| By Author | [ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z | Other Symbols ] |
| By Title | [ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z | Other Symbols ] |
| By Language |
|
Download this book: [ ASCII ] Look for this book on Amazon Tweet |
Title: The Pennsylvania journal of prison discipline and philanthropy
Author: Anonymous
Language: English
As this book started as an ASCII text book there are no pictures available.
*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Pennsylvania journal of prison discipline and philanthropy" ***
VOL. XV. TERMS:—ONE DOLLAR A YEAR IN NO. 1.
ADVANCE.
THE
JOURNAL
OF
PRISON DISCIPLINE
AND
=Philanthropy.=
PUBLISHED QUARTERLY
UNDER THE DIRECTION OF “THE PHILADELPHIA SOCIETY FOR ALLEVIATING THE
MISERIES OF PUBLIC PRISONS,” INSTITUTED 1787.
JANUARY, 1860.
PHILADELPHIA:
E. C. & J. BIDDLE & CO.
1860.
PRINTED BY HENRY B. ASHMEAD.
CONTENTS OF NO. 1.
PAGE.
ART. I.— New Gaol for the City of Baltimore 1
II.— Texas Penitentiary 7
III.— Criminal Statistics of England and Wales for 1858 17
IV.— Reformation of Female Discharged Convicts 25
V.— Irish Convict Prisons 36
BRIEF NOTICES.
Escapes and Pardons 40
Early Crime 43
Compromising with Rogues 45
Consumption of Intoxicating Drinks 46
Prisons and Prisoners in South Carolina ib.
Annual Census of the Philadelphia County Prison 47
A Quarter’s Police Work in New York ib.
Alabama State Prison ib.
New York Prison Association 48
Deliberate Murder by a Boy under Nine Years of age ib.
Distribution of Labor in Paris ib.
New Jersey State Prison ib.
[Illustration:
NEW JAIL FOR THE CITY OF BALTIMORE, MD. THOS. & JAS. M. DIXON,
ARCH’TS.
]
[Illustration:
REFERENCE:
A, vestibule; B, rooms for the warden and his deputies; C, guard room;
D, cells; E, galleries; F, corridors; G, sink rooms; H, boiler
house; I, clerk’s office; J, gate keeper’s room; K, clerk’s
vestibule; L, entrance gateway; M, parlor; N, hall; O, passage; P,
dining room; Q, kitchen; R, store room; S, pantry; T, privies; U,
kitchen yard; V, office yard; Y, vestibule to warden’s residence.
]
[Illustration:
NEW JAIL FOR THE CITY OF BALTIMORE.—VIEW OF WARDEN’S RESIDENCE, LODGE,
AND ENTRANCE GATEWAY.
_Thos. & Jas. M. Dixon, Arch’ts_
]
JOURNAL
OF
PRISON DISCIPLINE.
VOL. XV.—JANUARY, 1860.—NO. 1.
ART. I.—NEW GAOL FOR THE CITY OF BALTIMORE.
We hear with unfeigned pleasure of any improvement in the construction
of city and county gaols. Convinced as we have been for many years, and
by testimony from innumerable sources, that in most of them we shall
find a fruitful soil for the production and growth of criminal purposes
and habits, we can conceive of few objects of municipal oversight which
demand earlier or closer attention. What the gaol does to make a bad man
worse, the penitentiary cannot easily undo. If a thief or burglar or
counterfeiter, while waiting for trial or sentence, serves a few weeks’
or months’ apprenticeship to one or more adepts in those branches in a
gaol, he is a very unpromising subject of penitentiary discipline. He
is, perhaps, rather braced against any influences which may be employed
to change his course of life, and buoyed up with the anticipation of
pursuing his criminal projects under more favorable circumstances, and
with greater skill and success, upon the termination of his sentence.
So deep are our convictions of the immeasurable evils inflicted on the
community by bad gaols, that we accept an attempt to improve them, in
any respect, as a token of good. If a cell that was dirty yesterday is
clean to-day—if the sexes are separated—if, instead of allowing
prisoners to herd together day and night, they are separated by night—if
for darkness, dampness and a pestilential atmosphere, the light and air
have free access—if, in a word, there is some decent respect shown to
the species represented in these suspected and perhaps fallen, degraded,
and certainly discreditable specimens of it—we take courage.
Of course we are prepared to congratulate our fellow-citizens of
Baltimore, on the completion of a new and imposing city gaol. And though
we could have wished they had adopted the principle of individual
separation—which we cannot but regard as indispensable under any system,
both as the _duty_ of society and as the _right_ of the offender—still,
a well-constructed, wholesome prison, properly governed, does credit to
the wisdom and humanity of the public authorities, and will, in the end,
prove altogether the most economical.
The following description of the gaol, illustrated as it is by the
accompanying engravings, will give our readers the means of judging for
themselves of the design and character of the new edifice:
The jail stands in close proximity to the penitentiary, and comprises
a centre building, and north and south wings.
There is a block of cells in each of the two wings, 15 cells in
length, 2 in width, and 5 stories in height, making 300 cells in the
two wings, for the confinement of prisoners.
These two wings are on what is known as the “Auburn plan,” being a
prison within a prison. The cells are surrounded by corridors formed
between the block of cells and the exterior walls.
The cells are 8 feet by 11 feet, and about 10 feet high, they are
built of bricks, with segment and arched ceilings, and brick floors;
each cell has an iron grated door and window opening into the
corridors. The corridors are 13 feet wide, and have floors of hard
flag stone on a level with the floors of the first story cells, they
are open from this floor to the top of the upper story cells.
All of the cells above the first story are reached by galleries and
staircases of iron. Each cell has a ventilating flue constructed in
the wall, with an opening into the lower part of the flue for the
reception of the prisoner’s night pail, to be closed with an iron
slide, and another opening near the top of the cell for ventilation,
which is also provided with an iron slide, by which it may be closed.
These flues all open into a large ventiduct constructed on the tops of
the blocks of cells, the vitiated air is taken from the cells through
these flues and airducts, by means of large ejecting ventilators,
placed on the roof and connected with the ventiducts.
Light and air is admitted in abundance by the large windows in the
exterior walls.
There are five sink rooms in each of the four corner towers, making
one sink room for each range of fifteen cells; the iron galleries are
continued across the corridors to the sink rooms, and each one is
fitted up with an enamelled iron hopper and trap, through which the
contents of the night pails are discharged into the soil pipes and
sewers; there is also an iron sink with a sufficient supply of water.
Each sink room has two windows for light and ventilation.
There is a tank in the upper story of each of the four towers to
insure a constant and adequate supply of water.
The guard room in the centre building is 57 feet 6 inches by 59 feet 6
inches, and about 38 feet high, and is separated from the wings by
heavy iron screens or gratings, to confine the prisoners to the
corridors and galleries of each wing at such times as they may be
allowed privileges outside of the cells; these screens are constructed
so as not to obstruct the view into the wings from the guard room. The
corridors, stairs and galleries of the wings all being in full view
from the guard room—the floor of which is on a level with the lower
gallery of the wings, and is formed of 144 plates of cast iron,
supported on rolled iron beams, so arranged as to form a bearing for
all the four sides of each plate, the beams being supported by nine
iron columns and the four side walls. The guard room is lighted by
three very large windows. The only entrance to either the north or
south wing is through the guard room.
The kitchen, in which all the cooking, baking, washing, &c. will be
done, is under the guard room and on a level with the first story of
cells, and is of the same size as the guard room, and 11 feet high.
The cooking and the heating water for the various purposes is all to
be done by steam, and the baking in two brick ovens. The kitchen is
lighted by three windows in the east side, two angle windows in the
west side, and 4 floor lights, taking the place of four of the iron
plates of the guard room floor.
There are two rooms in the front part of the centre building on a
level with the kitchen for the reception of prisoners, one on each
side of a vestibule through which they are entered—they are fitted up
with iron bath tubs, water closets, and a fumigating oven for the
purpose of cleansing the filthy before placing them in their cells.
The entrance to these reception rooms is under the landing of the
steps to the upper vestibule, and there is an iron staircase from the
lower to the upper vestibule, by which the prisoners are taken from
the reception rooms or lower entrance to the guard room and cells.
The two rooms in the front part of the centre building, on a level
with the guard room, are for the use of the warden and his deputies.
There are six rooms in the front part of the centre building for the
confinement of witnesses, or for privilege rooms, four of which are
about 20 feet square, and the other two about 15 feet square; these
rooms have private water closets, and are supplied with water, they
have high ceilings, are well ventilated, light, pleasant, and
cheerful; they are approached by private staircases in the two towers
of the front part of the centre building, and are connected with the
galleries of the north and south wings by a gallery on the west side
of the guard room.
There are three hospital rooms in the upper story of the front part of
the centre building, they have private water closets, bath tubs, with
warm and cold water, and shower, they can be reached from the cells of
the north and south wings by the gallery through the guard room and
iron staircases, and also from the stairs in the front towers; they
are well lighted and ventilated.
There is a water tank in the upper part of the centre building to
supply the kitchen, water closets, baths, wash basins, &c.
The chapel is in the upper part of the centre building over the guard
room. It will seat over 400 persons. There is an entrance to it from
each of the wings, and also from the front part of the centre
building. It is about 22 feet high, well lighted and ventilated, and
so planned that the prisoners can be separated into classes if deemed
desirable. The chapel floor is supported by two double lattice wrought
iron girders.
There are ventilating flues and ejecting ventilators constructed in
all parts of the centre building, and all of the windows and other
openings throughout, are made secure by wrought iron gratings. All the
floors are on iron beams and brick arches. The building is thoroughly
fire proof in all parts except the chapel and roof framing, and is
warmed by steam from two large boilers located in the boiler house on
the east side of the jail, and lighted at night by gas. There is a
thorough system of drainage from all of the waste pipes, soil pipes,
and rain water pipes, through brick drains and sewers to Jones’ Falls,
a stream running within about 200 feet of the jail.
The entrance gateway and lodge, the clerk’s office and the residence
for the warden, are on the south side of the jail lot, fronting on
Madison street. There are two chambers over the lodge and office on
the east side of the gateway. In the Warden’s residence, on the west
side of the gateway, there is a kitchen, dining room, parlor, five
chambers, and bath room, with hall passages, pantry, store rooms and
closets, and all other requisite appurtenances and conveniences for
the comfortable accommodation of a family. The yard for the warden’s
residence is separated from the jail yard by a stone wall and iron
gate.
The prisoners are received and discharged through the gates on Madison
street.
The exterior walls of the jail and other buildings are all of stone,
together with all the corbels, copings, quoins, chimney tops, &c. The
base, up to the second range of window sills, is of granite, cut and
set in large blocks. The walls above the base are of light blue stone,
laid in rubbled masonry, with splayed jambs and arches. The window
sills above the basement, and the quoins, corbels, copings and other
dressings are of marble. The roofs are of slate. The interior walls,
arches, &c., are all of brick.
The site is a good one, being easy of access from all parts of the
city, and convenient to the court house and penitentiary. There is
ample space on all sides for a free circulation of air. The lot has a
gentle ascent to the north and east, and a dry self-draining gravel
sub-soil. Its proximity to Jones’ Falls, and its elevation above the
water level, affords the best means of drainage.
In designing this prison and working out the various details of the
plan, we endeavored to carry out the following general principles,
viz:
1. Confinement of prisoners in separate cells, so far as deemed
desirable.
2. Separation into classes.
3. The cells so arranged that their doors and windows may have open
gratings, and yet so as that a prisoner cannot from his cell see into
any other cells or into any other part of the building except the
corridor opposite his own cell.
4. The corridors so arranged and located that prisoners can, with
convenience and safety, be allowed privileges in them.
5. Pleasant and convenient yet perfectly secure rooms, for the
confinement of witnesses, entirely separate from the other parts of
the prison.
6. No apartment for the confinement of a prisoner to be below the
surface of the ground.
7. An unobstructed view of the corridors, galleries and stairs from
the guard room.
8. Central location for the kitchen, the chapel and all other offices.
9. Convenient means of ingress and egress.
10. Such an arrangement of plan as would secure the greatest benefit
of sunshine on the exterior walls and into the corridors and rooms,
and admit of the free movements of the currents of air around and
throughout the building.
11. An abundant supply of water, properly distributed throughout all
parts of the prison, and a suitable number of bath tubs, water
closets, hoppers and sinks to promote cleanliness among the prisoners
and in the prison.
12. The sink rooms so located and arranged as to prevent their
contaminating the atmosphere of the prison.
