this whole subject as affording a ground of great encouragement
and thankfulness to God; and as opening prospects of large social
improvement both at home and in the Colonies; for the wretched
system of transportation, the plan of peopling new lands with the
outcasts of the old, seems to have received its deathblow from the
introduction of wholesome discipline at home. There are a few minor
differences to be adjusted regarding the treatment of convicts, the
length of their separate confinement, and the mode of disposing
of them for the rest of their sentence; but the principle is now
fairly admitted, that the prison is to be a place of severe moral
and religious discipline. The office of a gaol chaplain, instead of
being the most loathsome and repulsive that a clergyman could hold,
is now a work full of interest and promise and hope, bringing often
a speedy return for labor. Sarah Martin, the pious needlewoman of
Yarmouth, who passed her life among the wretched inhabitants of the
gaol, would indeed have rejoiced, if she could have accompanied as
we have done, the zealous Chaplain of one of these new gaols along
the clean, light, well-aired corridor, and entered with him into
one cell after another, where the prisoner welcomed him cheerfully
and respectfully, repeating his few verses of psalm or hymn--a
voluntary task--and listened thankfully for the kind admonition
or encouragement of perhaps the first friend he ever knew. It
seems as if God had raised up men on purpose for the work. We are
personally acquainted with some Gaol Chaplains, and have read the
Reports of many, and believe, in most cases they are men of energy,
discernment and piety. If we have a fault to find with them, it
is, that from their experience of visible effects speedily and
uniformly produced on those who are under their charge, they come
to speak and write as if the reformation of a sinner were a matter
of certainty, provided only a sufficient time is allowed. We are
aware, that this is only an apparent error, for no man would be
more ready than Mr. Field to acknowledge the absolute necessity of
the power of the Holy Spirit in any work of genuine reformation.”
No. 5.--_Kentucky State Penitentiary._
A friend has kindly forwarded to us a copy of the annual report of the
keeper, clerk, &c., of the Kentucky Penitentiary, for the year 1848. It
is located at Frankfort, and as the reports indicate, is administered
with much success. We have noted a few items of general interest.
It was formerly the custom to _shave the head_ of every convict _once
a week_. This humiliating process was required by law, but, at the
suggestion of the present keeper, it was so modified, as to leave it
to the discretion of the keeper to shave or not to shave. The good
effects of the measure were at once manifest. We are not told to what
extent the practice now prevails, but are left to infer that it is
only adopted as a mode of punishment. There can be no doubt, we think,
that all methods of humbling or subduing a convict which savour of
vindictiveness, or occasion a needless violation of a natural and
proper self-respect, are to be deprecated. External badges of infamy
and degradation may be needful sometimes as a precaution against
escapes, or for the recapture of convicts, but it is a great advantage
to be able to dispense with them.
The average number of convicts in confinement at the date of the
report, was 161, and the clear profits upon their earnings during the
year, were eight or nine thousand dollars. The bagging business has
been found dull, and very extensive preparations are now made for
coopering.
The number of convicts received during the year ending December 1,
1848, was _sixty-nine_, and the number discharged by pardon during
the same time was THIRTY-THREE, or nearly half as many pardons as
commitments. This number is exclusive of five who were pardoned the
day before the expiration of their sentence, to restore them to
citizenship. All the convicts are males, and only 16 of the 161, are
colored; and 128 were convictions of crime against property, and only
twenty-five of the sentences exceed seven years. Nine of the convicts
are from Ireland, and nine from other foreign countries, leaving
143 native Americans; 97 are under 30 years of age; 114 habitually
or occasionally intemperate; 47 utterly destitute of any degree of
education; and 80 were never married. From a review of the prison
history for a period of 13 years, it appears that the largest number
received in any one year, was 81, (1842,) and the smallest, 49,
(1837;) the number of convicts received during the 13 years from the
88 counties of the State, was 877, of whom 383 were from the county
of Jefferson alone, of which Louisville is the shire-town. Of the 877
convictions, 551 were for crimes against property, or against the
person for property. Of the 877, only eleven were females. The number
of cases of disease occurring during the year, was 244, of which 128
were cured. Days lost by sickness during the year, 1664.
No. 6.--_An Inquiry into the Alleged Tendency of the Separation of
Convicts, one from the other, to Produce Disease and Derangement._
BY A CITIZEN OF PENNSYLVANIA. Philadelphia, E. C. & J. Biddle, 1849.
