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+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #55567 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/55567)
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Journal of Prison Discipline and
-Philanthropy, January, 1863, by Anonymous
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: The Journal of Prison Discipline and Philanthropy, January, 1863
-
-Author: Anonymous
-
-Release Date: September 17, 2017 [EBook #55567]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOURNAL OF PRISON DISCIPLINE, JAN 1863 ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Larry B. Harrison, Wayne Hammond and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
-book was produced from images made available by the
-HathiTrust Digital Library.)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- NEW SERIES] [NO. 2.
-
- THE JOURNAL
-
- OF
-
- PRISON DISCIPLINE
-
- AND
-
- PHILANTHROPY.
-
- PUBLISHED ANNUALLY
-
- UNDER THE DIRECTION OF “THE PHILADELPHIA SOCIETY FOR
- ALLEVIATING THE MISERIES OF PUBLIC PRISONS,”
- INSTITUTED 1787.
-
- JANUARY, 1863.
-
- PHILADELPHIA:
- HENRY B. ASHMEAD, BOOK AND JOB PRINTER,
- NOS. 1102 AND 1104 SANSOM STREET.
-
- 1863.
-
-
-
-
-CONSTITUTION
-
-OF THE
-
-Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public
-Prisons.
-
-
-When we consider that the obligations of benevolence which are founded
-on the precepts and examples of the Author of Christianity, are not
-cancelled by the follies or crimes of our fellow-creatures; and when
-we reflect upon the miseries which penury, hunger, cold, unnecessary
-severity, unwholesome apartments, and guilt, (the usual attendants of
-prisons,) involve with them, it becomes us to extend our compassion to
-that part of mankind, who are the subjects of those miseries. By the
-aid of humanity, their undue and illegal sufferings may be prevented;
-the links which should bind the whole family of mankind together,
-under all circumstances, be preserved unbroken; and such degrees
-and modes of punishment may be discovered and suggested, as may,
-instead of continuing habits of vice, become the means of restoring
-our fellow-creatures to virtue and happiness. From a conviction of
-the truth and obligation of these principles, the subscribers have
-associated themselves under the title of “THE PHILADELPHIA SOCIETY FOR
-ALLEVIATING THE MISERIES OF PUBLIC PRISONS.”
-
-For effecting these purposes, they have adopted the following
-CONSTITUTION.
-
-
-ARTICLE I.
-
-The Officers of the Society shall consist of a President; two
-Vice-Presidents, two Secretaries, a Treasurer, two Counsellors, and an
-Acting Committee; all of whom shall be chosen at the stated meeting to
-be held in the first month (January) of each year, and shall continue
-in office until their successors are elected; but in case an election
-from any cause shall not be then held, it shall be the duty of the
-President to call a special meeting of the Society within thirty days,
-for the purpose of holding such election, of which at least three days’
-notice shall be given.
-
-
-ARTICLE II.
-
-The President shall preside in all meetings, and subscribe all public
-acts of the Society. He may call special meetings whenever he may
-deem it expedient; and shall do so when requested in writing by five
-members. In his absence, one of the Vice-Presidents may act in his
-place.
-
-
-ARTICLE III.
-
-The Secretaries shall keep fair records of the proceedings of the
-Society, and shall conduct its correspondence.
-
-
-
-
- NEW SERIES. NO. II.
-
-
- THE JOURNAL
-
- OF
-
- PRISON DISCIPLINE
-
- AND
-
- PHILANTHROPY.
-
-
- PUBLISHED ANNUALLY
-
- UNDER THE DIRECTION OF “THE PHILADELPHIA SOCIETY FOR
- ALLEVIATING THE MISERIES OF PUBLIC PRISONS,”
- INSTITUTED 1787.
-
-
- JANUARY, 1863.
-
-
- PHILADELPHIA:
- HENRY B. ASHMEAD, BOOK AND JOB PRINTER,
- NOS. 1102 AND 1104 SANSOM STREET.
-
- 1863.
-
-
-
-
-ANNUAL REPORT.
-
-
-In accordance with the present arrangement which requires that
-an Annual Report should be prepared of the proceedings of “The
-Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons,”
-the “Acting Committee” now proceed to exhibit to the Seventy-Seventh
-Annual Meeting, such matters of interest as have resulted from the
-action of the Society, or have come under its notice during the year
-just past.
-
-_Law Shortening Sentences._--As the proceedings of the Society in
-procuring the passage of a Law shortening the sentences of prisoners
-for good conduct, occupied considerable space in connection with the
-last Report, which announced that the provisions of this Law had not
-then been carried out in the Eastern State Penitentiary, it seems
-proper that we should again advert to the subject, that those who
-feel an interest in it may understand its present position. As the
-authorities to whom the execution of the Law was delegated, declined
-acting under it, for reasons which they deemed sufficient, the Society,
-upon consultation with their counsel, concluded that the most amicable
-mode of proceeding for the purpose of testing its constitutionality,
-and the obligation resting upon these authorities to extend to the
-prisoners the proffered boon, would be by _Habeas Corpus_, they
-therefore had the cases of two prisoners believed by them to be
-entitled to their discharge under the Law, brought before the Judges
-of the Supreme Court. The decision was adverse, and the prisoners
-were remanded to serve out the entire term of their sentences. The
-ground taken by the Judges in their decision, was so broad as to make
-it very difficult to frame a modification of the Law which would not
-contravene the objections raised, and yet retain what were deemed to
-be some of its most valuable features. Under all the circumstances,
-it has been thought best to let the matter rest for the present. It
-is hoped, however, that by the joint action of the Prison Society,
-and the Inspectors of the Penitentiary, we may yet procure a Bill to
-be enacted into a Law, which shall be so framed as to enable us, in
-some measure at least, to effect our desired object. We should have
-freely acquiesced in some verbal amendments to the Law, but much
-regret that all of its provisions should thus have been rendered
-inoperative, as we feel assured that the _principle_ contended for is
-founded in justice, and that its practical effect on the prisoners
-would be salutary as a part of the Prison Discipline,--not only by way
-of prompting to obedience to the established rules, and to habitual
-good conduct while in confinement, but also in aiding to promote their
-actual and permanent reformation, by practically showing them, that as
-it is evidently to their interest to conduct well while there, it must
-doubtless be equally so when they are at large in the community; and
-the habit thus acquired of looking to this motive, and practising this
-restraint on their heretofore comparatively unbridled propensities,
-must be of great service to them, on again going abroad into the world.
-If this is the practical effect of the Law, it is plain, that it is
-not only a boon to the prisoner, but that the community is equally
-interested in its operation, as fewer of the prisoners will resume
-their depredations on society after their discharge. Besides, is it not
-the part of wisdom at least, if not of duty, in framing laws for the
-temporal government of society, to follow the example of the Divine
-Law-giver? We do not find his code to be a system of punishment only,
-but also largely one of reward. If we have there placed before us a
-fear of punishment for breaking the Divine Law, we have also exhibited
-to our view, in most attractive form, the hope and assurance of reward,
-if we do that which is right.
-
-_Employment for the Prisoners._--Owing to the derangement of the
-business affairs of the country, resulting from the existing Rebellion,
-it seemed probable for a time, that many of those confined in the
-Eastern State Penitentiary would be very much without work. The subject
-of suitable and constant employment for the prisoners has therefore
-claimed our attention during the past year, as one of considerable
-importance. We have had under appointment, a Committee, whose special
-duty it was to attend to this matter, and to devising means by which
-healthful exercise might be secured, especially for the benefit of such
-as might not have sufficient work to occupy their time. We view labor,
-in connection with the prisoners, in a two-fold light. The possession
-of it is a positive good, not only as a comfort and companion in their
-solitary hours, but also as a reformatory agent. And the want of it
-is not only a negative, but a positive evil, especially with those of
-a low order of education and intelligence, who, being unable to read,
-and possessing very little matter for reflection, have no resource
-with which to occupy and interest the mind, and consequently there is
-danger that by constantly preying upon itself, it may become diseased.
-Besides, as idleness has been said to be the parent of crime, it would
-be no small matter, if by furnishing employment, we could do nothing
-more than establish habits of industry, which probably very few of
-those confined in prisons had ever practised in their previous lives.
-While at large, plotting or practising mischief and crime, labor has
-appeared to them repulsive, and never having enjoyed its rewards,
-they have shrunk from it,--but when their evil career has been thus
-suddenly brought to a close, and social intercourse of every kind with
-their fellowmen is very much restricted, and that with their former
-associates is wholly cut off, labor is soon sought after, and is found
-to be such an alleviation to their present condition, that they cherish
-it as a blessing. And when to this is added the “hope of reward” which
-it is most truly said “sweetens labor,” which the credit for “over
-work,” granted to the prisoners in our Penitentiary, presents to them,
-a powerful additional motive to application is brought into action
-with most salutary results. One of the prisoners in the Penitentiary
-recently informed a member of our Committee, that he had earned in one
-month $17, by over work, after performing his allotted task,--that is
-to say, $8 50 for himself, and the same amount for the Penitentiary,
-for the use of the County from which he came, and he added, with an
-appearance of much interest, that he expected at the end of the three
-years he had yet to serve, to take out with him between three and four
-hundred dollars. Many of them are thus soon brought to see and feel
-that labor instead of being repulsive, as it had formerly appeared to
-them, greatly alleviates the necessary discomforts of their present
-condition, and also that it is a reliable resource for the maintenance
-of those who apply themselves to it. Many also, who on entering had
-no knowledge of any kind of trade, on leaving, take with them, not
-only habits of industry, but also a pretty thorough acquaintance
-with some one or more of the mechanic arts, such as shoe-making,
-cane-seating of chairs, weaving, &c. They are thus qualified, upon
-again going forth into the world, to take a reputable position in
-society, and secure a livelihood without resuming their depredations
-on the community. Estimating the value of labor for the prisoners as
-we do, it is gratifying to us to know that they have recently been
-pretty fully supplied with it. It is the intention and direction of
-the Law, that it shall be thus supplied; and we believe, as will be
-seen by our foregoing remarks, that it is a valuable adjunct in the
-Pennsylvania or Separate System of Prison Discipline. In the early
-period of the introduction of this system, some men, of undoubted
-talent and philanthropy, strongly advocated separate confinement,
-_without labor_, as being the true system, and this plan was actually
-introduced and practically tested at the Western Penitentiary of this
-State, established at Pittsburg; but it was soon found to be wrong,
-and to have an injurious effect, both upon the mental and physical
-health of the prisoners. It was also tried in the State Penitentiary at
-Auburn, New York, in 1822, under accompanying circumstances however of
-great cruelty, and of unfairness so far as it was intended as a test of
-the effect of the Separate System on the mental and bodily condition of
-those subjected to it.
-
-William Crawford, who visited this country in 1833 and 1834, under
-appointment by the British Government, to inspect the several
-penitentiaries in the United States, with a view to applying at home,
-any parts of the systems on which they were governed, which might
-appear desirable, in the report of his labors and inquiries, which
-he published after his return, makes the following statement: “In
-America, the opponents of this (the Separate) System, have produced
-very erroneous impressions by the publication of certain experiments
-made a few years since, of solitude without labor; statements which
-have also been widely circulated in England, to the great prejudice of
-solitary imprisonment of every description. Having carefully inspected
-the prisons in question, I feel bound to state my conviction, that
-the fatal effects which have been described, were not the result of
-solitude, but of the contracted dimensions and unhealthy condition of
-the cells in which the experiments were conducted. A trial of solitary
-confinement day and night, without labor, was made at Auburn in the
-year 1822 for ten months, upon eighty of the most hardened convicts.
-They were each confined in a cell only seven feet long, three feet and
-a half wide, and seven feet high.[1] They were on no account permitted
-to leave the cell during that long period, on any occasion, not even
-for the purposes of nature. They had no means of obtaining any change
-of air, nor opportunities of taking exercise. The most disastrous
-consequences were the natural result. Several persons became insane,
-health was impaired and life endangered. The discipline of the prison
-at that period was one of unmixed severity. There was no moral nor
-religious instruction of any kind communicated within its walls, nor
-any consolation administered by which the convict was enabled to bear
-up against the cruelty of this treatment. Nor was a trial of the
-same description, which took place in the State of Maine, conducted
-under more advantageous circumstances. The night rooms or cells at
-this prison are literally pits, entered from the top by a ladder,
-through an aperture about two feet square. The opening is secured by
-an iron grate used as a trap-door; the only other orifice is one at
-the bottom, about an inch and a half in diameter, for the admission of
-warm air from underneath. The cells are eight feet nine inches long,
-four feet six inches wide, and nine feet eight inches high. The gloom
-is indescribable. The diet during confinement was bread and water
-only. Thus immured, and without any occupation, it will excite no
-surprise to learn that a man who had been sentenced to pass seventy
-days in one of these miserable pits, hung himself after four days’
-imprisonment. Another condemned to sixty days, also committed suicide
-on the twenty-fourth day.” Our author goes on to speak of similar
-experiments having been made in Virginia, where the cells were in fact
-mere dungeons, being in the basement, and so dark as to require a lamp
-in visiting them. They were not warmed at any season of the year, and
-a prisoner’s feet were actually frozen during the confinement. In damp
-weather the water stood in drops on the walls, &c. He then adds: “From
-experiments of this character no just conclusions can therefore be
-derived, unfriendly to solitary imprisonment of any kind, especially
-when accompanied by employment, in large and well-ventilated cells, the
-arrangements of which have reference to the preservation of the health,
-regular employment, and the improvement of the mind of the offender.”
-
-We are aware that the disastrous results of the treatment of the
-prisoners, as set forth in these extracts, was not wholly owing to
-their being deprived of labor, but it is evident from the manner in
-which the subject is treated by the author, that the evil was greatly
-aggravated by this circumstance. We here see, however, what monstrous
-cruelty has been practised in the name of the “Separate System,” and
-these deplorable but inevitable results were immediately seized by its
-opponents and spread abroad through the length and breadth of the land,
-both in Europe and America, as conclusive evidence, that these evil
-consequences were necessarily inherent in, and a part of the system
-itself. The consequence was, that many philanthropic and well meaning
-persons beyond the limits of Pennsylvania, became prejudiced against
-it to that degree, that there was no opening in their minds to hear
-the truth, and on merely _naming_ the system to them they would almost
-turn from you in disgust. This prejudice is largely operative to the
-present time, and the much to be regretted result has been that this
-system, truly humane as it is, when properly carried out (of which the
-Eastern State Penitentiary of Pennsylvania may be taken as a practical
-illustration), and superior, as we believe, to all others, has not made
-one tithe the progress in the world which we feel assured it would have
-done if its true character had been understood.
