Star.
London, England, 1818-08-28 00:00:00

mated for the minor-jet:eel' oPtheistititoasseieiate
with felons or with .persons who have passed the::
time in the violation of its ordinances.
COLD BATH-FIELDS PRISON.
Your Committee proceeded to visit the House of'
Correction in the Cold Bath-fields ; and having sum-
moned the different Officers of the establishment be-
fore them, submit to the House the result of their

inquiries :
The Cold Bath-fields House of Correction was
established by Act of Parliament 26 Geo. 111. ch. 25,1
and is under the jurisdiction of Vie Magistrates of
the County of Middlesex. Your Committee refer to
the Report of the Commission of Inquiry, dated No-
vmtber I, 1800, which details with great minute-
ness the structure and management of the prison ;
with some few alterations it remains in the same con•
dition ; no change in point of fact having taken place
in the form of the prison.
Officers of the Prison.—The Governor (Mr. Ad-
kins) enjoys a salary of 4001. a-year, with a house,
coals, and candles ; -the Surgeon has 2001. a-year,
for his attendance here and at Clerkenwell, with a
house; and the Chaplain, for the two Gaols (that of
Clerkenwelt and the Cold Bath-fields), 1201. per
annum. For the whole extent of the establishment
and its cost, which amounts to 2,0801. per annum,
your Committee refer to the evidence of Mr. Adkins,
annexed to this Report. The Governor was directed
by your Committee to lay before them the Rules
and Orders by which he managed the prison ; and,
to their great surprise, he informed them, that he
had none; though he had been keeper for seven
years, he had never received any Rules or Regula-
tions, and that none were hung up in the prison.—
There were committed to this prison in the course of
the year 1815, 2,100 persons of both sexes ; in 1816,
2,875 ; in 1817, 3,667 • being an excess of 792 per-
sons above that of the preceding year. When the
Committee visited it, there were confined in this pri-
son $79 persons ; 295 males, 76 fethales, and eight
children : the average for the last two or three
months being about 400.
The male prisoners are classed after the following
manner:—fines or felons from Newgate; misdemea-
nants, among whom are those committed for assaults,
bastardy, leaving their family, perjurers, passers of
bad money, anthose under the hawking licence
act, as well as persons committed for want of bail ;
all these last are associated and mixed together.
On the day the Committee visited this prison, the
distribution of the prisoners was as follows :—ln the
first felon yard were 53 prisoners, all 'felons ; six of
whom had been there before, and one had been dis-
charge] from the hulks ; among them were two
young lads, one of 18, and another 21 years of age,
who were in prison for their first offence. ,
In the second yard were 42 felons, and one mis-,
demeanor, who was the wardsman ; of these 43, two
were of 18, one of 19, and one of 17 years of age;'
one of the 43 had been six years at the hulks, a man,
of notorious bad character ; some of the above num-'
ber were under sentence for three months, some for,
six, and others for twelve ; the young men were there
for their first offences, one a clerk to a law stationer,
whose sentence was an imprisonment for three
months; his offence was slight, and he had borne
heretofore a remarkably good character.
hi the third yard were 52 felons ; of these, three
had been in the prison twice, five had been oftener,
and one had been at least six different times.
In the next yard were eight Tower Hamlet debtors,
ror 40s. and one misdemeanant, who was wardsman.
In an adjoining small yard were five reputed
thieves ; along with whom were six felons, short
fines for a month.
The next yard was occupied by the misdemeanors,
38 of whom were confined there, comprehending
assaults, bastardy, leaving their families, perjury,
passing bad money, and those committed under the
hawkers and pedlars act for selling without licenses;
and one person for want of bail, who had been thole
under different charges several times before.
In the boys yard were" 26 ; two for re-examination,
20 convicted felons, one misdemeanor, and three re-
puted thieves; four of the 20 were transports, one
of them sentenced for seven years ; he was convicted
at 8 years of age, and had been there for three years.
In the state room were two soldiers.
In' his quarter of the prison are three galleries for
solitary imprisonment ; 14 persons were there con-
fined in separate cells ; in the third gallery were several
soldiers under sentence of regimental courts martial.
In the vagrant yard were 23 persons ; 16 of whom
were vagrants, and seven committed under the bum-
boat act.
Woolens' side.—ln the first' yard were 10 prisoners;
felon fines from Newgate, all convicts ;'some sen-
tenced to transportation for life, for 14, and seven
years ; and others working out the time of their im-
prisonment.
In the second yard there were 15 ; three for re-
examination, and 12 for misdemeanors, cor.victed
and for trial. There were,• when your Committee
visited the prison, neither debtors nor disorderly fe-
male apprentices, all of whom are confined in this
yard, mixed with the above characters, and with
the women of the town, who are committed ; . there
was also one vagrant ; one of the females there con-
fined is hardly ever out of prison, being either here
or at Tothill-fields 10 months out of 12.
The school is in the next yard ; it contained four
persons, two felons and two misdemeanors; there is
besides this, a small yard used as-
,a" nursery, where
the women who have been brongltt to bed in the
prison suckle their children till they are old enough
to be weaned.
In the nextirard were prisoners committed for re-
examination, who amounted to 12, all ironed; six
of whom were for Bank offences, two of whom were
boys of 19, and one of 17 years of age. The King's
witnesses are placed in the state room whenever there
is sufficient accommodation there, and if not, some-!
times with the misdemeanants, or in the boys yard.'
Your Committee are decidedly of opinion that these
persons ought to be kept separate from all other pri-
soners ; and by the 24 Geo. 111. ch. 54, sec. 4, it is
expressly directed, that a, separate place of confine-
ment shall be provided for them.
(To be continued).
is-

Monday se'nnight, a herring-boat belonging to
Holy Island, with five men, was upset by a squall
near that place, by Which accident George Allison
and Richard Smith were unfortunately drowned;
,the other three men were picked up.