The Massachusetts spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1821-1823, 1822-01-16

should be retained and exercised agreeable
thereto, as speedily as circumstances will adj
nit. II would be of less moment to the Com
monwealth that this part of the arrangement
| should be speedily adjusted by the commits
sioners, were it not that the duties and obi
| cations towards the Indians in the State of
Maine, are still binding on this State.
! tiatter myself that nothing on our part
VIII be wanting to give full effect to the pro-
visions OF the act of separation, unless an equi-
| table compromise can otherwise be effected.
1t is not without reluctance that | request
the attention Of the two Houses 10 the sub
| ject of the State Prison in Charlestown. But
such is the condition of that important estab-
hshment, resulting, as apprehend, from
radical defect in the original construction of
the prison itself, that some further legislative
| interposition seems indispensable-an faith
fulness to the publick interest exacts of me
communication of such views of the subject
as no inconsiderable examination and rehec-
ton, and the share have had in the super
vision of that institution for the last ten years
have suggested.
The points to which | particularly allude,
and to which wish more especially to invoke
your attention, relate to the number of solita-
ry cells; to the dimensions Of the sleeping
rooms, and the construction Of the workshops
Other objects connected with the ultimate
design Of the Legislature in establishing the
prison will offer themselves to your notice,
when the subject at large shall be investigat-
ed. My remarks will be chiefly directed to
the several points have suggested,
II will, imagine, be conceded by all who
have been possessed of the means of judg-
ing, that most of the mutir :. disturbances
which have arisen among the convcts, may
L. HI - Al. A.
/ circumstances above mentioned. The num-
Der of cells, adapted to solitary confinement,
is so limited, that it has sometimes happened
that there have been in prison greater num-
Der of convicts under sentence to suffer solta-
ry confinement, than there were cells to re-
ceive them; so that it has been physically i'm
possible for the Warden to carry into strict
effect the sentences of the Courts of Judics-
turc.- Besides which, the paucity of cells has
had tendency to impair the discipline Of the
prison inasmuch as the municipal govern
ment has been prccluded from resorting to
solitary confinement as punishment for vio-
lations of the laws of the prison which has
been found from experience to be the most
wholesome mode'of furnishing such offences.
In regard to the size of the sleeping apart
ments, some of them no doubt were construct
ed upon the idea that massive locks and doors
would prove sufficient to ensure the safe
keeping of the tenants of the prison. But
by report of the Directors of the State
Prison, dated November 10, 1921. which will
be laid before you, that idea is proved to be
fallacious; and by the same report it will be
seen that the room in which the late conspr-
acy overly commenced, contained no less
than ten convicts. While such number of
men continue to be thus placed together in
one dormitory, which, under the present ar
chitectural arrangements of the prison, is un-
avohlame, combinations and projects for eff
fecting escapes must be expected. Men of
restless spirit, rendered desperate By crimes
and restraint, estimate but slightly any per-
sonal dangers that may possibly be enccun-
red in executing plans of escape. In sew
eral instructions which have taken place in
the nrison since its establishment, it has been
satisfactorily proved, unar rney resulted from
long previous contrivance and preparation,
and that they included almost every convict
in the prison, many, if not the most of whom,
were armed or provided with deadly weapons,
which had been forged in the workshops,
and of materials purloined from the Common
wealth or their immediate employers. For
tunately those instructions have been sup
pressed, if not earlier detected, at the point
Of execution--with great personal hazard, how
ever, to the officers, and sometimes not with
out the use of military force, attended in one
instance with the loss of the lives-of several
of the convicts. But though Vaccinations for
effecting mischief are believed usually to be
set on foot in the rooms intended for repose
yet the daily intercourse of the convicts in
the laboratories, in the yards of the prison and
at their meals, is improved to bring them to
| maturity.
The single fact that just mentioned,
that in several instructions which have TAX
en- place the prisoners have been found to
| be armed with deadly weapons which have
been forged in the workshops, and of mate
rails obtained by. stealth, is demonstratye
| proof of the want of adaptation of the sew
| eral apartments intended both for rest and
labour to the ultimate purposes Of the insttu-
| ton.
From tie best information | have been
able 70 obtain, by personal inquiry and ether
wise, am led to conclude that successive rep
| etitions of such enormities as have hereto.
| fore occurred, are only to be avoided by
| modification of the prison itself The inds-
| eliminate manner of commingling different
classes of character, whether for, repose, for
meals, or labour, invites and encourages clan
destne schemes of revot.. And although
| there be no reason to doubt Of the salutary
| influence Of the municipal laws Of the insttu-
| ton itself, in preserving order and decorum
among the tenants of the prison, generally,
| and in lettering some of the number from en-
| gaging actively and voluntarily in combina-
| tons and riots, yet no instance has been cited
| in which a convict has aided the officers in