Chapter I: Part 1

VOL. VIII. TERMS:--ONE DOLLAR A YEAR IN ADVANCE. NO. III.

THE

PENNSYLVANIA JOURNAL

OF

PRISON DISCIPLINE

AND

PHILANTHROPY.

PUBLISHED QUARTERLY

UNDER THE DIRECTION OF “THE PHILADELPHIA SOCIETY FOR ALLEVIATING
THE MISERIES OF PUBLIC PRISONS,” INSTITUTED 1787.

“The separation of one prisoner from another is the only sound basis on
which a reformatory (prison) discipline can be established with any
reasonable hope of success.”--_Fifth Report of Inspectors of English
Prisons._

JULY, 1853.

PHILADELPHIA:
E. C. AND J. BIDDLE,
SOUTHWEST CORNER OF FIFTH AND MINOR STREETS.
LONDON: CHARLES GILPIN.
1853.
Isaac Ashmead, Printer.

CONTENTS OF NO. III.

ART. I.--The Former Times and These, 109

II.--Inspectors of Prisons, 117

III.--The Old Ulcer Opened Again, 124

IV.--Prison Matters at the West, and Political Management in General, Affecting Prisons and Prisoners, 128

V.--Uncertainty of Conviction and Punishment, 135

VI.--Recent Occurrences in Philadelphia, 142

MISCELLANEOUS.

Indiscriminate Almsgiving, 150

Shooting with Red Paint, 154

New Work on Separate Confinement, 155

The Elizabeth Fry Refuge, 155

Ohio Lunatic Asylum, 156

Connecticut State Prison, 156

Not my Mother! 156

NOTICE OF THIS JOURNAL.

“It embodies more information on the subject of prisons, arranged and expressed in the spirit of literature and science, than any other publication of our country and will compare with any Journal devoted to this department of knowledge in Europe.”--_Hon. Charles Sumner’s Speech, in debate on prison question in Boston, May, 1847._

RECENT NOTICES.

_From the North American and United States’ Gazette._

We have received from Messrs. E. C. & J. Biddle the last number of the Pennsylvania Journal of Prison Discipline, which is published quarterly, under the direction of the Philadelphia Society for alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons. A glance through its pages shows what is well understood--that it is a highly valuable periodical, communicating much and various important information upon the subject of which it treats. It is the only publication of the kind in the country, is certainly a very much needed one, and ought, therefore, to be well sustained by the public.

_From the Episcopal Recorder._

This periodical gives a large amount of information on Prison Discipline, and cannot fail to interest such as grieve over the sufferings occasioned by crime, and regard the imprisoned criminal as still belonging to our common humanity, and needing the commiseration of the wise and good.

_From the Public Ledger._

We have received the October number of the Pennsylvania Journal of Prison Discipline and Philanthropy, published under the direction of the Philadelphia Society for alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons. It is stored with interesting matter.

_From the Presbyterian._

We have been reading with great interest the Pennsylvania Journal of Prison Discipline and Philanthropy.

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.

It is, as might possibly be anticipated from the residence of the author, an elaborate and ardent defence of the separate system of confinement. The charge of its peculiar tendency to induce disease and insanity, is altogether denied, and the testimony of the successive physicians to the Eastern State Penitentiary, during a term of nearly twenty years, goes very satisfactorily to warrant the denial.

The author is not, however, inclined to rest at this, but carries the war into the enemies’ camp. The chapter entitled Medical Practice, in a Congregate Prison, is calculated to attract attention, from the positions laid down in it, and their startling illustrations, deduced from the well known case of Abner Rogers. It is not the time or the place for us to enter on this warmly controverted subject, and we have noticed the work only on account of its bearing on the subject of insanity, and as forming a part of its literature.--_Am. Journal of Insanity, published by the Superintendent of the New York Lunatic Asylum, July, 1850._

* * * * *

So far as the leading controversy, in regard to the rival systems of prison discipline, is concerned, it seems to us to cover the entire ground with singular ability.--_Princeton Review._

* * * * *

⇒ A few copies of this pamphlet are still on hand, and may be had on application to the publishers, corner of Fifth and Minor streets, or to any member of the Acting Committee.

THE

PENNSYLVANIA JOURNAL

OF

PRISON DISCIPLINE.

VOL. VIII.--JULY, 1853--No. 3.

ART. I.--THE FORMER TIMES AND THESE.

It is said that every man has his niche. Of course there is a niche for every man, and among others one for _croakers_, and it is very desirable that they should never be seen out of it. We presume we have none of this sort among us, inasmuch as they would instinctively shun the council-chamber of those who look with a hopeful eye upon any and every legitimate project for human improvement. It is excusable in doting age to dwell with a sort of childish satisfaction on the scenes and associations of youth, but no man who is living in good earnest, can fail to be impressed and excited by the vast advance which has been made within an age or two in the condition of the human race.

