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.