The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1888-04-18
LIFE IN ENGLISH JAILS.
THE SYSTEM OF GOVERNING A
BRITISH PRISON.
Tickets of Leave for the Industrt-
ous and Wellbehaved, but the
TreadmfII for the UnruIy.

Tickets of Leave for the Industrt-
ous and welI-behaved, but the
Treadmill for the Unruly.
Better methods prevail in English
prisons than formerly, and crime in
England has been gradually decreasing
in recent years. English prisons are
divided into two kinds convict
prisons" and ''local prisons Convict
prisons IRE used for confning persons
who have been sentenced to a term OF
five years or more; local prisons for
those whose sentence is shorter. OF
convict prisons there are now ten in
Great Britain, and of local prisons fifty
five.
In all these places there are two feat
ures which do not exist in the American
prisons. These are the tread-mill and
the flogging of prisoners. The tread
mill is a curious surviving relic of old
fashioned English methods of prison
discipline. "The large wheels of the
tread mill" says our authority, ''are
surrounded by wooden steps running the
length of the wheel. The men are sep
arated from each other by partitions,
and each one catches hold of horizon
tai bar, and continues slow tread from
one step to another; all, of course, step
ping together, and, as it were, kicking
away the steps from under their feet
BY this process wheat is made into flour,
which in due time is baked into the
bread which is used in the prisons.
Flogging is resorted to in the English
prisons when it forms part of the SEN
tence of the Judge, or when it Is applied
to prisoner who has proved obstinate,
or who has fagrantly disobeyed the
prison rules. The crimes for which men
are usually sentenced to be fogged, as
well as confined, are assaults upon an
officer while in discharge of his duty,
and robbery with personal violence (com-
mitted by garroters or highwaymen).
Such criminals receive from twenty to
fifty lashes, half at the beginning and
half at the end of the term of imprison-
ment.
A careful account is kept of the pris-
oner's conduct and industry throughout
his term. For the first nine months of
his imprisonment he is kept in solitary
confinement, working by himself, and
not allowed to speak to any one. After
that he works with his fellow-prisoners,
! and under certain restrictions is permit
ted to talk and associate with them. If
the prisoner gets 224 good marks for n
month for two years he is placed in what
is called the third grade; and if his re-
cord is equally good for the next two
years he reaches the second and then the
first grade. He then becomes entitled
to Shortening of his term and is set
| free on what is called ''a ticket of leave, VI
by which is meant that while he is at
large, he is under the eye of the police
and must behave himself and report
himself regularly at stated times until
the expiration of his ticket of leave.
"The cells in the English prisons, y
says Mr. Fay, ''are constructed on quite
different principles from ours. They are
much larger, are rooted with brick
arch, and are well lighted and ventilated.
! The light comes from window seven ol
eight feet from the floor, which is three
feet wide by thirteen inches high. The
doors are solid and about two inches
thick, instead of being grated like ours
so that one who walks along the corridor
outside can only view the interior OF the
cell by moving slide and looking
through small peep-hole."
The English prisons are far more
strictly guarded from the intrusion OF
the public than our own. 1t is hard for
anyone, who has not some special business
in them, to gain admittance. So
stringent, indeed, is this rule, that even
the governor of the male department OF
prison is not allowed to put foot in
the female department of his own in
stitution.
Over all the British prisons single
official is placed called the surveyor
general. Not being governed, as our
prisons are, by multitude of comm's-
sioners and other officials, greater unity
and consistency is preserved in the
management of criminals. .- YouWs Com
pani0R.