If there were nothing else to look at but the single institution known as the _Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane_, with all its wonderful agencies and appointments for ministering to the relief of the direst of all the ills that flesh is heir to, we should exclaim with gratitude to the Author of all good--How marvellous the change! It seems but yesterday that PINEL, with an intrepidity seldom equalled, ordered the restraints to be removed from _fifty-three_ confirmed lunatics who had been bound in chains and fetters--some for half a lifetime--and proved, to the amazement of their incredulous keepers, that kindness and confidence would assuage a calamity which restraint and violence only serve to aggravate. It was a signal triumph of humanity over ignorance and selfishness, and opened the way for a series of efforts, the benign results of which have scarcely a parallel in the annals of benevolence.

If we imagine, for a moment, thousands of men and women, some confined like wild beasts in dens or cages, enduring the most cruel tortures at the hands of their nearest earthly friends, and doomed, for the remnant of their lives, to hopeless and unmitigated suffering; others wandering about half clothed and loathsome in their persons, exposed by night and by day to burning heat or the pitiless storm, teazed and pelted by the thoughtless and cruel, and shunned, from fear, by the considerate and humane; and others, still, the subjects of constant anxiety and commiseration to loving friends, who sought in vain for some alleviation of their grievous burden,--we have a picture of what was.

Then, if we turn our eyes to any of the noble institutions which, in these latter times, have been founded and furnished for the reception and treatment of these unhappy beings, and consider how large a proportion of them are entirely relieved of their malady and restored to sound health, and to the ordinary duties and enjoyments of life; and to how large an extent the sufferings of others are alleviated, and their comforts and enjoyments multiplied, we have a picture of what now is, and surely no one can suppress an exclamation of gratitude and wonder at the contrast. This item of human ills once looked upon as so terrific, has been divested of its most appalling features, and reduced, like other diseases, to the control of medical skill, and let the Giver of all good be praised for it.

A sketch, not unlike this in its general features, may be given of the change in the treatment of public offenders. The man is now living in Philadelphia who could describe to us a spectacle which his own eyes might have beheld, in what was then nearly the centre of the population of our beautiful city. It was a prison-house at the corner of Market and Third streets, where all grades of offenders, without distinction of sex, color or age, might be seen mingling together, day and night, as one common herd of vagabonds and outcasts! The most flagrant and thrice convicted offender is here associated with one who is presumed to be innocent, because not proved to be guilty; the old and practised thief with the novice in dishonesty--the forger and counterfeiter with the poor but honest debtor--while, at short intervals, there creep into this motley crowd, “the disgusting objects of popular contempt besmeared with filth from the pillory--the victim of the whipping post, with blood streaming from his lacerated body, the half naked vagrant and the loathsome drunkard.”

If we survey the exterior, the scene is not less offensive. The miserable tenants are thrusting poles through the windows with bags or baskets suspended at the end, to catch the eye and the gifts of passers, while shouts of mirth or passion, mingled with profane and brutal execrations assail their ears.

It was to such a sink of corruption and iniquity that the attention of benevolent men was turned, and it was to alleviate miseries such as these, that they associated together, some seventy years ago, under the title which they still hold, and which is seen on each number of this Journal. And what has been accomplished by that and kindred agencies?

The eye of a stranger who passes along Coates’ street towards the Schuylkill, is arrested by an imposing structure, giving the impression of strength, permanence and security. But no sound meets his ear, nor is any sign of its use at all visible. Let him enter and survey the interior. In a spacious area he sees long corridors radiating from a common centre, divided into apartments of suitable size, clean and wholesome, and provided with light and air and furniture needful for the tenant. In these corridors are confined at constant and useful labor, three or four hundred men, but it is as quiet as a well regulated workshop, each is unknown to the other, but all known to the officers and authorized visitors. Their food, lodging and attendance in sickness and in health, are good and sufficient. Their understandings are cultivated, and the voice of kindness and sympathy is heard by many there, who have seldom heard it elsewhere all their lives long.

Who does not exclaim, at the sight of such a contrast. How wonderful the transformation, and all too, within the memory of living men!

But let us brace up our nerves and protect our senses while we return for a moment to the prison-scenes of a former day. It is the Lord’s day. The streets of the city are thronged with people wending their way to the various places of public worship, but who thinks or cares for the “gaol-birds?” Shut out from the light and air of heaven, polluted in body and mind, and given over to work all manner of wickedness greedily, the day which brings repose to the care-worn, and peace to the troubled in heart, is fraught with no good to them.

Yet stay a moment. The sympathy of a disciple and minister of CHRIST--“that friend of publicans and sinners”--is awakened for them. He calls upon the keeper, and proposes to address the prisoners occasionally, in a religious discourse, and to begin on the following Lord’s day. The keeper is amazed at so preposterous a proposition, and expresses his conviction that the attempt would be extremely hazardous, involving not only peril to the preacher himself and to the officers in attendance, but the possible escape of the prisoners, and the consequent pillage and murder of the citizens! Whether this was the result of timidity, or of a design to obstruct all efforts at reformation, is not known; but these and all other scruples were so far overcome, that permission was given to make the trial.

“At the appointed time the clergyman[1] repaired to the prison, and was received with a reserve bordering on incivility. The keeper reluctantly admitted him through the iron gate to a platform at the top of the steps leading to the yard, where a loaded cannon was placed, and a man beside it with a lighted match! The motley concourse of prisoners were arranged in a solid column extending to the greatest distance which the hall could allow, and in front of the instrument prepared for their destruction in the event of the least commotion.”