13. Effectual means for warming, and a thorough system of ventilation,
and means for admitting an abundant supply of fresh air and light to
all parts of the building.
14. All parts of the building in which the prisoners are to be
confined to be thoroughly fire proof, and to be so secure as to
preclude all hope of escape therefrom.
15. Hospital rooms to be conveniently located in a quiet part of the
building.
16. The residence for the Warden’s family not to be in the jail, but
on the jail lot, and very convenient to the entrance to the jail.
17. Simplicity and economy, in plan and construction, so far as
consistent with the other essential requirements.
And finally to provide, by every possible means consistent with
security, a proper degree of economy and a salutary discipline for the
healthfulness, comfort and convenience of the prisoners; for while a
prison is a place of confinement for criminals or persons charged with
crime, and as such should be made so secure as to shut out all
reasonable hope of escape, that the proper ends of justice may be met,
yet humanity and indeed justice herself demands that the life and
health of the prisoners shall be carefully protected, and every
suitable means afforded them for repentance and moral improvement.
The architectural style of the building is castellated Gothic, and
presents in the durable stone of which the building is erected those
simple, yet bold, strong and massive features which convey the idea of
fitness—that basis of all proportion—which affords to us an emotion of
pleasure, or that feeling of satisfaction arising from the
contemplation of means properly adapted to their end, and possessing
those qualities of order and harmony which excite our admiration. Any
attempt at mere architectural display, by elaborate ornamentation or
expensive finish, would have been the work of supererogation.
Propriety and fitness forbid the use of elaborate embellishment.
Strength and security should be the most prominent features in the
design for a prison, that it may by its austere beauty wear a suitable
expression, and thus proclaim with truthfulness the purpose for which
it is designed.
The total cost of gaol, warden’s residence, heating, cooking, &c., is
not far from $290,000.
ART. II.—TEXAS PENITENTIARY.
In March, 1848, the Legislature of Texas, in pursuance of a provision in
the State Constitution, passed an act authorizing the Governor to
appoint three Commissioners to select a location, and report the
details, for the erection of a Penitentiary; the action of the
Commissioners to be subject to the approval of the Governor. After
careful and full consideration of the comparative advantages of the
several sites offered, the town of Huntsville, the county seat of Walker
county, was selected, and the selection approved.
Walker county lies just under the thirty-first degree of north latitude,
and between the eighteenth and nineteenth degrees of longitude west from
Washington; and the Trinity river forms its north-eastern boundary.
Huntsville is very nearly the geographical centre of the county, and is
about one hundred and twenty miles a little west of north from
Galveston; and about one hundred and sixty miles north of west from
Austin, the capital of the State. The town stands upon a low gravelly
ridge, bare of trees, and with deep ravines upon three sides. Some few
scattered houses, as well as Austin College and the Andrew Female
College, are built upon corresponding ridges, which rise on the opposite
sides of these ravines. There is no extended growth of heavy timber in
the immediate vicinity of the town. The approach from the east for some
five or six miles, is through a sandy region covered with a dense growth
of scrub oak and underbrush. Upon the west and south the country is more
open, gradually merging into the rolling prairies of Grimes and
Washington counties. Small streams run through the ravines and find
their way into the lesser branches of the Trinity and San Jacinto
rivers; but the supply of water is irregular and the ravines are often
dry. The situation is a healthy one, the air pure and bracing, and the
climate favorable. The town is regularly incorporated, and has from
sixteen hundred to seventeen hundred inhabitants.
Upon the eastern outskirt of the town, on both sides of the main road
from the lower Red River country, are the buildings and grounds of the
Penitentiary. The main buildings and enclosure are upon the southern
side of the road, and extend back down the slope of the ravine, with a
gradual and slight descent. Upon the opposite side of the road are the
storehouse and warehouse: the storehouse, which includes under the same
roof the offices and residence of the Financial Agent, is sixty feet
front by fifty deep, and two stories high; the warehouse is about forty
feet front by fifty deep, and two stories high. The two buildings are
separated from each other by an open space of some two hundred feet
front; the intervening ground, together with a considerable lot in the
rear extending back of the storehouse and warehouse, is mostly under
cultivation as a vegetable garden for the convicts. The warehouse is
used for storing the wool and cotton for the factory. In the storehouse
are kept the manufactured goods for sale. The front of the Penitentiary
faces north, and extends a distance of some three hundred feet directly
upon the road without any intervening fence or wall. The storehouse and
warehouse are immediately opposite the respective extremities of the
front, the main entrance of the Penitentiary in the centre, facing the
open space above mentioned. The front elevation consists of a centre
building some sixty feet front and three stories high, with two wings,
each one hundred and twenty feet long and two stories high. The entire
front presents one uniform extent of brick wall upon the same line for
the whole distance, unbroken by any recesses or openings except the
large, but plain, arched gateway in the centre and the rows of windows;
and unrelieved by a single projection or attempt at ornamental or
architectural display. The only thing to relieve the monotonous
uniformity of the front is the additional story upon the centre
building. The bricks of which all the Penitentiary buildings are built
are made in the neighborhood, and are coarse and of a dingy red color.
At the main entrance, the large, solid, double leafed door, which mostly
stands wide open in the day time, is stationed a guard, armed with a
six-shooter in his belt, and a double-barreled shot-gun, loaded with
buck-shot and ready capped, in his hands. An admission fee of
twenty-five cents is charged for each visitor, and the amount received
goes into the general accounts of the prison, and very nearly defrays
the expense of the extra guard who is kept for the express purpose of
waiting on visitors through the establishment. Any one, however, who has
a higher motive than mere curiosity, and desires to examine the
condition and management of the Penitentiary through an interest in the
subject of prisons and prison discipline, and will make himself known to
the Superintendent, will always be courteously received and every
facility afforded for his inquiries and observations without charge.
Passing through the archway, the visitor is admitted by the guard
through the large grated iron gate which closes its inner end, into the
yard of the prison. In the middle of the yard is a two story log-house,
used now as the shoemaker’s shop, but built originally as a place of
confinement for the convicts who were employed in the erection of the
Penitentiary. The entire space enclosed within the limits of the prison
walls is about three hundred feet square: the enclosure upon the
northern side is formed by the front or main building; the southern side
of the enclosure and the portions of the eastern and western sides
adjacent thereto, are shut in by substantial brick walls; while the rest
of the eastern and western sides is formed by ranges of buildings
connected with the main edifice. Just within the prison wall upon the
southern side of the yard is the factory, a substantial building of
brick, two stories high and two hundred and seventy feet long by fifty
deep. Both cotton and woolen goods, chiefly of the coarser kind in
demand for plantation wear, are manufactured. The establishment of the
factory was authorized by the Legislature at the session of 1853 and
1854, and an appropriation made for the erection of the building, and
the purchase of the necessary machinery. Carding and spinning were
commenced in June, 1856, and the first loom started late in July of the
same year. Steam power is used to drive the machinery, and the factory
has been kept steadily in operation from the time of its commencement,
the number of looms having been gradually increased as the success of
the undertaking developed itself. The machinery was all made in
Massachusetts.
The results of the employment of convict labor in this department of
manufactures, is regarded by the Directors and officers of the
Penitentiary, as a decided pecuniary success; and the Osnaburgs and
woolens made here bear a high reputation throughout the State, and are
undoubtedly of most excellent quality and finish.
The centre building of the front is about forty feet deep, and is
occupied for the offices and residence of the Superintendent and other
prison officers, except the Financial Agent. The lower story is
curtailed in room by the archway passing through its entire depth, and
affording access for vehicles as well as persons to the prison yard. The
wings are occupied entirely for cells: these are built in three tiers
one above the other from the floor (which is but slightly raised from
the level of the ground) to the roof. The tiers of cells are entirely
separated from the exterior walls of the building by corridors about six
feet wide, which are open from the floor to the roof of the buildings;
access to the cells in the second and third tiers being had from narrow
galleries reached by stairways, one at the end of each wing nearest the
centre building. One of the buildings upon the western side of the
square is also occupied for cells arranged in similar tiers. Each cell
is eight feet long by five wide, and eight feet high. The door of each
is a grating of cross-barred iron, and affords the only means of
ventilation and the only access for light; and as the doors are but five
feet high, with the bottom edge on a level with the floor, the
ventilation is necessarily imperfect. All the air is introduced from the
corridors, and the windows of the corridors which open to the outer air,
are small in size and not very numerous. The corridors, however, are
sufficiently lighted for all ordinary purposes, except perhaps on very
dark days. The interior of the cells and the walls of the corridors are
kept thoroughly whitewashed. There are no water closets in the cells,
but each is furnished with a movable vessel. In addition to the cot with
its bedding, each cell is provided with a small table and stool, and a
few have some one or two other small articles of furniture. There is no
uniformity of neatness or cleanliness in the cells, the care of each
being entrusted to its occupant; and beyond a certain, not very high
standard, no special attention to these matters is enforced.
The buildings upon the eastern and western sides of the prison yard,
afford accommodations for the cook-house or kitchen, blacksmith and
wagon shops, in addition to a range of cells. The meals are all served
to the prisoners in the cells—breakfast before they leave in the
morning, and supper after their return at night. For dinner they are
mustered from their work at the ringing of the bell at noon, marched
back to their cells, and after dinner conducted again to their work. The
provisions are of good quality and well cooked. The rations per day of
each convict are, a pound and a half of beef, or three quarters of a
pound of mess pork or bacon, and a pound and a half of corn-meal.
Sometimes mutton is furnished in place of the beef, and the fresh meat
is given on alternate days. To each hundred rations there are allowed
six pounds of sugar, five pounds of coffee, fourteen pounds of flour,
three pounds of soap, sufficient salt, vinegar and pepper for seasoning,
three gallons of molasses, eight quarts of beans or peas, and vegetables
whenever they can be procured. _Each convict who chews tobacco has one
half plug per week furnished him._
The floors and ceilings of the cells and the roofs of the prison
buildings are of wood, and a few years since the prisoners occupying
three cells one over the other, made their escape by cutting through the
floors and roof, and so getting down upon the outside. Since that
occurrence the prisoners have been searched regularly twice a-day—once
when they return to their cells for dinner, and again at supper time.
There were one hundred and eighty-two convicts in the Penitentiary at
the time of our first visit, and two others were brought in on the day
of our second visit. One cannot but be struck with the number of
Mexicans, easily distinguishable by their dark complexions; long,
straight, jet-black hair, and piercing black eyes. A very large
proportion of the convicts are imprisoned for horse stealing, the most
common form of larceny in this State; and which is very severely
punished, the sentences ranging as high as fifteen years. There were no
negroes in the prison. But very few free negroes are met with in the
State; and for the higher classes of offences for which a white man or
free negro would be sent to the Penitentiary, a slave is hung. The outer
clothing of the convicts consists of a round jacket and pantaloons of
the goods manufactured in the Penitentiary, cotton in summer and woolen
in winter, with black wool hats. The jacket and pantaloons are each
one-half dark and the other half light colored—the dark half of the
jacket and the light half of the pantaloons being on the same side of
the body, and _vice versa_. Osnaburg shirts, brogans, and wool socks
complete the dress, each article of which bears a number corresponding
with the cell occupied by the wearer; the numbers upon the articles of
outer clothing being large and conspicuous.
All convicts who can read are furnished with a copy of the Bible, the
Mexicans with Bibles in the Spanish language. They are also permitted to
read such other religious or moral works as the Chaplain may approve.
They can have but little opportunity for reading except on Sundays, when
they are confined in their cells all day, with the exception of the time
of public worship. The Chaplain preaches regularly on the Sabbath twice
a-day. There is no chapel or hall provided for assembling the convicts.
The convicts are marched out of their cells, each bringing his stool
with him, and ranged along the opposite sides of one of the long narrow
corridors, in no very strict or regular order. The Chaplain stands about
the middle of the corridor, while at each end are the guards fully
armed; the Superintendent is also present.
By a special enactment of the Legislature, the front of the cell of any
prisoner sentenced to solitary confinement for life, is painted black,
and his name and sentence distinctly marked thereon. The object would
seem to be to infuse a salutary dread into the minds of the other
prisoners. Upon the only black-painted cell in the prison was the
following inscription, in distinct white letters: _William Brown, aged
twenty-four years, convicted for murder in Grimes County, spring term,
1858, for which he is now suffering solitary confinement for life_.
