The Tread-Wheel.
The Times, 1824-02-07T00:00:00

-(nXL&ttatfr the Pifth RLporto~ the SocietytottlheImprovenewt of Prison Distipline, &c.) "The merits ofthe tread-wheel asan instrunment of prison-labour, bave, during the past year, excited considesrble interest. Objectiont ofa verynserioua nature have been urged against it by a magistrate, hoe labourn for the improvtement of 'prison discipline, during a %o~and hionounrble life, entitle h'is Rentiments to great attention. b gIy as the Conimittee appreciate the nmotives which animate the benevolent author, they do not concur with the reasoning contained In a reent work on prison labour; the object of which publication is to show that the ordinary discipline of the tread-wheel is an un- life, unhealthy, and degrading punishment. The Committee be- lieve that they were the first to recognize the excellence, and advo- cate the intxodaction ?f this description of prison labour; and, af- ter Tnature consideration, they can discover 'nothing itb the proper use and Moderte application of this punishment, that is irrecon- cileable with the feelings of humanity, and those principles of prison discipline which it is the object or this societv to recomnnend. Ftero documents w;hich have beeh laid before Parliameat, the elthines of th.e tread-wheel exerrise is satisfactorily proved. The -OpD 1ofr dthehl m?edical officers in attendance at the various Prisons. concur in dufeclaring that the aeneral health of the prisoners has in h 13o degree suiFe Injury by the exercise; but that, on the contiarY, the labour has in this respect been productive of considerable benefit. ttse.s teatim ries which the Committee have institoted, confirn. med tes. rnles and against evidente so conclusive, a Judgment, - prnincally from abstract rea.soning, nd unsu poorted by thatpe experience whirh the daily observations of a prison- rgearRon sf s,d can have but litte weight. The mischievous consequences .f which it is stated that the reab r celis the soulrce, attach not so much to the nature of the I abO ut as fto the derree in which it may be enforcedl. There is nd- I thing painful in the siniple 5osition of the body on the wheel, antd the machintry TTay be. made to revolve so slowly, as Wtarceiv to -ta ba Pushrrent while, on the other hand, it ecnnot be denies that eXkeessive appl*tation it mav be rendered an instrument of UnJUa, able rigour. The manin question, then, on which the safety an", expediency of the tread vwheel depeAdl, is simply this-can 'e degree of z;abour be so re ulated as to be ascertained without Pialty, aUTa restrained, at all times, within safe limits? This nonsidegtion has occupied the ruacticular attention of the Com- mittee* and they have the Dla. sure to state that these very desirable ebJects can be occomnplisb-d It occorreji to tho (o nrnitteo, on Jursuing thei- inquiries upon .i sub , t n-s the several detils in the management of the 'Veriontly be Jxi ... __ t -ISL V1- 1ddtiLU1l, IUCJ Oulghl UtOll carriednto bex i dwn upon a sliding scale. The idea has been atemstfil execut tion in averv ingenions manner bv Mr. Bate, tuatbeszrjtiaLinstrument. .aker to the Board of Excise, who has <ortcte4 an instrument, by the simple inspectinn of which the iate oflabour can at all times be ascertained. The utility of this nventaion is obvious: it at once enablea the magistrate. or the gover- bog of a prison at which a treadawheel is in operation, to secure isreri:on of management, and by a4briling an accurate measure, .95ppsb.e in all cases, maF prevent the inadvertent excess, or inten- s. nal ahuso, of this species of punishment. b' ft is perfectly true that the labour of the tread-wheel, unless it bt tzulatrd with great care, may, to use the language of an able nd extperienced groveor of a prison (in a treent cornmunication with the Comnmittee) ii"becomne, in the hands of some, an engine of ble OPPrecsion." Tn order to show the importance of further nte1ntion to this subject, and the great confusion that at present pre- ils inm the mnanner of enforcing the labour, the Committee refer e table in the Appendix. fourded on returns recently re- ceiveb s showing the great varieties of punislhment inflicted; a bart reference to which will prove the necessity for adopting .0-ne uTiformity of practice, in order to equalize the admi- '.uistracion of prison tiicipline. Thc present inequality, it will be perceived, arises not only from the varied degrees of velo- city, and the fluctuating prnportions of working and restinz prison- ert at each wheel, but also from the difference in the working hours of summer and winter a difference which amaounts in the daily rate o labour at somne prisons to at least 50 per cent. By an adherence, boweveer, to the following regulations, and with the aid of the scale to which the committee have referred, the tread-mills in various pri- rons, even those on the most diversified principles of construction, may be contlucted upon one unifotrn and certain system of operation throughout the kingdom. 