-
-_The “Separate” and the “Silent” Systems compared._--It may be thought
-that we have dwelt long enough on this branch of the subject; but as
-its discussion has in some measure brought into view our particular
-prison system, that of the entire separation of the prisoners from
-each other, day and night, during the whole term of their confinement,
-and by inference, if not directly, contrasted it with the “Auburn”
-or “Silent” System, where they are separated only at night and at
-their meals, but at other times are congregated in their workshops,
-&c., under a peremptory rule of silence. We avail ourselves of
-the opportunity to introduce two or three short paragraphs from
-high authority, with a view to assisting those who may read this
-report beyond the limits of our Society, in arriving at a correct
-understanding of the important question at issue.
-
-William Crawford, from whom we have already quoted, a commissioner
-of the British Government, and a man distinguished for his humanity
-and intelligence, who during more than twenty years had devoted his
-time to visiting the prisons and penitentiaries in the United States
-and England, in a report on the systems just referred to, made to the
-British Parliament, places them in contrast in the following manner,
-to wit: “In judging of the comparative merits of the two systems it
-will be seen, that the discipline of Auburn is of a physical, that of
-Philadelphia of a moral character; the whip inflicts immediate pain,
-but solitude inspires permanent terror. The former degrades while it
-humiliates, the latter subdues but it does not debase. At Auburn the
-convict is uniformly treated with harshness, at Philadelphia with
-civility; the one contributes to harden, the other to soften the
-affections. Auburn stimulates vindictive feelings, Philadelphia induces
-habitual submission. The Auburn prisoner when liberated, conscious that
-he is known to past associates, and that the public eye has gazed upon
-him, sees an accuser in every man he meets. The Philadelphia convict
-quits his cell secure from recognition, and exempt from reproach.”
-He also says, “It is a curious fact, that some of the strongest
-testimonies in favor of individual separation, may be collected from
-those who are the best acquainted with the operation of the Silent
-System. We can assert with confidence, that there is not one of the
-best conducted prisons, in which the Silent System is effectually
-enforced, that we have not repeatedly visited and closely inspected;
-and we can truly state, that with one exception only, the governors
-of those prisons have acknowledged, that had they to decide upon the
-merits of the respective plans, they would unquestionably give their
-unqualified preference to the Separate System.”
-
-The enlightened and excellent Count Gasparin, in a letter to George
-Sumner of Boston, then in Paris, in commending the system (with the
-practical operation of which in France he was perfectly familiar),
-says, “Every government which in the actual state of society, and of
-the progress of social science, adopts any other than the Separate
-System, will expose itself to the necessity of having, before long, to
-reconstruct its prisons.”
-
-_Insanity._--In a short paragraph in our last Annual Report, we think
-that we fully met and refuted the charge frequently made by the
-opponents of the system, that its discipline is liable to produce
-insanity, and relieved the humane feelings of those who were under a
-sincere, but mistaken apprehension of this result, by referring to the
-close and systematic observation which had for many years been directed
-to this point, in the Eastern State Penitentiary of Pennsylvania,
-which established the fact, that instead of the mental health of the
-prisoners having been injured, it had in the aggregate been decidedly
-improved during their confinement. We propose now, in support of
-this position, to introduce the testimony of two acute observers of
-the operation of the same system in France. First, the distinguished
-Physician, _Dr. Lelut_, known in America as well as in Europe, by
-his important work on Insanity, &c., in speaking of the results of
-an examination of the prisons on the Separate System, which he had
-made by direction of the French Government, states that there were
-then in France twenty-three such prisons, and that he had examined
-about half of them,--and goes on to say, “In all these houses, I have
-confirmed _de visu_, what was previously declared by theory, that the
-Separate System, independent of all the facilities which it offers, for
-elementary and professional instruction, for the moral and religious
-education of the prisoners, for religious exercises--independent of
-the circumstance that it alone prevents prisoners from associating
-with each other, and from corrupting each other--_that it causes
-infinitely fewer cases of death and insanity than any other system
-of imprisonment_. The actual condition of our cellular houses, their
-history, which covers already a period of three, four, and five years,
-the testimony of their directors, of their physicians, of their
-visitors, do no leave any doubt upon this important point.”
-
-The Prefect of the Department, in enclosing to the Government the
-Reports of the Chaplain, Physician and Directors of the Prison of
-Tours in France, writes thus: “These Reports establish in the most
-complete manner, that in regard to the sanitary condition, and the
-moral education of the prisoners, the system of total separation,
-so violently and so unjustly attacked, produces the most remarkable
-results. Of a total number of 1,626 persons who have entered the prison
-since its inauguration, 16 only have been transferred to the hospital,
-and one only has died,--and this single case of death was an old man of
-seventy, who was laboring under a chronic affection of the lungs. If we
-seek for the influence which it exercises on the intellectual faculties
-of the prisoners, we must recognize, that far from disturbing their
-reason, it produces on their minds the most salutary results. In proof
-of this, I may mention, that not a single case of insanity has occurred
-in the prison, and that many who have been condemned for a term which
-require their removal to the _Maisons Centrales_, solicit as a real
-favor, the permission to complete their imprisonment in their cell.”
-
-_M. Moreau Christophe_, Inspector of French Prisons, _Dr. Julius_,
-who visited the Penitentiaries of the United States as a Commissioner
-from the Prussian Government, and _M. Ducpetiaux_, Inspector General
-of the Prisons of Belgium, with many other eminent foreigners,
-who had facilities for closely observing the working and results
-of the Separate System, and of comparing it with the “Silent” and
-other Systems of imprisonment existing in different places, have in
-their various Reports given very interesting and instructive views,
-confirmatory of the superior value of the system adopted by us, but we
-must pass them by, and proceed with our Report.
-
-_Tobacco._--The subject of the use of Tobacco in the Penitentiary has
-again claimed our attention and care during the year now coming to a
-close, as it did during the one which immediately preceded it. It will
-no doubt be acknowledged by most, that the practice of using it is of
-no real value to those who indulge in it, unless it be in the character
-of medicine, in a very few cases, and consequently, if there was no
-moral or physical evil resulting from it, its use should be discouraged
-on the score of economy, and with a view to lessening the number of the
-wants of individuals, and therefore, making it more easy to satisfy
-them. But when, in addition to this, its use is very often attended
-by serious physical and moral evils, such as impairing the bodily
-health, and exciting a craving for the use of intoxicating drink, it
-seems especially desirable that those who are clear on entering the
-Penitentiary, shall not there be permitted to contract the habit, and
-that an effort should be used to break the habit with those who have
-brought it with them, and in fact, that it should be made a part of the
-Prison Discipline, in teaching them habits of economy for their own
-future good, during the period in which the law makes them subject to
-the control of the prison authorities. Our care of the subject, which
-has heretofore been in the way of moral suasion, with the prisoners,
-and those who had the control of them, and which has been exercised
-verbally, as suitable opportunities offered, has finally resulted
-in the adoption of a Resolution, respectfully asking the Inspectors
-wholly to prohibit its use in the Penitentiary, (as the Inspectors of
-our County Prison have done there, with highly satisfactory results,)
-unless it be in cases strictly medicinal. The quantity at present
-used in the Penitentiary is much reduced, but this is done, as we
-understand, as a matter of economy in conducting the Institution, as
-the cost of the article has latterly been much enhanced.
-
-_Pardons._--The very important subject of Pardons, and the manner in
-which the power is exercised, (not only in our own Commonwealth, but
-in most places where it exists,) has at different times occupied our
-attention, though not specially within the past year, with desires
-that some result might be reached by which the acknowledged evils of
-the pardoning system might be at least in part remedied. It is a power
-which should exist somewhere, and be exercised sometimes; but the good
-of society, and even of the parties on whom it is to operate, requires
-that it should only be applied to exceptional and rare cases, and with
-great caution. We have not yet succeeded in maturing any plan which
-it is believed would be likely to remedy, or materially lessen, the
-existing difficulties.
-
-_Abuses by Committing Magistrates._--We have again had under the care
-of a Committee, the abuse of power by the Aldermen or Committing
-Magistrates. This is an evil of great magnitude, and has claimed the
-attention of the Society almost from its origin, but without yet making
-much advance towards its suppression; nor do we hope to effect it, till
-their mode of compensation is changed from fees to a stated salary from
-the Public Treasury. As we shall have occasion to refer to this matter
-again as we advance in our Report, this short notice may suffice here.
-
-_Better Accommodations needed by the Society._--The books and papers
-of our Prison Society are accumulating to such an extent, as to make
-it difficult, with the accommodations we possess, to take proper care
-of them. Many of them are so valuable as to make their preservation
-almost an object of public interest. An ample and secure fireproof
-would be very desirable, and also much more extensive book cases than
-we now have. Our funds, however, are so limited at present, as to
-be barely sufficient to meet our current annual outlay, such as the
-appropriation towards the support of the “Prison Agency,” that to the
-Prison “Association of Women Friends,” and for the aid of discharged
-prisoners, and the amount required to meet our Room Rent, the
-publication of our Journal, and various necessary incidental expenses.
-We therefore have nothing to spare towards procuring a suitable
-building or room of our own, which we think would be very desirable.
-We would therefore commend the Society and its various interests to
-the kindly notice of our many benevolent citizens who are blessed with
-ample means, as being deserving of their consideration and attention,
-both when making their current distribution from time to time of
-surplus income, and when through the medium of a will, they are making
-a final appropriation of their estates.
-
-_The Prison Agent._--William J. Mullen, the Prison Agent, acting
-under appointment and authority of the Inspectors of the County
-Prison, and also on behalf of our Prison Society, has continued his
-services in investigating cases of alleged oppressive and illegal
-commitments to the County Prison, with unabated zeal and singleness
-of purpose. He has, with the co-operation of the proper authorities,
-succeeded in liberating during the year 1,223 of these from prison.
-Amongst them were many very interesting cases, where the common
-rights of individuals would have been successfully outraged, if they
-had not been inquired into and relieved by the action of the agent.
-And it should be remembered that the wrong and suffering in these
-cases is by no means limited to the individuals who are incarcerated,
-but that it often extends most cruelly to others connected with the
-prisoners. What must be the situation of the poor wife and helpless
-children, when the husband, the father, and provider for their urgent
-necessities, is thus wrongfully torn from them? Some are arrested and
-committed under mistake, but much of the wrong-doing in relation to
-such commitments, arises from the cupidity of the Police-aldermen,
-or committing magistrates, who many times, on the most frivolous
-charges, and sometimes without sufficient evidence against them, commit
-individuals to the prison from motives of gain. In some instances they
-are content with the fees established by law, but there is ground to
-believe that extortion is not unfrequently attempted to be practised,
-and sometimes with success. The mode of compensating the aldermen, by
-fees to be derived from the individual cases in which they act, gives
-them an interest in thus oppressing the helpless, and has long been
-a crying evil. Under this system, and in actual practice, there is
-good reason to fear, that much of the income of many of them is not
-merely “the gain of oppression,” but that of extortion also. There are
-no doubt upright and honorable men among them, but until all fees for
-such cases are taken away, and a fixed salary substituted, we need not
-expect to find them as a class to be governed, in their official acts,
-by high-minded and disinterested motives.
-
-We propose here giving a synopsis of a few of the cases contained
-in the monthly reports received from the agent during the year, of
-individuals liberated through his investigations and attentions.
-
-One was that of a venerable old gentleman, for many years President of
-the Board of Commissioners of the Northern Liberties of Philadelphia,
-who had retired from business, being worth a handsome independence.
-He was in the habit of spending much of his time at the office of a
-relative of his, a merchant on the wharf. The clerk of the merchant on
-returning from bank, where he had been to make a deposit, found three
-five dollar United States notes, which he handed to the merchant, who
-advertised for the owner to come forward and identify the money, and it
-would be given up. The merchant authorized his relative, the prisoner,
-to act for him during his absence, and if anybody properly identified
-the money, to take it from his desk and return it. Among the claimants
-was an ignorant woman, who said that she and her husband had lost
-$50 between Frankford and South Street, and they did not come up any
-further in the city than Second Street; that the money they lost was
-in one, two, and three dollar notes. The prisoner informed her that
-neither the money she had lost, nor the place where she had lost it,
-agreed with that which had been found, and therefore she could not have
-it. She immediately went to an alderman and swore that the prisoner
-said he had her lost money, but would not give it to her. Upon this
-statement, accompanied by an affidavit from her husband (who had not
-heard the prisoner say anything on the subject), a warrant was issued,
-and he was arrested. On the hearing, the prisoner denied ever having
-said what had been testified against him, and informed the alderman
-that he had never seen the lost money, nor even either of the five
-dollar notes which had been found. Upon a commitment being made out, he
-asked the constable to go with him to get bail, which he refused to do.
-He also informed the alderman that he was abundantly able to go his own
-bail, which, however, he refused to take. The agent, seeing him in the
-prison, procured bail to be entered, and soon had him released.
-
-A second was that of a woman who was committed for larceny, being
-charged with having stolen a box of jewelry of but little value. Upon
-investigation of her case, the agent ascertained that her prosecutor
-had previously robbed her of some bed ticking, and had brought this
-charge against her to defeat the ends of justice. She was arrested
-and imprisoned at the very time when she was required to be at Court
-to testify in reference to her stolen property. Careful examination
-enabled the agent to prove in Court that instead of the prisoner having
-committed a larceny, the prosecutor had entered her house during her
-absence, ripped open a pillow, and after placing the jewelry in it,
-sewed it up with a peculiar kind of thread, such as the agent found in
-the prosecutor’s house. In confirmation of this, when the officer, in
-company with the prosecutor, was searching the prisoner’s house for the
-jewelry, and could not find it, the prosecutor pointed out the very
-pillow which contained it, and asked to have that searched.
