The Sun. — 1859-09-12 (London, England)

JUDICIAL. STATISTICS.  The third branch of the first part of the report of Mr. Samuel Redgrave, the Criminal Registrar (already noticed in The Sun of the 7th of September), refers to pl isons much interesting information respecting them being also derived from the reports of the official directors and inspectors of those institutions, to which we shall refer in a  separate article. The returns made by the keepers of prisons bear out, in their results, the satisfactory conclusion that the tendency of commitments to increase has at length been arrested. 139,457 persons were committed in 1858—namely, 105,107 males and 34,282 females. The percentage was 13.5 for trial at assizes, &c., 59.6 on summary conviction, 2.6 for want of bail, 9 on remand and discharged, 11.9 for debt and on civil process, and 3.4 under the Mutiny  Act.. The commitments, as compared with 1857, exhibit a decrease of 11 per cent. on the total committed, but if the criminal class is separated, the decrease is more considerable ; it is balanced by an increase of 15.8 on the debtors and others committed, not for crime, but on civil process, and a large increase of the military prisoners. The number of debtors committed to gaol has largely increased-viz., from 9,677 in 1854, to 16,620 last year. The grand total of the debtors committed in the quinquennium from 1854 to 1858 was 63,287, against 42,139 only in the preceding five years, from 1849 to 1853. This increase of debtors immured in gaols is doubtless due to the County Court system of commitments, already modified by legsilative interference last session. The military criminals have risen from 1,777 to 4,6/5. The proportion of the recommittals varies but little ; it was 29.8 per cent. last year, 29.7 in 1857, and 27.5 in 1856 • last year 41,580 criminals relapsed, or, like faulty bills in Parliament, were " re- I committed ;" of these 18,268 had been previously committed once, 7,909 twice, 4,345 three times, 2,883 four times, 1,639 five times ; 2,217 between five and seven times ; 1,313 between seven and ten times, and 3,006 more than ten times. The ages of those convicted (debtors and military prisoners excepted) were as follows :-1,553 males and females under 12 years, 8,776 under 16, 26,800 under 21, 38,413 under 30, 21,632 between 30 and 40, 12,088 between 40 and 50, 5,297 between 50 and 60, and 2,798 above 60 years of age. The proportion of the younger criminals had for many years continued to increase ; it attained its maximum in 1856, since which time, thanks to the reformatories, a progressive decline has been visible. There was a decrease last year in the usually large proportion ' of Irish criminals committed, particularly of the females. The Irish were in the ratio of 13.4 per cent., the English 79.0, the Welsh 2.4, the Scotch 1.9, and foreigners 1.6 per cent. No new facts ore presented by the state of instruction. Education is si.owly but generally advancing ; 41,826 of those .committed could neither read nor write ; 68,227 could read, or do both imperfectly ; 6,813 could do both well, and 397 were of superior instruction. It is not easy to ascertain with accuracy the antecedents of the criminal class, but the 118,162 persons committed (debtors and military prisoners excepted) are thus classified : -namely, 24,789 (8,012 men and 16,777 women), " of no occupation" at all, 4,487 household servants; 49,127 labourers, charwomen, and seamstresses ; 5,703 factory operatives, 22,490 mechanics and skilled workers, 162 foremen and overlookers, 1,297 shopmen, shopwomen, and clerks; 3,336 shopkeepers and dealers, 312 " professional" men, 5,214 sailors, marines, and soldiers (the last, we presume, " unattached"), and 1,263 whose occupations were not known. It will be seen that the ranks of crime are most largely recruited from labourers, mechanics,_ skilled workers, and what the French would call Bens d'industrie, or persons of no lawful vocation. "The tables give evidence," says Mr. Redgrave, " of a large neglected class, trained not to labour, but to plunder." Again, among the unskilled, untaught " labourers, charwomen, and needlewomen," numbers are classed who assume these occupations only to conceal their nefarious pursuits. "It is from the neglected, uncared-for masses which these classes include that the habitual criminals spring, and to them may be added those who lapse into crime from drunkenness, idleness, and vicious indulgence." " Poverty and distress, the common excuses for crime, degrade but few, and, probably, add little to the mass." There was a decrease of 8.8 per cent. in the prisoners in gaol at the end of the year, as compared with the number at the beginning; this is due to the shorter term of sentences, and the greater numbers removed to the Government prisons. 17,948 prisoners remained in gaol on the last day of the year 1858-viz., 13,802 men and 4,146 women; 10,105 were removed from the local to Government and other prisons, 967 to reformatories, and 130 to madhouses ; 7 were let out (from the local prisons) on tickets of leave, 11 escaped, 12 committed suicide, 219 died, and 10 were hanged. The cases of insanity are marked by a continuous increase, amounting to 25.2 per cent. on a comparison of the last two quinquennial periods. There were 57,514 punishments inflicted for prison offences, 171 prisoners were whipped, 13,593 " dark celled," and 41,642 had the supplies stopped. The total cost of the prisons last year was £560,012 -viz., £217,394 for building atd establishment charges, £191,350 for salaries of officers, &c., and £151,367 for the keep, &e., of the prisoners themselves. Each prisoner cost the country at least. £23 10s. ld. per annum, or, taking in certain extraordinary charges of last year, £29 16s. Bd. In some large prisons the cost is far above the average. In Lincoln County Gaol, for example, it is as high as £56 19s. 10d. a-year ;in Newgate, £52 2s. ld. ; and in Chester County Gaol, £47 9s. Bd. In Kent County Gaol the cost is only £2l ss. 4d. ; in Durham, £l6 ls. 7d. ; and in Stafford, £l7 ls. 6d. During the last decenium the maximum general average cost of each prisoner was £29 Is. 2d. (1856), and the minimum £22 ss. 6d. (1851). Of the prison expenditure, X 29,726 was derived from prison receipts (X 23,194 from the profits of prisoners' labour), £420,619 from local rates and funds, and £109,666 from the public revenue. The Government convict prisons, which have entirely superseded the hulks, will be noticed in detail in our review of the report of the directors of those establishments. 'l'h® daily average number of prisoners there immured last year was 7,859, and 7,628 remained on hand on the 31st of De' cember. About 1,300 were removed to the ccl )-nies (Western Australia, Bermuda, and Gibraltar), two were sent to school or reformatories, and 17 to madhouses ; 312 were let out on tickets of leave, 21 on commutation of sentence, and 110 on pardon. Three prisoners escaped. The number of convicts diseharged on tickets of leave has been reduced from 2,892. in 1856, and 922 in 1857, to the num