The Sun. — 1842-10-29 (London, England)

THE EVENING PAPERS OF THIS DAY. GLOBE.The memorial signed by the Jury engaged in the investigation of the circumstances attending the death of Charles Beale is confirmatory of the opinion which has been expressed, - 1 hat the case to which the inquiry immediately referred is nut a solitary instance of the fatal effects that have resulted from the system adopted iu Northleach prison. The language oldie memorial asserts the belief of those by whom it is Signed that the treatment adopted in the House of Correction has been " in many cases attended with the loss of life, and in most of them with loss ofhealth." A statement that is not lightly put forth, but is founded on facts that came tinder the observation of the Jury at the recent inquest. In t!.e. letter of the foreman, which accompanies the tneTnorial alluded to, it is alleged that the deterioration of health in some cases, and premature death in others, have arisen from " damp cells, seunty fiiod, and over work," all !of which are evils that a decent degree of proper feeliner among those who have had the control of the prison would have prompted them 'to remedy. ft is not as if the mortaiity and sickness bad been occasioned by causes connected with the unhealthiness of the site, or any other circumstance that it might have been difficult to detect or provide against; but here it is evident that life has been sacrificed, and health destroyed, by the grossest neglect of the commonest clutes of humanity. It appears from the statemeet of the Jury that there is reason to believe many deaths have been occasioned by the system pursued in Northleach prison ; and it follows, therefore, as a matter of course, that offences to which the law has appended certain minor punishments have been visited frequently with the * penalty of death, when committed within the jurisdiction of some of the Gloucestershire Magistrates. It must be startling to some of those ultra-philanthropists who cannot hear the removal or even a murderer by the hangman's hand, when they read the memorial to which we have referred, and in which it is distinctly stated that in many cases loss of life has been the consequence oldie Northleach system of prison discipline. It is also the opinion of the memorialists that the other gaols in Gloucestershire have been the scenes of similar atrocities to those committed at Northleach; and an inquiry is therefore suggested into the whole of the county prisons. Such an inquiry must be extended to the whole of the prisons throughout the kingdom; for there can be no doubt, from the correspondence inserted in the public journals, that the entire system of prison discipline requires a general and thorough revision. We are too apt to judge of secondary punishments by their immediate rather than their ultiraate effects; and a maximum of work; as well as a minimum of food, Nv Lich may not be insupportable or itisufficient for an individual daring a short period of incarceration, may be undertnieing his health and strength, leaving him to suffer a combination of misery when there is an end to the period of his legal p!mishment. That the ameumorialists were not in error when they attributed mismanagement to the other prisons of the county, is proved by a statement made ou Thursday at the meeting of the Chelteuhatts Board of Guardians. A man Avho had previously worked for his livelihood was sent into Gloucester Gaol, where the system pursued at Northleach, of turning the prisoners hot and perspiring from the treadmill into cold damp cells, is also prevalent. Since his release, himself and his family have become a burden to the parish. If economy be one of the reasons for insufficient food in the gaols, it defeats its own object when it incapacitates a man from earning his bread after his release, and thus throws himself, and all who depend upon him, as a burden on the public pocket.