-
-A third case was that of an innocent woman who had been convicted
-and sentenced to three months on a charge of “false pretence.” The
-charge consisted in her having applied to a member of the St. Andrew’s
-Society, of which her husband had been a contributing member, for
-money to pay the funeral expenses of her deceased child, which had
-been buried the day before. A police officer, who was near at the
-time, arrested, and caused her to be committed, saying that she was an
-impostor, and he did not believe her story about the child. When her
-case came up for trial, the agent supplied her with competent counsel
-who explained the case and defended her. She was, however, convicted
-on the testimony of this officer, although she herself addressed the
-Court, and protested against the testimony, explaining her case in a
-simple, earnest, and truthful manner. Judge Ludlow, seeing her great
-distress, humanely sympathized with her, and directed an officer of
-the Court to accompany her to her home to ascertain the facts, see
-the sexton of the ground where she said the child was buried, &c.,
-promising to release her yet, although convicted, if her story proved
-true, but if false, to increase her sentence. The officer, after going
-a short distance with her, took her back to the Court, and reported
-that she was unable to direct him to a single person who had known her
-to have buried a child.
-
-The judge then sentenced her for three months to the County Prison.
-
-After this, the agent investigated the case, and found that every word
-she had said to the Court was literally true, as to the death, and the
-time and place of burial, &c. The physician was seen, who at the time
-of its death had given the certificate; the sexton who had buried it
-was also seen, and the clergyman who had authorized the burial, and
-paid the charges of the undertaker, with the understanding that she
-was to pay him again, he having perfect confidence in her promise to
-do so. When the agent had given to the Court satisfactory proof of
-these facts, Judge Ludlow reconsidered her sentence and discharged her
-from prison. Thus, through the services of the agent, this poor but
-respectable woman was saved not only from the pains and privations
-of a three months’ imprisonment, but also from the odium of being an
-impostor and a convict, which would probably have been attached to her
-character during the remainder of her life.
-
-We shall introduce one other case, for the purpose of illustrating
-the value of this agency, beyond the mere liberating of persons from
-prison, which is that of a “peacemaker” between the prosecutor and the
-person whom he had procured to be committed, which is a frequent result
-of the settlement of cases.
-
-This was that of a German soldier who borrowed money from two different
-persons for the purpose of getting a commission as captain in the army,
-and promised to pay them as soon as his commission was obtained. He
-failed, however, to procure one, and having expended the money, he was
-unable to repay them. They therefore had him committed to prison on
-the charge of “false pretence.” The man had a wife and seven children
-in New York depending upon him for support. He had an abundance of
-recommendations of good character. The agent saw his prosecutors, and
-succeeded in getting them to go to the prison and talk with him. They
-soon became very much interested in him, gave him some money, went to
-the District Attorney and asked for his discharge, and paid all the
-Court charges and expenses, becoming satisfied, upon reflection, that
-nothing wrong was intended by the prisoner. They invited him to their
-houses, and proffered him their friendship for the future.
-
-Many other cases are almost equally entitled to a place in this Report,
-as strikingly illustrating the value of the agency to the cause of
-humanity, and also to the community, in the large annual saving of
-expense to the County, resulting from the discharges effected by
-it, before the cases reach the Court. The cost of maintenance and
-of prosecution, thus saved in the year 1861, amounted to upwards of
-$11,000. Its value is fully appreciated by the public authorities, as
-the following paragraph from the Presentment of the Grand Jury for the
-June Term, 1862, will testify. In speaking of their visit to the County
-Prison, they say: “During a part of their visit through the prison they
-had the company of the prison agent, William J. Mullen, and were glad
-to find that he still continues in the discharge of his arduous duties,
-thereby saving great expense to the County, as well as affording
-protection to the rights of the poorer classes of society.”
-
-_Lunatics._--We last year referred to the practice which prevailed of
-committing lunatics to the County Prison, to the great disadvantage
-of that institution, and stated that this Society was co-operating
-in an application then about being made to the Legislature, which,
-it was hoped, would result in relieving the prison of this class of
-its inmates. The contemplated application was made, and a Committee
-attended at Harrisburg to make such explanations as might secure the
-favorable notice and action of the Legislature, but without success.
-Subsequently, however, the prison agent, after considerable effort,
-succeeded in inducing the Board of Guardians of the Poor to rescind
-instructions which had been issued to the officers of the almshouse,
-prohibiting the admission of persons sent from the County Prison,
-so far as to give their President power to admit (under certain
-restrictions) such persons as he might deem proper, on application of
-the Inspectors of the County Prison, to that effect.
-
-Under this arrangement, thirty-one insane persons, some of whom had
-been imprisoned for years, have been sent from the prison to the Insane
-Department of the Almshouse within the past year.
-
-_House of Correction._--The establishment of a House of Correction, (an
-institution intermediate to the almshouse, and prison,) was referred to
-last year, as an object of much interest to the community, and a hope
-was expressed that this highly important advance in the reformatory
-movements of our Commonwealth, might, under the Act of March, 1860,
-be soon carried into effect. It is cause for regret, however, that no
-substantial advance has yet been made. The delay in purchasing the
-ground, and erecting the necessary buildings, is understood to be
-occasioned by the City Councils having failed to make an appropriation
-of the requisite funds. The measure is so important, that we earnestly
-hope that the different parties having the control of it, may, by
-hearty and united action, be enabled to bring this long desired
-establishment into early and successful operation.
-
-_Prison Society’s Visitors and Visiting._--We propose now to refer
-to the subject of visiting the prisons and the prisoners, the duties
-of which we feel to be of constant obligation, and if faithfully
-discharged, under right qualification, we believe to be of importance,
-second to nothing else, which devolves upon the Society. As heretofore,
-the Acting Committee, (consisting of the officers of the Society,
-_ex officio_, and forty-four other members), has been divided into
-two sub-committees: one of them being allotted as visitors to the
-Eastern Penitentiary, and the other to the County Prison. These
-Committees have been regularly organized, and each of them has held
-Stated Monthly Meetings, at which Reports have been received from the
-individual members, as to the character of their services during the
-month, and these Reports, or a summary of them, have been transmitted
-to the Monthly Meetings of the Acting Committee. From the accounts
-thus received, there is reason to believe that the interest in this
-service has in no degree abated, and that the duties of the visitors
-are discharged with increased efficiency. Owing to the long continued
-indisposition of one or two of the members of the Penitentiary
-Committee, and the protracted absence from the city of others, the
-aggregate number of visits paid there is not quite equal to that
-reported last year. There have been, however, 175 written Reports
-received from members of this Committee, by which we are informed that
-656 visits were paid by them to that institution during the course of
-the year, in which 7,031 interviews were had with the prisoners, 4,728
-of which took place within the cells, and 2,303 at the cell doors. We
-have no doubt but that many other visits were paid, but omitted to be
-reported.
-
-The manner of meeting the prisoners is in a kindly spirit, approaching
-them not as convicts, but as men, the consequence of which is, that the
-entrance of a member of the Committee into a cell proves, with rare
-exceptions, a source of real satisfaction to the inmates; confidence
-being by this means established, an avenue is opened to their better
-feelings, and on being inquired of, they freely give a history of their
-past lives, and state what were the immediate influences under which
-the crime was committed, which resulted in their being confined in a
-felon’s cell. The information thus obtained, has fully convinced us,
-that a very large proportion of the vice existing, and of the crimes
-committed, if traced to their root, will be found to spring from
-Intemperance.
-
-It must be remembered that this baneful influence is not limited to
-those individuals who commit crimes while under the immediate effect
-of the intoxicating draught, nor even to such, and those who by
-their ruinous habits, have brought themselves into such a state of
-destitution and degradation, that their necessities present strong
-temptations, and at the same time their sense of the obligations of
-integrity and the rights of their fellowmen, is so weakened, that the
-fatal step is easily taken. But to these two classes must be added
-the children of such, who, growing up under the influence of the evil
-example of the parent, feeling the degradation which he has brought
-upon his family, and suffering from the destitution which he has
-entailed upon them, and at the same time, being without the benefit of
-any sound moral and religious instruction, and permitted to roam the
-streets in idleness, without the knowledge of any business, are easy
-victims to the attacks of the tempter. When will the proper authorities
-of the land, by the enactment of suitable and effective laws, lay the
-axe to the root of this giant evil?
-
-In these interviews with the prisoners, such counsel is given, as seems
-suited to their condition, so far as the visitors feel themselves
-qualified, not unfrequently, as we trust, seeking for Divine aid in
-the performance of the service. We believe that _many_, during their
-confinement, are improved in their _moral_ perceptions, and reach the
-conviction that “honesty is the best policy,” and are thus brought to
-resolve to endeavor to lead a correct life from the time of their
-discharge, and we hope that not a few of these, with the Divine
-blessing on their efforts, have not again relapsed into their former
-course of vice and crime, and that some, even amongst those who may not
-have yet attained to the true ground of reformation, an abhorrence of
-themselves in the sight of God, may, through Divine mercy, before the
-close of life, experience that change of heart which will render them
-acceptable in His sight. And we feel assured, that we have witnessed
-some instances of _true conversion_, which have resulted through the
-co-operation of Divine grace, with the instrumentalities connected
-with our prison system, and we cannot doubt but that the labors of our
-Prison Society have had some agency in effecting this happy change.
-
-One peculiarly interesting case of this kind has recently occurred,
-which is thought to be of sufficient value to justify special reference
-to it. This was a young man, No. 4,160, aged 17, sentenced January
-6, 1860, for two years and six months. He had been a very bad boy,
-and had been imprisoned before, (but not under our System,) without
-being benefited. After being in the Penitentiary several months, he
-was favored with a sense of the “exceeding sinfulness of sin,” and
-of his need of a Saviour, and by yielding to the monitions of Divine
-grace, he in due time, as we trust, experienced an entire change of
-heart, and attained to a state of acceptance in the Divine sight.
-Several months before the termination of his sentence, he was attacked
-with consumption, which soon gave evidence that he was not long for
-this world. During the remainder of his term, his disease steadily
-progressed and he often suffered much, but he was entirely reconciled
-to his condition, and felt comparatively happy, esteeming it as a
-great mercy that he had been placed there, where as he said he had
-found his Saviour. He only hoped that he might not die till he was
-discharged, and reached the arms of his pious mother at a distance
-from this city, for her comfort and his own. On the 6th of July last,
-at the termination of his sentence, he was discharged. This occurred
-on the first day of the week. A member of our Committee took him from
-the Penitentiary to his own house, and kept him there until he could
-be suitably forwarded to his mother. This member in referring to him
-remarks, “One evening, after our family reading [of the Scriptures], I
-went up with him to his chamber and knelt with him at his bedside in
-prayer, when we each offered up a petition to the Throne of Grace. I
-was about leaving the room when he said, ‘Don’t go yet, stay and have
-a good talk.’ I did so, when we had a full and free interchange of
-thought. I questioned him as to what he was resting his hopes of pardon
-on, and found that it was on the only sure foundation,--Christ Jesus
-and his atoning sacrifice.” He reached his mother, and was with her
-nearly a month when he died on the 8th of August last. The following
-is an extract from a letter written by her to the member referred to,
-a few days after his decease: “I know you and Mrs. ---- will sympathize
-with a sorrow-stricken mother. My darling child is no more. He sweetly
-fell asleep in Jesus, at 4 o’clock on Friday, August 8th, after three
-days’ great suffering, which he bore without one murmur. His answers
-to all were surprising, his conversation humble and childlike. His
-confidence in his Saviour never wavered; patient, gentle, and loving
-to all, but to his poor mother he was all love. How hard I feel it
-to say, Thy will be done! His consoling words to me were, ‘My dear
-mother, don’t weep but look up.’ In the valley he felt his Saviour’s
-presence.” Soon after, she addressed to the same another letter, from
-which the following is an extract: “I did not know how dear I loved
-him until we were called on to part. His patience under such suffering
-was surely the work of grace, so gentle, so meek. For a week he seemed
-to be getting somewhat better, and a ray of hope shot up, he would
-be spared for some time at least. But four days before his death, ...
-his agony was great, but not one word of complaint escaped his
-lips. His whole conversation was his Saviour’s wonderful love. His
-anxiety for the children’s conversion, especially his brother Thomas,
-was great, and his prayer that God would make him the instrument in
-converting one soul was lovely to me, nor have I one doubt but that
-[his] prayers will be answered.... For the whole day before he
-died, he kept on saying, ‘Dearest mother, look up but don’t weep.’ At
-4 o’clock he called for his brothers and sisters to bid them farewell,
-which he did, shook hands and kissed each one with a prayer, that his
-Saviour would grant them grace so to live, as they would meet him in
-heaven,--but to Thomas he said, ‘Kneel beside me, dear brother.’ Thomas
-did so, and then James said, ‘Dearest Thomas, will you promise your
-dying brother to seek the Lord, to give him your whole heart?’ Thomas
-said he would try; then he lifted his dying eyes to heaven and said
-distinctly, ‘O Saviour, grant him grace to keep this solemn promise.’
-He seemed in great pain. I asked him how the Saviour appeared to him
-in the dark valley. Aloud and clear he said, ‘Dearest mother, Jesus
-is precious.’ These were his last words. He became insensible, and
-continued in a sort of stupor until a few minutes before 4 o’clock,
-when I whispered in his ear, ‘Do you know your mother, my son?’ He
-turned such a lovely look of recognition, moved his lips for me to
-kiss him, I did so, one gentle sigh, and all was over.”
-
-In the introduction to this branch of the Report, we speak of visiting
-the _prisons_ and the _prisoners_. The Law incorporating our Prison
-Society, and that conferring on the Acting Committee the character
-of Official Visitors, contemplate that in addition to the salutary
-influence we may endeavor to exert upon the prisoners, by social
-intercourse with them, and impressing upon them moral and religious
-instruction, we should also observe the workings of our Prison System,
-bring anything which appears to be wrong to the notice of the proper
-authorities, that it may be remedied, and suggest any reforms or
-improvements in the System which may appear to be desirable. Under this
-view of our duties and privileges, our Committee, besides observing the
-general condition of the Institution, as to good order, cleanliness,
-healthfulness, &c., make special inquiries as to the supply of labor
-furnished the prisoners, whether the ignorant and illiterate among them
-receive proper attention from the teacher, how they are progressing
-in their learning, and if those who can read are freely supplied
-with books from the prison library, and have copies of the Sacred
-Scriptures placed in their cells. All these inquiries have resulted
-satisfactorily, excepting that the teaching force is not sufficient
-to give such frequent lessons to those requiring them, as would be
-desirable. The progress which many of them make is very gratifying,
-and indeed surprising. The instances are frequent, where prisoners
-who entered wholly without school-learning, that is to say, without
-any knowledge of letters or figures, in a very few months, are able
-to read, write, and cipher, with considerable facility, and a very
-gratifying circumstance connected with this is, that most of them
-highly value the knowledge they are thus acquiring.