Brown himself, however, was in fact at work in the factory with the
other convicts! He entered the Penitentiary in May, 1859, and had been
kept in close confinement in his cell, _without labor_, never being
permitted to leave it for any purpose, until about the first of October,
when his health was found to have suffered so much that, to preserve his
life, he was, under a discretionary power vested in the Directors,
released from the rigor of his sentence, and subjected to only the
ordinary confinement of the prison. His health had since greatly
improved. It is not to be wondered at that his health should decline
under the strict enforcement of such a sentence. The cell in which he
was confined was the same as to size, ventilation, and light as the
rest; and being one of the lower tier of cells, the top of the doorway
was some feet below the lower edge of the windows upon the opposite side
of the corridor in the outside wall. He had even less chance for fresh
air than if his cell had been in almost any other location. It is the
sight and knowledge of such instances of solitary _unemployed_
confinement as this, and a wilful neglect or refusal to inform
themselves upon, and recognize, the very wide distinction between the
terms _separate_ and _solitary_, that renders many persons so violently
prejudiced against, and opposed to the “Separate System.”
There were but three female convicts. One was undergoing a sentence for
arson, and the other two had been convicted of murder. One of these
latter occupied a cell immediately under one in which her husband was
suffering imprisonment, as an accomplice of his wife in the crime for
which she was sentenced. She had murdered her father, to get his money.
The husband of the other woman had died, in prison, but a few weeks
previous to our visit. He, too, had been convicted as an accomplice of
his wife; the victim of their crime being a niece of the wife, who had
excited her jealousy.
Each prisoner occupies his own separate cell at night and during
meal-times. Among the prisoners was a boy of seventeen, who had been
sent there for want of any better place for him: his offence was
stabbing. In consequence of his youth, he was not subjected to the same
strictness of discipline as the other convicts, and was allowed many
privileges, occasionally even being allowed to sleep in the same cell
with another convict. His opportunities of intercourse with the others
must have been frequent, and the association will, in all probability,
prove most disastrous in its consequences. His return to the
Penitentiary, in the course of a few years at most, can be calculated on
with reasonable certainty. Whatever disposition he may show, or whatever
efforts he may make, upon his release, to lead a proper life,—all will
be neutralized, almost inevitably, by the knowledge of the fact that he
has been a convict in the penitentiary; and some of those who have been
his fellow-convicts, of a more hardened experience in crime, will be
constantly on the watch to lead him astray, and with an influence of
great power.
The grades of punishment for refractory convicts are: 1st. Confinement
in the dark cell. 2d. Confinement on bread and water. 3d. Confinement,
and deprivation of tobacco. 4th. Irons, with or without confinement.
5th. Standing in the stocks. Flogging is also permitted, but only by
special order of the Directors, to whom the Superintendent reports any
case he may think deserving of that punishment, and the Directors decide
on the expediency of the infliction. It cannot, however, in any case,
exceed one hundred lashes, and is administered with a leather strap.
In case any of the prisoners escape, one of the guards has some two or
three hounds trained to catch runaways, and used to track the fugitives.
As some of the prisoners are employed outside the prison yard, about the
storehouse and warehouse, and in the garden, the opportunity thus
presented, for attempting an escape, is sometimes improved; and the dogs
are then brought into use. Escape, however, is a matter of difficulty;
and the attempt, even, is hazardous: for, in addition to the armed guard
at the main entrance, the immediate vicinity of the prison premises is
further watched and protected by armed guards, on duty constantly, in
guard-houses a little distance from the walls, outside,—one at each
corner, and one opposite the middle of each side, except the front.
Visitors are not allowed to hold any communication with the convicts,
either by word or sign; nor are the master-workmen allowed to hold any
conversation with them, except in giving necessary information or
direction concerning their work. The master-workmen are also forbidden
to converse, in the hearing of convicts, with other persons on matters
foreign to their work. The convicts are also prohibited from holding any
communication among themselves; but the impossibility of preventing this
entirely, was manifest, and, indeed, was frankly admitted. The friends
and relatives of any convict are permitted to see and converse with him,
in the presence of the Superintendent, at his discretion.
The officers of the Penitentiary are,—a Superintendent, Financial Agent,
and three Directors; all of whom are appointed by the Governor, for four
years. In addition to these, the master-workmen, physician, chaplain,
sergeant of the guard, and steward, are considered as officers of the
prison, and all hold their appointments from the Directors. The salaries
of the Superintendent and Financial Agent are $1,500 per annum, each; of
the Directors, $250 each; of the Physician, $500; and of the Chaplain,
$250.
The present Superintendent is Col. J. H. Murray, who has been in office
some eighteen months. He is a gentleman of liberal and intelligent
views, and feels the responsibilities of his office. To his courtesy and
attention we were indebted for the opportunity of obtaining much of the
foregoing information. The present Chaplain is a Presbyterian; but
ministers of other denominations occasionally supply his place. Any
convict who may wish is allowed to see a clergyman of his own particular
denomination. The Directors are required to visit the Penitentiary at
least twice in each month, and to report to the Legislature biennially.
A few words as to the County Prisons of Texas. The only opportunity
which offered for visiting a county jail was at Brenham, Washington
County. The jail building stands near the court house, a little off from
the public square, in the centre of the town, and is without enclosure
of any kind. It is a plain, two story building, about twenty-five feet
square, built of a double thickness of hewed logs. A narrow corridor
runs around the inside of the lower story, and surrounds the dungeon,
which is the only room upon this story, and has walls of a triple
thickness of logs. The entrance to the dungeon is through a heavy iron
trap-door in the floor of the second story. The single door of the jail
itself opens directly from the street into the corridor. The second
story has but two apartments, which occupy its entire extent; and one of
these is appropriated for female prisoners, when there are any. There
was but one occupant, a man, at the time of our visit. A short time
previous, a prisoner had been confined in the dungeon, awaiting his
trial on a charge of murder, but had succeeded in making his escape, in
which he must have had assistance from the outside. No jailer or other
officer lives at the jail, nor is any special watch kept. The only
furniture was a rude stool or two, and a few bed-clothes, laid upon the
bare floor. There are no windows in the building, and a few narrow,
horizontal openings in the log-walls, secured with iron bars, afford the
only supplies of light and air; no shutters, sashes, or other means of
closing these openings are provided. There is no provision made for
warming the prison, and the cold must sometimes be severe, especially
during the prevalence of the Northers. The jail is in charge of the
Sheriff, and the food of the prisoners depends altogether upon his
discretion. It is possible, that in Galveston, and perhaps in one or two
other places, the County Prisons may be upon a better plan, but in none
of them is the separate system in force. The prisoners, untried as well
as convicts, have an almost unrestrained intercourse. From all that we
could learn, it is to be feared that the jails of many of the Counties
are even less comfortable than the one at Brenham. But very many things
combine to render it peculiarly difficult to awaken the public mind of
Texas to the necessity and importance of a careful consideration of the
subject of Prison Discipline.
ART. III.—CRIMINAL STATISTICS OF ENGLAND AND WALES FOR 1858.
To the statesman and political economist, not less than to the Christian
philanthropist, an inquiry into the sources and extent of crime, and the
number, condition and previous history of criminals cannot be without
interest. Scarcely a day passes in our chief cities, without the
occurrence of some startling outrage upon the public peace, or on the
person or property of the citizen. Scarcely a newspaper can be taken up,
which does not contain a record more or less in detail of acts of
violence and fraud. Why are they not prevented? What provokes their
perpetration? How are the guilty parties punished, and what is the
effect of their punishment on themselves or others?
In the absence (to our shame be it said) of reliable statistics on such
subjects in our own country, we are compelled to resort to the elaborate
and authentic reports made to the British government. And as the vicious
dispositions and passions of men are the same there as here, and the
temptations to crime, as well as crimes themselves and the methods of
perpetrating them, do not materially differ in the two countries, we
find great satisfaction and instruction in the information they furnish.
In our last number we gave an abstract of the criminal statistics of
England and Wales for 1857. Since that time we have received the more
full and complete returns for 1858. We do not propose to notice the same
class of items to which our former article adverted, but to cull a few
facts and results of general and universal interest, which were not then
ascertained. The following table exhibits a significant class of facts.
┌───────────────┬───────────┬────────────┬───────────┬───────────┬───────────┐
│ CITIES AND │ │ Criminal │ │ │ │
│ TOWNS. │ │ Classes, │ Per Cent. │ │ Per Cent. │
│ │ │ including │ of │Prostitutes│ of │
│ │Population.│Prostitutes.│Population.│separately.│Population.│
├───────────────┼───────────┼────────────┼───────────┼───────────┼───────────┤
│1. Metropolis │ │ │ │ │ │
│ of London and│ │ │ │ │ │
│ fifteen miles│ │ │ │ │ │
│ round, │ 2,545,000│ 14,294│ 1 in 178│ 7,104│ 1 in 354│
│ │ │ │ │ │ │
│2. Pleasure │ │ │ │ │ │
│ towns, as │ │ │ │ │ │
│ Bath, │ │ │ │ │ │
│ Brighton, │ │ │ │ │ │
│ Ramsgate, &c.│ 198,000│ 2,085│ 1 in 95│ 839│ 1 in 236│
│ │ │ │ │ │ │
│3. Eight towns │ │ │ │ │ │
│ depending on │ │ │ │ │ │
│ agricultural │ │ │ │ │ │
│ districts, │ 160,557│ 2,056│ 1 in 78│ 690│ 1 in 232│
│ │ │ │ │ │ │
│4. Ten │ │ │ │ │ │
│ commercial │ │ │ │ │ │
│ ports, │ │ │ │ │ │
│ including │ │ │ │ │ │
│ Liverpool, │ 905,820│ 9,674│ 1 in 93│ 5,346│ 1 in 169│
│ │ │ │ │ │ │
│5. Ten cotton │ │ │ │ │ │
│ and linen │ │ │ │ │ │
│ manufacturing│ │ │ │ │ │
│ towns, │ │ │ │ │ │
│ including │ │ │ │ │ │
│ Manchester │ │ │ │ │ │
│ and │ │ │ │ │ │
│ Stockport, │ 758,163│ 4,910│ 1 in 164│ 1,429│ 1 in 530│
│ │ │ │ │ │ │
│6. Six woolen │ │ │ │ │ │
│ and worsted │ │ │ │ │ │
│ manufacturing│ │ │ │ │ │
│ towns, │ 380,860│ 2,168│ 1 in 175│ 490│ 1 in 777│
│ │ │ │ │ │ │
│7. Small and │ │ │ │ │ │
│ mixed textile│ │ │ │ │ │
│ manufacturing│ │ │ │ │ │
│ towns, │ 263,984│ 2,329│ 1 in 113│ 611│ 1 in 432│
│ │ │ │ │ │ │
│8. Three │ │ │ │ │ │
│ hardware │ │ │ │ │ │
│ manufacturing│ │ │ │ │ │
│ towns, │ │ │ │ │ │
│ including │ │ │ │ │ │
│ Birmingham │ │ │ │ │ │
│ and │ │ │ │ │ │
│ Sheffield, │ 418,130│ 8,720│ 1 in 47│ 860│ 1 in 486│
└───────────────┴───────────┴────────────┴───────────┴───────────┴───────────┘
The reader cannot fail to be impressed by the singular disproportion in
the number belonging to the criminal ranks, observed on comparing these
different groups of towns, classed according to the predominant
occupation or business of the inhabitants. There is no doubt that the
incentives to a lawless life are much more numerous and powerful at
certain times and places than at others. It would be easy to indicate
probable causes for such discrepancies, and to trace their connection
with particular phases of crime, but that is not relevant to our present
purpose.
From the tabular view, it would seem that the criminal class is highest
in the great seats of hardware manufacture; next in towns in rural
districts; then in commercial ports; next in pleasure towns; then in
towns employed in small textile manufactures; then in cotton
manufacturing towns; next in woolen manufacturing towns; and last in the
metropolis. But in the number of prostitutes the order is materially
changed, the largest proportion being in the commercial ports, and the
smallest in the woolen and worsted manufacturing towns,—the metropolis
being considerably below the average.
There is a remarkable variation both in the general criminal classes,
and in the specific crime of prostitution in different agricultural
districts.
In the eastern agriculturing
district the criminal per centage is 1 in 113— Prostitutes 1 in 1122
In the south and south-western 1 in 104 „ 1 in 1829
In the midland district 1 in 103 „ 1 in 1307
The present returns show that only the very small proportion of about
one-fifth of the known criminal classes are in prison at any one time.