[1] Rev. William Rogers, D. D.

This was literally preaching at the cannon’s mouth. The service was attended, however, with entire decorum throughout, many of the prisoners giving respectful attention, and all of them behaving with unexpected propriety. This was as late as 1786-7. Who of our readers has ever attended the religious service on the Lord’s day at the Eastern State Penitentiary, without being impressed with the propriety--we might almost say, the solemnity of the occasion. Each prisoner, separated from his fellows, is able to give undiverted attention to the word spoken, and in the seclusion of his own apartment, with the written Scriptures in his hand, may “read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest” the truth that is able to make him wise unto salvation. He joins in the supplication that ascends to the throne of the heavenly grace, and in the hymns of praise and thanksgiving for the many mercies that are mingled in his cup of suffering; and who will say that this is not a marvellous spectacle to the eye of one who witnessed the delivery of Dr. Rogers’ first sermon in the prison yard!

But another scene opens. Groups of men are laboring in the streets of the city, cleaning and repairing them. Their heads are shaven, and they wear parti-colored clothing, and of course attract the gaze of passers-by. These are prisoners! Goaded to desperation by the taunts and jibes of idle and vicious boys, they have sometimes attempted to revenge their injuries, and to prevent this, they are loaded with iron collars on their necks, and cannon balls or bomb shells “are fastened to their feet by chains to be dragged after them, while they pursue their degrading labor under the eye of keepers armed with swords, blunderbusses, and other weapons of destruction.”

It was such a revolting sight as this that prompted our Prison Society to call for a radical reformation--not only for the withdrawal of these wretched men from the public gaze, injurious alike to the public and to themselves, but _for their withdrawal from each other’s presence too_, intimating very clearly their conviction that “MORE PRIVATE OR EVEN SOLITARY OR SECLUDED LABOR WOULD MORE SUCCESSFULLY TEND TO RECLAIM THE UNHAPPY OBJECTS, AS IT MIGHT BE CONDUCTED MORE STEADILY AND UNIFORMLY, AND THE KIND AND PORTION OF LABOR BETTER ADAPTED TO THE DIFFERENT ABILITIES OF THE CRIMINALS.”

We have put this memorable language in conspicuous letters, as we find in it the germ of all philosophical and truly philanthropic schemes for improvement of prison discipline, which have been devised in the sixty years’ interval.

It was an intimation more broadly given in about a twelve-month after, when fifteen of our most distinguished and benevolent citizens, then in active life, with the venerable Bishop White at their head, “thought it their duty to declare, as a matter of the utmost moment to the well being, safety and peace of society, as well as of the greatest importance to the criminals, that from a long and steady attention to the real practical state, as well as the theory of prisons, it was their unanimous opinion that solitary confinement to hard labor, and a total abstinence from spirituous liquors will prove the most effectual means of reforming these unhappy creatures.”

From that time, though by slow degrees, the penal discipline of the State has advanced in efficiency as well as humanity, and to see prisoners toiling in irons in our streets now, would be as incongruous to all our feelings and habits, as to see the most imposing mansions in our city converted into Indian wigwams, and savage council fires kindled in Independence Square.

But there is work of vast magnitude still to be done, even within the borders of our own Commonwealth. County prisons come into the line of improvement at long intervals, and too often with a reluctant step. The guiltless are not seldom corrupted by the associations which are here allowed, (and which are, perhaps, inevitable,) and the novice in crime is made reckless and incorrigible before he becomes the subject of penitentiary discipline.

And it is to be borne in mind, too, that our society is not restricted in its interests or sympathies, to the penal institutions of _Pennsylvania_. We would contribute all in our power to the “alleviation of the miseries of public prisons,” the country and world over. And it would probably surprise most of our readers to know how many and how aggravated these “miseries” are, even in prisons which boast of eminent superiority. Since we commenced this article, a case has been brought to our knowledge, on indisputable authority, which will serve as an example. A convict was brought from a State-prison to the Lunatic Asylum. He was heavily chained, and the examining physician noticed a circular bruise on his temple, as if made by the nails in the heel of a boot or shoe! The officer in charge of the man represented him as being very violent and unmanageable. Two and a half barrels of water had been showered upon him, he said, but it did not subdue him. It made him pale and cold, but he was obstinate still. He was malicious too, and had secreted a pair of shears, with the intent (as it was believed) to take the life of his keeper, but fortunately the keeper was aware of it, and knocked him down, and by putting his foot on his head, held him till help came, and hence the bruise which had arrested the doctor’s attention. He had been kept in a dungeon but without any good effect, and they had authority at last to take him to the Asylum.

The unhappy creature heard this story, but made no reply. The physician of the Asylum ordered his chains to be removed. He was admitted to the ward, like other patients, and had not given them the least trouble!

