The Sun.
London, England, 1842-09-09 00:00:00

HEALTH OF PRISONS.

(From the &pot on the Sanitary Condition of the
Labouring Poptilation of Great Britain.)

Since Howard succeeded in gaining national attetz-
lion to the condition of prisoners, the evils of prison
management have been removed. A large proportion
of the prison population, is taken from the worstregu-
lated and most confined neighbourhoods, which have
been the subject of examination; and, with the view to
judge what might be effected by sanitary regulations,
jt hiwe made frequent inquiries as to the effects of
sanitary nlOlO/.6% on the worst class of persons, the
larger proportion of whom are taken front the worst
neighbourhoods, that is, as to the effects of living in
the same atmosphere, on a less expensive diet than
that of the general labouring population, but provided
with clean and tolerably well-ventilated places of
work and sleephig-reoms, and where they are required
ini-rooms,
to be cleanly in their persona.
The medical practitioners, who are well acquainted
with the general state of health of the population
surrounding the prisons concur in vouching to the
fact, upon their own knowledge, that the health of the
prisoners is in general much higher than the health
almost of any part of the surrounding population ;
that the prisoners, as a class, are below the average
of health when they enter the prisons ; that they come
from the worst neighbourhoods; that many of them
come from the lodging 'houses, which, in those towns,
as will be shown, are the constant seats of disease;
that they are mostly persons of intemperate habits;
that many of them come in in a state of disease from
intemperance and bad habits ; and notwithstanding
the depressing influence of imprisonment, the effect
of cleanliness, dryness, better ventilation, temperance,
and simple food, is almost sufficient to prevent disease
arising within the prison, and to put the prisoners in
a better working condition at the termination than
at the commencement of their imprisonment. At
the Glasgow Bridewell, the prisoners are weighed on
their entrance and at their discharge, and it is found
that, on the average, they gained in weight by their
imprisonment.* At Edinburgh, there were instances
of poor persons in a state of disease committed from
motives of humanity to the prison, that they might be
taken care of and cured. The tables are to be taken
as showing imperfectly the comparative e reds of the
different circumstances ; because, when a labourer is
obliged to leave work he loses wages ; and it is known
cf large classes of them, that they often work impro-
vidently and injuriously to their chances of recovery
by continuing at work in impaired health too long ;
the prisOner, on the contrary, by absence on the sick-
list, gains ease and exemption from slave labour ; and
the officers have constantly to contend against feigned
sickness to avoid task-work and punishment. It
should also be noted that a large proportion of the
sickness of the
.prisoners is of a character that is ex-
cluded from the tables of all insurance, from the be-
nefit societies, as being specially excluded from their
benefits,

The returns from the prisons in England up to the
year 1834-5 (which do, not, however, give the days
of sickness, but only the number of prisoners attacked
with sickness during the period for which the return
was made) further corroborates these results. Even in
I the Milbank Penitentiary, the situation of which is insa-
lubrious, the average annual amount of sickness to the
prisoners who are confined two years and a half is only
about eight days to each person, which, for the ave-
rage age, is little above the standard obtained from the
experience of the East India Company's labourers.
The sickness amongst the Metropolitan Police is
about 10i days per annum for each of the force, 21-
per cent. being constantly on the sick list. The sick-
ness in the army is on the average 141 days each sol-
dier. Mr. Finlaison informs me he can venture to
state, that were any benefit society to use scales of
premiums founded on the prison experience, they
would inevitably be insolvent in less than three years.
M. Villerme has shown the diminution of mortality
that has taken place in the prisons of France, chiefly
from stricter attention to cleanliness, ventilation and
diet, to be equally striking. At Lyons, from 1800 to
1806, the annual mortality in the prisons was 1 in
19 ; from 1806 to 1812, it was 1 in 31 ; from 1812
to 1819, it was 1 in 34 ; and from 1820 to 1826, 1 in
43 : a similar amelioration has also been remarked in
the prisons of Rouen, and some other large towns in
that kingdom.

* Thirty-three males who were imprisoned for six
months giined 37 lbs. total weight ; five females gained
19 lbs. ; twenty-two males, confined during twelve
months, gained 3 lbs. ; eight females, during the same
period; gained 5 lbs ; seven males in eighteen months
gained 24 lbs. ; and two females 10 lbs. At Edinburgh
also they were weighed, and, on the whole, they gained.