The questions involved in this inquiry and the elaborate manner in
which they are handled in it, forbid a short or superficial notice of
its contents; and hence we must ask for farther time to enable us to
study, compare and collate, before we attempt to analyze the work for
the use of our readers. If, however, in the mean time, they should
choose to read and think for themselves in the premises, by a careful
perusal of this “Inquiry,” we are safe in saying that the time will be
well spent and the labor fully rewarded.
No. 7.--_New York Eye and Ear Infirmary._
The report of this humane institution for 1848, (the 28th of its
existence,) states that there were received during the year, 1,945 new
patients being 565 more than were received in 1846. There remained
under treatment, January 1, 1849, 129; and of 2,074 prescribed for
during the year, 1,370 were cured, 147 were relieved, 33 declined
treatment, 11 were discharged as incurable, the result of 34 were not
ascertained, and 220 remained under treatment. Diseases of the ear, 130.
Of the patients, there were born in the United States 827; in foreign
countries 1,118!
A free institution for the blind, is about to be opened in
Jacksonville, Illinois. The State supports it by a special tax.
No. 8.--_Shelter for Colored Orphans._
For thirteen years, a quiet and useful charity, known as the “Shelter,”
has been provided for a portion of the colored orphan children of
Philadelphia. At the date of the twelfth report there were 56 children
under care, and twelve were received during the year; while 9 were
apprenticed and 3 died. There were in the house, January 1849,
53 children. Dr. Casper Wistar attended and administered to the
institution gratuitously, during a season of severe sickness from the
measles, in the progress of which thirty-six were under medical care!
No. 9.--_Paupers and Prisoners in Cincinnati._
It is stated in the public prints, that the admissions to the
Cincinnati city hospital in the year 1848, were over 3000; and
two-thirds of them foreigners. In the number were 152 lunatics.
“Admissions to the Jail, during the year, 776, of whom 742 were
intemperate, 17 under 18 years of age, and 66 females. Of these
776, 35 were sent to the Penitentiary, and 741, ‘turned loose,
without friends or employment, to prey upon society again--a
portion of them serving awhile in the Chain-gang first.’”
_No. 10._--_Insane Asylum in North Carolina._
We understand that the act establishing a hospital for the insane at
Raleigh, provides for a tax of one and three-fourths of a cent on every
hundred dollars valuation of land, and five and a quarter cents on the
poll, to be levied for the space of four years, to raise the money to
construct and furnish the building--the County Courts during the said
time to have power to make a proportionate reduction of the poor tax in
their respective counties.
No. 11.--_Corrupt Police._
In a charge lately given by one of the Judges of the Court of Quarter
Sessions for the city and county of Philadelphia, some passages occur,
the implication of which is very far from being creditable to the
police-gentry, and is, moreover, rather startling to the lovers of
peace and security.
“So long as there is collision between police officers and
criminals, crime will continue, and it will be difficult to
suppress it. If police officers will suppress evidence against the
perpetrators of offences; if they will associate and correspond
with criminals, and participate in the fruits of robbery, crime
will continue to increase, because the chances for escape are
great. In some of the _Incorporated_ Districts it is believed, the
police force is efficient and useful.”
This makes the whole matter so vague as to aggravate, rather than
alleviate apprehensions.
In the same charge, the magistrate is represented as saying, that
“if there were no pardons there would be but few convictions.” Is it
possible that the indulgence of executive clemency is so frequent as
to make juries careless or forward to convict from the impression that
their verdict will be reviewed under an application for pardon?
We confess we had no idea that the exercise of the pardoning power had
been such, either in character or extent, as to warrant a statement
like the following from the same source:
“If any one will look at the records of conviction throughout the
State for the last fifteen years, and then at the list of pardons,
and the history and convictions of the convicts, it will be found,
that rarely has a criminal served out the period of his sentence,
if he were a person of _wealth_ or previous influence, or who had
wealthy connections, or friends and relations of great political
influence. While no one can doubt that every Executive has been
honest and sincere in the exercise of this power, yet the unseen
effect of money and political relations enables the convict to
surround the governor with influences which he does not resist.”
Can the yielding to such influences be regarded as consistent with
“honesty and sincerity” in the exercise of the Executive prerogative?
“The principles on which pardons are often obtained, are, in my
opinion, incorrect. The Executive generally hears but one side of
the case--the one presented by the criminal--while the Court and
Jury hear both sides. The case of the prisoner is always strongly
stated in his favor, and that backed by the influence of friends
or _hired agents_, and the incautious signing by citizens of a
petition for pardon, usually produces the result of a liberation
from that sentence.
“Nothing tends more to the suppression of crime than the certainty
of punishment, no matter how short. Let people once be convinced
that criminals will be punished as the law provides, and we should
find the number of crimes rapidly diminishing.
