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diff --git a/42104-0.txt b/42104-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..19eee84 --- /dev/null +++ b/42104-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,414 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42104 *** + + Transcriber's Note: + + Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as + possible. Some changes of spelling have been made. They are listed + at the end of the text. + + OE ligatures have been expanded. + Italic text has been marked with _underscores_. + + + + + CHILDREN IN PRISON + AND + OTHER CRUELTIES + OF + PRISON LIFE. + + MURDOCH & CO., + 26, PATERNOSTER SQUARE, + LONDON. + + + + +PUBLISHERS' NOTE. + + +The circumstance which called forth this letter is a woeful one for +Christian England. Martin, the Reading warder, is found guilty of +feeding the hungry, nursing the sick, of being kindly and humane. These +are his offences in plain unofficial language. + +This pamphlet is tendered to earnest persons as evidence that the prison +system is opposed to all that is kind and helpful. Herein is shown a +process that is dehumanizing, not only to the prisoners, but to every +one connected with it. + +Martin was dismissed. It happened in May last year. He is still out of +employment and in poor circumstances. Can anyone help him? + + _February, 1898._ + + + + +SOME CRUELTIES OF PRISON LIFE. + + + THE EDITOR OF THE DAILY CHRONICLE. + +SIR,--I learn with great regret, through an extract from the columns of +your paper, that the warder Martin, of Reading Prison, has been +dismissed by the Prison Commissioners for having given some sweet +biscuits to a little hungry child. I saw the three children myself on +the Monday preceding my release. They had just been convicted, and were +standing in a row in the central hall in their prison dress, carrying +their sheets under the arms previous to their being sent to the cells +allotted to them. I happened to be passing along one of the galleries on +my way to the reception room, where I was to have an interview with a +friend. They were quite small children, the youngest--the one to whom +the warder gave the biscuits--being a tiny little chap, for whom they +had evidently been unable to find clothes small enough to fit. I had, of +course, seen many children in prison during the two years during which I +was myself confined. Wandsworth Prison, especially, contained always a +large number of children. But the little child I saw on the afternoon of +Monday, the 17th, at Reading, was tinier than any one of them. I need +not say how utterly distressed I was to see these children at Reading, +for I knew the treatment in store for them. The cruelty that is +practised by day and night on children in English prisons is incredible, +except to those who have witnessed it and are aware of the brutality of +the system. + +People nowadays do not understand what cruelty is. They regard it as a +sort of terrible mediæval passion, and connect it with the race of men +like Eccelin da Romano, and others, to whom the deliberate infliction of +pain gave a real madness of pleasure. But men of the stamp of Eccelin +are merely abnormal types of perverted individualism. Ordinary cruelty +is simply stupidity. It comes from the entire want of imagination. It is +the result in our days of stereotyped systems, of hard-and-fast rules, +of centralisation, of officialism, and of irresponsible authority. +Wherever there is centralisation there is stupidity. What is inhuman in +modern life is officialism. Authority is as destructive to those who +exercise it as it is to those on whom it is exercised. It is the Prison +Board, with the system that it carries out, that is the primary source +of the cruelty that is exercised on a child in prison. The people who +uphold the system have excellent intentions. Those who carry it out are +humane in intention also. Responsibility is shifted on to the +disciplinary regulations. It is supposed that because a thing is the +rule it is right. + +The present treatment of children is terrible, primarily from people not +understanding the peculiar psychology of a child's nature. A child can +understand a punishment inflicted by an individual, such as a parent or +guardian, and bear it with a certain amount of acquiescence. What it +cannot understand is a punishment inflicted by Society. It cannot +realise what Society is. With grown people it is, of course, the +reverse. Those of us who are either in prison or have been sent there, +can understand, and do understand, what that collective force called +Society means, and whatever we may think of its methods or claims, we +can force ourselves to accept it. Punishment inflicted on us by an +individual, on the other hand, is a thing