-
-The library is now in a very good condition, having been overhauled
-during the year and a new catalogue prepared, after withdrawing several
-hundred mutilated and imperfect volumes from the collection. It now
-contains about 2,600 volumes, all complete and in a good state of
-preservation, about 2,060 in the English, and 540 in the German and
-French languages. While the library was regularly open, 11,526 books
-were loaned, and in addition, considerable reading matter was furnished
-during the several months in which they were engaged in examining and
-re-arranging the books, of which no regular record was kept.
-
-The various officers of the Penitentiary, by their general kindness
-and good temper in their care of and intercourse with the prisoners,
-evidence their fitness for their position, and as “like begets like,”
-similar deportment is reciprocated by the prisoners towards them. This
-is one of the excellent features of our System, which rarely, if ever,
-calls for the exercise of harshness by the keepers, and, consequently,
-instead of vindictive or bitter feelings being excited towards them,
-on the part of those under their control, a mutual feeling of sympathy
-is frequently brought into action. This was recently very pleasantly
-exemplified in the presence of a member of our Committee. A keeper, who
-had charge of about thirty prisoners in one of the corridors, received
-intelligence of the death of a son in the army, and having obtained
-leave of absence for a few days that he might go to Virginia to bring
-home the remains, before leaving, called at the cell of each of those
-under his care and bade them farewell. Both the words and deportment
-of the prisoners evidenced that they sympathized with their caretaker
-in his bereavement. It is also a general practice with the keepers in
-the evening, as they pass from cell to cell to hand in a light and
-lock the doors, to exchange a parting salutation with the inmates. We
-think it must be self-evident, that such a condition of things is much
-more favorable as a school of reform than that where the harshness of
-discipline prevails, which is said to be inseparable from the _Silent_
-System. The former is like the mellow soil moistened by the gentle
-shower, which receiving the seed kindly, when deposited by the hand
-of the husbandman, it soon germinates, and in due season brings forth
-fruit, which abundantly rewards him for all his toil. Whilst the latter
-is like the arid, indurated clay, upon which equally good seed may have
-been scattered, but being dry and impenetrable, it either never springs
-up, or at best it has a stunted growth, and its yield never compensates
-for the labor bestowed upon it. The entire number of prisoners in the
-Penitentiary during the year 1862 was 586. The largest number at any
-one time was 451, on the first day of the year, and the smallest 353.
-The number in confinement there on the first day of this year (1863)
-was 369, to wit: white males 297, white females 18, black or colored
-males 51, and black females 3. There were 6 deaths and 18 pardons in
-the course of the year.
-
-The Committee on the County Prison have attended faithfully to their
-duty as visitors during the year, but the reports from them are not
-so minute as those from the Committee on the Penitentiary, and,
-consequently, we are unable to analyze them so as to set forth the
-particulars of their services. One of the members so thoroughly devotes
-his time to the duty, as to visit the prison more than 500 times during
-the year, generally twice a day for more than 250 days. The other
-members report having among them paid 419 visits in the course of the
-year.
-
-Under the care of the present judicious and efficient Board of
-Inspectors, the prison has been satisfactorily conducted; but the
-population is so unsettled (being largely composed of vagrants, the
-untried, and those committed for petty offences), that it cannot be
-considered to fairly illustrate the “Separate System,” and therefore
-we think it proper to make more especial and extended reference to the
-Penitentiary than to it.
-
-The Prison “Association of Women Friends” (which is recognized by us as
-an auxiliary in the good work), have continued to be diligent visitors
-to the females confined in both prisons, and have entered on the
-service under a full sense of its serious importance, and with desires
-that their labors might be promotive of the temporal and eternal good
-of the visited. In the course of the year they paid 987 visits to the
-prisoners in the two institutions.
-
-In addition to the moral and religious instruction communicated to
-those confined in each of the institutions, through the medium of our
-visitors and those of the association just referred to, the Eastern
-Penitentiary has, as one of its regular officers, a “Moral Instructor,”
-whose time is devoted to visiting the prisoners individually in their
-cells, and there instructing them in those things which most nearly
-concern their temporal and eternal interests. The present incumbent of
-the office is John Ruth, a worthy minister of the Methodist persuasion,
-who appears to be well fitted for the discharge of the duties of
-his station. Ministers of different denominations also frequently
-visit the Penitentiary, both for the purpose of having religious
-opportunities with individual prisoners, and for the more general
-and public discharge of the duties of their calling. In the County
-Prison, although there is no regular officer employed for the purpose
-as in the Penitentiary, yet the institution is pretty well supplied
-with volunteer religious instructors from different sources, and, on
-the first day of the week, the prison agent generally procures the
-attendance there of one or more ministers.
-
-In our Report last year, we informed that the Quarterly Journal,
-which had been published by the Society for a number of years, was
-discontinued, and an Annual Report and Journal substituted for it. The
-principal reason then assigned for the change was, the large absorption
-of our funds which its publication occasioned, while our means for
-aiding discharged prisoners and sustaining other objects of practical
-benevolence in carrying out the original object of our organization,
-that of “Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons,” were entirely
-too limited. The result, we think, has already confirmed the propriety
-of the course then adopted. Our financial condition has considerably
-improved, and our appropriations in 1862, in aid of discharged
-prisoners, were upwards of fifty per cent. greater than in 1861.
-
- EDWARD H. BONSALL, }
- JOSEPH R. CHANDLER, } Committee on
- TOWNSEND SHARPLESS, } Annual Report, &c.
- CHARLES C. LATHROP, }
- ALFRED H. LOVE. }
-
-PHILADELPHIA, _1st Mo. (Jan.) 15, 1863_.
-
-
-
-
- For the Prison Journal.
-
-MAGISTRACY.
-
-The Magistrate must have his reverence, the laws their
-authority.--BURKE.
-
-
-Moses, in reply to the question of his father-in-law, “Why sittest thou
-thyself alone and all the people stand by thee from morning unto even?”
-said, “Because the people, when they have a matter, come unto me; and
-I judge between one and another, and I do make them know the statutes
-of God and his laws.” In him we have a model magistrate. But finding
-the labor “too heavy” for him, by the advice of Jethro, he confined his
-duties in this respect to those of an appellant judge, to be for the
-people “Godward,” to “bring the causes unto God,” and to hear “every
-great matter,” and he did “provide out of all the people, _able men,
-such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness_, and placed such
-over them to be rulers,” or minor magistrates, “and made them heads
-over the people,” “and they judged the people at all seasons; the hard
-cases they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged
-themselves.” In this record of the first institution of the office
-of the magistrate, and the qualifications considered as requisite in
-the man to fill the position, we have a lesson that it becomes us
-diligently to consider at the present day. If there has been degeneracy
-of the world since the days of Moses, in no respect perhaps has it
-been more forcibly felt, than in the mode of administering justice,
-(or as it would be more properly termed _in_justice,) at the present
-day, by the police or committing magistrates. The evils resulting to
-the community, the cruelty done to the unfortunate being who falls
-into their hands, by the system prevailing and carried out by many of
-the magistrates, especially of this city, have become so aggravated
-as to demand a thorough reformation. “Moses chose _able_ men,” whose
-qualifications were known “out of all Israel.” Men who acted in the
-“fear of God,” and “who hated covetousness;” or would not take “_fees_”
-or levy severe contributions on their victims, or the victims of
-others’ wrongs, or commit them to prison on false or trivial charges,
-to exact the payment of “charges and costs.” He did not leave the
-_election_ of the magistrate to any body of the people whom they were
-to judge, much less to the worst or dissolute portion of them.
-
-The very word “magistrate,” (from _magister_, master,) implying
-control, direction, suggests to the mind the idea of equity, safety,
-and purity. It excites reverence and a sense of exalted dignity, and
-imposes such a power and responsibility as never should be exercised by
-a bad or incompetent man.
-
-In countries where the magistrate is _appointed_ by the head or ruling
-power for his qualifications, and is _independent_ of the people over
-whom he presides, this feeling or sentiment, as a general thing, has
-been justified. The people living under the administration of such,
-lay themselves down and sleep in peace, and arise and go to their
-avocations, feeling that their rights, their property, and their lives
-are secure, because the righteous magistrate dwells in the land!
-
-Under our democratic ideas, that because “the people are sovereign,” we
-must therefore permit them, in carrying out these ideas, to exercise
-the power of electing all of our officials from the highest to the
-lowest, we run a great risk of placing the liberty and the welfare
-of the citizen, in the hands of bad and immoral men. However capable
-the people may be _as a whole_ to judge of the qualifications and
-fitness of any certain person for a magistrate, _if they would as a
-whole exercise their sovereignty_, no one, we presume, will claim
-that the portion of the “sovereigns” who congregate in “grog-shops,”
-and act under the inspiration of intoxicating beverages, in procuring
-nominations, are properly exercising the sovereign power, or that
-“the voice of _the people_,” thus expressed, is “the voice of God.”
-That _some_ good magistrates, as we truly have, are elected under the
-present system, but illustrates the truth _that it is possible_ to
-elect the right kind of men to office, if the better class of citizens
-will but exercise the privilege of the franchise, which under our
-theory of government it is the _bounden duty_ of every good man to do.
-
-The evils arising from the magistracy, as at present administered, are
-the results of two causes, which ought to be removed:
-
-1st. The mode of selecting or making magistrates.
-
-2d. The mode of compensating them.
-
-From the nature and duties of their office, they should be removed as
-far as possible from any dependence upon the favour, the votes, or the
-fees of the people over whom they judge or rule.
-
-Being a part of the ruling power, having delegated to them the
-“mastery” over the people, they should receive their authority or
-appointment from, and be dependent upon, the supreme authority or head
-magistrate, or “Master” of the City or State, and his constituted
-advisers, the council or senate, and removable only for cause. Being
-thus appointed by him who represents the sovereignty of the people,
-and by his position and responsibility to the people for his acts, we
-might reasonably expect to find men appointed, capable of discharging
-the duties, and worthy of the sacred trust of a magistrate. Again, as
-to the second point, the magistrate should not in any way be dependent
-upon, profited by, or have any portion of the “_fees_” of his office,
-but should be appointed for a certain precinct, ward, or district,
-and receive a certain _fixed_ compensation or salary from the public
-treasury. All “fees” or charges, being the penalty for breaking or
-infringing the laws, should be collected and paid over to the public
-treasurer by the magistrate, leaving him free to act uninfluenced by
-them, as the impartial agent of the law, as between the ruling power
-or sovereignty of the people and the accused, and enable him to act
-as a peacemaker, or reconciler of difficulties. Under the influence
-of the “fees” to be derived from “committing” the person accused, is
-there not danger that self-interest may sometimes induce the magistrate
-to commit unnecessarily, or otherwise encourage bad feelings between
-the accuser and the accused, when a more independent position might
-lead the magistrate to secure a reconciliation and settlement of the
-difficulty?
-
-All persons thus appointed and acting, should have power to act not
-only as committing magistrates of persons after examination, to be
-tried by a higher court or magistrate for heinous offences, but
-they should be authorized and required to try all trivial or minor
-cases, summarily, and to decide upon the same, and pronounce sentence
-accordingly, without appeal except in specified cases. A system similar
-to this prevails in other cities, or did at least in New Orleans
-before the rebellion, where Recorders or criminal magistrates acted or
-presided over certain defined districts; justices of the peace acting
-in civil cases only, one being entirely separated from the other,
-and the same person not allowed to act in both positions. The system
-was found to work to advantage there, though the incumbents of the
-position, contrary to what we deem wise, were elected by the people.
-As adjuncts to such a system, a Work-house for mature offenders and
-vagrants, and a House of Industry (or Refuge) for juvenile ones, to
-which the magistrate could sentence them, would be needed to relieve
-our County Prison of the _surfeit_ of cases now sent there, and to
-relieve the public, by the fruits of their labor, from their cost of
-maintenance; and so situated as to lead as far as possible to their
-reformation, and to the formation of habits of industry, regularity,
-and temperance. Such institutions could, as elsewhere, be made to pay
-a profit to the city, instead of as now maintaining the victims of the
-magistrate at heavy cost, in idleness and amidst evil associations. The
-workings of the present system prevailing in our city, are forcibly
-presented by the Reports of the Inspectors of the County Prison, and
-those of the prison agent of the same,[2] from the latter of which we
-select only the following, which are but a sample daily occurring:
-
-1. One of these cases is that of a young soldier committed [May 15th],
-on the charge of homicide. The Agent went to Washington, visited the
-camps, and saw that witnesses therefrom were brought here. These were
-brought here under the charge of an officer, specially detailed by the
-Court for the purpose, to prove an alibi in his behalf. It was not,
-however, found necessary to present this evidence, as another witness
-was found who testified to seeing the murder committed by a different
-person. The prisoner, in consequence, was at once acquitted.
-
-2. Another case was that of a United States marine, the victim of a
-conspiracy, whose object was to have him arrested and imprisoned as a
-deserter, in order to recover $30, which are usually allowed in such
-cases by Government. The chief actors here--as it appeared--were a
-sergeant and two tavern-keepers, who sued him before two different
-aldermen for an indebtedness, amounting to $17 for board and for
-money obtained--as they say--under false pretence, which consisted
-in his promising to pay after receiving his wages from Government.
-At the settlement the sergeant claimed $135 out of $140.80; exacting
-one-fourth of the sum loaned for its use, and leaving but $5.80 for the
-prisoner to cancel the $17 debt. This $135 was paid to the sergeant for
-the use of $101.25 advanced to the prisoner within 19 days subsequent
-to his being paid--all of which he had spent. A ten days’ furlough was
-granted to him, and then he was imprisoned, as above mentioned.
-
-In investigating the case, the Agent learned from the prosecutors,
-that they intended to get paid by keeping him in prison till after
-his furlough expired, and then getting the major to arrest him, as a
-deserter, with a promise that he would see them paid out of money,
-which the prisoner would eventually have to pay, after being put in
-irons and confined, for three months, in the barracks--which is said to
-be the customary punishment in such cases.
-
-3. Another case was that of a United States Army captain, who was
-imprisoned on the charge of _enticing_ soldiers out of a regiment in
-one State into a regiment of another State. It appears that, from
-patriotic motives, he had resigned the command of his company in
-Virginia and went to New York to raise a regiment of which he was to be
-major. While he was in Philadelphia the orderly-sergeant of his former
-company sent him a letter, inquiring how he progressed in forming his
-new regiment, and also informing him that, after pay-day, many of his
-old command would quit their company.