It seems that prisoners, paupers and pay-patients are intermingled in some Asylums. And we are credibly informed, that since the present year came in, not less than _thirty-six_ insane convicts were at one time in the State Asylum at Utica. They are removed from the prison and received at the Asylum as insane, and this is often the end of the sentence. An elopement from the Asylum may perhaps answer all the purposes of a pardon, without the responsibility of it. In one instance, where a convict escaped from the Utica Asylum, notice was given to the authorities of the prison from whence he was received, but no effort was made to re-arrest him, and the fellow was found soon after, following a respectable business in New York city, at $22 a month and board, and was doing well! The Empire State itself could not probably have done better for him.

Our readers have not probably forgotten the fate of four out of five prisoners in a cell, not a cannon’s shot distance from the City Hall in New York. That such an event could occur in any prison which is located, constructed and superintended with ordinary regard to the laws of humanity, is scarcely credible.

In view of such statements, we must admit that the work of prison reform is indeed not yet accomplished. Great ignorance still prevails on the subject. Strong prejudices exist (nurtured, if not engendered by local, personal or professional pride,) against some of the essential features of any true and effective system. Much effort is required to diffuse right opinions, and correct popular errors. Among these last, none is more prevalent or mischievous than that the difference of a few thousand dollars, in the first cost of the structure, should turn the scale in favor of a system which is not, on other accounts, most approved. The true principle which should rule in all questions of this nature, is very obvious. No reasonable expense or pains should be spared in the employment of means to convert a single idler into a worker, or a single rogue into an honest citizen. The mischief which a contemner of laws may do, single-handed, to society, is so indefinite, and, we may almost say, boundless, that we can scarcely conceive of a greater public benefit than his reformation, unless, indeed, it be such a training of his children or his neighbor’s children, or both, as shall prevent their following his example. To confine a convict three or five or seven years with a chafed and irritated temper during all that interval, and then dismiss him, a settled and irreconcileable enemy to himself and all about him, is the worst policy a State can pursue. We do not advocate any course that shall mitigate, in the slightest degree, the legitimate severity of punishment. But we urge it as a matter of public economy, as the dictate of a sound policy, that where two methods of dealing with offenders are at the State’s election, one of which gives better promise than the other for the correction of the vicious dispositions and for the restoration to honest society of a single culprit, it should be chosen, whatever claim the other may show on the score of present expense.

We are aware, that in these times, when so many private and party considerations are allowed to mingle with questions of public interest, it will be no easy matter to secure a safe and liberal policy on such a subject as we are considering. But if so great achievements have been made by the good and wise who have lived and acted before us, it ill-becomes us in the light of their example, and with facilities for the work which were unknown to them,--it ill-becomes us to relax our efforts or to refuse any reasonable service or sacrifice, which will complete what they so nobly begun.

ART. II.--INSPECTORS OF PRISONS.

Much of the efficiency and success of any system of prison discipline, depends on the characters and dispositions of those who occupy the post of Inspectors. As it is out of the question for the most judicious and vigilant inspectors to make a prison what it should be, while incompetent persons are employed to execute the discipline, so it is equally out of the question for the most energetic and thoroughly qualified officers to administer successfully the affairs of such an institution, so long as they are subject to the control of incompetent Inspectors. To secure the desired results, there must be marked confidence between these parties, and such a coincidence of opinion and counsel as shall give unity and strength to the administration.

In cases where the appointment of the principal officers of a prison is in the hands of the Inspectors, there is danger that the independence which is so essential to faithful and efficient action, will be put in jeopardy. It requires no ordinary degree of courage to pursue a measure which is likely to involve a sacrifice of one’s livelihood, and especially where no moral principle is concerned. It may happen, for instance, that some indulgences are allowed or winked at by the Inspectors, which are in violation of the discipline established by law. If the warden remonstrates against the practice, it may be at the risk of losing his place, and it is easy for him to persuade himself that the responsibility is on the Inspectors, whose servant he is, and that the most discreet course for him is to hold his peace and his place. But we think a wise Board of Inspectors would see to it, that the warden is put at his ease on that point, and that the utmost freedom is enjoyed by him, not as a matter of grace, but of right, in the utterance of all his suggestions and objections.

There is no uniformity in the several States, either as to the appointment of Inspectors or the relations they shall sustain to the public on one side, and to the prison and its inmates and resident officers on the other. In some States they are appointed by the Executive, in others by the Legislature. In some they are popularly elected, and in others (as in Pennsylvania) they are appointed by the judiciary. Our own impression is, that the appointing power of this class of officers is most properly lodged in the executive department of the government. It is, in its nature, analogous to other duties of this department. It is in the exercise of purely executive authority that the convict is committed, and it would seem fitting that this same power should exercise a suitable control over him, directly or by agents of its own appointment. If the Legislature has exercised its functions in the enactment of the law, with adequate penalties, and the Judiciary has past upon the guilt of a transgressor and fixed the measure of his punishment, one would think the remaining part of the work is peculiarly appropriate to the Executive.

There may be some advantages in giving the Inspectors the appointment of warden and other principal officers, but it is clear that we thereby lose an important check on both parties. There have been many instances of gross official misconduct by Inspectors of prisons, which would probably never have been revealed, had the appointing and removing power been lodged in their hands. It is obviously undesirable to place official parties in such a relation that each should be interested in concealing or palliating the neglects or misdeeds of the other. If each is made responsible to a third and superior power, the opportunity to practice collusion, as well as the temptation to it, is essentially diminished.