1. Every tread wlheel shoulti be provided with a ' regulator,' by which its rate of revolution may at al times be restrained within safe limit.. "2. To the tread.wheel should also be affixed I a dial-register,' on rtierence to which the rate of labour may at any time be accurately ascertained. ' S . The daily rate of laboutr should ill no case exceeti 12,1000 feet an ascent. t 4- Care should be taken to apportion the diet to the degree of labour enforced." " The Committee are aware that the observance of these rules vwill eot remove the objections which many respectable persons entertain against the use of the tread.wteel: they regard the punishment, under any drcurnstances, as too rigorous. In the opinion, how- ever, of the C'ommittee, the primary feature in the character of hnar labsr' *should be ieverity; not equal. indeed, to everv de- scription of criminals, not irreconcilable wvith the feelings of hu- xmzaty, ror one degree beyond that which tile public interests justify ar the reformauton of the climinal denmayds vet a severity that -ahn make those who have violated justice feel 'the penalties of law, and the consequences of zuilL The Committee believe that for a Cetain class ot offenders the tread-wheel is, tinder proper rezula- t{ion, a punishment of this description, and that no house of cor- roction should be wvithout it. The great proportion of offienders omnmitted to succh places of confinement are sentenced to Ihard labour,' and bitt for lhort periods of imprisonment, during ,hich the trd_wlneel is an appropriate punishment. But in taing this testimony in its favour, they feel no hesitation in declaring their opinion that its value may be over-rated, and its discipline nmiapplied. Notwithstandino the acknowledfed excellen- cies of the tread-vwheel, it onght not to form the punishnment of those whom the law sentences to imprisonment only. To inflict it on this description of prisoners woutld be to change the cahamcter of their sentence. To subject, also, convicts committed for lung periods of imprisonment, day after day.to this discipline, is in- cornsistent with the views of the best writers on the penitentiary sys- tem, and at variance with those principles of prison manaeeanent which lHoward never cea.ed to inctulcate, and to realize whici the enlightened exertions of Sir George Paul and other eminent magis- trates have been zealously directed. The practice of employing females at the tread- wheel is, in the opinion of many benevolent persons, in no case justifiable. In tiis sentiment the Committee do not concur. Upon hardened offenders committed to houses of correctionisuch as the law has truly desig- nated ' idle and disorderly'_tlic labour is productire of excellent effects, and, if superinteniled by a carefut inatronn, may he safelv administered; but the general employment of females at the tread- wheel is liable to serious obiectons: and as there are, even in the absence of prison trades, other kinds of lahour to be found for uo- men in a eanol that are cmngenial to the habits of their sex, the prac- tire Of thus employing this class of offenders is not iustified by " But let the punishment of tread-wheel labour be ever so care- 'uy regulated, tlhere is one consideration wvhich ouaht not to be for- gotten, and to which the Committee cannot too earnestly entreat at- tention. Punishments, however salutarv, cantot alone be ex- pected to reclaim nor do they, tinder any' forn, diminish the ne- cessity for those moral and religious services, withoiut Nvhich all plans of prison discipline will prove inefficient, and the formation ant recovery of good character hecome alike utterly hopeless. The Committee have been led to offer these remarks, because it has ap- Peared to them that in some prisons by far too much denendence has been placed on the deterring influence of tread-wheel labour, while but little earnestness has been evinced to take alvantage of that sub- jection of mind which thepunishmenthasatentlenec toproduce, and which might be available for the purposes of religions impressions Pnermanent improvement. There is nothing in the claracter nf -relwheel labour that may not he mnade to strengthen the power of eligion, and extend the influence of her ministers over the mind and feelings of a prisoner; and it would be indeed to be deplored were the n:troduction of htrd labosir to be considered as superseding or wsc eoing the necessity fior their labours, with-ut which the great ohiee~ta of p7ison discipline can never he attained." TRE HE-.D.tr9RBL.