The Litchfield County post., 1826-07-18

the knOWiedge of tho keeper ue cau pfocure those means. which in one way or another, will usually release him. An accomplished william from a family of cOunterleIfers, offered a iailor in ap ob.cnre town, in one of the nor f6ern vtates. one thousand dollars for his Iib- 1 crty. If the tailor had been corrupt he could have released his prisoner without any suspl- cion.''
 CIennIisess.-- many prisons, the apart ments contain each vault, and are ex!reme- Iy offensive. !" In some large prisons there IS no bath, and the prisoners clothing IS seldom washed, and consequently they are covered with vernlin. In others, prisoners have not been allowed water enough to quench their thirst: and this their suffering condition, has been permitted, because water was not con yenient. s
 Sickness. .-The sick are not mfrequently found in rooms thrOnged with other prisoners In three of the most important towns ln this county, the iails have no sick room, and the prisoners were found, lying in their filth, on the floor, surrounded by conylcts, whose noise and filthy communication was not re. strained by the sickness and suferings of their fellow prisoners. In one instance, a manwas lying on the floor, apparently dead, without a bed and without a covering. About 20 of his fellow prisoners were standing around the room, apparently indifferent whether he was dead or alive. No physician had visited the sick man for severaldays Asa general fact, in these Prisons, where no hospital is proyi- ded for the sick, there is corresponding mat tention to them in regard to medicine, and an attendant physician; and their situation is deplorable.
 RULES AND REGULATIONS. @ Cleanl;ness, The convicts should be tho roughly cleansed when they enter prison. A case occurred, in which an old negro, who was covered with sores, whose clothes were filthy rags, and on whom were seen after. wards, swarms of yermin, was thrust into a State Prison, and locked up,night after night, and week after week, in narrow and filthy dungeon. with blacks and whites, old and young. Nothing was dOne,, when this poor old man entered the prison, either to cleanse or clothes him. He groaned out miserable existence for several months, when it became necessary to Remove him to the Hospital. where for the first time his body was cleansed and comfortably clothed; but he soon died.- In the same prison, it is no part of the regula- tions ever to change the clothing, ercleanse the bodies of the prisoners when they enterit; andithe consequence is what might be expect ed, according to the statement ofthe comnis-, si0ners in their last report, "vermin of various Kinds abound;'' and when the prisoners can endure it no longer, they carry their clothes to the forge ofa smiths shop, and there smoke and bake them tlIl the vermin are nearly de-: stroyed.
 C1assifcafon.-The obvious principles of require that males and females, old and young, condemned and uncondemn- ed, blacks and whites, debtors and criminals. should be separated. Yet in many instances. all these principles are violated. In princi- pal town in one of the northern states, the door of one of the apartments of the iail was opened to a clergyman, who found confined in the room, a female with a base william, from whom she entreated him she might be sepa- rated. In other prisons also, men and women have been found, confined in the same apart ment, whose guilty countenances indicated their character and habits. A man condemned to several years im- prisonment for robbing the U. s. Mail, has been found in the same apartmentsof jail, in one of our principal cities, with others who had not been proved guilty. This man ap- peared like the captain Offhe room, and conn plained that he was liable to have any body put m the same room with hins. Another con demnedto death, who was to be executed in a few days for murder, was found in the best a. partment of jail, ,reading newspapers with his fellow prisoners, some of whom might have been uncOnuemne0, ana others imprisoned for debt. Another condemned for murder, was found rowing about the different apartments 1 of the Prison, enjoying the liberty of the yard, accompanied by an attendant,and apparently feeling more self complacency and pride than most men who not accused of crime. In popnlous town in the northern states, in jail which contained a large number of apart mepts, unoccupied, black man was found without garment, in a room with ten or elev- en prisoners. This had been a subject of frequent complaint by benevolent gentle man. who had visited the jail; but still the eviTwas permitted.
 Clothing.--I many jails in the larger towns, the. prisoners are not furnished by law with their clothing, and are often found with no other covering than blankets, and these filthy and ragged. In some of the best pris- Ons, they are not provided with a cha ,ee ofl raiment for the Sabbath. and consequentlv appear in the house of God in dress moi cor responding with the duties of the place.
 Diet.- The common allowance of food in oar Penitcntiaries is equivalent to one pound ofmeat, one pound of bread, and one bound ofvegetables per day. In the Milbank Pen;- tentiary in Great Britain, an experiment was made in 182S-S, to ascertain how little food would sustain human life. There was at that time in the Prison, abont 800 hundred con victs, and their diet was reduced to half