Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1861-04-06
The Crime Of PoEsrty--How Prisoners for Debt
kN III are Treated ID Eugland. VI

II laI' ~ ! II y
A most extraordinary letter, signed A Debt.
or in the City Jail y appeared In the Manches-
ter England Guardian, which shows that the
system Of prison discipline In that enlightened
country lie scarcely less barbarous, than, that
practieed In the Dungeons Of Napless In refer.
ring to the letter, the Guardian says sas'issl @
The writer AYERS that the prisoners for debt
are treated like "the vilest and most deprayed
felons +" They are not allowed to ssing, whis-.
tie or laugh" and are liable to solitary con-
fnement for rseveral days, with bread and water
diet, for the slightest ofencesgainst the regu.
lations. When q debtor arrives at tho jail,
she 10 asked bic religion, and told to sign a
book, which be does, under the supposition that
he is merely registering his religious belief;
but If afterward he declines, TO attend chapel,
he is told that signing the'bopk was an under
taking TO attend, and that he must be punished
for refusing to do go. No matter that he alleges
that he is Nonconformist, and objects as q
matter of conscience 4 Ia qssa a
| Atthis time OF the year, the chapel (Which 10
the same attended by the felons in the jail) Is
intensely cold, but no excuse for non. attendance
is permitted. can old gentleman, during the
present intense frost, begged, in 81 beseeching
manner, to be allowed to stay away from chapel,
stating that be was seventy four years Of agei
and that the cold current that he was exposed To
was too much for man Of his years and infirm
ity. He was taken before the Governor, who
told him to hold his hands by his sides while Ii
his presence The Governor told him that, al
though he was aPresbyteriah, still, as he had
signed the book, he ehould sentence him tC
twenty -four h0hrs' solitary confinement, forre
fusing to attend chapel On being taken to thil
intensely cold cell be found that be was ,onlJ
allowed q small piece Of bread three times Z
day with cold water" .sasg ~,
The solitary cell is quite dark, and debtors
are sometimes confined there for three days
On Sunday week, several Of the debtors Ber,
confined there for twenty-four hours, fol, moi
getting out of bed till a quarter of an hon
after the regular time, (seyen o'clock) though
IL was quite dark, and no clock was al.
lowed. One poor gentleman, who suffered
terribly from rheumatism, and was fre-
lquently compelled to use crutcbes, begged tina
he might be permitted, while thus imprisoned
to purchase. with his own money, such food an'
warm iirinks as hie health required. This wa
refused. and nothing but bread and cold waite
allowed. One prisoner passed three days II
this fearful cellfor giving bis wife small piec,
of bread, In order that his children at HON,
might see the quality of the prison food. An.
. other, on county Q allowance, took and ate al
onion beyond his share, for which he had solta
~ confinement on bread apd water for thte'
days.
4 Such are the allegations made by the write
of this startling letter, besides other complaint
of most arbitrary regulations as to visitors, b.
which not only relatives, but even solicitors, ar
] to great extent debarred from necessary oom
munication with the poor debtofs. Q We quot
, these statements as we find them 10 print. LIE
US think for moment Of the terrible cold of th
} last few weeks, and then ask whether, suppos
ling the assertions are uncontradicted,it 1T can b
permitted that man should have the power Q
i committing persona TO qungarmed, uulighte
, cells, without proper food, whatever their az
or state Of health, for tri6ing breaches of arbi
trary prison rules7 Thisis England, not M
' plea. 1t seems from this, that the pleasure
L. incarceration for debt 10 England !s about equI
to that enjoyed in1taly. '7'5 sfss,a5 ~