-
-This portion of the letter came to the knowledge of one of our city
-aldermen, who construed it, as enticing soldiers from one company into
-another, and thereupon unjustly committed the captain to prison.
-
-On the Agent stating the truth of the case to the alderman, and asking
-the prisoner’s immediate release, as his services were needed in our
-country’s defence; the magistrate refused to discharge him, unless he
-or his friends would pay the costs, and thus submit to the illegal
-extortion of money, as also to the imputation of having violated the
-laws. Whereupon the Agent, after consulting the United States Court
-officers, applied to the Court of Quarter Sessions for a writ of habeas
-corpus, had the case examined, and the prisoner was discharged by the
-authority of Judge Thompson.
-
-4. Another extraordinary case was that of a woman charged with
-kidnapping and robbery. The alleged kidnapping--as was proved in
-Court--consisted in her taking possession of her own son, of 16 years
-old, a runaway, found by her in Schuylkill County, and the robbery
-in the taking of his clothes, which she had a right to take, as was
-shown by her acquittal in Court, at her hearing upon a writ of habeas
-corpus, procured by the Agent; when the fact of his being her son was
-established, not only by herself, his mother, but by his brother, of 19
-years old, and by a respectable citizen and others, who had known him
-from infancy.
-
-5. Another case, presenting, perhaps, still more striking features, was
-that of a woman committed, on a bail-piece issued by one of our city
-aldermen, November 20th, and discharged November 21st, by bail being
-entered for her appearance at Court. The original charge against her
-was for assault and battery on a neighbor woman.
-
-According to the prisoner’s account, she got into difficulty with this
-neighbor about some children belonging to another party. They struck
-each other, and then the prisoner was sued by the other woman before
-an alderman, who granted a warrant gratis, as at the time she had no
-money. The prisoner was required to give bail, or go to prison. She
-then arranged with the alderman’s constable (at his suggestion) to pay
-him $2 for being her bail, on her receiving money, which she expected
-daily from her husband and son, who were in the United States Army. She
-also agreed to pay the alderman $1.80. On her receiving, soon after, a
-remittance from her son, she promptly paid the amount agreed upon.
-
-She was then told, by the alderman and constable, that she must now
-enter freehold bail for her appearance at Court. She replied, that she
-thought that unnecessary, as she and her prosecutrix had settled their
-quarrel, and were now as friendly and intimate as sisters, visiting
-each other in their respective premises almost every hour in the day.
-But, notwithstanding all this, and although, being a simple case of
-assault and battery, it was fully within the magistrate’s power to
-settle it, he would not do it, but insisted on having freehold security.
-
-She then consulted a distinguished lawyer on the case, who addressed a
-note to the alderman, requesting him to dismiss it. He would not comply
-with the request, but persisted in exacting freehold bail.
-
-The alderman’s constable then proposed getting his brother-in-law for
-her bail, on condition that she would pay him $5 for the service.
-Becoming frightened, as she had three small children, with no one but
-herself to care for them, her husband and son being in the army, she
-assented to his terms and paid him the money--which (be it noted) was
-in addition to the $3.80 previously paid to the alderman and constable.
-
-She was then allowed to depart for a few days, at the end of which the
-constable visited her, early one morning, and told her the bail was
-about to give her up unless she would pay some more money. She gave him
-all she had, a half-dollar, which she at the time actually needed to
-get food for her children. He took it, but said it was not enough, and
-he must, therefore, have her husband’s coat, which was hanging within
-view. She gave him this, and he then further insisted on having some
-breakfast, which she also gave him.
-
-He left, but not long after returned, and declared she must go to
-prison, as her bail would incur no further risk unless he received more
-money. She replied that she had no more money to give; but, instead
-of this, she gave him her husband’s pantaloons and drawers, which he
-took, and thereupon insisted on having her husband’s razor and shaving
-apparatus, which she gave him. He concluded his call by demanding his
-dinner, which she also gave him, and he went away.
-
-A few days subsequently, his brother-in-law (the bail) called, and told
-her he was going to surrender her to be sent to prison, unless she
-either gave him more money, or complied with certain infamous proposals
-of his. The latter she promptly refused, with the remark that she
-would not dishonor her husband and son, who were then enrolled for the
-defence of their country.
-
-He then left, and went to the alderman and had her sent to prison,
-cruelly separating her from her sucking infant, who was left at home
-with her other two young children, and no one else.
-
-The Agent, on learning these atrocious facts, at once saw that the
-prisoner was released on bail, and permitted to return home to her
-family.
-
-6. Another case was that of a woman, the mother of a large family of
-little children, who was committed by one of our aldermen on the vague
-charge of misdemeanor. Her husband is a soldier in the United States
-Army. It seems that her landlord wished to remove her from the house
-she tenanted in a summary manner, and he appears to have formed a
-conspiracy with the prosecutor for this object. She refused to leave
-till she got a remittance from her husband. A quarrel ensued, and the
-prosecutor struck and beat her most shamefully. A proof of this was
-that her person, when she entered the prison, was black and blue with
-bruises. After the prosecutor had done this, he went to the alderman
-and sued her on the charge above named. This he did to secure himself
-from being prosecuted by her for assault and battery.
-
-Let the community arise! Let our City Councils and our State
-Legislature act, and perfect such legislation as will remedy this
-crying evil, and rid our beautiful city, so distinguished for progress
-in arts, science, and benevolent institutions, of this polluted sore.
-
- C. C. L.
-
-
-
-
- For the Prison Journal.
-
-IMPRISONMENT.
-
-
-So far as we are acquainted with the actual condition of the various
-countries of the civilized world, we are compelled to the painful
-and humiliating conviction, that there are individuals amongst their
-inhabitants who are prone to, and actually will interfere with, and
-depredate upon the rights of others, unless they are subjected to moral
-or physical restraint. This fact has made it necessary that measures
-should be adopted to protect the general mass of society against the
-wrong-doing of these evil-disposed persons. It must be evident to all,
-that in originating and maturing these measures, or in framing and
-perfecting laws for this purpose, an intimate acquaintance with human
-nature, and a high order of wisdom, are essential pre-requisites to
-fit those upon whom the duty should devolve, to enter upon the highly
-important work. The instinct of self-protection would naturally, and
-even properly suggest, that the first object should be to secure the
-community against a repetition of the wrong-doing, by placing the
-individual who has committed a serious offence under such physical
-restraint as to make it impossible for him for a time to continue his
-evil course. This object may be secured by a close confinement of the
-culprit in a prison or penitentiary. But if we rest satisfied with
-having accomplished this, we are taking a very narrow view of a very
-broad subject. This same instinct, if its promptings are intelligently
-pursued, will convince us that the punitive character of this restraint
-or imprisonment should be such as to operate upon the fears of the
-evil-disposed who are at large, and thus deter them from yielding to
-temptations which may prompt them to commit offences against society
-or individuals. And, also, as this imprisonment cannot be permanent,
-the individual incarcerated should, through this source, as well as
-others, be made to feel that “the way of the transgressor is hard;”
-and from this experience (in the absence of any higher motive) be
-induced to so conduct himself, after his liberation, as not to render
-himself liable to be subjected to a repetition of these “pains and
-penalties.” At the same time, however, that the imprisonment and
-discipline provided, should embrace such elements as would subject the
-convict to a full sense of punishment, they should be carefully guarded
-from partaking of the character of vindictiveness or revenge. If this
-care is not exercised, the higher and more enlarged action of Christian
-philanthropy and duty, which should immediately follow that referred
-to as being prompted by the instinct of self-protection, which is, the
-temporal and eternal good of the offender, by his reformation, will be
-entirely defeated.
-
-We are aware that in some countries, in framing their penal laws and
-discipline, the only object appears to be to prevent the continued
-perpetration of offences by the imprisonment of those convicted as
-offenders, and by the severity of their punishment to deter them from
-a repetition of their crimes after their discharge; the example of
-which punishment, it is desired, shall also operate to restrain others
-from entering upon and pursuing an equally criminal course. This
-object is effected, at the smallest possible cost to the community, by
-constructing their prison buildings, almost exclusively, with reference
-to the safe-keeping of the prisoners, making no arrangements for their
-separation, but congregating them together in large masses, with very
-little, if any, regard to difference in age or degrees of criminality.
-The consequence is, that instead of the prisoners being reformed or
-made better, by the discipline to which they are subjected, they are
-almost inevitably made worse; and many times, those who were committed
-on a charge of pocket-picking or some other minor offence, are fitted
-for burglars or the commission of the highest class of crimes on their
-discharge.
-
-A valuable member of our Prison Society who has recently spent several
-years abroad, during which time he became very familiar with the penal
-system and the arrangement and manner of conducting the prisons of
-one of the countries of Continental Europe, having frequently visited
-and personally inspected the prisons, speaks of it as being generally
-admitted amongst the people there, that reformation was no part of
-their plan, and was never expected to result from the imprisonment of
-criminals. We are happy, however, in the belief, that this system is
-now viewed by nearly all countries as being a relic of the barbarism of
-the dark ages, which, besides partaking of the character of cruelty,
-evidences great short-sightedness and want of wisdom, if we consider
-how its results affect the best interests of the community. Instead of
-being a school of reform, through whose influence the number of those
-from whom outrages might be apprehended would be lessened, if it does
-not actually increase them, it at least makes life-long criminals of
-the most hardened character, of a large proportion of those subjected
-to its discipline, who, at the time of their first commitment, were by
-no means steeped in wickedness; many of them when quite young, having,
-in an unguarded moment, yielded to strong temptation to commit some
-minor offence, of which having been convicted, they have been thrust
-amongst the most abandoned outcasts of society, and soon lost to all
-hope of restoration, when by a really humane and Christian course of
-treatment they might have been led back from the by-paths into which
-they had, without due consideration, stepped, and have been brought
-to experience the happiness of a virtuous life, and to be a blessing
-instead of a curse to society.
-
-We believe that all reflecting men must be convinced that
-the _reformation_ of criminals, besides being a question of
-_expediency_, in which the community has a deep stake on the score of
-self-protection, is one, the promotion of which, so far as is in our
-power, is of the highest Christian obligation, in reference to both
-the temporal and eternal good of those who, having by their criminal
-conduct, forfeited the liberty enjoyed by the common mass of their
-fellow men, have, for the security of society, been committed to
-prison. In most Christian countries _reformation_, on the ground of
-_expediency_ at least, and we trust, under some sense of Christian
-duty, is now acknowledged to be properly _one_ of the elements of their
-penal systems; and, consequently, some provisions, either theoretical
-or practical, are adopted for the promotion of this object. It is much
-to be regretted, however, that most of the existing prison systems are
-such as greatly to interfere with, and many of them almost wholly to
-defeat the accomplishment of this vitally important purpose. This state
-of things exists to a great extent, not only in Europe, but throughout
-most of the Commonwealths of the United States.
-
-The systems are generally “_congregate_,” either with little, if any,
-restraint from free social intercourse between the inmates, whatever
-may be their different degrees of depravity, or with the imposition
-of silence while together, and separation at night and at their
-meals only. The former of these, in our judgment, wholly excludes
-reformatory influences, unless it be through the immediate operation
-of Divine grace and mercy, which, we freely admit, can overrule
-obstacles however great; but this fact will not excuse us from doing
-our best to facilitate this operation. At the same time, also, that
-it excludes reformation, its attendant circumstances rapidly school
-the young offender in the ways of depravity and crime, and harden the
-more practiced in wickedness, and prepare them for the commission of
-still darker deeds than any they had previously been guilty of. Whilst
-the latter system, where _silence_ is imposed, though certainly a step
-in advance of the former, as it cannot so extensively _propagate_
-criminality, yet from the fact that the prisoners cannot be approached
-separately, and that this system of silence and non-intercourse
-amongst them, under the strong temptation to the indulgence of their
-social propensities when placed in the presence of each other, is only
-maintained by harsh and severe discipline; reformatory agencies can
-hardly be brought to bear upon them, and efforts in this direction,
-very rarely, indeed, produce the desired effect.
-
-It seems to us that what is generally known as the “Pennsylvania
-System,” which is that of entire cellular separation of the prisoners,
-by which they are precluded from either seeing each other, or holding
-any kind of intercourse by word or sign, is far in advance of any other
-system of imprisonment yet introduced. We do not propose at this time
-to go into a general explanation of its peculiar features, but may
-merely advert to a few prominent points in support of this position.
-
-First, as regards the effectual restraint of those found guilty of
-crime from continuing their outrages upon the community; its security
-against escape, is fully equal to, if not greater, than that under any
-other existing prison system, and its punitive character, though really
-humane and mild, is looked upon with much dread by the evil-disposed,
-on account of their being subjected to separation from their fellow
-convicts, and therefore it is potent in deterring from a criminal
-course.
-
-These primary objects of imprisonment being thus effectually secured,
-we are next to consider what are its effects, evil or good, upon the
-moral condition of those subjected to its discipline. And here the
-results of our inquiries are pre-eminently satisfactory. From the
-thorough isolation maintained, we think it must be evident, that no
-prison under it can ever become a moral pest-house, where the depravity
-and wickedness of one prisoner may be communicated to another, or, as
-it were, prove contagious, and thus spread moral corruption around him.
-As neither the words, countenance, nor gestures of one can be heard or
-seen by another, it is clear, that those committed are not subjected to
-such influences whilst in confinement, as will make them morally worse
-on leaving, than when they entered.
-
-Having thus demonstrated, as we trust, that our system, without doing
-a moral wrong to the offender, thoroughly effects the purpose for
-which society claims the _right_ to imprison--that of self-protection,
-by placing him under secure restraint--we have next to consider what
-is its adaptation to the higher and less selfish purpose, which
-immediately follows as a Christian obligation, that of promoting
-his reformation. In the first place, then, as there is nothing in
-the working of the system which calls for harshness of treatment; it
-is administered on principles of kindness, and consequently, instead
-of the prisoners being hardened, and their vindictive and other evil
-passions being called into action, they are softened, and the better
-feelings of their nature (which with many had so long slept, that
-the degraded beings were hardly aware that they possessed them) are
-awakened. Under these favorable circumstances, those who are desirous
-of communicating moral or religious instruction can visit each prisoner
-in private in his separate cell, and when the service is accomplished,
-leave him to his reflections, without being disturbed by the presence,
-or deterred from a serious consideration of his condition by the scoffs
-of depraved companions.