that no grown person endures +or is expected to endure. + +The child consequently, being taken away from its parents by people whom +it has never seen, and of whom it knows nothing, and finding itself in +a lonely and unfamiliar cell, waited on by strange faces, and ordered +about and punished by the representatives of a system that it cannot +understand, becomes an immediate prey to the first and most prominent +emotion produced by modern prison life--the emotion of terror. The +terror of a child in prison is quite limitless. I remember once in +Reading, as I was going out to exercise, seeing in the dimly-lit cell, +right opposite my own, a small boy. Two warders, not unkindly men, were +talking to him, with some sternness apparently, or perhaps giving him +some useful advice about his conduct. One was in the cell with him, the +other was standing outside. The child's face was like a white wedge of +sheer terror. There was in his eyes the mute appeal of a hunted animal. +The next morning I heard him at breakfast-time crying, and calling to be +let out. His cry was for his parents. From time to time I could hear the +deep voice of the warder on duty warning him to keep quiet. Yet he was +not even convicted of whatever little offence he had been charged with. +He was simply on remand. That I knew by his wearing his own clothes, +which seemed neat enough. He was, however, wearing prison socks and +shoes. This showed that he was a very poor boy, whose own shoes, if he +had any, were in a bad state. Justices and magistrates, an entirely +ignorant class as a rule, often remand children for a week, and then +perhaps remit whatever sentence they are entitled to pass. They call +this "not sending a child to prison." It is, of course, a stupid view on +their part. To a little child, whether he is in prison on remand or +after conviction, is a subtlety of social position he cannot comprehend. +To him the horrible thing is to be there at all. In the eyes of humanity +it should be a horrible thing for him to be there at all. + +This terror that seizes and dominates the child, as it seizes the grown +man also, is of course intensified beyond power of expression by the +solitary cellular system of our prisons. Every child is confined to its +cell for twenty-three hours out of the twenty-four. This is the +appalling thing. To shut up a child in a dimly-lit cell for twenty-three +hours out of the twenty-four is an example of the cruelty of stupidity. +If an individual, parent or guardian, did this to a child he would be +severely punished. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children +would take the matter up at once. There would be on all hands the utmost +detestation of whomsoever had been guilty of such cruelty. A heavy +sentence would undoubtedly follow conviction. But our own actual society +does worse itself, and to the child to be so treated by a strange +abstract force, of whose claims it has no cognizance, is much worse than +it would be to receive the same treatment from its father or mother, or +someone it knew. The inhuman treatment of a child is always inhuman, by +whomsoever it is inflicted. But inhuman treatment by Society is to the +child the more terrible because there is no appeal. A parent or guardian +can be moved, and let out the child from the dark lonely room in which +it is confined. But a warder cannot. Most warders are very fond of +children. But the system prohibits them from rendering the child any +assistance. Should they do so, as Warder Martin did, they are dismissed. + +The second thing from which a child suffers in prison is hunger. The +food that is given to it consists of a piece of usually badly-baked +prison bread and a tin of water for breakfast at half-past seven. At +twelve o'clock it gets dinner, composed of a tin of coarse Indian meal +stirabout, and at half-past five it gets a piece of dry bread and a tin +of water for its supper. This diet in the case of a strong grown man is +always productive of illness of some kind, chiefly of course +diarrhoea, with its attendant weakness. In fact in a big prison +astringent medicines are served out regularly by the warders as a matter +of course. In the case of a child, the child is, as a rule, incapable of +eating the food at all. Anyone who knows anything about children knows +how easily a child's digestion is upset by a fit of crying, or trouble +and mental distress of any kind. A child who has been crying all day +long, and perhaps half the night, in a lonely dimly-lit cell, and is +preyed upon by terror, simply cannot eat food of this coarse, horrible +kind. In the case of the little child to whom Warder Martin gave the +biscuits, the child was crying with hunger on Tuesday morning, and +utterly unable to eat the bread and water