Star.
London, England, 1818-08-25 00:00:00

REPORT:

Your Committee, in pursuing the investigation of
the state of the London Prisons, have considered it
their duty to inquire how far the Buildings, in their
original size and construction, seemed fitted and ade-
quate for the purposes to which they are appropria-
ted; how far those that appear in their present shape
unfit and inadequate may be rendered suitable by
certain alterations or additions; or if that degree of
improvement which would be most desirable should
appear likely to lead to an extent of outlay which at
present may be deemed inexpedient, to consider what
change in the internal arrangements they can venture
to-recommend as likely to tend to amelioration.
With these views, and with an anxious wish to exa-
mine minutely the economy of the Establishments,
and the treatment of the prisoners, your Committee
have visited all the prisons subjected to their inquiry,
and.have summoned before them all those persons
from whom they hoped to derive practical and use-
ful information; and the Report which they have
now the honour of submitting to the House, is found-
ed on their best attention to that evidence; or on that
conviction,which a personal inspection has authorized.
In visiting these receptacles of wretchedness and
crime, scenes so painful and repulsive to the feelings,
your Committee, while bound to recollect that cer-
tain hardships are necessary and una7oidnble, were
not unmindful of their duty by failing to remark any
neglect or abuse, or improper severity. With these
views and sentiments, your Committee have proceed-
ed ; and to render their Report as perspicuous and
distinct as possible, they have considered it advisable
to give the result of their inquiry on the Prisons scpa-
nately, and in the order in, which they were visited,
and evidence examined. The lirst in order, there-
fure, is Newgate.

1.--NEWOATE.
The Prison of Newgate, according to the present
arrangement, is divided into stations, yards, day-
rooms, and wards. Your Committee are of opinion
that the original plan of this prison was defective,
and the accommodation inadequate for the purposes
to which it is now applied. When it is considered
that this prison is destined not only for the reception
of a great many persons who are directly committed,
but for the reception of a still greater umber who
are removed thither for trial, added to which, a con-
siderable number who are under sentence of impri-
sonment, and au accumulation of convicts, neither
the extent of the accommodation, or the distribution,
_ arc such as your Committee can consider adequate
or consistent with that 4:sty:cation which your Com-
mittee deem of vital importance.
It may be proper here to introduce certain ebser-
vations, which, as they apply generally to all the
prisons, may, if explained, obviate the necessity of
repetition when reporting on others; and may be re-
ferred to as general principles adopted by the Com-
mittee; and if they appear self-evident or trite, they
will the more readily be granted as axioms.
The whole system of enlightened criminal juris-
prudence is devised for the prevention of crime, not
of abstract punishment. Punishment, therefore, as
regards society, is not vindictive, but subservient,
and instrumental, in reference to prevention. While
the hardships of a prison, and the pains of law, may
be wisely and justly inflicted, it is our duty to take
care that no more is done or suffered than is condu-
cive to the real object; and still more, that we take
cue that the means we employ to check may not
contribute to the increase of crime: that persons
guilty of petty offences, from the repetition of which
they might be deterred by the first detection, and
the consequent shade: and alarm, sh ill not by our
means be utterly polluted, hardened, and accom-
plished in depravity, by a forced communication
with the most abandoned and irreclaimable. To
prevent this obvious danger and unspeakable evil,
the attention of your Committee h;ts been peculiarly
directed to what they have termed deszkeeati3n, not
merely as regarding the separation of the uetticd,
from the convicted, but looking to a much more sa-
lutary and extended system. It is quite unnecessary
to urge the numberless shades of depravity amongst
the untried prisoners; but even an innocent person
may unfortunately be so situated; and what is a
case of every day's occurrence, an individual accused
of some very. venial offence is doomed to be the com-
panion, mess-mate, and almost bed-fellow, of the
most abandoned miscreant. Even after conviction
the evil pro:weds ; for if we can imagine one un-
happy culprit who is disposed to regret and repent,
I.e must have his feelings harrowed up or hardened
amidst such a mass of vice and corruption.
Claurscatiostt therefore, your Committee consider
of the utmost importance ; and for this desirable ob-
ject Newgate offers few facilities. It is ill constructed,
deficient in space, and is now unhappily destined to
contain, on the approach of every Sessions, nearly
double lse number of prisoners which it ought to
contain. Hitherto a large proportion of the prison
has been occupied by convicts under sentence of
transportation, amounting to I,lu persons at the r:rm,
the Committee visited the prison; and all the accused
err the male side are necessarily crowded together
without distinction or discrimination ; and, under the
denomination of fines, all under sentence of imprison-
stent, whatever the nature of their offence, arc min-
gled together. The removal of the transpprts, there-
fore, immediately after every Sessions, seems indis-
pensably necessary ; such a relief might afford some
prospect of a more unobjectionable arrangement
of the prisoners, and seems absolutely requisite
to afford room for the numbers removed thither
for trial, and in the opinion of your Committee,
it is a measure which ought to be most strongly
pressed on the attention of Government. The
House .may judge how far your Committee is
justiEed in strongly remonstrating on this point, by
adverting to the enumeration of wards, and six:cal-