Of the parties proceeded against by indictment, nearly one-fourth were
of “previous good character;” and of those proceeded against summarily,
full one-half were of “previous good character,” and of both classes
fourteen per cent. of both sexes were under sixteen!
Considering that until very recently, at least 4000 of the worst
criminals were annually removed from the country by transportation, and
that though a much more efficient police system has been in force, yet
the number of commitments has not been sensibly increased, the inference
is drawn that a better system of prevention prevails, and that better
prison management has led to the absorption of a large number of
discharged prisoners in honest employments.
There are in the country—
Houses for receiving stolen goods 3,122
Houses to which thieves and prostitutes resort, viz.:
Public houses 2,402
Beer shops 2,151
Coffee shops 386
Other suspected houses 2,157 7,096
Brothels and houses of ill fame 7,915
Tramps’ lodging houses 6,987
——————
Total houses of bad character 25,120
A curious comparison is given of crimes and arrests. The number of known
crimes of a grave character against the person, and all violent offences
against property (excluding offences dealt with summarily by
magistrates) were 57,868.
Crimes. Arrests.
January, February and March 15,785 7,950
April, May and June 12,895 6,982
July, August and September 12,592 6,698
October, November and December 16,596 8,828
—————— ——————
Total 57,868 30,458
The greater prevalence of crime in the winter months is accounted for on
the ground that employment is more scarce, and the prolonged hours of
darkness afford greater opportunities to commit it. It is obvious that
the return of crimes committed embraces but an inconsiderable portion of
the overt criminal acts in the community. During the period covered by
it, there were upwards of 40,000 known thieves and depredators, and
40,000 suspected persons at large. The former living by thieving must
thieve to live, and it is “clear that a large amount of petty
depredations occur, which, with every allowance for the large summary
jurisdiction exercised in cases of theft, is not represented in the
return, as well as many continued domestic thefts and frauds which are
never detected, or never brought within the cognizance of the police.”
There is an item in the present report which suggests some inquiries
that we should be inclined to pursue if we had space and time. The
common impression is, that men do not _suddenly_ leave the path of
honesty and become rogues as it were by a leap. There may be no overt
act attracting the notice or exciting the suspicion of the most intimate
associates, as a partner in business, a colleague in office, or a fellow
workman or clerk; but nevertheless subsequent revelations usually show
that the crooked path was entered cautiously, by reluctant and
hesitating steps, and some distance trod before there was boldness
enough to take the fatal step. We apprehend this impression is
warranted,—perhaps it is confirmed, rather than weakened,—by the facts
here disclosed. It is undoubtedly true that delinquencies of a positive
and unequivocal character are often kept private, and the offending
parties, after a brief interval, betake themselves again to evil
courses; and when some act of gross turpitude is exposed, it is regarded
as the first development of a depraved character, whereas in fact it is
only the last of a long series of criminal acts. How far such
concealment is justifiable, or to what extent it is the means of saving
persons from an abandonment to a criminal life, we are not prepared to
say. But cases are not rare in which a desire to save an individual from
infamy, and perhaps a circle of friends from mortification, has induced
confidence to be reposed where it was undeserved, and so has been the
means of much deeper injury to much higher interests. Very few instances
occur in which a grave offence is committed, especially against
property, by parties who had never before been known to swerve from
honesty.
The present report shows, that of 30,458 persons, 5,398 were of previous
good character, and 7,886 were known to be of bad character. Out of
404,034 proceeded against summarily, 148,178 were of “previous good
character,” and of 130,502 it was not known to be bad.
The Report of Coroner’s inquests for the year gives a total of 19,846,
against 20,167 in 1857, and 22,221 in 1856. The diminution is ascribed
to the fact that in 1856 the rule was established not to allow the
expenses of inquests when it turned out that the death ensued from
natural causes, and without any ground to suspect a criminal act or
culpable neglect; and it is also alleged, that police officers are not
disposed to give notice of cases that might properly fall under the
Coroner’s investigation. There is, certainly, a singular uniformity in
the operation of the causes that result in death by violence and
accident. When we think of the changes in the condition of society—the
fluctuations of business—and the excitements of passion, it seems
scarcely credible that so comparatively slight a variation should occur
in a succession of years; for example:—
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────┬─────┬─────┬─────┐
│ │1858.│1857.│1856.│
├───────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────┼─────┼─────┤
│Murder │ 183│ 184│ 205│
│Manslaughter │ 197│ 187│ 271│
│Justifiable Homicide │ 4│ 6│ 6│
│Suicide, or Self-murder │1,275│1,349│1,314│
│Accidental Death │8,947│8,930│9,716│
│Injuries from causes unknown │ 764│ 237│ 424│
│Found dead │2,611│2,949│3,183│
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────┴─────┴─────┴─────┘
Only 1 difference in the murders of 1857 and 1858, only 10 in
manslaughter, and only 17 in accidental deaths; and in suicides, only 35
difference between 1856 and 1857.
It is worthy of remark that, of the 19,846 inquests held, 5,517 were
children seven years old or under, and 3,318 were aged or infirm persons
over sixty; showing that 44½ per cent. were persons least able to
protect themselves from accident or injury. The average cost of each
inquest was $15 dollars.
The total number of convicts in custody during the year was 11,292, of
whom 1,326 were women. Of the whole number, 110 died, 3 escaped, and
only 36 were pardoned! The daily average, for the year, was 7,859, and
the annual cost of each prisoner was $157.50, or about 42 cents per day.
This sum is subject to a reduction to the extent of the value of their
labor.
The Reformatory Schools have risen from 1 in 1854, to 47 in 1858; and
the number of inmates, from 21 to 700. To these schools, the government
allows $1.75 per week, for each inmate; and the Managers have authority
to require a contribution from the parents, when able. From the former
source $127,844 were received, and from parents $3,738; showing the cost
of each inmate, under these items alone, to be $187 per annum; and the
Report has no allusion to their labor as of any value. The average cost
in any House of Refuge in the United States, with which we are
acquainted, does not much exceed $100.
There is now an extension of the system of Reformatory Schools, which
will doubtless prove of much value. The law authorizes a provisional
commitment, to certified industrial schools, of children taken into
custody on a charge of vagrancy,—after due inquiry into the condition of
their parents, and of the circumstances of their arrest,—to be detained
till fifteen years of age, unless suitable provision is made for their
care and employment elsewhere. The present (1859) is the first year of
its operation.
It is not easy even to approximate an estimate, in money, of the cost to
which crime subjects a community. Sixty years ago, Colquhoun, in his
work on the “Police of the Metropolis,” estimated the loss by
depredation, in London alone, at ten millions of dollars; and the
Watch-Committee of Liverpool, in an elaborate report in 1836, stated the
loss in that borough, by depredation, at not less than three million
five hundred thousand dollars, declaring that this was not exaggerated,
but, on the contrary, much less than the actual amount. We suppose that
in such an estimate are included, not only the property abstracted by
theft and robbery, but also the fruits of the various species of frauds
on the government and on public institutions, fraudulent bankruptcies,
losses by incendiary fires, and various kinds of malicious mischief.
To the value of property sacrificed to crime, must be added the expenses
of police, prosecutions and prisons, amounting to not less than twelve
millions of dollars; and to these we must add a large sum for a
proportion of the salaries of judges and justices, and their clerks; the
maintenance of court-houses; costs of coroners’ inquests; expenses of
sheriffs; costs of prosecution by public bodies, and costs paid by
private prosecutors over and above the costs allowed; charges for
convicts and colonies, &c.
We have a sound basis for an estimate sufficiently impressive. There is
a standing army of one hundred and thirty-five thousand men and women,
at war with the community, and living on plunder and vice,—yesterday,
engaged in depredations upon property—to-day, rioting in reckless
extravagance,—to-morrow, reduced to pinching want. Supposing each of
them to spend one hundred and twenty-five dollars a year,—say two and a
half dollars a week, we have a sum total of nearly seventeen
millions—and this cannot be levied upon the public at less than double
that sum. This would amount to but a fraction less than thirty-five
millions of dollars, and, with the costs already enumerated, would swell
the grand total to very nearly fifty millions, as the annual expense
which the criminal classes of England and Wales entail upon the
community.
It is to be regretted that we have no reliable data from which to form
even a probable estimate of either the number of criminals or the cost
of crime in any one of our States or cities, so far as our information
extends. If there were such, even in one State or city, an inference, of
more or less value, might be drawn from a comparison of population,
police force, &c. We can scarcely suppose that the incentives to crime
are much more numerous and powerful here than in England. It is not
found that crime abounds most in seasons of depression in business or of
reduction of wages or employment, but the contrary; and therefore, the
facilities with which people in our country obtain a living may,
perhaps, rather promote than prevent crime. That we make much less of
all crime here than is made in the older countries, is very obvious; and
that escape or impunity is much more common here than there, will not be
denied: so that, on the whole, we may reasonably conclude that if the
tax imposed on the public, as the direct consequence of crime, could be
ascertained, its enormous amount would awaken an interest in the means
of preventing or suppressing it, which the considerations of humanity
and religion seem inadequate to excite.
ART. IV.—REFORMATION OF FEMALE DISCHARGED CONVICTS.
THE TWENTY-SEVENTH REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE BRITISH LADIES’
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING THE REFORMATION OF FEMALE PRISONERS, 1858.
FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BOARD OF MANAGERS OF THE HOWARD
INSTITUTION, 1858.
FOURTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE WOMEN’S PRISON ASSOCIATION OF NEW
YORK. “THE ISAAC T. HOPPER HOME,” 191 TENTH AVENUE, 1859.
Although the number of female inmates of our Penitentiaries is
comparatively small, their reformation is not less an object of
interest. Certain it is, that efforts directed to them have been crowned
with a remarkable degree of success, in proportion to their numbers.
Prison returns show that it is much more rare for a female to return, on
a second conviction, than for a male; and though a bad woman may be a
much more revolting object than an equally bad man, she must be very
radically and thoroughly degraded not to show more susceptibility of
kind and good influences than most male prisoners show. Whether it is
the world-wide fame of the late Mrs. Elizabeth Fry and the stimulus of
her bright example, that has drawn unusual attention to the subject, or
whether the wealth and leisure of ladies of rank and distinction, has
enabled them to devote more attention and patronage to the reformation
and restoration to society, of women who have fallen under the
condemnation of penal law, we cannot say. But, certainly, the provision
for such unhappy persons is much more liberal, systematic and extensive
in the British Isles, than anything known among us.
We have before us “the twenty-seventh (1858) report of the Committee of
the British Ladies’ Society for promoting the reformation of female
prisoners.” With the parent institution there are connected ten county
associations, besides five in Scotland, and the report embraces notices,
more or less extensive, of the transactions of each of them. The central
committee is subdivided into sub-committees, to each of which is
assigned the care of one of the seven principal prisons of the
metropolis in which female convicts are received.
There is a distinct sub-committee, consisting of ten ladies and two
secretaries, known as the Patronage Committee. “It sits on every Friday,
and its especial duty is to attend to those cases of discharged
prisoners from metropolitan gaols which are recommended to its care by
the authorities of the prisons, or by ladies who visit there. Endeavors
are made to investigate the previous history of each individual; and if
there be reason to believe that one is in earnest in the desire to
reform, measures are taken to assist her in so doing.
“The rule of the Patronage Committee is, that the prisoner appears
before them immediately on her liberation, to comply with which rule she
often voluntarily stays back in the prison till Friday. She brings with
her, under the charge of a warder, a certificate of health, and the
written answers to a list of printed questions.”
Sometimes a little temporary out-door relief meets the necessity of the
case, and occasionally an immediate return to her family is deemed
advisable; but in the large majority of instances, these poor women are
entirely unfit to be restored to society at large without further
probation. A refuge is needed to give the opportunity of preparation for
entering upon the duties of a changed course of life. “The quiet
discipline of those institutions, the word of God there faithfully
taught, the encouraging influence of Christian ladies there met with,
have mercifully been blessed to the softening of many a hard heart, and
to the healing of many a broken spirit.”
When it is believed that the penitence is sincere, and the hope of
restoration decided, the individual is sent direct to the “Elizabeth Fry
Refuge,” as a preliminary to other more permanent asylums, or to await
the future arrangements that may appear most desirable for her. The
funds of the “Elizabeth Fry Refuge” permit fifteen of these patronage
cases to be kept in the house free of expense, as on the foundation; all
above that number are paid for by the British Ladies’ Society, at the
rate of $1.75 each, weekly.