We think much of the principle here asserted, but it is perhaps made to
carry too much weight for its bottom.
ARTICLE II.--The President, and in his absence one of the
Vice-Presidents, shall preside in all meetings, and shall subscribe all
public acts of the Society. The President, or in his absence either of
the Vice-Presidents, shall moreover have the power of calling a special
meeting of the Society whenever he shall judge proper. A special
meeting shall likewise be called at any time when six members of the
Society shall concur in requesting it.
ARTICLE III.--The Secretaries shall keep fair records of the
proceedings of the Society, and shall correspond with such persons and
societies as may be judged necessary to promote the views and objects
of the institution.
ARTICLE IV.--The Treasurer shall keep all moneys and securities
belonging to the Society, and shall pay all orders of the
Society or Acting Committee, signed by the President or one of
the Vice-Presidents, which orders shall be his vouchers for his
expenditures. He shall, before he enters upon his office, give a bond
of not less than two hundred pounds for the faithful discharge of the
duties of it.
ARTICLE V.--The Acting Committee shall consist of the President, two
Vice-Presidents, two Secretaries, two Counsellors, Treasurer, and six
[now ten] other members, three of whom to go off at the meetings in
the months called January and July. They shall visit the prisons at
least once 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 or punishment upon the morals of the prisoners. They may
draw upon the Treasurer for such sums of money as may be necessary.
They shall keep regular minutes of their proceedings, to be read at
every quarterly meeting of the Society. This committee shall have the
sole power of electing new members, but no member shall be admitted who
has not been proposed at a previous meeting of the Society, nor shall
an election for a member take place in less than one month after the
time of his being proposed.
ARTICLE VI.--Every member who on his admission shall subscribe the
constitution, and pay ten dollars, shall be a member for life, and
every member who on his admission shall subscribe the constitution, and
annually pay the sum of seven shillings and sixpence, shall be a member
while he continues to contribute.[8]
ARTICLE VII.--Corresponding members may be elected, not resident in the
city of Philadelphia, nor within ten miles thereof, who shall not be
required to make pecuniary contributions to the funds of the Society,
nor sign the constitution.
ARTICLE VIII.--The Society shall meet on the second Second-day, called
Monday, in the months called January, April, July, and October, at such
place as shall be agreed to by a majority of the Society.
ARTICLE IX.--No law or regulation shall contradict any part of the
Constitution of the Society, nor shall any law or alteration of the
Constitution be made without it be proposed at a previous meeting. 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 a casting vote.
OFFICERS FOR 1849.
PRESIDENT--James J. Barclay.
VICE-PRESIDENTS--Townsend Sharpless, Charles B. Trego.
TREASURER--Edward Yarnall.
SECRETARIES AND COMMITTEE OF CORRESPONDENCE--
William Parker Foulke, Charles D. Cleveland.
COUNSELLORS--Job R. Tyson, William A. Porter.
ACTING COMMITTEE.
James J. Barclay, Townsend Sharpless, Charles B. Trego, Edward Yarnall,
William Parker Foulke, Charles Dexter Cleveland, Job R. Tyson, William
A. Porter, Frederick A. Packard, Jeremiah Hacker, William Shippen, John
M. Whitall, Marmaduke Cooper Cope, Rene Guillou, Charles Ellis, Edward
Townsend.
👉 QUARTERLY MEETING of the Society on the ninth day of April, inst.
NOTICE.
👉 Communications and orders for this work may be addressed
“_Editors of the Journal of Prison Discipline_,” care of the
publishers, No. 6, South Fifth Street, Philadelphia.
👉 “Officers of State, Inspectors, or Wardens of Penitentiaries,
Keepers of Common Gaols, Houses of Correction, &c., Superintendents
or Physicians of Insane Asylums, (whether public or private, and
whether for paupers or pay-patients,) officers of Houses of Refuge,
Police Magistrates, and others who may be in possession of, or have
access to reports or other documents bearing on prison discipline,
insanity, juvenile delinquency, police regulations, pauperism,
&c., &c., will confer a particular favour by forwarding to the
above office copies of such publications for use or notice in this
Journal. All such attentions will be gratefully acknowledged, and
cheerfully reciprocated.
“JOURNAL OF PRISON DISCIPLINE AND PHILANTHROPY,”
_Published by the “Philadelphia Society for alleviating the Miseries of
Public Prisons_.”
DESIGN AND PLAN OF THE WORK.