served to it for its +breakfast. Martin went out after the breakfasts had been served and +bought the few sweet biscuits for the child rather than see it starving. +It was a beautiful action on his part, and was so recognised by the +child, who, utterly unconscious of the regulation of the Prison Board, +told one of the senior warders how kind this junior warder had been to +him. The result was, of course, a report and a dismissal. + +I know Martin extremely well, and I was under his charge for the last +seven weeks of my imprisonment. On his appointment at Reading he had +charge of Gallery C, in which I was confined, so I saw him constantly. I +was struck by the singular kindness and humanity of the way in which he +spoke to me and to the other prisoners. Kind words are much in prison, +and a pleasant "Good morning" or "Good evening" will make one as happy +as one can be in solitary confinement. He was always gentle and +considerate. I happen to know another case in which he showed great +kindness to one of the prisoners, and I have no hesitation in mentioning +it. One of the most horrible things in prison is the badness of the +sanitary arrangements. No prisoner is allowed under any circumstances to +leave his cell after half-past five p.m. If, consequently, he is +suffering from diarrhoea, he has to use his cell as a latrine, and +pass the night in a most fetid and unwholesome atmosphere. Some days +before my release Martin was going the rounds at half-past seven with +one of the senior warders for the purpose of collecting the oakum and +tools of the prisoners. A man just convicted, and suffering from +violent diarrhoea in consequence of the food, as is always the case, +asked this senior warder to allow him to empty the slops in his cell on +account of the horrible odour of the cell and the possibility of illness +again in the night. The senior warder refused absolutely; it was against +the rules. The man, as far as he was concerned, had to pass the night in +this dreadful condition. Martin, however, rather than see this wretched +man in such a loathsome predicament, said he would empty the man's slops +himself, and did so. A warder emptying a prisoner's slops is, of course, +against the rules, but Martin did this act of kindness to the man out of +the simple humanity of his nature, and the man was naturally most +grateful. + +As regards the children, a great deal has been talked and written lately +about the contaminating influence of prison on young children. What is +said is quite true. A child is utterly contaminated by prison life. But +the contaminating influence is not that of the prisoners. It is that of +the whole prison system--of the governor, the chaplain, the warders, the +lonely cell, the isolation, the revolting food, the rules of the Prison +Commissioners, the mode of discipline as it is termed, of the life. +Every care is taken to isolate a child from the sight even of all +prisoners over sixteen years of age. Children sit behind a curtain in +chapel, and are sent to take exercise in small sunless yards--sometimes +a stone-yard, sometimes a yard at the back of the mills--rather than +that they should see the elder prisoners at exercise. But the only +really humanising influence in prison is the influence of the prisoners. +Their cheerfulness under terrible circumstances, their sympathy for each +other, their humility, their gentleness, their pleasant smiles of +greeting when they meet each other, their complete acquiescence in their +punishments, are all quite wonderful, and I myself learnt many sound +lessons from them. I am not proposing that the children should not sit +behind a curtain in chapel, or that they should take exercise in a +corner of the common yard. I am merely pointing out that the bad +influence on children is not, and could never be, that of the prisoners, +but is, and will always remain, that of the prison system itself. There +is not a single man in Reading Gaol that would not gladly have done the +three children's punishment for them. When I saw them last it was on the +Tuesday following their conviction. I was taking exercise at half-past +eleven with about twelve other men, as the three children passed near +us, in charge of a warder, from the damp, dreary stone-yard in which +they had been at their exercise. I saw the greatest pity and sympathy in +the eyes of my companions as they looked at them. Prisoners are, as a +class, extremely kind and sympathetic to each other. Suffering and the +community of suffering makes people kind, and day after day as I tramped +the yard I used to feel with pleasure and comfort what Carlyle calls +somewhere "the silent rhythmic charm of human companionship." In this as +in all other things, philanthropists and people of that kind are