cation of the dimers:or.s. It seems sufficient to re-
mark, that in wards of SS feet by 15, it has very
lately been necessary to confine from SO to 40 per-
sons, and at former periods from 50 to 60. Those
prisoners, who in the liatignage of the prison are de-
nomihatedfines, that is, those who have been sen-
tenced to imprisontrent for various offences, arc in a
worse situation than the convicts. They ale gene-
rally more crowded together, and eat, sleep, and pass
the day in the same ward, having access to an open
yard. There are 15 condemned cells, each 9 feet by
7, which open into the press yard, having two day-
rooms appropriated to the prisoners under sentence
of death. Your Committee regret, that, from the
construction of the prison, they cannot suggest a
satisfactory alteration in this objectionable part of the
prison, which seems so unsuitable to the situation of
the unhappy men. It has so happened, that from
GO to 70 under sentence of death, have been confined
in this part of the prison at one time. Under such,
circumstances, it has been found necessary that some
should sleep in the day-rooms, while in many of the
cells three were confined. And although it appears
in evidence, that three weN frequently so con-
fined in one cell at the express request of the priso-
ners themselves, yet it is a practice which cannot be
vindicated. It must be obvious to every mind, that
such an accumulation of unhappy wretches, with
such a deficiency of room and means of separation.
is utterly irreconcilable with the solemn situation of
those who are placed there to prepare for death.
Your Committee observed with pain, that children
of the tenderest years were confined in the cells with
persons of mature age and snore confirmed habits
of crime.

As your Committee have already expressed, in
strong terms, their opinion as to the expediency of
removing the convicts, they abstain from enlarging
on the total want of employment, and other circum-
stance; so productive of evil. In the crowded state
of the prison little could he attempted or effectively
enforced with the men. The benevolent exertions of
Mrs. Fry and her friends in the female department of
the prison, have indeed, by the establishment of a
school, by providing work, and encouraging indus-
trious habits, produced the most gratifying change.
But much must be ascribed to unremitting personal
attention and influence. On the male side, attempts
to give employment have been baffled by the disho-
nest practices of those on whom the experiment has
been made ; and in a prison so constructed as New-
gate,
and where there is so frequent a change of pri-
soners, it is difficult to propose a rernecly. ,irnong
the.fines, however, something might be attempted
with a prospect of success, fur some are actually now
employed as tradesmen.
Boys School.—The youthful effentlers under 16
years of age, untried and convicted, are placed toge-
I then in what is called The School. They arc kept
apart from the men convicts, and have the use of one
.
of the yards for two hours a day, at which time the
men are locked up.
To have a school at all seemed a step towards im-
provement; but a school so constituted must suggest
doubts as to-its moral beneficial effects. At present
the school is regulated and taught by a convict. The
crime of the individual ro employed (as appears from
the evidence) is not of that nature which is likely to
affect or encourage the.propensity which these youth-
ful offenders have indulged ; but if the benefit of im-
pressive moral instruction is desired, little can be
hoped from a convict of any description; even if he
is sincere he cannot have influence ; for the boys are
aware of the degraded position of their teacher, If
a school is to be maintained, a person of unblemished
reputation should be appointed ; and there ought to
be a separation of the profligate from the less con.,
taminated.

Cleanliness.—ln adverting to the cleanliness of a
great part of this prison, your Committee have a fa-
vourable Report to offer ; the yards and wards ap-
peared on their visitation to be remarkably clean,
and various Members of the Committee, who have
individually visited the prison at other times, give a
no less favourable report. The windows of the sle.:p-
ing wards are large, and are regularly opened, which
secures free circulation of air. But there being no
fire allowed in these chambers, there is not sufficient
ventilation to remove d:uppness from the rooms and
bedding, especially in the winter months ; there was
not, however, the slightest taint of offensive smell in
the sleeping wards of the convicts when your Cern-
mittee visited these wards. But your Committee
could not but remark a great neglect of personal
cleanliness amongst the prisoners generally :—.-and
they are of opinion that suitable regulations ought to
be adopted to enforce attention to what is so essen-
tial. The committee cannot give-the same favourable
report of the wards appropriated to the fines ; it is
obvious that the same system of cleanliness which is
adopted in the sleeping wards of the convicts is there
impracticable, and cannot be remedied but by les-
sening the number confined in the prison, and that
by a removal of the convicts, or a change in the ap-
propriation of this jail to so many various purposes.
The Bolding.—The prison allowance of bedding
consists of a hempen mat, worked with a portian of
tar, to prevent the lodgment of vermin, and to ex-
clude damp, and two rugs. This allowance seems
sparing and inadequate. In winter not less than
three rugs should be allowed. Your Committee feel
difficulty in venturing to suggest any fur.her im-
provement, as any hardship experienced from the
nature of the mat is, perhaps, compensated by its
cleanliness, and the absence of many inconveniences
attending bedding of another description. It may,
however, be proper that the bedding sho.id be
more exposed to the air than at present, or suitable
mea,;!res be taken to remove the damp from the
bedding, which, by the evidence of the surgeon, is
injurious to the health of the prisoners, removed from
the heated day rooms, and subjected to the chill of
condensed perspiration ; but this regulation had not
been complied with, as your Committee did not find
above twenty mats in the whole prison on the male
side ;•but each prisoner that has a bed of his own,
has permission to bring it into the prison. Your
Committee refrain giving any opinion en the fitness
of the bedding for the prisoners, as from the crowded
state of the prison, the whole subject is one of great
,
difficulty. (To be continued.)

The total number of Sunday Scholars in Great
Pritain and Ireland, is about 530,000, attended by
about 60,000 Teachers.