But leaving this question for future discussion if need be, we propose to set forth briefly a few considerations which should weigh in the selection of prison Inspectors, let who will appoint them: And

I. They should be men of unquestioned _probity_. There is scarcely any public office which an ill-disposed incumbent may not prostitute to base or selfish purposes, if he is so disposed; and in the distribution of patronage, the execution of contracts and the furnishing of supplies, it would not be difficult for a prison Inspector to overstep at least the bounds of propriety. There have been not a few cases in which the official demeanor of such bodies or of individual members of them, has been made the subject of public investigation to the great discredit of those concerned, and to the manifest depravation of public morals. To put a man into such an office, whose character and standing are open to reproach, or even reasonable suspicion, is a gross dereliction of duty, and ought to subject the appointing power to severe animadversion. It should moreover be a provision in every law touching the appointment and duties of Inspectors, that they shall not be directly or indirectly concerned or interested in any contract or negotiation connected with the prison, from which any emolument can be derived; and the use of their official position for the purposes of self-aggrandizement or other sinister end, should be punished with exemplary severity.

II. Prison Inspectors should be _intelligent_ men. Not only should they be well-informed upon matters more immediately connected with their official duty, but they should have some general knowledge of the various methods of managing penal institutions. There are radical differences in the theories which prevail on this subject and in the systems founded on them. It would be very difficult for the Inspectors of a separate prison, for example, to administer its affairs discreetly and efficiently, if they were not familiar with the points in which it differs from all other prisons, with the dangers and deficiencies which have been ascribed to it, and with the methods of obviating these dangers and supplying these deficiencies, if they really appear. In the selection and distribution of occupations, and in adapting them to the habits, constitution and capacity of convicts, as well as in making the pursuit of these conducive at once to the welfare of the prisoner and to the legitimate ends of punishment, good judgment is required. The warden and other officers of the institution should see enough in their intercourse with the Inspectors to command their respect and confidence. True it is that in the minor details of prison economy, the warden and heads of departments may have most knowledge and tact, but in a comprehensive view of the principles of the institution, and of the most eligible methods of bringing them into efficient and harmonious development from day to day, the Inspectors should take the lead. The proper discipline of a prison population of three or four hundred men, combining employment, instruction, encouragement, subordination, economy, moral influence, and physical and mental improvement, with the privation and pain which constitute the penal element of the institution, is not a work for uninformed or narrow-minded men.

How often has a shrewd business man taken in charge the financial and economical interests of some of our prisons that have, year after year, made a fair report, and shown well to superficial observers, and exposed to public rebuke gross negligencies, if not outrageous frauds which the Inspectors--“good easy men,” had neither eyes to see nor ears to hear, nor capacity to understand? If we desire our prisons to answer the true ends of their organization, we must put them under the supervision of active, intelligent men, who have an opinion and responsibility of their own.

III. Prison Inspectors should be _humane_ men. Though the direct care and management of the convicts must of necessity be entrusted to the resident officers, the Inspectors, and not the resident officers, are the true representatives of the government in the administration of the discipline. In the character of those who are appointed to the immediate charge of the convicts, there should be a general guaranty that every office of humanity, that does not relax or neutralize the rigor of punishment, will be observed. It is not difficult for an officer of severe or violent temper to abuse a convict shamefully, and conceal the act from the ordinary observation of Inspectors. And hence no man of such temperament should be entrusted with the custody of prisoners. On the other hand, a weak and effeminate officer may become the tool or plaything of a convict, and lose all influence and authority over him. It is, moreover, possible that an officer--even the chief officer--of a prison may, by indolence and carelessness, inflict a negative wrong on prisoners, which is quite as intolerable and inexcusable as positive inhumanity.

A neglected prescription of the medical officer--a delay to attend to a reasonable request--a harsh repartee or an undeserved denial of confidence may be more cruel than the _douche_ or the cat-o’-nine-tail--and yet how easily every thing of this character would escape the superficial observation of Inspectors, in their weekly circuit. Their humanity must not only be evinced in the discharge of their own duties, but it must prompt them to interpose every needful barrier to the positive and negative inhumanity of others. The power being all on one side, the utmost care will not always prevent its abuse.

IV. Prison Inspectors should be _hopeful_ men. We need not disclaim all sympathy with those (if such there are) who take a demure look, a whining confession or a flippant utterance of religious phrases, as indications of reformed habits or reliable principles. No one who has been familiar with the course of this Journal, will suspect us of any undue leaning in that direction. But we are equally indisposed to fall in with the views of an opposite class, whose maxim is, “once a convict, always a convict,” and who instinctively distrust every profession of repentance, and of a desire to lead a different life.

We have known inspectors who, from long official intercourse with convicts, and familiar knowledge of their cunning and hypocrisy, seem to feel as if it is not safe to give heed for a moment to any thing they may say, or that may be said for them. Let them be approached in the most respectful manner, and by persons who can have no interest in misleading or deceiving them, and the moment the errand is found to be in behalf of a convict, they seem to regard the bearer of it as a little better than an accomplice, or, at least, a dupe.