Two hundred and sixty-four cases were disposed of by this committee
between June, 1856, and June, 1858.
The report contains brief notices of the cases occurring at the several
prisons, and it is quite evident that the machinery is well adapted to
the purpose in view, and is eminently successful in its workings.
There can be no doubt of the softening and subduing influence exerted
upon the mind of a prisoner under almost any circumstances, by the visit
of an intelligent Christian friend. However kind and sympathising the
attending officers may be, “the presence of some one connected with the
outer world is in itself a relief from the monotony of prison life. Thus
the prisoner is predisposed to listen kindly to words kindly spoken, by
one who voluntarily, for a time, shares her cell, and reads the only
book which reveals authoritatively the terms of acceptance on which both
must rely for pardon and salvation.”
To those who are disposed to serve in the self-denying and often
discouraging work of prison-visiting, it may not be amiss to suggest
that the prompt attention to each new case is very important. An
influence for good may be acquired, which will, perhaps, give a new
direction to the conduct of the prisoner for the full time of penal
servitude. The voice of kindness and sympathy heard when the offender
_first_ realizes the consequences of his course, may be more efficacious
than at any subsequent period.
There is a public institution, corresponding in its principal features
to the houses of reception to which we have referred. It is the
Government “Refuge” at Fulham. Prisoners who have conducted themselves
well at Millbank and Brixton, and who are likely to profit by more
individual attention than they can receive at either of those prisons,
are, during the concluding period of their imprisonment, placed in the
Government ‘Refuge’ at Fulham. Being selected with a view to their being
placed in service, or being provided with some means of obtaining an
honest livelihood after they are liberated, they are instructed in
laundry and household work of every kind; and every means employed in
the best Reformatories are here afforded, with the encouragement of
knowing that, while they behave well, the penal character of this last
stage of imprisonment is merged in the enjoyment of all the spiritual
and temporal privileges which they could meet with in an asylum for the
free. We are enabled to state, on the best authority, that, out of
eighty cases which had left the Fulham Refuge in the month of April
last, sixty were doing well.
Among the country institutions, having in view the welfare of discharged
female prisoners, and not under the control of a Government or
Magistrates, is a refuge at Bristol, “where the hopeful discharged
female prisoner (above sixteen years of age) enters _direct_ from prison
by her own free will, and under a promise to submit to the rules of the
house. _She undergoes a probation of three weeks or a month in her
dormitory_, during which time she is daily visited by one or more
ladies, who thus obtain a moral influence before the probationer is
admitted to hold free intercourse with her future companions.” Thus
prepared, the inmates are afterwards trained to all sorts of household
employment. Daily religious instruction is given, and the singing of
psalms and hymns practised; they are also taught reading and writing,
and the first elements of arithmetic and geography; knitting, also, that
very useful branch of female industry, is introduced. Ten young women
have been provided during the year with respectable situations, and not
one of them has again been accused of dishonesty. It is mentioned as an
evidence of the genuineness of reform, that a small gold brooch, found
by one of the inmates, while clearing a room, was given up, and, after
many inquiries for the owner, was restored to a lady who had visited the
asylum; also, that a £5 note, folded very small, was found by the
youngest inmate; this, also, was immediately given up, and restored to
the owner, a few hours afterwards.
In the report of the Exeter Refuge allusion is made to the fact, that
the introduction of the SEPARATE SYSTEM into the prison there, has
reduced the number of prisoners greatly. Of 199 discharged female
prisoners received, fifteen are now under care, and a good account is
given of 104 who have left it. We cannot but regard such a measure of
success as most encouraging. That much of this success is owing to the
individual separation of the convicts cannot be doubted. Indeed, the
visitors to the Falmouth Prison emphatically condemn it for the absence
of that principle. “With regard to our prison I can say nothing
encouraging; there is no change with regard to its arrangements. Some of
those who are interested for the poor people immured within its walls,
do what they can to keep the necessity of improvement before the public,
and there are two who visit regularly, as they may find it convenient,
but I fear they can say nothing with regard to the effect produced. We
feel that we must keep in view the injunction, ‘In the morning sow thy
seed,’ &c. Could solitary (separate) confinement be but partially
carried out, the case would be more encouraging; and we shall be most
glad to have such a prison as would allow of our making trial of it.”
And in respect to the Gloucester Prison, a lady who has visited it
regularly, says: “City convicts are received by the county; but
prisoners before trial, summary convictions and prostitutes all herd
together in one common ward and yard by day, and one large room by
night, both rooms being out of sight and hearing of the Matron. I
believe that I have mentioned this often to you; but it is so great an
evil, and so dangerous to the comparatively innocent, that I cannot but
advert to it again.”
In the city of Utrecht a new prison, on the Cellularian or separate
plan, has been erected, and a Ladies’ Committee, formed, like the one in
London; and the government of Holland has expressed a wish that near
every prison such a Society be established, with full permission to
visit the prisoners. In Stockholm, also, is a Ladies’ Committee. “There
is not a female prisoner in Stockholm who is not visited once in the
week, or who has not at least the opportunity of hearing the word of God
explained to her in one of the departments of the large house for penal
servitude, where their attendance on Sunday is voluntary.”
The readers of our Journal are aware that in Philadelphia and New York,
and perhaps in other cities of the United States, similar organizations
have existed for many years. Among them is the “Howard Institution,”
under the care of an Association of Women-Friends of Philadelphia, the
object of which is, “the care and reformation of female prisoners, who,
after a term of imprisonment, manifest a disposition to reform; or
others who, on account of their evil habits, need Christian counsel,
moral restraint and domestic discipline. To accomplish this, a home is
provided to shelter them from evil associations; to surround them with
wholesome moral and religious influences; to inculcate good principles,
and habits of neatness and industry; to instruct them in domestic
duties, so as to qualify them for usefulness; and after a term of
probation, to obtain for them respectable situations in town or
country.”
The Fourth Annual Report of the Institution (whose house of reception is
1612 Poplar Street) shows, that during the year fifty women have been
admitted, and remained under care from one week to several months. The
necessity of some such provision for this class of our fellow-citizens
is not exaggerated. “However trivial may have been the crime of which
the prisoner was convicted, (and that many are convicted of _very
slight_ offences, there is no doubt); however well she may have
conducted during her incarceration, the _name_ and _stigma_ of _convict_
is upon her. Often she is without home or friends, with insufficient
clothing, hungry and penniless. If she _had friends_, they are alienated
from her; it may have been years that she has been separated from
them—they have forgotten her. _None_ will receive her into their houses.
None will give her employment. What can she do? Perhaps the sparks of
virtue are _not yet_ extinguished. In the solitude of her prison cell
she may have formed good resolutions; there may be an earnest struggle
in her soul after a better life; but she is weak. The tempter comes in;
cold and hunger and neglect, drive her to despair and crime. Her desires
for reformation are lost among evil associations; and she sinks deeper
into the gulf of depravity and wretchedness. Who will say that humanity
is doing its duty to these poor outcasts?”
The report before us affords gratifying evidence that endeavors to
rescue and restore to respectability and usefulness those unhappy women
are not misplaced. “In a _majority_ of cases the Institution has been a
blessing to those who have been subject to its discipline.”
The Fourteenth Annual Report of the Women’s Prison Association of New
York, concerns a charity hereafter to be known as “The Isaac T. Hopper
Home,” and it brings to view some interesting facts, and presents strong
claims to generous assistance. The institution has been for several
years independent of the New York Prison Association. Its object is to
ameliorate the condition of female prisoners, improve the discipline and
government of prisons so far as females are concerned, and to give
temporary support and encouragement to reformed female convicts. To give
system and efficiency to their laudable efforts, they earnestly desired
help in erecting a building adapted to that purpose, and at one time had
flattering prospects of success. They had reasonable ground to believe,
that with suitable accommodations, they might make the home a
self-sustaining house of industry; but their expectations were not
realized, and as the only alternative they purchased and put in repair
the house they have long occupied.
We have often adverted to the lessons which a sound economy reads to us
on the subject of caring for discharged prisoners. When it is considered
what immeasurable injury a single evil-disposed person may do, and what
expenses mere vagrants or petty thieves, to say nothing of forgers and
counterfeiters, impose on the community, it cannot be regarded as a
matter of trivial moment whether an enemy of society is transformed into
a friend, and a burden into a help. Hence the managers of the Society
repudiate the idea that they are beggars, and claim to be instruments of
a true economy.
“The subjects of our care” (say they) “are costly dependents of the
City’s Treasury. They not only are fed, clothed, and housed by the city,
but their crimes waste the property of our citizens, and their
misfortunes swell their taxes. Who are the inmates of our Home? A few
young women may occasionally be found there—strangers in the country,
wanderers from their natural homes, who, alone and friendless in this
great city, have fallen, not from vicious propensities, but through
sheer misfortune; and a few there are whom we have also found in your
prisons, the victims of wrong suspicion and helplessness. All these,
after a short novitiate, we have restored to decent life, and productive
industry. But for our interposition, they must have remained, with
hardly an exception, your costly pensioners. Some of our inmates are
from Sing-Sing—convicts, who have been sent there for the lighter class
of crimes so punishable; but by far the greater part are from the
Tombs—Blackwell’s Island—persons committed for petty offences, or merely
for vagrancy. These are the victims of intemperance. They are led astray
at first by the social element of the Irish, by an inherited appetite,
by bad company, by the thousand influences and temptations that beset
the ignorant and neglected, by the brutal treatment and desertion of
husbands, by wrong, disappointment, and despair. These offenders are
tried in the Municipal Courts, and sent for weeks, or months, as the
case may be, to Blackwell’s Island. At the end of their ‘term’ they
return to the city homeless and friendless: a few hours, days, or weeks
at farthest, find them again making the same circuit through commitment,
trial, and ‘term’ on ‘the Island’—and all at the expense of the sober,
hard-working citizen, who, if he takes time to look at the matter, will
be somewhat startled to find how much he has to pay to the police, the
justices, the prison officials of all degrees, from the head
superintendent to the driver of the ‘Black Maria,’ and the expensive
_lodging houses_ of Blackwell’s Island.” And again, “all we do, is a
clear saving to the city. We do not count merely the time that our
inmates are sustained at the Home, for—though they are supported by the
public, by their charities, instead of their taxes, yet two thirds of
those received at the Home during the last year, have been sent to
places: not only has the public been relieved from their support, but
they have become productive laborers. We would make no erroneous
impressions. These people do not all remain steadfast. They are, for the
most part, adult children, liable to go astray at any strong temptation
or impulse, or to fall back under the despotism of old habits. They
require to be watched and trained, kindly guided and cared for; and they
do not _always_ find religious zeal, patience, skill, and tender
forbearance in their employers. Still, under all their inevitable
disadvantages, many of our inmates have persevered steadfastly in a good
life, proving to the most sceptical, that with God’s blessing on the
helping-hand, they can be saved.”
The facts are very stubborn. Here are one hundred and twenty-five women,
addicted for the most part to degrading and infamous vices—living in
vagrancy, dishonesty, drunkenness and prostitution; and a large
proportion of them familiar with the corruption and degradation of
prison life. Somebody must look after them, and none but practical,
zealous, working women, who will give themselves to such a task—not for
a visit or two, nor for a few days or weeks, but for months, and
perhaps, for years—seeking out, watching over, encouraging and guiding
those who are susceptible of improvement, if not of radical reform.
A few such are found, and the one hundred and twenty-five outcasts are
gathered to “The Isaac T. Hopper Home.” There are some interesting cases
among them, and they are all objects of interest; but, says one, “Do you
really expect to do any permanent good to such people?” And another
exclaims, “How disgusting it must be!” And a third, “How very
disagreeable to go to such horrible places! How much better and wiser to
drop a twenty or a fifty dollar bank note to the board of managers, or
the matron, saying, You have hard materials to make up. Here is an
expression of my sympathy. The friend of the friendless bless and
prosper you.” But what has become of the one hundred and twenty-five
inmates received during the year? Why, seventy of them were sent to
service, and generally in the country. Of course they are not burdens to
the public treasury while in this position, nor are they plundering
houses and stores, nor provoking home brawls and street fights. This is
no little saving all around. They not only cease to be burdens; they
have been converted into producers; one has twenty, another fifty, and
another seventy dollars reserved from earned wages. The cleansing,
tidying, training, encouraging and aiding received at the Home, have
fitted them for, and introduced them to, respectable and useful
occupations. What sum shall we set against this as the probable amount
of expense in arrests, prosecutions, sustenance, gaol fees, &c., had
they been suffered to pursue their chosen way.
