The Sun. — 1842-10-31 (London, England)

PUBLIC JOURNALS. FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF SATURDAY. 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, that the case to which the inquiry immediately referred is not a solitary instance of the fatal effects that have resulted from the system adopted in Northleach prison. The language of the 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 fbunded on facts that came under the observation of the Jury at the recent inquest. In the letter of the foreman, which accompanies the memorial alluded to, it is alleged that the deterioration of health in some cases, and premature death in others, have arisen from " damp cells, scanty fcor.l, and over work," all of wllich are evils that a decent degree of proper feeling among those who have had the control of the prison would have prompted them to , remedy. It is not as if the mortality and sickness had 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 duties of humanity. It appears from the statement 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-philanthropistswho cannot bear the removal of 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 of the 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 ultimate effects; and a maximum of work, as well as a minimum of food, which may not be insupportable or insufficient for an individual during a short period of incarceration, may be undermining his health and strength, leaving him to suffer a combination of misery when there is an end to the period of his legal punishment. That the [memorialists were not in error when they attributed mismanagement to the other prisons of the county, is proved by a statement made on Thursday at the meeting of the Cheltenham Board -of Guardians. A man who 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.