The members of this venerable Institution, which has been mainly
instrumental, in introducing the great reform in Prison Discipline
that has distinguished the last half century, have long felt the
need of such a medium of communication with the public as is now
proposed. Their attention has of late been more especially aroused
to the importance of the measure, from the deep interest which has
been awakened in such reform; and from the misapprehension which
prevails, as to the true principles and results of what is termed
the “Pennsylvanian,” or “Separate System.”
Of the intrinsic usefulness of a Journal of this nature, it is
believed but one opinion can prevail among the intelligent and
humane. One of the most active and well-informed of those engaged
in the reform of Prisons, has justly remarked, that “judgment
is but the result of comparison.” All reasonable men, before
deciding on a measure, will acknowledge the importance of becoming
acquainted with the history and results of similar efforts. Hence
the necessity felt by all civilized nations, of publishing and
preserving public documents, reports, discussions, criticisms, &c.
In America there is no adequate provision for the preservation
of these, so far as they relate to prison reform; they are
scattered among an accumulation of pamphlets on other subjects, are
frequently destroyed, and are always difficult of access; and the
labour which ought to furnish instruction for our future progress,
and for posterity, becomes too often merely temporary in its
utility.
At the present time a greatly enhanced importance is attached to a
publication of this kind, as a medium of communication with foreign
countries. Several of the governments of Europe are endeavouring
to ascertain the best system of Prison Discipline, with a view to
its adoption; and although the Society have no doubt which of the
methods now in existence is the best, some Philanthropists of the
Old World are yet undecided.
It is from a knowledge of these facts and from a belief that it is
due to themselves and the cause of humanity, that the Society have
been induced to undertake this publication.
The Journal will be devoted to the exposition and promulgation of
correct views on Prison Discipline, Police systems, Asylums for
the insane poor, Societies for the aid of discharged prisoners,
and other reforms immediately connected with these subjects.
It will also be rendered more interesting and instructive
by the introduction of biographical sketches of celebrated
Philanthropists, accompanied with portraits; and by plans and
descriptions of the best methods of Prison construction. Such being
the object, the Society cannot doubt that it will meet with cordial
support from the friends of humanity, throughout the Old and New
World.
TERMS.
This periodical is published quarterly; each number to contain
at least 48 pages octavo. It will be delivered without charge to
members of the Society; but to those who are not members, the price
is $1 per aum, always in advance, or 25 cents a number.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Rev. Dr. Alexander’s letter to the Howard Society of New Jersey,
July 1833.
[2] This subject has lately engrossed the earnest consideration of
the Managers of the Philadelphia Refuge, and there is an evident
determination to effect important improvements in this respect.
[3] “CASE I.--The family whose total earnings consist of £2 2_s_ per
week, consist of the father and mother, who sleep in one bed; a married
son and his wife who sleep in the second bed; a grown up daughter who,
with two boys of twelve and fourteen years of age, sleep together on a
bed on the floor; the whole family being in the same room.
“CASE II.--H. H. earns two shillings a day as a laborer--was brought
up as a farmer, and had property to the amount of 2000 pounds, which
he has dissipated--has a wife and five children--the eldest of whom is
13 years, the youngest 5 years; they have only one bed, upon which the
parents sleep; the children sleeping on the floor as they best may.
“CASE III.--D. M., with his family, makes 30 shillings per week; his
daughter, with a bastard child about two years old, a son about 16,
another of 13, and a daughter of 10 years of age, making, with his
wife, seven in all, sleep in the same room, with two beds.
“CASE IV.--J. G. has a father and mother who live with him; he and
his wife sleep in one bed; his father and mother in another; his two
grown up sisters in a third; his brother, a lad of 19, and a young man
lodger, ‘who is courting one of his sisters,’ in a fourth: all in the
same room. J. G. does not know, or will not tell, how much they all
make, but thinks it ‘a good bit,’ as his wife and sisters and brother
are at farming, himself on a fruit ground, and his father a laborer.”
Dr. Holland furnished Dr. Playfair with the following, in the case of
one of his dispensary patients: “D. E. is a widower, with one sleeping
apartment, in which sleeps his adult son and daughter. The latter has a
bastard child which she affiliates on the father, he upon his son, and
the neighbors upon both.”
[4] Boston Correspondence of the New York Recorder, January 1849.
[5] Opened May 15, 1848.
[6] 39 of dysentery in August and September.
[7] Mrs. Fry’s views, when fairly presented and properly understood,
were altogether in favor of separation, and can never be justly cited
against it.
[8] [Article VI. has been altered so as to make it require twenty
dollars for a life contribution, and two dollars for an annual
contribution.]
[Transcriber’s Note:
Table on page 71, headers: Males., Females., and Totals., were shortened
to read M., Fem., and Tot.
Obvious printer errors corrected silently.
Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.]