Discipline Of The Surrey ...
The Times, 1824-06-19T00:00:00

- muuee ui SW cunesnay rne memuriat WflCll this gentleman caused to be presented to the Court of Quarter Sessions, praying to be allowed to supply himself with some better provisions than thc county allowance of bread and water. To this application it was answered, that the Court of Quarter Sessions could inot take cn zance of the afFair, and the applicant was referred to the visiting Jus- tices. Atr. O'Callaghan, we inderstand, lost no time in having tfe memorial prepared, and on WVednesday afternoon the following was handed to Mt[r. Hedger, who was the only one of the visiting justisecs at that thne in the neighbourbood of the prison:- "Tothe Vorshipfulthe VisitingJusticesof the Surrey Countv GaofL The humble memorial of Luke Carlos O'Callaghan, a prisoncr confined in the said gaol, ;' Sbowreth,_That your memorialist caused to be presented yeste-. day, to the magistrates of this county, in quarter sestionsassemnbled, a memorial of which the following isacopv. (Ierdfollowsthe me. morial inserted in The Times of Wednesday.) " That on presenting the above to the Court, the getfaan wPic acted for your memorialist was informed that the mattef-didt not rest with the Court, and was referred to the visiting justices, who, it appears, by the 19th sect. of the prison regulations, are esnpowesed to make such order as your memorialist had solicited. That your memonalist was yesterday seer by one of the visit- ing justices, wrho, aeing (as he stared) on his owd responsibilitr, gave pernsitaon to your nmemorialist to have for thlit day such prb- visions' as he should desire, but that the renewal of such permission was thiss day refused, and yeur memorialist is now deprired of any other sustenance than the prisonnllo3wance of coarse brown bread and water. - .Lnat yotr mnemorialist is prevented from havlng any comnrmur nication with those friends who visit him in prison, except through two iron gratings, placed sevcral feet apart, at which be and they arc exposed to any inclemency of the weather,. a.d liable to have everjg thing which passes betwecn them heard by the surroculding prisonets. "That your men-orialist hus even been denied -penmismion to r.;. ceive or read a newspaper-tbat being, as he is informetd, avio&atioii of the prison nrles. (Your niemorialist menti6ns this as one oF' many' minor privations to which he is subjected, whicii, thoughi trifling in themselves, are nevertheless vexatious, and constitute, as he respectfully submits, an uncalled-for extension of the severity ot his sentenc .) "That your mcinosialist, without entering into the policy of the' prison regulations under which lie now suffers, begs again respect. fully to submit, that his is not a case where the strict- St discipline of the prison ought to be enforced; anm as your worships have, as. visiting magistrates, the power of niitigating tlC severity of that dis.. cipline.your memorialist confidently hopes,thattaking allthe circum-- stances intoconsideration, you will makl; such order as may relieve- hiui from such at least of those hardships to which he is sutbjccted, asare not indispensable to the execution of his Sentence. " And your memorialist wiU ever pray. Surrey County-gaol, June 16, 1824." This veas addressed "Lord ViscountEastnor ; C. H. Sunnncr,Esq., NV. T. Denison, Esq.; V. Crawford, Esq.; C..D. Gordon, Esq. - Rev. A. C.nslow; J. Trotter, Esq.; T. Coles, Esq.; and R.. Hudson, Esq. (or any one of them), visiting justices of the Surrey Gour.tv Gaol." Oa receiving the memorial, M1r. Hedger asked on what groand it was it was presented? Whether it had heein pre- sentedto any other visiting justice? And why it was pre-sented to him in particular? Ile was answered, that the grounds of the ap- plication were stated in the memorial itself; that it had not been. presentedto any other justice; and that the reason why it was pre-- sented to him was, that he was the only one of the justices on the spot. The gentleman who presented it added, that he gave it to: Mr. Hedger in hlis official character as a visiting magistrate, as lie: underatrod that by the act of Parliament " any one or more" of. trbi visiting justices were empowered to make such alteration in the pri'. son 'disd6line in particular cases, as they should think the circum- stances of those cases caUled for. If, however, ho was mlsrzken on this point, he begged that Mr. Hedger would have the lindness to make his brother magistrates acquainted with the nature of the me'2 miorial. Alr. iedger.-_Vhat does he want, Sir ?-'Why he asked to be' allowi d to get some wine when I saw him yesterday. h5r. O'CaUaghan's friend.-Yes, Sir; because he did not 'eel himnelfwell at the time. Hewasnaturallvagitatedat being suddenly taken from his friends, ashc could not have expectedsucha sentencee. However, the use of wine is an indulgence which he would inot so much claim as the privilege of sending for some better provisions than the gaol alowance, and he feels rnuch obliged to you for hav.- ing extendled that privilege to him in one instance. lIly. Eedger.