-
-The purpose of this essay has not been to suggest the details of
-any particular system of imprisonment, but to call attention to the
-general principles which should control the subject. And especially
-have we desired to impress upon the reader the vital truth, that if we
-would hope to reform the prisoner, we must treat him with comparative
-kindness. We must do nothing, which either is or seems to be, by way
-of revenge or retaliation. Under the present dispensation we must not
-exact “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” If we do this, the
-prisoner feels that he is persecuted, and that as society is doing its
-worst by him now, he will repay it upon his discharge. In effect, that
-as every man’s hand is against him, his hand shall be against every man.
-
- E. H. B.
-
-
-The following are the introductory remarks of a writer in the “North
-British Review” for February, 1863, to “Observations on the Treatment
-of Convicts in Ireland” and the Subject of Transportation, to wit:--
-
-The public mind of England awakes periodically, and with a start, to
-a sense of the danger it incurs by the presence of a large criminal
-population in the very heart of the community, which is dealt with on
-no rational or consistent system, watched by no adequate police, and
-disposed of in no conclusive manner. We rave against the evil, we abuse
-our rulers, we insist upon a remedy being found, we listen eagerly to
-every quack and every philosopher, we discuss the subject passionately,
-illogically, and superficially; and we end by adopting some fresh
-plan which touches only a small fragment of the mischief, and darns
-only a small rent in the tattered garment, and which is usually some
-ill-digested and unworkable compromise between old habits and new
-fancies. We then grow sick of the subject, ashamed of our panic, and
-stupidly satisfied with our mild aperient and our emollient plaster,
-and go quietly to sleep again for another term of five or seven years.
-Meanwhile, however, there are two classes of men who never sleep: the
-criminals, who are always at work to invent new modes of preying on
-society and new dodges for evading justice; and the officials, who are
-always, after the fashion of their kind, and by a sort of ineradicable
-instinct, wriggling back into the old channels, and falling away
-into their normal inertness. There was such an awakening as we have
-described in 1853; there was another in 1857; there is another now. Let
-us see whether this last cannot be made to yield some better and more
-lasting fruit than its predecessors.
-
-That the evil is a very great one no one can doubt. It amounts to
-a positive insecurity of life and property which is disgraceful in
-the richest, most civilized, most complicated society on earth.
-At this moment, the number living by depredation and outrage, and
-known to belong to the criminal class, is estimated to reach in
-the United Kingdom to 130,000. In this year, 1863, a considerable
-portion of the respectable inhabitants of London are reduced to carry
-concealed weapons for their own defence; and this from no groundless
-apprehensions, but because they _may_ any day be called upon to use
-them, and often _are_. We annually commit to, and liberate from, our
-county jails in England and Wales, at least 130,000 offenders, a very
-large proportion, if not the majority, of whom are habitual pilferers,
-burglars, or in other ways violators of the law, and recognized preyers
-upon the industrious and peaceful part of the community. Besides these,
-we turn loose every year, at the expiration of their sentence of penal
-servitude, or shortly before its expiration, 3000 convicts, nearly all
-of whom are professional, finished, hardened offenders, and all of
-whom, with scarcely any exceptions worth naming, have been confined for
-crimes in which ruffianism and dishonesty were combined. Of these 3000,
-at least 2500 on an average are liberated in this country, and almost
-invariably go back to their evil courses, more vicious, more skillful,
-more irreclaimable than ever. Many of them have been convicted several
-times, never dream of adopting an honest mode of life, and could not do
-so if they wished. In a word, we have among us an army--very active,
-very well trained, tolerably organized, very resolute, and in part
-very desperate--of internecine enemies and spoliators, as numerous
-as the troops of most European kingdoms, and more numerous than the
-military and police forces in our own country combined. This is the
-evil we have to deal with. It is an evil, in some degree and in some
-form, incidental to every large and populous community; but the form
-and degree depend entirely on our own management. We may reduce it to
-the minimum which human temptation to wrong and the imperfection of
-human powers of repression must always leave, a minimum which would be
-seldom heard of and little felt, and which should be always tending
-to decrease. Or we may suffer it, as we are in a fair way to do now,
-to augment and intensify year by year till it reaches the maximum
-compatible with a comfortable existence and a secure civilization.
-Now what we affirm is, that, for the height to which it has reached
-at the present moment, we have only ourselves to thank. For a long
-time back, in spite of ceaseless warning, and ignoring all the lessons
-of experience, physiology, and common sense, we have done little to
-repress crime and much to encourage it. Our plans of dealing with it
-have been based upon no clear understanding and no settled principle;
-the changes we have introduced from time to time, have been either
-inconsistent _nibblings_ or mutually destructive fluctuations; we have
-neither aimed at felling the tree, nor at cutting off the nourishment
-from its roots; we have simply pruned the branches, and contented
-ourselves with wondering that it should flourish still. We believe that
-all this is remediable still, though the mischief has assumed such vast
-dimensions; but that which is imperatively needed before we can hope
-to remedy it is, that we should boldly face all patent facts; that we
-should courageously accept all undeniable conclusions from those facts;
-that we should at once and for ever place sentiment under the control
-and supremacy of sense; that no inconvenience should drive us to do
-injustice to others; and that no expense should make us shrink from
-doing justice to ourselves.
-
-Criminals, the moment we look at them closely and analytically,
-divide themselves into two distinct categories--the casual and the
-habitual. Many of the more trifling, and some of the most heinous
-offenders, belong to the former class. Temptation there will always
-be; and this will be liable to increase with the progress and
-complexity of civilization, as long as some are poor and some are
-rich, and as long as the appliances of wealth are spread out in the
-sight of the struggling and needy. Defective moral natures there will
-always be--natures weak to resist and prone to fall; but these, it
-is to be hoped, will diminish as comfort and instruction penetrate
-among the masses. Passions will always exist among all ranks, and
-passions will occasionally burst through the restraints of morality
-and law. Boys will thieve who are no worse than idle, neglected,
-and ill-trained. Poor men, who are habitually respectable, will
-steal under circumstances of sudden and desperate necessity. Clerks
-will occasionally forge or rob to avert exposure, to meet debt, or
-to purchase vicious pleasures. Any man, in any rank, of violent
-or malignant temper and ill-disciplined mind, may, in a moment of
-provocation or of fury, be guilty of manslaughter; or, if he be
-thoroughly bad and licentious, may outrage a defenceless woman, or
-murder one whom he hates, or whose possession he desires. Crimes and
-criminals of this sort, however, are not those that embarrass our
-police, and perplex our rulers and philosophers; they do not constitute
-the social problem we have to solve. They are the casual outbreaks
-of human vice and passion, incidental to all stages and forms of
-civilization, and incurable by any. But besides and independent of
-these cases, we have among us a large population, numbered by thousands
-and tens of thousands, who _live by_ outrage and depredation; to whom
-crime is an employment and _profession_; who are brought up to it; who
-have no other teaching, no other vocation, no other resource; to whom
-the respectable and industrious portion of society is the oyster they
-have to open; who prey upon the community, and sometimes hate it also.
-They are simply the enemies of society; and the protection of society
-against them constitutes precisely the difficulty which at this moment
-our thinkers have to master, and the duty which our rulers have to
-discharge.
-
-Now we do not say that the obstacles and embarrassments with which
-the solution of the problem is surrounded are not actually great,
-because they are. But the problem itself is neither difficult nor
-obscure, as soon as we take pains to place before ourselves distinctly
-its precise nature and conditions. The thing to be done is simple
-enough; the impediments in the way of doing it are nearly all of our
-own creation, arising partly out of ignorance or thoughtlessness, and
-partly out of willfulness; partly because we have not fully understood
-what we had to do, and partly because we have been unwilling to
-accept the consequences and incur the annoyance and expense of doing
-it. Divested of all complications, our task is to _defend ourselves_
-against the criminal population,--the professional criminals; to guard
-society against their outrages and depredations in the most prompt,
-effectual, and enduring fashion we can devise. That is all: we have
-NOT to _punish_ them; and we shall only confuse our minds and perplex
-our action if we try to do so. It is the almost universal neglect of
-this vital distinction, more than any other error, which has led us
-into such grotesque and inconceivable blunders. _Individuals_ may
-regard these offenders in any light which harmonizes with their several
-idiosyncracies. Some may look at them as objects of vengeance; some
-as objects of compassion; some as subjects of conversion; some as
-patients to be cured; some as unfortunate lunatics to be carefully
-and comfortably confined; and there may be much truth in all these
-different views, and they may be allowed to influence some of the
-_details_ of the practical treatment of criminals in prison and on
-their discharge from prison. But _the State_, as we said, has only
-got to protect the community against them--to regard them as domestic
-foes, against whom self-defence is legitimate and necessary. The reason
-why it should not seek to _punish_ them, in the strict and proper
-meaning of that word, is, that it has not the knowledge requisite for
-the just discharge of that function. It cannot possibly apportion the
-penalty it inflicts to the _guilt_ of the offender, which apportionment
-constitutes the very essence of _punishment_. Neither the wisest judge,
-nor the most patient and enlightened jury, nor the most omniscient
-police officer, can do more than form a plausible conjecture as to the
-_moral criminality_ of any convict; since this, it is obvious, must
-depend on the organization which he inherited, on the antecedents which
-have surrounded him from the cradle, on the degree of instruction he
-has received, on the special nature and _adaptation_ of the temptation,
-on a multitude of circumstances which we neither can know, nor could
-estimate if we did. The State, too, is just as incompetent to estimate
-the severity of the infliction as the guilt of the offence. How is
-the legislator who awards, or the judge who pronounces, to ascertain
-the weight and bearing of any given sentence upon any individual
-culprit? The same penalty which to one man would be almost too lenient
-for a theft, may, to a differently organized and differently trained
-offender, be too severe almost for a murder. The educated convict,
-whose ungoverned passion led him to a heinous but a single crime, would
-be driven mad by the association and the _entourage_ which the habitual
-and hardened ruffian would find congenial and even pleasant. Punishment
-which _retributes_, like vengeance which _repays_, can, by its very
-term, belong only to that higher intelligence which can estimate aright
-both the debt to be repaid, and the intrinsic value of the coin in
-which repayment is awarded.
-
-The thing to be done, then, being ascertained, the next point for
-consideration is how to do it. Now, society may protect itself against
-habitual criminals in three ways, separately or in combination. It may
-deal with him so as to _deter_ him, to _reform_ him, or to _get rid_ of
-him. It may so arrange and contrive its penalties as to frighten him
-from bad courses, or to incapacitate him from recurring to them, or to
-persuade him to amend them. And, putting out of view the very few whom
-it will or can hang, it has to effect these objects by such secondary
-punishments as lie within its reach, as the public purse will pay for,
-and public conscience and feeling will allow the State to inflict.
-
-
-
-
-MEMBERS.
-
-
- Ashhurst, Lewis R. Kintzing, William F.
- Armstrong, William Kitchen, James, M. D.
- Anderson, V. William Kneedler, J. S.
- Atmore, Frederick B. Knight, Edward C.
- Knorr, G. Frederick
- Brown, John A. Klapp, Joseph, M. D.
- Brown, Frederick
- Brown, Moses Laing, Henry M.
- Brown, Thomas Wistar Lambert, John
- Brown, Abraham C. Landell, Washington J.
- Brown, N. B. Lathrop, Charles C.
- Brown, David S. Latimer, Thomas
- Brown, Joseph D. Leeds, Josiah W.
- Brown, Benneville D. Lewis, Henry, Jr.
- Brown, Mary D. Lewis, Edward
- Bell, John M. D. Lippincott, John
- Biddle, William Lippincott, Joshua
- Biddle, John Longstreth, J. Cooke
- Barton, Isaac Lovering, Joseph S.
- Burgin, George H., M. D. Lovering, Joseph S., Jr.
- Bohlen, John Ludwig, William C.
- Binney, Horace, Jr. Lynch, William
- Bayard, James Lytle, John J.
- Beesley, T. E., M. D.
- Beesley, B. Wistar McCall, Peter
- Bowen, William E. Meredith, William M.
- Bettle, Samuel Milliken, George
- Bettle, William Myers, John B.
- Baldwin, Matthias W. Morris, Isaac P.
- Barcroft, Stacy B. Massey, Robert V.
- Bailey, Joshua L. Maris, John M.
- Baily, Joel J. Morris, Charles M.
- Burr, William H. Morris, Wistar
- Boardman, H. A. Morris, Caspar, M. D.
- Bunting, Jacob T. Morris, Anthony P.
- Bacon, Richard W. Morris, Elliston P.
- Bacon, Josiah Montgomery, Richard R.
- Brock, Jonathan Mercer, Singleton A.
- Barclay, Andrew C. Mullen, William J.
- Brooke, Stephen H. Megarge, Charles
- Baines, Edward Martin, William
- Budd, Thomas A. Martin, Abraham
- Bispham, Samuel McAllister, John, Jr.
- Broadbent, S. McAllister, John A.
- Brant, Josiah McAllister, William Y.
- Beaux, John Adolph Macadam, William R.
- McAllister, F. H.
- Corse, J. M., M. D. Marsh, Benjamin V.
- Cope, Alfred Morton, Samuel C.
- Cope, M. C. Merrill, William O. B.
- Cope, Henry Morrell, R. B.
- Cope, Francis R. Mellor, Thomas
- Cope, Thomas P. Mitcheson, M. J.
- Colwell, Stephen
- Caldwell, James E. Norris, Samuel
- Caldwell, William Warner Neall, Daniel
- Cresson, John C. Needles, William N.
- Claghorn, John W. Nesmith, Alfred
- Chandler, Joseph R. Nicholson, William
- Carter, John Neuman, L. C.
- Carter, John E.
- Campbell, James R. Ormsby, Henry
- Comegys, B. B. Orne, Benjamin
- Childs, George W.
- Child, H. T., M. D. Purves, William
- Chance, Jeremiah C. Parrish, William D.
- Coates, Benjamin Parrish, Joseph, M. D.
- Chamberlain, Lloyd Poulson, Charles A.
- Conrad, James M. Perot, William S.
- Cooke, Jay Perot, Francis
- Collier, Daniel L. Perot, Charles P.
- Comly, Franklin A. Perot, T. Morris
- Patterson, Joseph
- Demmé, Charles R. Patterson, Morris
- Ducachet, Henry W. Patterson, William C.
- Dawson, Mordecai L. Potter, Alonzo, D.D.