astray. +It is not the prisoners who need reformation. It is the prisons. + +Of course no child under fourteen years of age should be sent to prison +at all. It is an absurdity, and, like many absurdities, of absolutely +tragic results. If, however, they are to be sent to prison, during the +daytime they should be in a workshop or schoolroom with a warder. At +night they should sleep in a dormitory, with a night-warder to look +after them. They should be allowed exercise for at least three hours a +day. The dark, badly-ventilated, ill-smelling prison cells are dreadful +for a child, dreadful indeed for anyone. One is always breathing bad air +in prison. The food given to children should consist of tea and +bread-and-butter and soup. Prison soup is very good and wholesome. A +resolution of the House of Commons could settle the treatment of +children in half an hour. I hope you will use your influence to have +this done. The way that children are treated at present is really an +outrage on humanity and common-sense. It comes from stupidity. + +Let me draw attention now to another terrible thing that goes on in +English prisons, indeed in prisons all over the world where the system +of silence and cellular confinement is practised. I refer to the large +number of men who become insane or weak-minded in prison. In convict +prisons this is, of course, quite common; but in ordinary gaols also, +such as that I was confined in, it is to be found. + +About three months ago, I noticed amongst the prisoners who took +exercise with me a young man who seemed to me to be silly or +half-witted. Every prison of course has its half-witted clients, who +return again and again, and may be said to live in the prison. But this +young man struck me as being more than usually half-witted on account of +his silly grin and idiotic laughter to himself, and the peculiar +restlessness of his eternally twitching hands. He was noticed by all the +other prisoners on account of the strangeness of his conduct. From time +to time he did not appear at exercise, which showed me that he was being +punished by confinement to his cell. Finally, I discovered that he was +under observation, and being watched night and day by warders. When he +did appear at exercise, he always seemed hysterical, and used to walk +round crying or laughing. At chapel he had to sit right under the +observation of two warders, who carefully watched him all the time. +Sometimes he would bury his head in his hands, an offence against the +chapel regulations, and his head would be immediately struck up by a +warder, so that he should keep his eyes fixed permanently in the +direction of the Communion-table. Sometimes he would cry--not making any +disturbance--but with tears streaming down his face and a hysterical +throbbing in the throat. Sometimes he would grin idiot-like to himself +and make faces. He was on more than one occasion sent out of chapel to +his cell, and of course he was continually punished. As the bench on +which I used to sit in chapel was directly behind the bench at the end +of which this unfortunate man was placed, I had full opportunity of +observing him. I also saw him, of course, at exercise continually, and I +saw that he was becoming insane, and was being treated as if he was +shamming. + +On Saturday week last, I was in my cell at about one o'clock occupied in +cleaning and polishing the tins I had been using for dinner. Suddenly I +was startled by the prison silence being broken by the most horrible and +revolting shrieks or rather howls, for at first I thought some animal +like a bull or a cow was being unskilfully slaughtered outside the +prison walls. I soon realised, however, that the howls proceeded from +the basement of the prison, and I knew that some wretched man was being +flogged. I need not say how hideous and terrible it was for me, and I +began to wonder who it was who was being punished in this revolting +manner. Suddenly it dawned upon me that they might be flogging this +unfortunate lunatic. My feelings on the subject need not be chronicled; +they have nothing to do with the question. + +The next day, Sunday 16th, I saw the poor fellow at exercise, his weak, +ugly, wretched face bloated by tears and hysteria almost beyond +recognition. He walked in the centre ring along with the old men, the +beggars and the lame people, so that I was able to observe him the whole +time. It was my last Sunday in prison, a perfectly lovely day, the +finest day we had had the whole year, and there, in the beautiful +sunlight, walked this poor creature--made once in the image of +God--grinning like an ape, and making with his hands the most fantastic +gestures, as though he was playing in the air on some invisible stringed +instrument, or arranging and dealing