But some are discharged, and others leave, and ere long find their old
lodgings in the Tombs or on the “Island.” Yes, that is so, but mark
this! “They almost invariably appeal to us again for aid, and receive
it, ☞ and _each time the period of their perseverance in good is
prolonged_.” This is hopeful. It invites us to patience and faith. A
single peach or pear on a favorite tree, or a single bunch of grapes on
a choice vine, during the first bearing season, gives more pleasure than
a peck of fruit in any subsequent year. The field which these benevolent
ladies and their sisters of charity in our own city and the British
metropolis, are called to cultivate, is covered with a luxurious growth
of wild and poisonous plants, in every stage of growth and bearing.
Their labor and skill, with the aid of the Divine husbandman, is devoted
to an insertion here and there as opportunity offers, of a graft from a
better stock. If it “takes,” they are encouraged to hope for fruit in
due time; and though disappointments are not rare, success is frequent
enough to animate and encourage them, and shall ensure them the hearty
sympathy and generous aid of those whose taxes are lightened, whose
property is saved from depredation, indirectly at least by their
instrumentality.
The house occupied by the “Howard Institution” is perhaps as convenient
as any one that is not originally designed for such a purpose; but it
does not afford such opportunities of _individualizing_ the treatment as
would be desirable. The New York premises are probably no better in this
respect.
We cannot refrain from expressing the conviction that the more rigidly
persons who have been convicted of crime can be separated one from
another, until their resolutions to lead an amended life are fully
confirmed and well tested, the less the danger of a relapse. We are
aware of the argument sometimes used, viz.: That these principles cannot
be tested till the parties are exposed to temptation. But there are
temptations enough in the ordinary circumstances of life. If a young
woman, discharged from the penitentiary, and received into some “Home”
or “Refuge,” should be kept from all association with those who have
been in like condemnation, until she is prepared for, and provided with,
some place in the country, the first day in her new position would
present temptations enough to test her newly acquired strength.
Industry, honesty, truthfulness and sobriety are every day virtues. If
they are possessed they will show themselves without urging, but while
under any degree of restraint or inspection these virtues may be
counterfeited. It is not needful to put them into the company of a
vagrant, a thief, a liar or a drunkard to bring them out. On the
contrary, our true policy is to keep them as far apart as possible, and
especially when the virtues are struggling to supplant the vices.
Let our penitentiaries and county gaols provide for strict individual
separation, accommodation and employment of all prisoners, of every
grade, tried and untried. Let kind, judicious, intelligent friends visit
them, express proper sympathy with them, and hold out encouragement to
them. Upon their discharge, let there be found a place of temporary
refuge where they can be comfortably provided for, relieved from the
pressure of immediate temptation, exempted from any associations
unfriendly to their permanent reform, and prepared by a reasonable
probation for some employment. The moment this is accomplished, and some
benevolent heart is opened to give the party an opportunity to retrieve
a forfeited place in the confidence of the community, let it be embraced
with a continuance of the watchful care which may be still needed in
unforeseen emergencies.
With these precautions and aids we are confident thousands of our
convicts might be rescued from reckless criminality or hopeless despair,
and some of the most prolific sources of crime be dried up. The
government is bound, by every consideration of public policy, to aid
liberally in restoring to honest and virtuous ways those who have been
subjected to penal suffering, and who are disposed to amend their lives.
Its functions do not begin nor end in arrests, convictions and
sentences. It is to employ all practicable means of keeping people out
of crime, by encouraging and sustaining schools—literary, industrial and
reformatory, and bringing ALL the children and youth of the country
under their influence. And when, in spite of all these wholesome
provisions, men and women do betake themselves to criminal courses, and
have suffered the just reward of their deeds, it is the duty of the
government not to leave them, at the expiration of their sentence, to
shift for themselves, but to hold out a kind hand to them, if they are
inclined to better ways, and assist them to regain a creditable position
among their fellow men. Society has the worst of it if they relapse into
their previous associations and practices. And hence, we earnestly plead
for the support and encouragement, by public and private liberality, of
every sensible scheme to convert a convict into an honest man—an enemy
of society into a friend and helper.
ART. V.—IRISH CONVICT PRISONS.
The intermediate system of discipline adopted in the convict prisons of
Ireland, to which we have called the attention of our readers in
previous numbers of this Journal, seems to gain favor. The simple
principle on which it is founded is the gradual improvement of those
prisoners who are susceptible of reforming influences, until they are
prepared for entire freedom, and the return to and continuance in
confinement of those who are obstinately bent on pursuing a criminal
career. The system is so arranged as to give the convict the control, in
a great measure, of his own position. If he is disposed to do well,
every reasonable aid is afforded him for the purpose. If his vicious
habits are so confirmed as to forbid the hope of his permanent
reformation, society is protected from his hostility, by his retention,
indefinitely, in prison. In the first place, the prisoner must conform
to certain rules, while confined in the ordinary prison, to entitle
himself to the privileges of the intermediate prisons. Any misconduct at
this stage, will have the effect of postponing his admission into the
intermediate prison, and thereby defer, to an equal extent, the
remission of a portion of his sentence. The following table shows, at a
glance, what inducement the prisoner has to co-operate with the
government in his reformation:
FIXED PERIODS OF IMPRISONMENT.
SENTENCES. _In ordinary Prisons._ _Shortest term in intermediate
Prisons._
Years. Months. Years. Months.
3 years 2 2 0 4
-------------------v--------------------/
2 6
4 „ 2 10 0 5
-------------------v--------------------/
3 3
5 „ 3 6 0 6
-------------------v--------------------/
4 0
6 „ 3 9 0 9
-------------------v--------------------/
4 6
7 „ 4 0 1 3
-------------------v--------------------/
5 3
8 „ 4 8 1 4
-------------------v--------------------/
6 9
10 „ 6 0 1 6
-------------------v--------------------/
7 6
12 „ 7 3 1 9
-------------------v--------------------/
9 0
15 „ 8 0 2 0
-------------------v--------------------/
10 0
It will be seen that, by this scale, a three years’ sentence is reduced
to two and a half; four years to three and a fourth; five years to four;
six years to four and a half; seven years to five and a fourth; eight
years to six and three-fourths; ten years to seven and a half; twelve
years to nine, and fifteen years to ten.
In order to ensure the remission of any part of his sentence, the
prisoner must work himself, by good behaviour, into the intermediate
prison, through which he must pass to obtain his final liberty; and this
liberty, when obtained, will be conditional; for the criminal who, after
his discharge, consorts with bad companions, and shows that he meditates
a return to criminal courses, is liable to be re-arrested and
re-consigned to the prison from which he was (as it appears) prematurely
discharged. Thus society is protected, on one hand, from the existence
of hordes of criminally-disposed persons at large, and the discharged
convict is restrained from renewed transgression by surrounding the
further commission of crime with obstructions so formidable as to
disband, in a great measure, the class of “habitual offenders.”
It will be observed that the remission of any part of the sentence is
not a matter of _compact_ between the government and the prisoner. It is
a gratuitous act, and as such, may be restrained or modified, to suit
individual cases. When crimes are of so heinous a character as to forbid
the extension of any such leniency, they will, of course, be specially
dealt with by the government.
With a uniform constabulary system, embracing the whole country, and a
uniform penal code, we might expect here a more perfect system of prison
discipline than in any other country; but there is much complaint of the
inequality of sentences for the same crimes, and of the too great
leniency shown to “habitual offenders.” These, it is maintained, should
be recognized by the law as a distinct class, as they are by the police.
The practice of lengthening the sentence of an offender because of
previous convictions, is regarded with favor, and its observance should
be systematized and made universal. In this way “conditional pardons and
registrations for the remitted term may be made the means of causing the
very general incarceration of ‘habitual offenders’ in the only place
suitable for them—convict prisons—with sentences of sufficient length to
insure their being properly dealt with.”
An important principle is involved in this probationary system. If a man
deliberately commits an offence against public law, the presumption is
that he will repeat it whenever the occasion and temptation are
presented. The privation and suffering which the execution of his
sentence imposes, may deter him from farther transgression, but the
burden of proving this is on the offender. The first duty of society is
to protect itself. When the period of penal restraint expires, the man
is discharged, on the presumption that he will sin no more. Whatever
measures we can adopt to strengthen this presumption, and to assure
society that he may be safely set at liberty, are as salutary for him as
for us. And there is a farther obligation, and a very imperative one, on
the part of the government, and that is to _strengthen and encourage
purposes of amendment_. If the liberated convict finds it difficult to
procure labor where his antecedents are known, he has the option of
going to countries where labor is more in demand; and the means of
reaching those countries are supplied by his prison gratuity, obtained
through his own industry. In many of our schemes for ameliorating the
miseries of public prisons, the interests of society are too often
overlooked, and the comfort and ease of a transgressor unduly sought.
There is a medium. The community whose laws have been outraged, justly
demands the prompt and certain imposition of the penalty. If this can be
imposed in such a way as at once to express the due disapprobation of
the act, and a desire that the offender may be restored (on his
reformation) to his forfeited place in society, a double advantage is
gained.
As more enlightened methods of dealing with the criminally-disposed
prevail, we have a right to look for a more efficient and well-balanced
administration of penal law, and as a consequence, a sensible diminution
in the number of crimes and criminals.
=Brief Notices.=
ESCAPES AND PARDONS.—The two chief ends which are usually supposed to be
answered by punishment are,—1. To reform the offender; and, 2. To deter
others from the like offences. Some persons deny the legitimacy of the
latter purpose, affirming that society has no right to inflict pains and
penalties on me, for the benefit of my neighbors. Without attempting to
settle any such nice points, we have a plain, palpable fact staring us
in the face, which seems, in a large measure, to frustrate both the ends
to which we have referred. That fact is—that the punishment of crime, in
our country, is one of the most uncertain events with which we are
conversant. If a horse-thief, contemplating the fastenings of a
stable-door, should have fore-thought enough to inquire whether there is
such a reasonable probability of his punishment as should deter him from
his purpose, we can scarcely suppose he would come to an affirmative
conclusion. The contingencies on which the result depends are very
numerous and complicated. If his picture is in the rogue’s gallery; or
if he is an old, well-known horse-thief, so that suspicion would
naturally fasten upon him if he was within fifty miles of the _locus in
quo_ at the time; or if a reward is offered for his arrest, more
tempting than what he can offer for leave to run,—it may be his turn to
be caught. But if he has money, or friends who understand the
“intricacies” of the administration of penal law in some of our chief
cities; or if he has had opportunities, in some associate prison, to
learn how to dodge an officer, either before or after sentence, or to
earn his liberty, even when fairly caged, either by working through
bricks and mortar, or through the more porous and yielding tissue of a
Governor’s sympathy,—he has little or nothing to fear. If there is no
more risk than that, the State is certain to be plundered.
We hazard nothing in saying that the influence which the punishment of
crime exerts, in deterring the criminally disposed from committing it,
is scarcely worth a padlock. A single escape of a prisoner from gaol, or
from the custody of an officer, weakens whatever deterring influence is
exerted over hundreds of minds; and so likewise does a single pardon.
Each one of the hundreds betakes himself to a criminal life, expecting
to be the favored rogue. We sometimes think, with a sigh, of the good
time past, when, under English law, the constable was the chief man in
the parish, and when the parish was responsible for all robberies
committed within its limits, if the thieves were not apprehended.
If we had a general, succinct return of the escapes and pardons in the
United States, for a single year, it would show a degree of looseness in
the administration of criminal law, and of imprudence in the exercise of
executive clemency, of which the public have little conception.
From a great number of cases which go to corroborate the statement we
have made, we have room for but a few, and these will serve to indicate
the character of all. We give them as reported in the newspapers:
On a late Saturday night five prisoners escaped from the gaol of Cook
county, Ill., at Chicago. A paltry reward of $150 was offered for their
apprehension. The prisoners were supplied with tools by their friends
outside. They were arrested for larceny. Three other prisoners, charged
with robbery, were engaged in digging a hole through the floor, when the
escape of the others caused them to be detected. The prison is in a very
insecure sort of place, and had been grossly neglected by the
authorities.
In Blair county, on the same Saturday night, a man, alleged to have
stolen several horses, and who escaped from the person having him in
charge, while on their way to Bedford recently, was re-arrested at a
private house on Bobb’s Creek, on Saturday night a week. Assuming a
religious guise, previous to retiring he called for a Bible, and read a
chapter, and prayed with the family. When arrested he was in bed, with a
six-shooter under his pillow, and every barrel charged with a bullet!
and in his pockets were found several counterfeit notes and a small
amount of good money. A reward of $500 had been offered for his arrest,
with the horses.