- Dorsey, William Price, Eli K.
- Dutilh, E. G. Price, Richard
- Ditzler, William U. Pearsall, Robert
- Dreer, Ferdinand J. Pitfield, Benjamin H.
- Dickinson, Mahlon H. Peters, James
- Davis, R. C. Peterson, Lawrence
- Derbyshire, Alexander J. Potts, Joseph
- Derbyshire, John Parry, Samuel
- Dennis, William H. Palmer, Charles
- Duane, William Perkins, Henry
-
- Earp, Thomas Quinn, John A.
- Evans, Charles, M. D.
- Evans, William, Jr. Richardson, Richard
- Evans, Robert E. Richardson, William H.
- Evans, J. Wistar Robins, Thomas
- Erringer, J. L. Robins, John, Jr.
- Edwards, William L. Ritter, Abraham, Jr.
- Elkinton, Joseph Rasin, Warner M.
- Elkinton, George M. Read, W. H. J.
- Ellison, John B. Robb, Charles
- Emlen, Samuel Rehn, William L.
- Eyre, Edward E. Rutter, Clement S.
- Eyre, William Ruth, John
- Erety, George Roberts, Algernon S.
- Ridgway, Thomas
- Farnum, John Robinson, Thomas A.
- Fraley, Frederick Randolph, Philip P.
- Fullerton, Alex. Rowland, A. G.
- Farr, John C. Richards, George K.
- Frazier, John F.
- Ford, William Smedley, Nathan
- Ford, John M. Shippen, William, M. D.
- Furness, William H. Scull, David
- Field, Charles J. Schaffer, William L.
- Fox, Henry C. Scattergood, Joseph
- Franciscus, Albert H. Shannon, Ellwood
- Funk, Charles W. Sharpless, William P.
- Simons, George W.
- Garrett, Thomas C. Smith, Nathan
- Griffin, E., M. D. Stokes, Shmuel E.
- Greeves, James R. Shoemaker, Benjamin H.
- Gilpin, John F. Speakman, Thomas H.
- Grigg, John Starr, F. Ratchford
- Gummere, Charles J. Saunders, McPherson
- Gardiner, Richard, M. D. Stokes, Edward D.
- Sloan, Samuel
- Hunt, Uriah Smith, Joseph P.
- Hockley, John Stone, James N.
- Holloway, John S. Simes, Samuel
- Husband, Thomas J. Stuart, George H.
- Hughes, Joseph B. Stewart, William S.
- Homer, Henry Stevens, Edwin P.
- Homer, Benjamin
- Hancock, Samuel P. Townsend, Edward
- Hand, James C. Taylor, Franklin
- Hazeltine, John Taylor, John D.
- Hastings, Matthew Taylor, George W.
- Huston, Samuel Trewendt, Theodore
- Hacker, Morris Tredick, B. T.
- Hacker, William Thomas, John
- Hunt, William, M. D. Taber, George
- Hurley, Aaron A. Troutman, George M.
- Harbert, Charles Thornley, Joseph H.
- Thissel, H. N.
- Ingersoll, Joseph R.
- Ingram, William Van Pelt, Peter
- Iungerich, Lewis Vaux, George
-
- Jackson, Charles C. Wharton, Thomas F.
- Janney, Benjamin S., Jr. Wood, Horatio C.
- Jeanes, Joshua T. Wood, Richard, Jr.
- Jenks, William P. Welsh, William
- Jones, Isaac C. Welsh, Samuel
- Jones, Jacob P. Welsh, John
- Jones, Isaac T. Wetherill, John M.
- Jones, William D. Williamson, Passmore
- Jones, Justus P. White, John J.
- Jones, William Pennel Wainwright, William
- Johnson, Israel H. Wright, Samuel
- Johnson, Ellwood Wright, Isaac
- Johnston, Robert S. Willets, Jeremiah
- Justice, Philip S. Wiegand, John
- Wilstach, William P.
- Kaighn, James E. Williamson, Peter
- Kane, Thomas L. Warner, Redwood F.
- Kelly, William D. Walton, Coates
- Kelly, Henry H. Williams, Jacob T.
- Ketcham, John Wilson, Ellwood, M. D.
- Kiderlen, William L. J. Woodward, Charles W.
- Kimber, Thomas Whilldin, Alexander
- Kingsbury, Charles A., M. D.
- Kinsey, William Zell, T. Ellwood
- Kirkpatrick, James A.
-
-
-LIFE MEMBERS.
-
-ON PAYMENT OF TWENTY DOLLARS AND UPWARDS.
-
- Barclay, James J. Ogden, John M.
- Bache, Franklin, M. D.
- Bonsall, Edward H. Perot, Joseph
- Besson, Charles A. Perkins, Samuel H.
- Parrish, Dillwyn
- Cope, Caleb Powers, Thomas H.
- Potter, Thomas
- Ellis, Charles
- Sharpless, Townsend
- Fotteral, Stephen G. Sharpless, Charles L.
- Foulke, William P. Sharpless, Samuel J.
- Steedman, Miss Rosa
- Hacker, Jeremiah
- Horton, John Turnpenny, Joseph C.
- Hollingsworth, Thomas G. Townsend, Samuel
-
- Knight, Reeve L. Whelen, E. S.
- Willits, A. A.
- Learning, J. Fisher Weightman, William
- Love, Alfred H. Wilhams, Henry J.
- Longstreth, William W. Wain, S. Morris
-
- Marshall, Richard M. Yarnall, Charles
- Yarnall, Benjamin H.
-
-
-ARTICLE IV.
-
-The Treasurer shall keep the moneys and securities, and pay all orders
-of the Society or of the Acting Committee, signed by the presiding
-officer and Secretary; and shall present a statement of the condition
-of the finances of the Society at each stated meeting thereof.
-
-All bequests, donations, and life subscriptions, shall be safely
-invested; only the income thereof to be applied to the current expenses
-of the Society.
-
-
-ARTICLE V.
-
-The Acting Committee shall consist of the officers of the Society,
-ex-officio, and fifty other members. They shall visit the prison at
-least twice 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 on the morals of the prisoners. They shall keep regular
-minutes of their proceedings, which shall be submitted at every stated
-meeting of the Society; and shall be authorized to fill vacancies
-occurring in their own body, whether arising from death, or removal
-from the city; or from inability or neglect to visit the prisons in
-accordance with their regulations. They shall also have the sole power
-of electing new members.
-
-
-ARTICLE VI.
-
-Candidates for membership may be proposed at any meeting of the
-Society or of the Acting Committee; but no election shall take place
-within ten days after such nomination. Each member shall pay an annual
-contribution of two dollars; but the payment of twenty dollars at any
-one time shall constitute a life membership.
-
-
-ARTICLE VII.
-
-Honorary members may be elected at such times as the Society may deem
-expedient.
-
-
-ARTICLE VIII.
-
-The Society shall hold stated meetings on the _fourth_ fifth-day
-(Thursday) in the months called January, April, July, and October, of
-whom seven shall constitute a quorum.
-
-
-ARTICLE IX.
-
-No alterations of the Constitution shall be made, unless the same
-shall have been proposed at a stated meeting of the Society held not
-less than a month previous to the adoption of such alterations. 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 the casting vote.
-
-
-
-
-OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY.
-
-
- PRESIDENT,--JAMES J. BARCLAY.
-
- VICE PRESIDENTS, { TOWNSEND SHARPLESS,
- { WILLIAM SHIPPEN, M. D.
-
- TREASURER,--EDWARD H. BONSALL.
-
- { JOHN J. LYTLE,
- SECRETARIES, { EDWARD TOWNSEND.
-
- { HENRY J. WILLIAMS,
- COUNSELLORS, { CHARLES GIBBONS.
-
-
-_Members of the Acting Committee._
-
- Charles Ellis, Mahlon H. Dickinson, Joseph R. Chandler,
- William S. Perot, William Ingram, Samuel Townsend,
- Thomas Latimer, James Peters, Albert G. Roland,
- John M. Wetherill, Robert E. Evans, Benj. H. Shoemaker,
- Abram C. Brown, Charles Palmer, Lewis C. Neuman,
- Benjamin H. Pitfield, Charles P. Perot, Wm. Warner Caldwell,
- James E. Kaighn, Charles C. Lathrop, Henry Perkins,
- Alfred H. Love, William Dorsey, George M. Elkinton,
- Jeremiah Willits, Abram Martin, William R. MacAdam,
- William H. Burr, John Adolph Beaux, J. M. Corse, M. D.,
- Jacob T. Bunting, Wm. Armstrong, M. D., E. Griffin, M. D.,
- John C. Farr, Wm. Nicholson, William Hacker,
- George Taber, Charles W. Funk, John E. Carter.
- William L. J. Kiderlen, Philip P. Randolph,
-
-
-_Visiting Committee on the Eastern Penitentiary._
-
- Townsend Sharpless, George Taber, William Nicholson,
- Edward H. Bonsall, William L. J. Kiderlen, Charles W. Funk,
- John J. Lytle, Mahlon H. Dickinson, Samuel Townsend,
- Edward Townsend, James Peters, Albert G. Roland,
- Abram C. Brown, Robert E. Evans, Benj. H. Shoemaker,
- James E. Kaighn, William R. MacAdam, William Hacker,
- Alfred H. Love, Charles Palmer, J. M. Corse, M. D.,
- Jeremiah Willits, William Dorsey, E. Griffin, M. D.
- William H. Burr,
-
-
-_Visiting Committee on the County Prison._
-
- William Shippen, M.D., John C. Farr, Philip P. Randolph,
- Charles Ellis, William Ingram, Joseph R. Chandler,
- William S. Perot, Charles P. Perot, L. C. Neuman,
- Thomas Latimer, Charles C. Lathrop, Henry Perkins,
- John M. Wetherill, Abram Martin, George M. Elkinton,
- Benj. H. Pitfield, John Adolph Beaux, Wm. Warner Caldwell,
- Jacob T. Bunting, Wm. Armstrong, M.D., John E. Carter.
-
-👉 WM. J. MULLEN is Agent of the County Prison, appointed by the
-Inspectors, and acting under their direction, and also appointed by the
-Prison Society.
-
-
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[1] Less than one-sixth the size of the cells in the corridors which
-were then completed in our penitentiary, as described by the same
-writer, to wit: eleven feet nine inches long, seven feet six inches
-wide, and sixteen feet high to the top of the arched ceiling.
-
-[2] William J. Mullen.
-
-
-[Transcriber's Note:
-
-Dialect, obsolete and alternative spellings were left unchanged.
-Printing errors, such as backwards or upside down letters, were
-corrected; duplicate words were deleted; missing punctuation was added.]
-
-
-
-
-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Journal of Prison Discipline and
-Philanthropy, January, 1863, by Anonymous
-
-*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOURNAL OF PRISON DISCIPLINE, JAN 1863 ***
-
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-
-The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Journal of Prison Discipline and
-Philanthropy, January, 1863, by Anonymous
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: The Journal of Prison Discipline and Philanthropy, January, 1863
-
-Author: Anonymous
-
-Release Date: September 17, 2017 [EBook #55567]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOURNAL OF PRISON DISCIPLINE, JAN 1863 ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Larry B. Harrison, Wayne Hammond and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
-book was produced from images made available by the
-HathiTrust Digital Library.)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-</pre>
-
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="" />
-</div>
-
-<h1 class="bbox">
-<span class="table medium w100">
-<span class="tcell">NEW SERIES]</span>
-<span class="tcell tdr">[NO. 2.</span>
-</span>
-<br />
-<span class="x-large">THE JOURNAL</span><br />
-
-<small>OF</small><br />
-
-PRISON DISCIPLINE<br />
-
-<small>AND</small><br />
-
-<span class="x-large">PHILANTHROPY.</span><br />
-<br />
-
-<span class="medium table">PUBLISHED ANNUALLY<br />
-<br />
-UNDER THE DIRECTION OF “THE PHILADELPHIA SOCIETY FOR<br />
-ALLEVIATING THE MISERIES OF PUBLIC PRISONS,”<br />
-INSTITUTED 1787.</span><br />
-
-<span class="large">JANUARY, 1863.</span><br />
-<br />
-
-<span class="medium table">PHILADELPHIA:<br />
-HENRY B. ASHMEAD, BOOK AND JOB PRINTER,<br />
-<small><span class="smcap">Nos. 1102 and 1104 Sansom Street</span>.<br />
-1863.</small></span><br />
-</h1>
-
-<h2 id="CONSTITUTION">CONSTITUTION<br />
-
-<small>OF THE</small><br />
-
-<span class="antiqua">Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public
-Prisons.</span></h2>
-
-<p>When we consider that the obligations of benevolence which
-are founded on the precepts and examples of the Author of
-Christianity, are not cancelled by the follies or crimes of our
-fellow-creatures; and when we reflect upon the miseries which
-penury, hunger, cold, unnecessary severity, unwholesome
-apartments, and guilt, (the usual attendants of prisons,) involve
-with them, it becomes us to extend our compassion to that part
-of mankind, who are the subjects of those miseries. By the
-aid of humanity, their undue and illegal sufferings may be
-prevented; the links which should bind the whole family of
-mankind together, under all circumstances, be preserved unbroken;
-and such degrees and modes of punishment may be
-discovered and suggested, as may, instead of continuing habits
-of vice, become the means of restoring our fellow-creatures to
-virtue and happiness. From a conviction of the truth and
-obligation of these principles, the subscribers have associated
-themselves under the title of “<span class="smcap">The Philadelphia Society
-for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons</span>.”</p>
-
-<p>For effecting these purposes, they have adopted the following
-<span class="smcap">Constitution</span>.</p>
-
-<h3>ARTICLE I.</h3>
-
-<p>The Officers of the Society shall consist of a President; two
-Vice-Presidents, two Secretaries, a Treasurer, two Counsellors,
-and an Acting Committee; all of whom shall be chosen at the
-stated meeting to be held in the first month (January) of each
-year, and shall continue in office until their successors are
-elected; but in case an election from any cause shall not be
-then held, it shall be the duty of the President to call a special
-meeting of the Society within thirty days, for the purpose of
-holding such election, of which at least three days’ notice shall
-be given.</p>
-
-<h3>ARTICLE II.</h3>
-
-<p>The President shall preside in all meetings, and subscribe
-all public acts of the Society. He may call special meetings
-whenever he may deem it expedient; and shall do so when
-requested in writing by five members. In his absence, one of
-the Vice-Presidents may act in his place.</p>
-
-<h3>ARTICLE III.</h3>
-
-<p>The Secretaries shall keep fair records of the proceedings of
-the Society, and shall conduct its correspondence.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">1</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="xx-large">
-<span class="table medium w100">
-<span class="tcell">NEW SERIES]</span>
-<span class="tcell tdr">[NO. 2.</span>
-</span>
-<br />
-<span class="x-large">THE JOURNAL</span><br />
-
-<small>OF</small><br />
-
-PRISON DISCIPLINE<br />
-
-<small>AND</small><br />
-
-<span class="x-large">PHILANTHROPY.</span><br />
-<br />
-
-<span class="medium table">PUBLISHED ANNUALLY<br />
-<br />
-UNDER THE DIRECTION OF “THE PHILADELPHIA SOCIETY FOR<br />
-ALLEVIATING THE MISERIES OF PUBLIC PRISONS,”<br />
-INSTITUTED 1787.</span><br />
-
-<span class="large">JANUARY, 1863.</span><br />
-<br />
-
-<span class="medium table">PHILADELPHIA:<br />
-HENRY B. ASHMEAD, BOOK AND JOB PRINTER,<br />
-<small><span class="smcap">Nos. 1102 and 1104 Sansom Street</span>.<br />
-1863.</small></span><br />
-</h2>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">2</span></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">3</span></p>
-
-<h2 id="ANNUAL_REPORT">ANNUAL REPORT.</h2>
-
-<hr class="short" />
-
-<p>In accordance with the present arrangement which requires
-that an Annual Report should be prepared of the
-proceedings of “The Philadelphia Society for Alleviating
-the Miseries of Public Prisons,” the “Acting Committee”
-now proceed to exhibit to the Seventy-Seventh Annual
-Meeting, such matters of interest as have resulted from
-the action of the Society, or have come under its notice
-during the year just past.</p>
-
-<p><i>Law Shortening Sentences.</i>&mdash;As the proceedings of the
-Society in procuring the passage of a Law shortening
-the sentences of prisoners for good conduct, occupied
-considerable space in connection with the last Report,
-which announced that the provisions of this Law had not
-then been carried out in the Eastern State Penitentiary,
-it seems proper that we should again advert to the subject,
-that those who feel an interest in it may understand
-its present position. As the authorities to whom
-the execution of the Law was delegated, declined acting
-under it, for reasons which they deemed sufficient, the
-Society, upon consultation with their counsel, concluded
-that the most amicable mode of proceeding for the purpose
-of testing its constitutionality, and the obligation
-resting upon these authorities to extend to the prisoners
-the proffered boon, would be by <i>Habeas Corpus</i>, they
-therefore had the cases of two prisoners believed by them
-to be entitled to their discharge under the Law, brought
-before the Judges of the Supreme Court. The decision
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">4</span>
-was adverse, and the prisoners were remanded to serve
-out the entire term of their sentences. The ground
-taken by the Judges in their decision, was so broad as
-to make it very difficult to frame a modification of the
-Law which would not contravene the objections raised,
-and yet retain what were deemed to be some of its most
-valuable features. Under all the circumstances, it has
-been thought best to let the matter rest for the present.
