all events) in a great measure
failed in its expected results, after many years' expe-
rience, in which everything that humanity could sug-
gest and a liberal expenditure procure, to give effect to
its operation, had been honestly tried, and it at length
became manifest that the welfare of the community re-
quired a very different system—one in which every
attempt to reclaim the criminal should continue unre-
laxed, but that such system required its leading feature
to be of a strong deterring character, similar to that re-
cently adopted by the General Board ; not that this or
any other system will probably relieve the prisons of old
offenders, but I expect it will materially diminish the
number of those who are not yet wedded to crime."