Star.
London, England, 1824-02-20 00:00:00

JAIL ACT.

' Mr. Secretary PEEL rose, pursuant to a notice he gave
on a former evening, to move, for leave to bring in a
Bill to amend the Jail Act passed in the last Session.—
It had been found, upon carrying that Act into execu-
tion, that there were one or two particulars which im-
peded its-operation, and to amend it in these respects
was the object of his present Motion. In the first place,
the Act as it. now stood required certain things to be
done at the General Quarter Sessions in each county.
The Counties of York and Lincoln being divided into
districts, and the periodical administration of justice in
those counties being under a different regulation, there
were no General Quarter Sessions, and therefore, until
by a new enactment they should be included in the Act,
they could not be brought under its operation. Another'
of the amendments which he proposed to introduce was,
to give to local Magistrates a power of committing pri-
soners to the county jail at once, instead of to the dis-
trict prisons. He was convinced that the more this
practice was'reduced the better; and it would be still
more advanttgeous if there were only one jail in each-
county to which all the prisoners should be committed.As far as he had been able to gather the general wish of
the inhabitants of such districts as he had alluded to, they
would prefer having their prisoners' committed to the
coupty jail, and would willingly pay the expenses of
carrying them thither. The uniformity of discipline
which prevailed in county jails could never. be attained in
smaller prisons; while any abuses which crept into the
former would be more readily discovered and corrected.
The prisons of the local jurisdictions sometimes con-
tained no more than four or five prisoners ; they were
not.subject to the same visitation as the county jails,
nor was it possible to place them under that inspection
which was so easily applied to a larger number. There
was alsoanother topic which he intended to include in
the Bill. Great difference of opinion prevailed with respect
to the compelling prisoners committed for trial to labour
in the same manner as those who were under sentence.
Ile had no hesitation in saying,'that he thought prisoners
ought not to be kept to hard labour before trial ; but
fur the purpose of removing all doubt and difference of,
opinion upon the subject, he should insert a clause to
that effect. An lion. Gentleman (Mr. Grey Bennet)
had, on a former occasion, given notice of his intention
to propose a measure respecting this particular subject,
but as he understood that to be only in cAse he (Mr.
Peel) did not take some steps in it, the Hon. Gentle-
' man would now probably not think it necessary to fulfil
that intention. He concluded •by moving for leave to
bring in a Bill to amend the Jail Act of last Session.
Sir EDWARD PIATCH BULL expressed his con-
viction that the amendments would give general satis-
faction to the country.
Sir THOMAS LETHBRIDGE observed, that the'
county rate was becoming a great •burden in many
counties, and hoped that Government would bring in
a Bill to pay some of the charges at . present made on
it out of the general revenue of the country.
- Colonel WOOD said, by the last Jail Act, it would
require 30001. to be laid out on the jail of the county
.he represented, to make it conformable to the classifi-
cation clauses of that Act, after which it would never be
occupied. He thought a clause ahould be introduced into
the Act to exempt the Welch counties, where the jails
were small and the prisoners few, from its operation.
Mr. HOW-MUSE thought there was great reason
to complain of the unrestricted application of the Tread-
, mill. One main objection to this instrument of punish-
ment was, that it was a far greater degree of punish-
ment to a weak man than it was to one who was of a
robust frame and in good health. Another objection to
the Tread-mill was. that it could be made an instrument
lif petty oppression. It the Magistrates were to go on
as they had lately, instead. of being, as they had rather.
hastily been deemed the blessing, they would prove
themselves to be the curse of the country. They were

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ton apt to conceive themselves to .be a pait -Of the GI
vernment, and lie was glad to sea the Right tionourab
Gentleman give them such a lesson as he 5V85 about t
do by this Bill.
Mr. Alderman WOOD assured the House that 11
Tread •mill was nothing new, as they had had it in ti,,
City of London for nearly a century, for cornmerckal
purposes. - S > fiarom its being hard Woz k, he would
say it was the lightest they could put a man to wt•
was condemned to hard labour. If they would do hi
the Tmour- to-visit some of the jail's atilt City of Lan:
don, he svoultfsbew them grrnetb ing like hard labour.
Sir C. COLE thought with the Honourable- Member
opposite, that the Welch counties ought to be exemptee
from the classification clauses of the Jail Act. I
with regard to:the Tread-mill, he did not see any rr
sonable objection to it as an instrument of punishmel
It appeared to him to be a perfect mode of pitnishmel
because it was capable of being proportioned to
power of every individual, and to every degree in cr'im
at the diScretion of the Magistrates.
Mr. Scdetary PEEL considered, that coniider
ble expense was incurred by the plosectitiOnuf criminal
there was no more likely mode of diminishing those
penses than an effectual regulation of prisons.-He shot
feel great difficulty in saying that no classification
of-enders should take place in counties which were t
small to bear the expense ; but he thought the difficul
Might be obviated by three or tour counties joining
building one jail. kVith reference to.what bad fill
om the Honourable Member for Westminster, he real
wished that flonourabie Gentleman would take the trt
hle.to peruse. the re; urns which would shortly belaid,
the table, on the subject. Pee!) had caused
Most minute inquiry to be made, and the weight of inf
victuals subjected to the p•inishment..af the Xre,44..rni
was.noted, from which it.would appear, that io far
increased weight was an indication of good health, i
Ouni,hirtent could not have 'operated injuriously. As
labour wasconly for the short period of a quartet, of
hour m a time, nothing could be more easy, if it were
found oecessart, than to give to the robast man r
turns, and to the weak man only one. Indeed, the
culiar advantage of this puni.hnient is, that it could
graduated. Hat were said, why, then, was it not?
answer might fairly be, that the Magistrates donor fig
any ill effects on the parties subjected to this disciplii
On the whole, he considered the treat-mill as an :Lit
.cable contrivance, and that no system of labour cow
be'devised which was so little liable to abue. It •
not .necessary for him to deter: the general (endue!
the Magistrates of this country ; he believed there
only one single case of a misconstruction of the A,
and that was in the North Riding of Yorkshire; but
remedy that, •he should introduce a clause to emu
any prisoner from-the labour of the tread-mill prior
his conviction.—Leave given to bripg in the Bill.