Two prisoners escaped from the gaol of Clinton county, Ohio, under
circumstances (says the Clinton Watchman) that would indicate a good
deal of carelessness on the part of the sheriff, who had charge of the
gaol. They escaped by cutting a hole through the floor of the hall
around the cells, where the prisoners are permitted to stay during the
day. After cutting this hole, which they did with an old case-knife,
they crawled under, and finding there an old scaffold-pole, they made a
battering-ram of it, and punched a stone out of the outside wall
sufficiently large to permit their egress!
About a year ago, Norristown, in this vicinity, was harassed by the
operations of a burglar of special daring and adroitness, who, after
perpetrating a series of successful burglaries, was arrested, and
imprisoned under a sentence of fifteen years. He had served about a year
thus far, and on a late morning was found to have successfully broken
gaol and made his escape.
He got away, it is supposed, about four o’clock in the morning. His cell
was in the upper story of the gaol, and had an arched roof of solid
masonry, nine inches thick. When the turnkey entered the cell, it was
discovered that the prisoner had cut entirely through this arch, and
then through the sheet-iron roof above it, and had lowered himself by
means of a cord made of the carpet-warp furnished him for working
purposes. The escape was perilous in the extreme; while it is the
opinion of experts that the preparations for it have been going on for a
long time. Upon entering the cell the officer discovered an old shirt,
which the prisoner appears to have stuffed in the hole during the
daytime, while it is equally apparent that, by means of pieces of bread
manipulated to the consistency of putty, and plastered into the edges of
the hole, the discovery of the cheat was rendered still less probable.
As a matter of course, the anxiety to recover such a prisoner, on the
part of the sheriff, is very great; and a reward of a hundred dollars is
offered for his capture! Due anxiety to _keep_ him when they had him
would have been more creditable to the officers, and much better for the
public.
On the second of December, six convicts employed in the moulding shop of
the New York State Prison, at Auburn, effected their escape. The
prisoners had got half a mile from the prison before pursuit was
commenced, and succeeded in leaving their pursuers behind.
On the evening of December 15th, two convicts, confined in a Virginia
gaol, under sentence of death, to be executed the next day, escaped from
the gaol, and were fired upon by the sentinels and driven back to
prison. The prisoners had mounted the gaol wall when they were
discovered by the sentinel on the outside, who immediately gave the
alarm and fired on them. They had sawed their manacles asunder with the
blade of a Barlow knife, which they had concealed and made into a fine
saw. It was ascertained, from their confession that they had been
engaged in preparing for their escape during the preceding ten days.
They made a hole in the wall near the window, which they concealed with
paper, hiding the bricks they removed under the bed. Upon the alarm
being given, they made no resistance, but surrendered as soon as they
discovered, by the shot of the sentinel, that they were detected. One of
them said he could have made his escape had he jumped down and throttled
the sentinel.
All the inmates of Warren county (Pa.) prison, two women and two men,
escaped one night recently. The women up stairs burnt the clasp out that
fastened the door through a single pine board,—came down stairs and
unlocked the cells in which the men were confined, by means of false
keys, when the party departed in peace, taking a wagon that was waiting
in the vicinity, with them.
Thirteen prisoners escaped from Munroe county gaol, at Rochester, N. Y.
They seized the gaoler and wrenched the keys from him,—then thrust him
into a closet with double doors, fastening them outside. The gaoler’s
wife was in the office, but heard nothing of the disturbance until the
whole gang were at the door, demanding an outlet, which it was in vain
for her to oppose.
Two prisoners, burglars and counterfeiters, on the way to the Jackson
penitentiary (Mich.), guarded by three officers, jumped from the cars
while under way. They were heavily ironed, and pretended to be asleep.
As they approached Grass Lake station, the sheriff, who sat in front,
stepped back to look out of a window, when they rushed to the door, and
their irons mysteriously parted, and one jumped one side, and the other,
leaving the officers in gaping wonder.
A man, whose crime (forgery) was of such a heinous character as to
induce the government of Wurtemberg to pursue him to this country, was
found and arrested. After a partial examination, instead of being
remanded to prison or held to responsible bail, he was allowed to remain
at his own lodgings, being in the _constructive custody_ of the Deputy
Marshal. This functionary, instead of producing his prisoner when
wanted, stated to the commissioner that, on a preceding evening, the
foreign rogue invited him to take a friendly glass, which he accepted,
and soon after lost his consciousness; and the prisoner, availing
himself of so favorable an opportunity, took to his heels and, before
the officer recovered his wits, was beyond recapture.
So it was with one Dr. Gallaudet, not long ago, who succeeded in getting
the officer drunk, and escaped from his clutches, and, finally, from the
country.
These cases do not constitute a tenth part of the advertised escapes of
a single quarter; and those that are never brought to public notice—who
knows their number?
* * * * *
EARLY CRIME.—Few persons are aware of the extent of juvenile crime in
our principal cities. A large majority of these offences are overlooked
until they become so serious in their consequences to private interest
as to command attention. And even then, the prosecution of the offence
is generally waived if compensation is made, or if the delinquent is
sent away upon a voyage, or to a distant part of the country.
We have grouped together a few items out of many scores which a single
quarter furnishes, from which our readers can make their own inferences.
They confirm us in the conviction long entertained, that we need a place
of _punishment_ for those who are too old in iniquity to be safe inmates
of Refuge or Reformatory, and too young to endure the severity of rigid
penitentiary discipline—a _juvenile separate prison_.
A gang of boys, none over fourteen, were arrested, a few days since, in
Cincinnati, for stealing. They were detected in the act of taking goods
from store doors. They stated that they belonged to a gang of boys
employed in this business by a man who gave them 75 cents for every
article they would bring him, and that they used the money in visiting
the theatres and in refreshments. An officer took one of them to the
National Theatre, where he pointed out two more of the gang, who were
taken into custody. On visiting the premises of the man whom they
charged with receiving the goods, they found some of them concealed
under the floor. There was also another place of deposit disclosed in
another section of the city. The boys, who were all of Irish parentage,
exhibited the utmost indifference and shamelessness, and the parents of
two of them did not feel interest enough to attend the hearing!
The Boston papers give us an account of a similar band of boys who had
clubbed together for thieving purposes, in Medford, a few miles from
that city. They were discovered in an outbuilding which had not been
used for some time. Various articles, such as portemonnaies, wallets,
passbooks, pencils, &c., were found in their possession, and identified
as having been stolen the day before. A book was found among them,
containing the names of the members of the organization, about half a
dozen in number, as far as recorded. Following the names was the word
“Rules,” in large letters. The only rule which appears, was the
following:
“1. The boys must steal as much as they can, and present it to the
chief.”
The book also contained a number of passwords, and a list of the
articles stolen, above enumerated, and the date. The boys belonging to
this young thieves’ association are from ten to fourteen years of age.
At Cleveland, Ohio, a party of juvenile vagrants, some twelve in number,
recently organized themselves into a society for the purpose of robbery,
dock-thieving, &c. They took possession of a large cave in the side-hill
on the west side of the river. They chose their captain and were
progressing very smoothly when the officer pounced upon them. They were
all sleeping in bunks, with the exception of the guard, who took to his
heels on the approach of the officer. Two or three others made their
escape. The following boys, the oldest of whom is not over fourteen,
were arrested:—John Fitzgerald, Thomas Doland, Michael Dunn, William
Mulcoge, Patrick M‘Donald, William Donald, William Shay and James Mahon.
Their names are given as indicative of a nativity not otherwise to be
particularly specified.
One of the boys is only six years old. He said his parents, in a fit of
drunkenness, kicked him out of doors. The other boys said that they had
no home or friends. They could only live by stealing, and on advice of
one of their number, who had read Mike Martin and other yellow covered
books of that sort, a band of robbers was formed, and the cave taken
possession of. The boys were sent to the State Reform Farm, there to
remain until discharged by law. [Of this school we have given a full
account in a former number, and would be glad to hear of its more recent
success.]
Not long since, in New York, a policeman, about 11 o’clock at night, was
surprised to find the front door of a jewelry store, in Broadway,
unlocked, and on entering he found a boy named Joseph Bascom, seventeen
years of age, employed by the firm, tied down upon a bed and gagged.
After being released, the boy said that about ten o’clock, shortly after
the store was closed, he heard a rap at the door, and supposing that one
of the clerks had returned for something, opened it, when three men
rushed in, one of whom threw a large sheet over his face, while the
other two grasped him by the throat, and after gagging him, took him to
the bed and fastened him there, his head all the time being covered.
After this he heard them open the safe, and in a short time they left.
The officer doubted this plausible story, and subjected him to a severe
cross-questioning, which resulted in Bascom confessing that the whole
affair was contrived by himself and another lad named Primrose! They
obtained an impression of the safe key, and selected the time when the
holiday stock was in store for the commission of the robbery. Bascom
admitted his accomplice after the store was closed, and then laid down
upon the bed and was gagged and tied by him. Their plan was a success,
and $15,000 worth of goods were taken from the safe. The police were
soon on the track of Primrose, whom they followed to the establishment
of a well known receiver of stolen goods named Schwartzwelder, who, with
Primrose, was arrested. On searching the place all the stolen goods were
recovered.
Ought a criminal of this stamp to be sent to a reformatory school? Is he
to be regarded as no more depraved and desperate than a truant, or an
insubordinate child? If _he_ is sent there, should _they_ be?
* * * * *
COMPROMISING WITH ROGUES—In a former number of this Journal, we entered
somewhat at large into the mischievous consequences of concealing or
winking at, or compromising deliberate, overt, criminal acts. A clerk in
a store abuses his master’s confidence, by abstracting money from
letters or purloining letters containing remittances—he being entrusted
with the duties of mail clerk. The fraud has been practiced for weeks,
and the adroitness with which it was perpetrated and the ingenuity
displayed in concealing the disposition of the funds, evinces a
singularly depraved disposition. The father or friends interpose, and a
public prosecution is avoided. The young scape-grace is sent from the
country, and having unusual shrewdness and audacity, succeeds in winning
confidence. He writes home and tells of his good fortune, and hope is
excited that his ways are reformed; but soon a bolder and deeper game of
villainy is played, and the scene again changes, but with the same
result. At last, however, he is brought to the bar of public justice,
and now a revelation is made of the successive steps in his downward
path. Each of the delinquencies has its witnesses and victims; but
silence has been volunteered, or purchased, or imposed, and so the
reckless career has been encouraged. This is not a fictitious case and
it may serve to introduce an illustration of this misconceived leniency
which has lately been made public. A man of glib tongue and imposing
appearance, professes to be a physician. He takes up his residence in
one of our suburban districts, and, in process of time, is guilty of
gross malpractice. To avoid an exposure of his ignorance and cruelty, he
pays the injured parties $1200 and removes to another part of the
country. There he defrauds a bank of $1,000, but the evidence is not
absolutely conclusive, and upon his refunding the amount the bank
forbears to prosecute. By-and-by he is arrested for a felonious assault
on a female patient, (the wife of a college student who wishes to
conceal the fact of his marriage,) and so the offence is hushed up. Next
he marries the widow of a man who had died suddenly while he was in
professional attendance upon him, swindles her out of her property and
then abandons her. He now turns his attention particularly to the
practice of procuring abortions. Three young women, who, to hide their
shame, put themselves under his care, died at his house during one
summer, and not many weeks apart. And not long ago, he was convicted of
manslaughter, in causing the death of a young woman who had resorted to
him for the same inhuman purpose, and of this he was convicted and
sentenced for it.
It turns out that the man is a native of Ireland, and that his name was
assumed. He was sentenced to the Penitentiary, but who can tell how soon
he may be liberated by an improvident pardon, and find himself in full
practice, under some other name, and in some unsuspicious community?
Why was not his character properly exposed, when, by successive criminal
acts, its settled traits were discovered, at least so far as to put the
unwary on their guard?
* * * * *
CONSUMPTION OF INTOXICATING DRINKS.—Some persons have flattered
themselves and the public that there has been a sensible decrease of
the consumption of ardent spirits in the British Empire, but it is
confidently affirmed that the population statistics and excise returns
show a very different state of things. In 1821, the population of
England and Wales was 11,978,875, and they consumed 7,261,581 gallons
of spirits. In 1856, the population was estimated at 20,000,000, and
they consumed 13,964,284 gallons, besides over 600,000,000 of ale and
beer. In 1821, the population of Scotland was 2,093,456, and they
consumed 2,558,285 gallons of spirits. In 1856, a population of
3,000,000 consumed 7,402,643 gallons. The population of Ireland in
1821, was 6,780,826, and they consumed 3,340,472 gallons of spirits.