It cannot be denied that well-meaning but credulous persons are oftentimes quite officious on such subjects, and through ignorance or indiscretion, are induced to urge upon Inspectors very injudicious measures. This annoyance must be borne by public functionaries as a part of the price of their “blushing honors,” and set off against the privileges and prerogatives of office. If a man is presumed to be innocent till he is proved guilty, why should not a guilty man be regarded as a hopeful subject of reforming influences, till he is proved incorrigible? What would be the condition of every member of the human family, if conviction of sin works a forfeiture of all claim to sympathy and confidence?

There is a wide difference between a seasonable encouragement of attempts to amend one’s life, and a blind confidence in professions and promises. A kind look or word at a propitious moment, in the progress of penal suffering, changes the whole influence of it. A frown or a repulse will freeze into impenetrable hardness a heart that might be melted into penitence by timely compassion and sympathy. If prisoners are treated with less tenderness by Inspectors than is shown to the wild beasts of a menagerie, we must expect them to resemble wild beasts in ferocity when they are let loose. The true light in which Inspectors should regard themselves is, as protectors of the public against danger from such a source. They are appointed to superintend a process by which the ferocious passions of a man may be subdued--his vicious inclinations changed and right moral feelings and habits implanted. If the highest and best object of penitentiary discipline is attained, he who is received under it as a tiger, is discharged from it as a lamb. The infrequency of such a transformation might not be so striking if Inspectors executed their functions in a proper spirit. Not only would their personal and official influence contribute more directly to this result, but the whole economy and discipline of the prison under their charge would take the same direction.

V. We have only to add, that no _political_ influences or considerations should be allowed weight in the appointment of prison-inspectors. We need not say that this remark has no local application, though we have no doubt that it would receive the hearty concurrence even of those who may regard the avoidance of such influences as quite impracticable. Political parties live by power and patronage. Offices of honor or emolument are the bribes that tempt men into the strife for party-supremacy, and upon a due distribution of these depends its maintenance, when it has been attained. But there are some posts which involve labor rather than honor. The emoluments of them but poorly compensate for the pains and self-denials they impose, and the duties require qualifications so peculiar and so rare, that we cannot afford to restrict the field of selection to any party. It is difficult enough to fill them properly, “with the world before us where to choose,” but the difficulty is rendered almost insuperable when a large portion of the community, and possibly an actual majority, are excluded, as out of political caste.

The choice of Prison Inspectors and School Commissioners and overseers of education and reformation should uniformly fall on those who are, on the whole, best qualified to serve, irrespective of all political relations and considerations. If we must have a new set of officers introduced into our prisons, and a new set of teachers and text-books into our schools, whenever a revolution occurs in the position of political parties, neither our prisons nor our schools will prove to be of much value. When we can trace all the ignorance and all the crime of the community to the door of one political party, we may be disposed to charge on them the burden of taking care of dolts and rogues; but so long as both are common to all political parties, it seems more wise and equitable to draw from all the best skill in the greatest force they can yield to enlighten the one and punish or (if possible) extirpate the other.

VI. There is another negative qualification of prison Inspectors--not mentioned last because we esteem it of the least consideration--and that is the absence of all morbid and whimsical philosophy about the _origin_ of criminal acts. There are some people who may, with comparative harmlessness, indulge their fancy in framing theories to account for crime, without involving criminality. They may amuse themselves by analogies between the irregularities of the skull and the proclivities to particular crimes, or by tracing a disposition to larceny, robbery and murder to some physiological mal-formation, for which the offending party is no more responsible than for his stature or complexion. Or they may discover a process by which to lay the blame of all crime on society, and show to their own satisfaction that when a foul murder is committed, “Society” should be hung as the real offender, and not the poor wretch whom (as they would say) the “state of society” has betrayed into the commission of the deed!

This is not an imaginary supposition. Our own ears have heard a man of much repute for active philanthropy, and sharing quite generously in the confidence of the community, assert in an address to a large public assembly, concerning a woman who was then under sentence for the wilful murder of her child, that she was not the blame-worthy party--“She went,” he said, “from door to door, and sought work. All objected to employing her because she was incumbered with a child. Finding this incumbrance a bar to her success, she threw it into the Schuylkill river, and who would blame her?” asked the popular orator. “Those who turned her from their doors are the guilty ones, and should now be where she is, and in her place suffer the extreme penalty of the law!”

Now, a prison Inspector needs to be free from all such fancies. He has nothing to do with the origin of crime or the blameworthiness of those who are under his inspection. All these points were settled before the convict came under his notice. All he has to do is to see that the sentence awarded by legal authority is duly executed. He has a share in the oversight of an institution established for that purpose, and his simple duty is to see to it, that the penal purpose of his confinement is fulfilled with due regard both to the dignity of the Commonwealth and the rights of the convict--for a convict has rights as well as a freeman--and the Inspectors stand between the parties, not to theorize or speculate, but to oversee the process of punishment, that it may be conformed in all respects to the provisions of law.