counters in some curious game. All +the while these hysterical tears, without which none of us ever saw +him, were making soiled runnels on his white swollen face. The hideous +and deliberate grace of his gestures made him like an antic. He was a +living grotesque. The other prisoners all watched him, and not one of +them smiled. Everybody knew what had happened to him, and that he was +being driven insane--was insane already. After half-an-hour, he was +ordered in by the warder, and, I suppose, punished. At least he was not +at exercise on Monday, though I think I caught sight of him at the +corner of the stone-yard, walking in charge of a warder. + +On the Tuesday--my last day in prison--I saw him at exercise. He was +worse than before, and again was sent in. Since then I know nothing of +him, but I found out from one of the prisoners who walked with me at +exercise that he had had twenty-four lashes in the cook-house on +Saturday afternoon, by order of the visiting justices on the report of +the doctor. The howls that had horrified us all were his. + +This man is undoubtedly becoming insane. Prison doctors have no +knowledge of mental disease of any kind. They are as a class ignorant +men. The pathology of the mind is unknown to them. When a man grows +insane, they treat him as shamming. They have him punished again and +again. Naturally the man becomes worse. When ordinary punishments are +exhausted, the doctor reports the case to the justices. The result is +flogging. Of course the flogging is not done with a cat-of-nine-tails. +It is what is called birching. The instrument is a rod; but the result +on the wretched half-witted man may be imagined. + +His number is, or was, A. 2. 11. I also managed to find out his name. It +is Prince. Something should be done at once for him. He is a soldier, +and his sentence is one of court-martial. The term is six months. Three +have yet to run. + +May I ask you to use your influence to have this case examined into, and +to see that the lunatic prisoner is properly treated? + +No report by the Medical Commissioners is of any avail. It is not to be +trusted. The medical inspectors do not seem to understand the difference +between idiocy and lunacy--between the entire absence of a function or +organ and the diseases of a function or organ. This man A. 2. 11, will, +I have no doubt, be able to tell his name, the nature of his offence, +the day of the month, the date of the beginning and expiration of his +sentence, and answer any ordinary simple question; but that his mind is +diseased admits of no doubt. At present it is a horrible duel between +himself and the doctor. The doctor is fighting for a theory. The man is +fighting for his life. I am anxious that the man should win. But let the +whole case be examined into by experts who understand brain-disease, and +by people of humane feelings who have still some common-sense and some +pity. There is no reason that the sentimentalist should be asked to +interfere. He always does harm. He culminates at his starting point. His +end, as his origin, is an emotion. + +The case is a special instance of the cruelty inseparable from a stupid +system, for the present Governor of Reading is a man of gentle and +humane character, greatly liked and respected by all the prisoners. He +was appointed in July last, and though he cannot alter the rules of the +prison system, he has altered the spirit in which they used to be +carried out under his predecessor. He is very popular with the prisoners +and with the warders. Indeed he has quite elevated the whole tone of the +prison-life. Upon the other hand, the system is of course beyond his +reach as far as altering its rules is concerned. I have no doubt that he +sees daily much of what he knows to be unjust, stupid, and cruel. But +his hands are tied. Of course I have no knowledge of his real views of +the case of A. 2. 11, nor, indeed, of any of his views on our present +system. I merely judge him by the complete change he brought about in +Reading Prison. Under his predecessor the system was carried out with +the greatest harshness and stupidity.--I remain, Sir, your obedient +servant, + + OSCAR WILDE. + +France, May 27th, 1897. + + + + + Transcriber's notes: + + The following is a list of changes made to the original. + The first line is the original line, the second the corrected one. + + whom Warder Martin gave the buscuits, the child was + whom Warder Martin gave the biscuits, the child was + + sight of him at the corner of the stoneyard, walking in + sight of him at the corner of the stone-yard, walking in + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Children in Prison and Other Cruelties +of Prison Life, by Oscar Wilde + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42104 *** |