Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1872-09-26
Treatment of Criminals.

1t is nearly a century since the con
dition of English prisons excited in
the mind of the iIlustrious philanthro-
| pist, Ohm Howard, the purpose OF re
form, and impelled him to enter upon
| that career which commanded the ad
miration of the world. But more than
half century earlier than Howard S eff
| forts, the attention of humane minds
in England was specially drawn to
this subject, and eliminated in that
success of those Parliamentary meas
ures, with which the name of Gen
Oglethorpe, the founder of Georgia is
associated
We have now lying before US a vol
ume containing ten separate pamphlets
| bearing upon the condition of pris-
oners, mainly bankrupts, confined in
English jails, and all Of them bearing
the same date of 1929 II is interest
ing to note the hardships and injus-
| tice of which complaint was then made.
and the appeals which were addressed
to the humanity and charity of the ma
ton. The tone of them is certainly
modern enough for the present cen
tury, but we have been specially in
terested in the account given of the
management of the prisons at that day,
and the privileges which were some
times extended to prisoners.
We read Of "the Low Gaol, a very
dismal place, five feet underground .
with stone floor and stone walls, so
| damp as to occasion disease and death !;
where, with no bed but the floor, ''debt
ors and felons are kept locked down
together, of Kings Bench Prison,
where the turnkey was a very tyrant
of eXtortion, refusing to release pris-
oners who were legally discharged, or
denying common conyeniences to such
as remained in custody, unless paid
eXtravagantly from their poverty
the Poultry Compter Prison, $50 close
that in the summer abundance die
there ;" and of others, with their varied
phases of filth, discomfort, and dis
gusting or degraded associations.
Yet at Ludgate, and some of the
other prisons, a system was tolerated,
to the profit and relief, indeed, of the
| JailOrs; but to the self discipline, and
| to some extent, the comfort of the
prisoners. ''The government of that
prison is by steward and seven other
| officers, prisoners who are called
constables. Each constable takes his
day one a Monday, the other a Tues
day, and so by their turns, the week
round, till the month is out, and then
new constables are chosen, and per
| haps some Of old ones rechosen again
4 and by the care of these officers the
prison used to be kept in peaceable
order. 1t is their business to open
the charity boxes, and pay scavenger
that clean the houses. They buy oil
for the lamps, and other necessaries,
and afterwards settle their accounts
with the stewards"
Such were the privileges granted in
a prison where one of the keepers
taking offence at one of the pris-
oners, caused him to be laid in irons
and put into the Devel's Hole" (the
name of a dungeon) till his toes rotted
Off" 1t is a kind of posthumous com
fort to read that the wretch had to pay
penalty of G400, which was levied
upon him, by an execution out Of the
Court Of Kings Bench, and by order
of the Lord Mayor and Court of Alder
men" Ever there the hard lot Of the
miserable prisoner found public hear
ing, and if there was no permanent re-
form, there was at least temporary re
lief.
But the fact is, that relief beyond 6
certain point chills that feeling of sym
pathy and charity which the story O
hardship excites. The instincts O.
human instice refuse to see in the
criminal the mere unfortunate, anC
those instincts are right. A degree O
comfort might be provided for the in
carcerated criminal, which would tenC
to defeat the very ends of Justice, an,
become, a premium upon the reckless
ness of vice. We shut men up il
prison, not primarily for their owl
sake, but for the security and we'll
being of the State Their ease G
comfort is not the chief end in view
although when we hold them in th
cell, excluded from their old and de
basing associations, it is well to dt
what we can for their permanent re
form, even while we feel that such al
effort is well-nigh desperate. The,
should be subjected to no gratuitou
cruelty. or to any inhumanity whicl
needlessly aggravates their lot Will
1t hardens the heart, and embrutes til
nature of those who infict it. Blu
claim to anything like generosity o
, special kindness, they have none;
has been forfeited by crime, and
would not be amiss for ultra zealou
philanthrCpists of the rosewater schoo
to bear this in mind, and not insis
on plans or measures which the com
mon sense of the community repudi
ates as incongruOus and impertinent.
The truth is that zeal for prison re
form may be-if pot pushed too far
developed in false direc ton. When
ever it makes crime merely the misfol
: tune of adverse circumstances or train
ing, it does the community a positiV
mischief. There are hundreds an
thousands of even juvenile offender
who are mere desperadoes. They Civ
no evidence Of humanity but the ou
ward form and the intelligence ths
makes them more dangerous than tn
e wild beast, thirsting for blood, tn:
: we shoot down in its tracks In som
way or other society must be rid {
= them, and it must make such a di,
posal Of them that Others shall tax
warning by their fate.
n We need to look at both sides
! the questions that are raised by priso
! reform. We must take into consider.
g ton not the conditions or claims
" when such there are-of the prisonC
n alone. We may lavish upon him
| Of Ii