_The First Class._—Those committed for vagrancy, breach of the peace,
drunkenness, and disorderly conduct.
_Second Class._—Persons charged with violation of the laws, whose cases
are to be decided by the Criminal Court.
_Third Class._—Persons sentenced to short imprisonment, and the payment
of fines and costs.
_Fourth Class._—Those convicted of crimes of a high character, and
sentenced to confinement and labor. And we may add a
_Fifth Class._—Formed of those already mentioned, who, having been
sentenced to death by the Court, are yet detained in prison by the
withholding of the death-warrant for their Execution, or of the pardon
which would ensure their release.
With all these the Society has relations by means of the Committee on
the County Prison, and to prevent interference in labors, and to secure
attendance at all the cells, the Committee is divided into classes, to
each of which is assigned a particular division of the prison, though a
member of the Committee is permitted to visit the inmates of any of the
cells, in addition to those specially assigned him. But it can scarcely
be doubted that where one visitor is punctual and faithful in his
labors, the interference of others may rather tend to disturb the mind
of prisoners than to aid them in the new path of duty upon which they
have hesitatingly entered. Such matters are, of course, left to the
judgment of visitors, who can easily discern when the ground is fully
occupied by a successful laborer. Too much culture is said to be almost
as fatal to vegetation as entire neglect. Frequency of interference by
persons of varied habits and different modes of approaching the
prisoner, can scarcely be productive of good, although each one
separately operating, might, with God’s blessing, work out an
incalculable amount of improvement.
The laborers at the County Prison are not so numerous as at the
Penitentiary, in proportion to the number and character of the inmates.
The County Prison is a less desirable field of labor. At the
Penitentiary the inmates have a fixed and protracted residence, and may
be approached by the same teacher so long as hopes are entertained that
“the continual dropping” of moral truths “will wear the stone” of his
heart. And his separation from those whose language or presence might
encourage his resoluteness in wrong intention, leaves him almost
entirely within the influence of those whose duty and pleasure it is to
make his banishment from bad society the means of his reformation.
At the County Prison, one large class of prisoners, by far the largest,
is always changing. Day by day the _vans_ arrive, crowded with wretches
who have entered upon the path of vice, and are hastening down that
terrible declivity. Incarceration for all crimes, commences here, even
though the criminal should be consigned to the Penitentiary when
convicted. The vicious, the drunkard, the disorderly, the peace-breaker,
and the vagrant, are committed to the prison, and must abide their
monthly incarceration, unless “sooner released by course of law.”
We have already mentioned the various classes of offenders that occupy
the cells of this prison. With one class, viz., convicts for various
terms, the mode of dealing by the visitors from the city, is changed
from that in the Penitentiary only so far as to suit the different
character of the confinement, and the occupation of the inmates. The
visitor is regular in his calls at the cell of the convict, and follows
his own plan of moral and religious instruction, usually successful in
proportion to the assiduity of the instructor, and the time in which he
exercises his office of benevolence towards the inmates of the cell.
Pamphlets, tracts, books of devotion, the Holy Scriptures, are supplied
to the prisoner, and his attention to the prescribed lesson is urged by
his teacher, and tested by his recitation and comment. And when the
unhappy occupant of the cell is unable to read, additional attention is
bestowed in imparting the instruction, so as to supply as far as
possible the deficiency of primary education.
With the third class, viz., those sentenced to short terms, and the
payment of a fine, it may be supposed not so much good can be expected.
Yet there are not wanting instances of thorough reform consequent upon
the gentle zealousness of the visitor, and the yet lingering sense of
right in the mind of the prisoner. Indeed, as some of those suffering
short sentences are obtaining the first fruits of wrong doing, it
happens often that their consciences and their affections are more
easily touched, and thus a hopeful reformation is more readily
commenced. This occurs especially when the person arrested is admitted
to bail, or, as can rarely happen, placed in a separate cell before
conviction, so that a direct and necessary intercourse, by constant
association with others in a similar situation may be avoided. The fact
that many of these third class prisoners never return, may be regarded
as evidence that the discipline of the prison, and the care of the
visitors, have done the good work of reformation.