-..X'i.VdU, Sir, I will mention the case to the other ma- gistrates. W( hether Mr. Hedger has kept his word, we know not ; but we do know that iRO answer has as yet been given to it,-and no. alteration has since been madein MlIr. O'CaUaghan's treatment, ex- cept that the indulgence of having the frienis who visited him al-. lowed to go and speak witlh hin between the two iron gratings which was given on Tuesday is now withdrawn ; and his visite:s, like thiose' to the felons in the prison, are obliged to hold their communications. with him outside the outer grating. ltinay he here proper to state, that on the day on whicb Mir. O'&allagban was spol;en to in the pri-. son by Mr. Hedger, and had asked for some indulgence beyond the prison allowance, MIr. Hedger hinted that the indulgencesouglit for mi.ht be obtained onappLcationto the doctorofthe prison. At Ml r. O'Callaghan's requestshe doctorc21led tosee him in thecourse of that day. He vas accompanied by the Chaplain of the gaol, tile Rev. Mr. lann. This latter gentleman, after announcing himself in his official capacity, and adding that he was the particular friend of the Rev. Alr. Saurin, the prosecutor, began to lecture Mlr. O'Callaghnn on tire enormnity of his conduct towards that Rev. Divine, and re- minded him of what had passed before the magistrates at Union-hall. Ilr. O'Callaghan remarked, that the magistrates at Union-hall did not seem to have viewed his case in the same light, as they allowed him to go at large on his own recognizance, and one ball in a moderate sum. The Rev. Chaplain stilU proceeded to expatiate on the prisoner's conduct, ard expressed a hope, that now that lie had tinme to reflect on it, lie would think seriouslv of it, and never allow himsejf to be again guilty of any similar conduct. To this Dlr. O'Culiaglian replied, that whatever liis conduct had been, he was then suffering for it, and he thought the observations of the Rev. Gentleman might have been spared. He added, that he did not admit thlat bis contluct to- Mlr. Saurin was uncalled for, and that no consideration of comsc- quences personal to himself should ever induce him to allow an in. isilt offered to ladies under his protection ,o pass with impunitv. He then begged to decline any further conversation wvith the chaplain; and observing that his body stood more in need of comfoit titan his mind, heturned to the doctor, utid asked him to allow hiiii to get a little wine. Before the docto; had time to answer, the Rev. lIr. Mllann interposed, and said, " It will be time enough to make this npplication when you are ill." Alr. O'Callaghan replied.-I can then claim it as a rig but 1kefore that time, I would wislh to r.ceive it-as a favour. If this be1 denied me, Iwish to hear no more on the subject. Here thne conversation ended. In order to give some idea of the nature of the punishment to which this gestlemnan is subjected, we may state, that the vard in which hie is allowed to walk duriung the day (or part oif the day), is about eight yards by six. In it there arcno seats or benchses; and if a prisner should be dis- posed to sit for a while in the ooen air, he must sit on the pavement : but even this would be a luxurt;; compared with themaDnerin which he is obliged to spend his evenings. At six in the afternoon he is led to his eell, and tbere locked up by himself, withoat fire or candl - light, and without a possibility of having a conmmunicadon with any human being untU past six the next morning. The cell in whichl hc is thus confined is eight feet foar iiiches by six fee aur,'and the height to where thecurve ofthearch commcnces is onlr feet eight In the cell, thereis a plank, forming a sort of inclined plne, on which a mattres, ablanket, and rug, arespread. This ishis bed. TheplaI on which the mattress is placed is not more thian 20 inches wide The liglht is admnitted th-eough an iron grating, bat this has no glass to exclude the cold air. Theie is, howvever, a board, which can bo placed inside the grating for that purpose; but when this is put up` all light is excluded, and ofcourse the prisoner las only hi, choice of sitting or lying exptosed to the chil of tlie evening air, or of remainu ing in total darkness. In the day tinie he is aUowed to see his friends (in the nianner before described) for two hours (from 12 till 2); but this permission does not extend to Salsdays. The prisonel is, however, fortunate in one circumstance-the accidental one o' Ihis imprisonment being in summer. Hiad it been in ths wintet season, the regulations of this prison would confine him to hbi soil tary cell for 16 hours out of the 24-viz. from 4 o'clock in tne after. noon until 8 the next morning. In closing this statement, it is bh justice to Ir. Walters (tle governor of theptison) nnd his assistants to observe, that they do every thing (consistently witlh their duty which humaise feelings cats dictate, to mitigate the Eeverity of thos' regulations which thev are obliged to entb:ce.l - This permission was extended to " meats" only. It did not in elude the powver of sending for even a d glass of beer." or aisy othc liquid except water. DISCIPLIArE OF THE SURREY GAOL. CASE OF LR. O CALLAGI[AN.