ART. III.--THE OLD ULCER OPENED AGAIN.

If there is any one point settled in the science of prison-discipline, it is that which is embraced in the motto of this Journal, viz., that the separation of each convict from all other convicts, is the only basis on which we can rest a reasonable hope of making him better rather than worse;--or, to give the converse of the same proposition,--the most skilful doctors of the body politic have uniformly admitted that the association of convicts is sure to breed the most pestiferous and incurable moral ulcers in their patients.

We had supposed this doctrine was so clearly established, and its fundamental importance so generally admitted, that in Pennsylvania, at least, it would rule. But either through the negligence of the proper authorities to furnish the needful accommodations, or from the overstocking of the prison with a class of persons for whose reception and oversight no proper provision is made, or from a disregard to the positive requisitions of the law, association is still allowed in some of our prisons, and the mischiefs which have always sprung from that source are re-appearing among us. The old ulcer has re-opened, and the State doctors must see to it, and check it in season, or it will become malignant and uncontrollable.

The following incidents are furnished on indisputable personal authority.

The wife of a very respectable citizen of Philadelphia contracted a habit of intemperate drinking. So resistless was the habit, that she was accustomed to pawn any thing that could be removed through the doors or windows to obtain the means of indulgence. No proper receptacle for such persons being provided, there was no alternative but that most painful one of a commitment to a prison-cell. It was hoped that a brief separation from all opportunity to gratify her appetite, would work a cure, especially when connected with the severity of the discipline.

She was committed by due process of law to the county prison, and during the brief period of her restraint, she was associated at various times with at least _three_ vile malefactors, one of whom was under indictment for murder. When she left the prison and returned home, instead of being the sober, useful, reformed woman, that her wretched husband expected, she had become familiar with the worst forms and most notorious haunts of wickedness and infamy. She was not only still intemperate, but far more degraded and hopeless in her condition than ever before.

A girl at service, in a respectable family, committed some trifling fault which irritated her employers, and induced them to commence a prosecution against her for larceny. She was charged with stealing a flannel jacket and a bonnet-ribbon.

On the trial it was proved that the former consisted of at least thirty distinct pieces of cloth which she had sewed together, supposing the fragments to be of no value. The ribbon she had taken from an old bonnet, which had lain among the rubbish of a loft for two years or more. She was found guilty, received sentence, and was committed in execution of it to the county prison. Here she became the associate of two, if not three different individuals, each of whom had been steeped in crime, and though she went into prison technically guilty, but in all good truth and justice guiltless, she came out a thorough bred mistress of iniquity!

A committing magistrate states a case which fell within his own knowledge, in which a thief and the receiver of the stolen property were tenants of the same cell! And another case is mentioned, in which a youth was associated with an old rogue, who gave him daily lessons in the various branches of criminal science!

It will be perceived, that we impute no blame to any one for the state of things here revealed. It is well known, that within a year or two last past, persons have been detained in confinement in our county prison for weeks, and even months, without any employment for mind or body, and in some instances without a change of apparel! And it was a remark of one of our judges made in a public assembly lately, that “the condition of the county prison at that time was a fair sample of what the worst prison in London was, when Howard began his reforming efforts!”

We suppose this deplorable state of things is the consequence of inadequate provision for the number and class of prisoners, whom the officers are obliged to receive. We therefore go with our appeal to the people, as represented in the legislative assembly, and earnestly invoke their attention to the subject. It cannot be needful to spread out in any new form the evils which are inevitably consequent on the association of prisoners of any class or character, tried or untried, with each other.

If it is fancied that the opportunities of mutual corruption are less eagerly seized now, than they were in former years, or that association may be allowed with less hazard, we can give the most unqualified assurance that such fancies are vain. The evidence of the certainty of contamination from contact, was never more conclusive than now. We have this moment before us an official report of the thievish adventures of a couple of boys, who were confined together in Cold-bath-Fields prison, which serves not only to show the folly of giving such facilities for planning mischief, but an extraordinary boldness and success in its perpetration.

Having settled during the leisure moments of their imprisonment, the scheme of a professional trip to Kidderminster, “as soon as they were released they built a dog-cart, stole two dogs, and bought some hardware to vend. Whilst they were buying it in the shop, their comrades stole a dozen and a-half of brooms from the door, for which the boys paid them half-a-crown. They took with them also twenty sixpences and ten shillings in bad money, which they carried under the false floor of the cart. They first stopped at Wimbledon, where they paid a bad sixpence for some beer, and stole four silver salt-spoons from a shelf, which they disposed of to the landlord of the house in which they slept, at Kingston, for their lodging and five shillings. On the next day a coach passed them, from which one of the boys cut down a portmanteau, which turned out to be filled with papers. One of them manufactured cloth caps, and stole a great coat from a customer to supply him with materials. When they arrived at Kidderminster, they visited a carpet factory in which one of them formerly had employment, from which they stole at various times large quantities of twine and string. They were always punctual at church, where they regularly took occasion to commit thefts. In one town they succeeded in stealing three watches. At a neighboring fair one of them obtained eight purses from as many farmers, but having fallen under suspicion received a handsome ducking in a pond. On their return to London they entered a vacant house and took away a pair of decanters, a hearth-rug, and a great coat, which realised 25_s._; and, after picking the pockets of some soldiers of 2_l._, and stealing a watch and some silver salt-cellars, they reached London _without detection_, where the silver fetched 3_s._ 6_d._ an ounce, and the watches no less than 15_l._”

A narrower policy can scarcely be conceived, than that which withholds the means of preventing crime, or counteracting the influences that provoke or promote it. We can make a very close estimate of the expense of keeping two practised rogues in separate places for a couple of years, but what it will cost to allow them to associate, is more than human wit can divine!

