The Haslingden Gazette. — 1903-08-08 (Haslingden, Lancashire, England)

CIDKS IN PRISON.  Speaking of -suicides, these .• reminiscenees " would not be complete were one to omit the case of the Convict le—, whose dreadful end caused such a profound sensation in Parkhurst Prison, just before I left that establishment. The first time he had ever been in prison, F— was undergoing the crushing sentence of penal servitude for life. He had completed no less than 17 years of that sentence at the time of the tragic occurrence I am about to relate, and, as under a standing order of the home Office, life sentenced men are generally released ((in licence) when they have been 20 years in prison, he would have had but 3 years more to serve, when, probably, worn-out and completely demoralised by his long imprisonment, he resolved upon putting an end to it by taking his i OWII life. Engaged n a gang which carried on its operations upon the "top" landing of " A " hall, lie one day watched his opportunity : and, when the warder in charge of the party was occupied with another prisoner, deliberately flung himself over the railings and, falling a distance of nearly 80 feet, alighted on his head and was almost instantly killed. In most prisons I know there is a wire "guard " running along the whole length of each hall, and about 20 feet from the ground, thus breaking the fall, mid preventing any would-be suicide from descending to the flags beneath. Unhappily, this protective netting was not then " slung up " in "A " hall ; although it has, since that sad affair, been placed there. I chanced to be walking into that hall at the time of the occurrence, mid Fillf two warders mopping-up a pool of blood from the spot where the hapless prisoner bad fallen. Ile had just been carried over to the hospital ; but he was then, of course, unconscious, and died shortly afterwards. It was in connection with this painful incident that a certain" prison poet" composed the piece—since published—commencing with the lines :  " One more poor numeral Gone to his end !  Ignorant rumour will foolishly send From the false jaws of it, Not the real cause of it, Nor the true laws of it, or whither they tend." I wish apace would permit of a reproductim of the entire composition, but I have already exceeded the limit allowed me, and must conclude this chapter of " reminiscences " by referring to the case of poor who, within six weeks of F—'s death, was found dead in his cell, when the warder first unlocked his cell door on the 21st of February. Unlike F—, this man had been in prison before, and was then undergoing 20 years' penal servitude for attempting to murder his wife. The woman subsequently recovered ; and, when her husband had completed about eight or nine years of his sentence, tidings reached him that she had got into trouble. M— brooded over his misfortune to such an extent that his mind appeared to have given way. He was " admitted" to the hospital, where he remained for some time. He accused the medical staff of " neglect and ill-treat- I ment ;"—a charge which, after careful investigation, I found to be wholly unfounded. Bl was discharged from the infirmary suddenly, and a few days later, he was found in his cell, suspended from the "ventilator." attached to the cell window, and quite dead. He had tied a boot-lace around his throat on the previous evening, and, attaching it to a strip of linen torn from his sheets, strangled himself. An inquest was, of course, held in the prison next day, and the usiull stereotyped verdict— " temporary insanity " was returned. But what produced the insanity ? That M— was not " insane " at the date of his conviction and sentence is clear, as he would, in that case, have been sent to Broadmoor lunatic asylum. Perhaps the explanation of this and many other similar fatalities which have occurred in prisons within the past 20 years is to be found in the description given of our prison system by Sir Edmund du Cane, who has publicly declared that :—"Our prison regime imposes upon all under it an artificial btute of existence, contrary to that which nature has set up as the , conditions of moral, mental and physical I health !"  ‘•