The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-06 00:00:00

THE GAOL OF .WETVGATE.

On Saturday an important report was presented
by the Rev. John Davis, the ordinary of Newgate,
to the Lord Mayor and Corporation of the City of
London, and by them ordered to be printed, upon
the subject of the recent important alterations that
have been made in the interior of the prison of
Newgate, and the effect of these alterations upon
the prisoners. The rev. gentleman commences his
report by stating that he presents it on this occa-
sion with peculiar satisfaction, as for more than two
months the north side of the prison has been opened,
on the separate system, for the reception of male
prisoners, and that, although the expense has no
doubt been serious, the moral effect of the altera-
tion abundantly compensates for any expense what-
ever. Mr. Davis then proceeds to state :—" We
have had two sets of inmates in the cells already,
and the third. are now passing through the same
ordeal, so that some opportunity has been given of
ascertaining the real effect of the system in New-
gate. The period that each prisoner remains in
Newgate is, on an average, 16 days, and, since the
remands have been sent us, probably less. All the
experience, therefore, that can be gleaned in this
prison has, with two sets of prisoners, been ac-
quired, I find the result at present to be, not only
the entire suppression of the corrupt and demo-
ralising effect of indiscriminate association, but a
peculiar seriousness of demeanour is produced by
separate confinement, which, except in a few hi-
stances,. I ,never witnessed before. Dishonest
persons, and those addicted to crime, as a habit,
generally strive under a forced gaiety and hilarity
of manner to conceal or suppress the genuine effects
of guilt on the mind. Nothing is more common
among incorrigible convicts than the hectic laugh,
profane jest, and half lunatic grin, that denote to a
careful observer the real uneasiness of the con-
science. But to elicit these symptoms of guilt and
depravity there is a necessity for companions ;
apart by himself the joke is lost, the hero of daring
dishonestness has no listener, and, instead of being
surrounded by companions who exult in his mirth
and applaud his narrow escapes, he has the pro-
found silence of solitude and the darkness of night
by himself to think over the errors he has engen-
dered and the injuries he had inflicted during his
whole career. The result is a greater degree of
seriousness, less boisterous demeanour, and, as far
as external appearance extends, a marked and
decided improvement."
With reference to the effect of solitary confine-
ment upon the minds of the prisoners the Ordinary
says . - _

There are, however, two periods of great
anxiety in the case of many prisoners who are thus
confined. The first is, when they are apprehended
and taken out of " their families, cut off from all
domestic sympathies, and placed in separate con-
finement to taeditate over their fallen condition.
That many persons would, under such circumstances,
be overpowered with dismal reflections, so as to con-
template desperate measures, is no more than you
would reasonably expect. The same remark applies
with even greater force to the 48 hours after their
trial arid some unexpectedly heavy sentence. Hopo
never has had a more fertile place to expand in than
the breast of a criminal. The slightest fact that is
favourable, the smallest discrepancy in the evidence,
the chance that an important witness may be
absent, and the probability that some point of law
may turn in his favour, are quite enough to create
a strong anticipation f escape. That too many
unprincipled agents, or solicitors, cherish, feed, and
foster these delusions, and become most indignant
at a doubt being expressed of their perfect accuracy,
a long experience tells me is too true. The way
that prisoners are buoyed up with' unwarranted
expectations arising out of one, or other, or more
of these causes, is extraordinary, and hence it arises
that parties, so elated by false anticipations, feel
proportionately disappointed, and suffer with the
greatest keenness for two or three days after all
these delusions have been destroyed. A person in
separate confinement requires to be watched at
both these times, and the most solicitous efforts are
made to guard against any evil results from these
causes.' The Governor of. Newgate pays the greatest
attention to these periods, and, so far as time has
elapsed, he has done so successfully, in carrying
out the new system."

With reference to the effect of the system upon
the religious instruction of the prisoners, the rev.
gentleman says,—

" I perceive with most lively satisfaction the in-
creased advantage that the separate system affords
for imparting such instruction. When prisoners
were kept in a state of association with each other,
whenever any serious impression. was produced by
the chapel service it was instantly destroyed by the
levity or mockery of the profane, and many and
many a time has a prisoner complained to me of
the total want of the means of meditation and
devotion when kept in constant companionship
with the profligate."
Separate confinement upon harden ed criminals and
old offenders is stated by the Ordinary to be pecu-
liarly irksome, as, their habits being depraved,
they need the constant conversation of corrupted
minds to keep alive the degraded principles on
which they act, and any kind of labour, and almost
anything, is preferred by them to the silence of
the corridor and the obscurity of the cell. The
Ordinary also states—
" Prison offences are greatly diminished by the
present mode of confinement. Litigious, bad-tem-
pered men have no one to quarrel with. By evil
habits,. quarrelling becomes a part of. their nature.
With no one to blame, no one to scold, no one to
contradict, peacefulness becomes too tame, and
their ill-concealed disposition would break out
against the turnkeys ; but
.the recollection that
there are cells totally dark and underground makes
the incorrigible convict become. prudent. These
horrible abodes have never been required but once,
and that was with an old returned transport, just
of the character described above, and a few hours
tamed him completely, and during the rest of his
stay, in the prison he was quite docile and tractable."
The Ordinary then proceeds to recommend in a
most earnest manner that the same improvements
should be effected in the women's wing of the
prison, and he observes—
"lt . would, indeed, be .an anomaly to con-
tinue the gaol as it stands now, with all the en-
lightened improvements of peace and modern days
on the 'one side, and, on the other, that mode of
imprisonment continued that has called down the
severest animadversions for a long series of years,
both in the reports made to Parliament and in the
more public channels of information."
The rev. gentleman concludes his report by ob-
serving upon the manner in which prisoners are at
present employed not only in, this but other prisons.
Upon this subject he says,—
" It is quite time that something should be sub-
stituted for oakum-picking. Prisoners employed
at this work earn about ss. for picking a hundred•
weight, and a convict unaccustomed to the work
with difficulty picks 21b. a day. It will take,
therefore, 56 working-days, or nine weeks, to earn
ss. The real price of a day's work is ld. and the
fifteenth of ld. ; and, in the week, the convict only
earns 6d. and two-fifths. It seems to me the height
of absurdity to give such employment as this to
men the lowest of whose wages is 15s. per week
outside, and the highest as much as 15s. a day."
He then proceeds strongly to urge the necessity
of employing convicted prisoners in some profitable
occupation.

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, JANUARY 6, 1859,

SURREY SESSIONS, Jan. 6.

The January Sessions for the county of Surrey
commenced yesterday, at the Court House, New-
ing-causeway. before J- E. Johnson, Esq., chairman,
and a full bench of magistrates. The calendar con-
tained the names of 25 prisoners fortrial.