The Sun.
London, England, 1860-11-09 00:00:00

The Sanitary Condition and Discipline of Indian
Jails. By Joseph Ewart, M.D. Smith and
Elder.
Part of the following observations on the condi-
tion. of the Jails of India, have appeared in the
Indian Lancet, but Dr. Ewart has revised and
extended his former productions before presenting
them to the public in their present comprehensive
form. He has devoted considerable attention to the
subject of sanitary reform, and in the work before us
he endeavours to point out that the excessive mor-
tality in the prisons in India arises from many
obvious causes. He shows statistically that those
convicts who are condemned to hard labour on
the roads and public works, are in too many cases
in reality sentenced to a lingering capital punish-
ment; and that, under certain officers, the deaths
are fearfully above the average, heavy though
that be—in evidence of which he records that
—" In one gang employed under Capt. Thomson,
in the Ramghur division of the Trunk Road,
the number of convicts who died whilst actually
belonging to the gang averaged for ten months
at the rate of 34 4 of deaths per cent. per
annum, and in one month the deaths in that gang
were 10 per cent." We doubt if such a frightful
mortality has been exceeded in New South Wales,
where in the good old times the lives of convicts
were held at nought. But we are happy to say
that great improvements are taking place, and
that although much remains to be done, the wan•
ton sacrifice of human life at our penal establish-
ments is on the wane. The following is an
account by Dr. Hutchinson of road labour as
carried on in India :--

TIIE CONVICT.
He is taken out of the jail at sunrise or before it; he
labours uninterruptedly all day, with the exception of an
hour, perhaps, at noon (for I am not sure that this in-
dulgence is in every case allowed), when he generally satis-
fies the cravings of hunger with a little parched gram (a
species of pulse), or rice, or perhaps with these grains in a
perfectly raw state. He then continues to labour on, till
4 o'clock p.m,, when he commences his return to jail; but
this may be at some distance, so that, by the time he
reaches it, and the whole of the prisoners are counted over,
it is often near sunset. They have then their sole meal to
prepare and eat, before they are locked up for the night.
All this, it is to be recollected, is exacted from a class who
are frequently the most prone to disease, from their pre-
vious habits of dissipation, who are suffering much mental
anxiety and distress, who are scantily fed, who enjoy no
reward for their labour, and who, in addition to everything
else, are working heavily ironed. Many of these persons
too, be it remembered, are considerably advanced in years ;
and to a still greater number, the mode of labour to which
they are forced, is totally new and unaccustomed. . . .
In the rains, they are generally, if not always, taken out,
unless it actually happens to rain at the time they would
otherwise be leaving the jail ; they frequently come home
drenched with rain ; and few of them, I should suppose,
are very well prepared with a change of apparel. Taking
all these things into account, together w ith a review of the
work performed by the peasantry of the country, this phi-
lanthropist concluded that the out-door labourers were
overworked, and many of them were destroyed in con-
sequence.
Dr. Ewart's work contains hints on the general
defective sanitary arrangements of the prisons,
and very properly maintains- that 'f the sanitary
powers of medical officers in charge of every jail
ought to be augmented, and that the medical officer
should be as supreme in all matters connected with
PREVENTION as he is now in respect to CURATIVE
MEDICINE. The author's ideas seem correct enough
in most cases ; but his desire to reform completely
the prisons, and to abolish existing abuses in one
or two instances, leads him to false conclusions. For
example, he declares tobacco to be poison, and such
being the case, that the consumption of the smallest
quantity is deleterious. Now, although it may be
advisable to withhold the indulgence of tobacco
from prisoners, Dr. E wart had far better have
rested his argument on the maintenance of prison
discipline, than the false premise, that because ex-
cess causes death, moderation necessarily pernicious
Were this conclusion correct, all medicines and
most articles of food would endanger existence.
The author has appended some views of his own
on the discipline, arrangement, and construction-
of prisons. He has devoted much consideration to
the subject; and, on the whole, his remarks are
well worthy of attention. Now that the Govern-
ment of the East has been removed from the hands
of a jobbing company, it is the duty of the Govern-
ment to pay every attention to the suggestions of
those whose long experience has rendered their
opinions valuable.