ART. IV.--PRISON MATTERS AT THE WEST, AND POLITICAL MANAGEMENT IN
GENERAL, AFFECTING PRISONS AND PRISONERS.

We have naturally regarded, with special interest, the movements in our new States and Territories, on the subject of prisons. A system of discipline once introduced, (no matter how defective the information, or false the principles on which its adoption is based,) cannot be changed without difficulty. And hence our desire that such deductions as can be fairly made from past experience and observation, should be familiar to those who are entrusted with the responsible task of founding the penal institutions of a State, in order that the superstructure may be safe and permanent.

It was with this view that in our last number we briefly commented on the recent report to the Governor of Missouri, by a Commissioner appointed to examine the various prevailing systems of discipline. Knowing, as we do, that its positions are totally indefensible, and that those who may be persuaded to rely upon them, will be sadly misled, we felt bound to say so. We are led to suppose there is some current of political or local interest or influence, which our plain-spoken comments unfortunately crossed, for we have been favored, by some friendly hand, with a cutting from a Missouri paper, endorsing to the letter--yea, and beyond the letter--the discreditable document of the Commissioner, as “containing all the information necessary to the proper re-organization of the Penitentiary”--“replete with the most valuable and reliable amount of information”--“a valuable accession to our knowledge on the subject,” &c., &c.

Now, we have not the slightest desire to detract an indivisible particle of credit from the Missouri Commissioner, or his investigations or his report, except so far as the best interests of the people of Missouri are likely to be injuriously affected by what we truly believe to be unfounded statements and erroneous opinions. We have no doubt that if the whole subject were fairly presented to the people and calmly considered, the policy of the State would be directly the reverse of what the Commissioner proposes; and we do not feel like seeing a powerful and highly influential community duped on such a subject, though the agent of the mischief may be unconscious of its perpetration, and may even have the most upright and honest intentions.

As we said before, so we say now, the _Rev. Mr. Hamilton’s_ report does not present to the Executive, the Legislature, or the public of his State, such a view of the subject to which it relates, as can possibly secure wise and beneficial legislation; and inasmuch as crime and convicts are peculiar to no latitude, soil, or climate, but are common stock all the world over, we are interested in the disposition that is made of them, and must have the liberty to speak as we think.

A horse-thief or house-breaker, who may serve his time out in a congregate State prison in Missouri, and, by association there, become an adept in his depredating vocation, is as likely to pursue it in Pennsylvania as in Missouri or in Philadelphia as in St. Louis. If he plunders a steamboat passenger on the Mississippi, he will not be very careful to inquire beforehand whether his victim is a citizen of Missouri, where he received his convict-education, or a citizen of Pennsylvania, where his education would have been on a different plan, and we trust with a different result; and hence it is that we make common cause of this penitentiary-question, and insist upon it that of all public questions it is the last that should be sucked into any of the political eddies.

We took occasion, in our last number also, to comment freely on the condition of the _New Jersey_ State Prison. We were totally ignorant of all local questions, as well as of the political relations and bearings of the subject. We simply stated that while the statute positively required individual separation and interdicted convict intercourse for any purpose, and under any pretence, except in cases of sickness and by order of the physician, there were, in fact, 232 prisoners occupying 182 cells! We ventured to say that this infraction of the fundamental law of the institution should not be tolerated, but that measures should be taken without needless delay to provide against its continuance.

But behold “how great a matter a little fire kindleth!” No sooner did our gentle and peaceful suggestions find their way to _Trenton_, than they were drawn into the furnace of political strife. On one side the faulty state of the prison is ascribed to the desire of the ruling party to keep in popular favor by spending as little money as possible! This insinuation is thrown back by the dominant party with indignation, but at the same time the omission of the Executive to recommend an enlargement of the accommodations, is vindicated on the ground, that “the finances of the State did not warrant any extraordinary expenditure, nor was the exigency of the case so great as to justify the imposition of a State tax.” Now this is matter of opinion. We think that no more urgent exigency of the kind could possibly arise, to demand prompt and efficient action at any sacrifice, than the association of convicts in a prison which is required by law to keep them separate. The minority paper retorts with no little spirit, and raises the general issue, whether the Democrats are a whit more economical than the Whigs, and concludes with the sad confession that the “leading politicians of all parties often sacrifice the public weal unnecessarily upon the popularity-seeking pretext of economy”--and here the subject closes, and the New Jersey convicts are left to pursue their system of mutual instruction, as workers of iniquity!