The population in 1856, about the same as in 1821 (famine and
pestilence having taken off 1,500,000 of consumers), they consumed
6,936,938 gallons of spirits. We apprehend the state of the case is
but little, if any, better in these United States.
* * * * *
PRISONS AND PRISONERS IN SOUTH CAROLINA.—In his late message to the
Legislature, the Governor of South Carolina suggests the propriety of
making a breach of trust a higher offence than larceny, and making the
punishment equal, if not more severe. He thinks their system of
discipline needs reform, (of which, we apprehend, no intelligent citizen
can doubt,) and he justly complains that, while witnesses are subject to
close confinement, prisoners held on criminal charges, have the free
range of the prison!
* * * * *
ANNUAL CENSUS OF THE PHILADELPHIA COUNTY PRISON.—Total number received
during the past year, 19,846, being an increase of 4,933 over the number
the year previous. Of this number 19,822 were discharged—446 to the
convict side of the house; 4,604 having served out their time; 25 have
died, 3 been pardoned, and one committed suicide. The rest have been
released by magistrates, or acquitted by courts.
The number of prisoners received during the months of the year were:
January, 1,444 Discharged, 1,379
February, 1,359 „ 1,439
March, 1,708 „ 1,623
April, 1,531 „ 1,566
May, 1,611 „ 1,581
June, 1,712 „ 1,782
July, 1,922 „ 1,891
August, 1,931 „ 1,959
September, 1,679 „ 1,601
October, 1,685 „ 1,705
November, 1,764 „ 1,739
December, 1,500 „ 1,557
—————— ——————
19,846 19,822
December 31, there remained in confinement 777 prisoners of various
grades.
* * * * *
A QUARTER’S POLICE WORK IN NEW YORK.—The police force of New York
numbers 1,699, and the district embraces the counties of New York,
Kings, Richmond, and West Chester. The expense of the police for the
year is stated to be $1,167,336, or an average of $700 for each officer.
The operations of the last quarter are as follows: Total number of
arrests, 23,971, and of these 16,701 were males, and 7,220 females. For
the same quarter last year there were 21,022 arrests, showing an
increase of 2,949. Four-fifths of the persons arrested were of foreign
birth. Of the offences committed 17,077 were against the person, and
only 3894 against property. Two thirds of the offences were committed
under the influence of intoxicating liquors; 15,917 of the offenders
could read and write; 6,783 had no education whatever; 1,273 cases were
not determined; 12,039 were married; 10,659 unmarried; 1,073 cases not
reported.
* * * * *
ALABAMA STATE PRISON.—The Governor’s Message states, that there are 216
convicts in the Penitentiary, of whom six are females. He recommends the
_separate_ system, to be applied to them. The male convicts are let out
to a contractor, who agrees to board them, and pay the State $1,550 per
annum for their labor. A poor bargain in any event.
* * * * *
NEW YORK PRISON ASSOCIATION.—At the December monthly meeting of the
executive committee of the New York Prison Association, the report of
the agent of the committee of Detention and Discharged Convicts, showed
that during the year then about to close, 5,740 persons committed to the
city prisons were “visited and familiarly spoken with” by him. In 1,394
cases, circumstances of extenuation were offered, and hopeful signs
exhibited—532 cases were investigated and discontinued on proper
representation—551 were discharged from custody as improperly held—679
were relieved by small sums of money till they obtained employment, and
320 were supplied with clothing or employment, or both. The
contributions to the funds of the Association during the year were but
two thousand dollars!
* * * * *
DELIBERATE MURDER BY A BOY UNDER NINE YEARS OF AGE.—On the 25th of
October, a boy between eight and nine years of age, went to a neighbor’s
house while the elder members of the family were absent, and with a gun
deliberately shot down a girl about twelve years of age, killing her
instantly. The boy, upon being questioned, first said the gun had fallen
accidentally and shot her. He subsequently stated that he was mad at
her, and had killed her! They had attended school together, and had
quarreled. The boy had threatened to shoot the girl, and took this
occasion to carry out his threat. The occurrence took place in
Montgomery county, Pa., a short distance across the Chester county line,
from Valley Forge.
* * * * *
DISTRIBUTION OF LABOR IN PARIS.—A recent inquiry into the occupations of
the laboring people of Paris, with a view to ascertain how far public
improvements now in progress bear favorably on their interests, shows a
very different distribution of labor from that supposed. Of the 360,000
men and women engaged in various trades and handicrafts, it was
apprehended that by far the greater part were employed in building
operations, as masons, carpenters, joiners, painters, &c., but the late
investigation shows that the trade which engrosses the largest amount of
hands is that of tailors and workers in ready made articles of clothing.
In this branch of industry alone, the recent statistics prove 100,000
out of 360,000 working men and women to be engaged.
* * * * *
NEW JERSEY STATE PRISON.—We learn that there are now confined in the
State Penitentiary at Trenton 350 convicts. In many of the cells three
prisoners are put together, and some far-seeing newspaper observes, that
unless the prison premises are enlarged, there is danger that the
_separate system_, which the law requires to be carried out in the
prison, will have to be abandoned! If a man was as near being dead as
the separate system is to being violated there, most doctors would give
him up.
CONSTITUTION
OF THE
=Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons.=
When we consider that the obligations of benevolence which are founded
on the precepts and examples of the Author of Christianity, are not
cancelled by the follies or crimes of our fellow-creatures; and when we
reflect upon the miseries which penury, hunger, cold, unnecessary
severity, unwholesome apartments, and guilt, (the usual attendants of
prisons,) involve with them, it becomes us to extend our compassion to
that part of mankind, who are the subjects of those miseries. By the aid
of humanity, their undue and illegal sufferings may be prevented; the
links which should bind the whole family of mankind together, under all
circumstances, be preserved unbroken; and such degrees and modes of
punishment may be discovered and suggested, as may, instead of
continuing habits of vice, become the means of restoring our
fellow-creatures to virtue and happiness. From a conviction of the truth
and obligation of these principles, the subscribers have associated
themselves under the title of “THE PHILADELPHIA SOCIETY FOR ALLEVIATING
THE MISERIES OF PUBLIC PRISONS.”
For effecting these purposes, they have adopted the following
CONSTITUTION.
ARTICLE I.
The Officers of the Society shall consist of a President, two
Vice-Presidents, two Secretaries, a Treasurer, two Counsellors, and an
acting Committee; all of whom shall be chosen at the stated meeting to
be held in the first month (January) of each year, and shall continue in
office until their successors are elected; but in case an election from
any cause shall not be then held, it shall be the duty of the President
to call a special meeting of the Society within thirty days, for the
purpose of holding such election, of which at least three days’ notice
shall be given.
ARTICLE II.
The President shall preside in all meetings, and subscribe all public
acts of the Society. He may call special meetings whenever he may deem
it expedient; and shall do so when requested in writing by five members.
In his absence, one of the Vice-Presidents may act in his place.
ARTICLE III.
The Secretaries shall keep fair records of the proceedings of the
Society, and shall conduct its correspondence.
ARTICLE IV.
The Treasurer shall keep the moneys and securities, and pay all orders
of the Society or of the Acting Committee, signed by the presiding
officer and Secretary; and shall present a statement of the condition of
the finances of the Society at each stated meeting thereof.
ARTICLE V.
The Acting Committee shall consist of the officers of the Society,
_ex-officio_, and thirty-eight other members. They shall visit the
prison at least twice a month, inquire into the circumstances of the
prisoners, and report such abuses as they shall discover, to the proper
officers appointed to remedy them. They shall examine the influence of
confinement on the morals of the prisoners. They shall keep regular
minutes of their proceedings, which shall he submitted at every stated
meeting of the Society; and shall be authorized to fill vacancies
occurring in their own body. They shall also have the sole power of
electing new members.
ARTICLE VI.
Candidates for membership may be proposed at any meeting of the Society
or of the Acting Committee; but no election shall take place within ten
days after such nomination. Each member shall pay an annual contribution
of two dollars; but the payment of twenty dollars at any one time shall
constitute a life membership.
ARTICLE VII.
Honorary members may be elected at such times as the Society may deem
expedient.
ARTICLE VIII.
The Society shall hold stated meetings on the second third-day in the
months called January, April, July and October, of whom seven shall
constitute a quorum.
ARTICLE IX.
No alterations of the Constitution shall be made, unless the same shall
have been proposed at a stated meeting of the Society held no less than
a month previous to the adoption of such alterations. All questions
shall be decided where there is a division, by a majority of votes; in
those where the Society is equally divided, the presiding officer shall
have the casting vote.
PENNSYLVANIA JOURNAL OF PRISON DISCIPLINE.
This is a sterling Quarterly, edited with much good sense, kindliness
and tact. It vindicates the policy of solitary confinement, and is
generally on the right side. It brings forth “things new and old,”
belabors empiricism, looks upon man in his true condition of sin and
misery, and seeks righteous measures for his reformation. We have
always admired the self-relying sedateness and ingenious ability with
which the Editor opens his battery, offensive and defensive; and he
commands a long range and uses unerring projectiles. A wide field is
opened for usefulness in the department of Prison Discipline for men
of sense and religion; and we are glad that there is a valuable
Quarterly set for the defence of the truth.—_Pres. Mag._
OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY.
PRESIDENT,—JAMES J. BARCLAY.
VICE-PRESIDENTS, {TOWNSEND SHARPLESS,
{DR. WILLIAM SHIPPEN.
TREASURER,—EDWARD H. BONSALL.
SECRETARIES, {WM. PARKER FOULKE,
{JOHN J. LYTLE.
COUNSELLORS, {HENRY J. WILLIAMS,
{HENRY J. PHILLIPS.
_Members of the Acting Committee._
Charles Ellis,
Wm. S. Perot,
Thomas Latimer,
John M. Wetherill,
Samuel Caley,
Abram C. Brown,
Benjamin H. Pitfield,
John Horton,
Isaac Barton,
Richard Williams,
William L. Edwards,
James E. Kaighn,
Alfred H. Love,
Jeremiah Willetts,
William H. Burr,
D. Sheppard Holman,
Jacob T. Bunting,
Thomas J. Miles,
Dr. Geo. H. Burgin,
John C. Farr,
George Taber,
William Kederlen,
Mahlon H. Dickinson,
John L. Capen,
William Ingram,
James Peters,
Joseph Keen,
Robert E. Evans,
Albert H. Franciscus,
William R. McAdam,
William Chapman,
Rev. George Bringhurst,
Charles Palmer,
Charles P. Perot,
Charles C. Cresson,
Wm. H. Dennis,
Chas. C. Lathrop,
Frederick A. Packard.
_Visiting Committee on the Eastern State Penitentiary._
Townsend Sharpless,
Edward H. Bonsall,
Edward Townsend,
John J. Lytle,
Samuel Caley,
Abram C. Brown,
Isaac Barton,
Richard Williams,
Wm. L. Edwards,
James E. Kaighn,
Alfred H. Love,
Jeremiah Willetts,
William H. Burr,
D. Shepherd Holman,
George Taber,
William Kederlen,
Mahlon H. Dickinson,
James Peters,
Joseph Keen,
Robert E. Evans,
Albert H. Franciscus,
William R. McAdam,
William Chapman,
Rev. George Bringhurst,
Charles Palmer.
_Visiting Committee on the Philadelphia County Prison._
Wm. S. Perot,
Dr. Wm. Shippen,
Charles Ellis,
Thomas Latimer,
John M. Wetherill,
Benjamin H. Pitfield,
John Horton,
Jacob T. Bunting,
Thomas J. Miles,
Dr. Geo. H. Burgin,
John C. Farr,
John L. Capen,
William Ingram,
Charles P. Perot.
☞ Mr. W. J. MULLEN is agent of the County Prison, appointed by the
Inspectors, and acting under their direction.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
1. Moved the beginning of the Constitution to just before its
continuation.
2. Silently corrected obvious typographical errors and variations in
spelling.
3. Retained archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed.
4. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.
5. Enclosed blackletter font in =equals=.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Pennsylvania journal of prison discipline and philanthropy" ***
Copyright 2023 LibraryBlog. All rights reserved.