-It is hoped, however, that by the joint action of the
-Prison Society, and the Inspectors of the Penitentiary,
-we may yet procure a Bill to be enacted into a Law,
-which shall be so framed as to enable us, in some measure
-at least, to effect our desired object. We should have
-freely acquiesced in some verbal amendments to the
-Law, but much regret that all of its provisions should
-thus have been rendered inoperative, as we feel assured
-that the <i>principle</i> contended for is founded in justice, and
-that its practical effect on the prisoners would be salutary
-as a part of the Prison Discipline,&mdash;not only by way
-of prompting to obedience to the established rules, and
-to habitual good conduct while in confinement, but also
-in aiding to promote their actual and permanent reformation,
-by practically showing them, that as it is evidently
-to their interest to conduct well while there, it must doubtless
-be equally so when they are at large in the community;
-and the habit thus acquired of looking to this
-motive, and practising this restraint on their heretofore
-comparatively unbridled propensities, must be of great
-service to them, on again going abroad into the world.
-If this is the practical effect of the Law, it is plain, that
-it is not only a boon to the prisoner, but that the community
-is equally interested in its operation, as fewer of
-the prisoners will resume their depredations on society
-after their discharge. Besides, is it not the part of wisdom
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">5</span>
-at least, if not of duty, in framing laws for the temporal
-government of society, to follow the example of the
-Divine Law-giver? We do not find his code to be a
-system of punishment only, but also largely one of reward.
-If we have there placed before us a fear of
-punishment for breaking the Divine Law, we have also
-exhibited to our view, in most attractive form, the hope
-and assurance of reward, if we do that which is right.</p>
-
-<p><i>Employment for the Prisoners.</i>&mdash;Owing to the derangement
-of the business affairs of the country, resulting
-from the existing Rebellion, it seemed probable for a
-time, that many of those confined in the Eastern State
-Penitentiary would be very much without work. The
-subject of suitable and constant employment for the
-prisoners has therefore claimed our attention during the
-past year, as one of considerable importance. We have
-had under appointment, a Committee, whose special duty
-it was to attend to this matter, and to devising means
-by which healthful exercise might be secured, especially
-for the benefit of such as might not have sufficient work
-to occupy their time. We view labor, in connection with
-the prisoners, in a two-fold light. The possession of it
-is a positive good, not only as a comfort and companion
-in their solitary hours, but also as a reformatory agent.
-And the want of it is not only a negative, but a positive
-evil, especially with those of a low order of education and
-intelligence, who, being unable to read, and possessing
-very little matter for reflection, have no resource
-with which to occupy and interest the mind, and consequently
-there is danger that by constantly preying
-upon itself, it may become diseased. Besides, as idleness
-has been said to be the parent of crime, it would be
-no small matter, if by furnishing employment, we could
-do nothing more than establish habits of industry, which
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">6</span>
-probably very few of those confined in prisons had ever
-practised in their previous lives. While at large, plotting
-or practising mischief and crime, labor has appeared
-to them repulsive, and never having enjoyed its rewards,
-they have shrunk from it,&mdash;but when their evil career
-has been thus suddenly brought to a close, and social
-intercourse of every kind with their fellowmen is very
-much restricted, and that with their former associates is
-wholly cut off, labor is soon sought after, and is found
-to be such an alleviation to their present condition, that
-they cherish it as a blessing. And when to this is
-added the “hope of reward” which it is most truly said
-“sweetens labor,” which the credit for “over work,”
-granted to the prisoners in our Penitentiary, presents to
-them, a powerful additional motive to application is
-brought into action with most salutary results. One of
-the prisoners in the Penitentiary recently informed a
-member of our Committee, that he had earned in one
-month $17, by over work, after performing his allotted
-task,&mdash;that is to say, $8 50 for himself, and the same
-amount for the Penitentiary, for the use of the County
-from which he came, and he added, with an appearance
-of much interest, that he expected at the end of the
-three years he had yet to serve, to take out with him
-between three and four hundred dollars. Many of them
-are thus soon brought to see and feel that labor instead
-of being repulsive, as it had formerly appeared to them,
-greatly alleviates the necessary discomforts of their
-present condition, and also that it is a reliable resource
-for the maintenance of those who apply themselves to it.
-Many also, who on entering had no knowledge of any
-kind of trade, on leaving, take with them, not only habits
-of industry, but also a pretty thorough acquaintance with
-some one or more of the mechanic arts, such as shoe-making,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">7</span>
-cane-seating of chairs, weaving, &amp;c. They are
-thus qualified, upon again going forth into the world, to
-take a reputable position in society, and secure a livelihood
-without resuming their depredations on the community.
-Estimating the value of labor for the prisoners
-as we do, it is gratifying to us to know that they have
-recently been pretty fully supplied with it. It is the
-intention and direction of the Law, that it shall be thus
-supplied; and we believe, as will be seen by our foregoing
-remarks, that it is a valuable adjunct in the Pennsylvania
-or Separate System of Prison Discipline. In the
-early period of the introduction of this system, some men,
-of undoubted talent and philanthropy, strongly advocated
-separate confinement, <i>without labor</i>, as being the true
-system, and this plan was actually introduced and practically
-tested at the Western Penitentiary of this State,
-established at Pittsburg; but it was soon found to be
-wrong, and to have an injurious effect, both upon the
-mental and physical health of the prisoners. It was
-also tried in the State Penitentiary at Auburn, New
-York, in 1822, under accompanying circumstances however
-of great cruelty, and of unfairness so far as it was
-intended as a test of the effect of the Separate System
-on the mental and bodily condition of those subjected to
-it.</p>
-
-<p>William Crawford, who visited this country in 1833
-and 1834, under appointment by the British Government,
-to inspect the several penitentiaries in the United
-States, with a view to applying at home, any parts of
-the systems on which they were governed, which might
-appear desirable, in the report of his labors and inquiries,
-which he published after his return, makes the following
-statement: “In America, the opponents of this (the
-Separate) System, have produced very erroneous impressions
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">8</span>
-by the publication of certain experiments made
-a few years since, of solitude without labor; statements
-which have also been widely circulated in England, to
-the great prejudice of solitary imprisonment of every
-description. Having carefully inspected the prisons in
-question, I feel bound to state my conviction, that the
-fatal effects which have been described, were not the
-result of solitude, but of the contracted dimensions and
-unhealthy condition of the cells in which the experiments
-were conducted. A trial of solitary confinement
-day and night, without labor, was made at Auburn in
-the year 1822 for ten months, upon eighty of the most
-hardened convicts. They were each confined in a cell
-only seven feet long, three feet and a half wide, and
-seven feet high.<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">1</a> They were on no account permitted
-to leave the cell during that long period, on any occasion,
-not even for the purposes of nature. They had no
-means of obtaining any change of air, nor opportunities
-of taking exercise. The most disastrous consequences
-were the natural result. Several persons became insane,
-health was impaired and life endangered. The
-discipline of the prison at that period was one of unmixed
-severity. There was no moral nor religious instruction
-of any kind communicated within its walls, nor
-any consolation administered by which the convict was
-enabled to bear up against the cruelty of this treatment.
-Nor was a trial of the same description, which took place
-in the State of Maine, conducted under more advantageous
-circumstances. The night rooms or cells at this
-prison are literally pits, entered from the top by a ladder,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">9</span>
-through an aperture about two feet square. The
-opening is secured by an iron grate used as a trap-door;
-the only other orifice is one at the bottom, about an inch
-and a half in diameter, for the admission of warm air
-from underneath. The cells are eight feet nine inches
-long, four feet six inches wide, and nine feet eight
-inches high. The gloom is indescribable. The diet
-during confinement was bread and water only. Thus
-immured, and without any occupation, it will excite no
-surprise to learn that a man who had been sentenced to
-pass seventy days in one of these miserable pits, hung
-himself after four days’ imprisonment. Another condemned
-to sixty days, also committed suicide on the
-twenty-fourth day.” Our author goes on to speak of
-similar experiments having been made in Virginia, where
-the cells were in fact mere dungeons, being in the basement,
-and so dark as to require a lamp in visiting them.
-They were not warmed at any season of the year, and
-a prisoner’s feet were actually frozen during the confinement.
-In damp weather the water stood in drops on
-the walls, &amp;c. He then adds: “From experiments of
-this character no just conclusions can therefore be derived,
-unfriendly to solitary imprisonment of any kind,
-especially when accompanied by employment, in large
-and well-ventilated cells, the arrangements of which
-have reference to the preservation of the health, regular
-employment, and the improvement of the mind of the
-offender.”</p>
-
-<p>We are aware that the disastrous results of the treatment
-of the prisoners, as set forth in these extracts, was
-not wholly owing to their being deprived of labor, but it
-is evident from the manner in which the subject is
-treated by the author, that the evil was greatly aggravated
-by this circumstance. We here see, however,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">10</span>
-what monstrous cruelty has been practised in the name
-of the “Separate System,” and these deplorable but inevitable
-results were immediately seized by its opponents
-and spread abroad through the length and breadth of
-the land, both in Europe and America, as conclusive
-evidence, that these evil consequences were necessarily
-inherent in, and a part of the system itself. The consequence
-was, that many philanthropic and well meaning
-persons beyond the limits of Pennsylvania, became
-prejudiced against it to that degree, that there was no
-opening in their minds to hear the truth, and on merely
-<i>naming</i> the system to them they would almost turn from
-you in disgust. This prejudice is largely operative to
-the present time, and the much to be regretted result
-has been that this system, truly humane as it is, when
-properly carried out (of which the Eastern State Penitentiary
-of Pennsylvania may be taken as a practical
-illustration), and superior, as we believe, to all others,
-has not made one tithe the progress in the world which
-we feel assured it would have done if its true character
-had been understood.</p>
-
-<p><i>The “Separate” and the “Silent” Systems compared.</i>&mdash;It
-may be thought that we have dwelt long enough on
-this branch of the subject; but as its discussion has in
-some measure brought into view our particular prison
-system, that of the entire separation of the prisoners
-from each other, day and night, during the whole term
-of their confinement, and by inference, if not directly,
-contrasted it with the “Auburn” or “Silent” System,
-where they are separated only at night and at their
-meals, but at other times are congregated in their workshops,
-&amp;c., under a peremptory rule of silence. We avail
-ourselves of the opportunity to introduce two or three
-short paragraphs from high authority, with a view to
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">11</span>
-assisting those who may read this report beyond the
-limits of our Society, in arriving at a correct understanding
-of the important question at issue.</p>
-
-<p>William Crawford, from whom we have already
-quoted, a commissioner of the British Government, and
-a man distinguished for his humanity and intelligence,
-who during more than twenty years had devoted his
-time to visiting the prisons and penitentiaries in the
-United States and England, in a report on the systems
-just referred to, made to the British Parliament, places
-them in contrast in the following manner, to wit: “In
-judging of the comparative merits of the two systems it
-will be seen, that the discipline of Auburn is of a physical,
-that of Philadelphia of a moral character; the whip
-inflicts immediate pain, but solitude inspires permanent
-terror. The former degrades while it humiliates, the
-latter subdues but it does not debase. At Auburn the
-convict is uniformly treated with harshness, at Philadelphia
-with civility; the one contributes to harden, the
-other to soften the affections. Auburn stimulates vindictive
-feelings, Philadelphia induces habitual submission.
-The Auburn prisoner when liberated, conscious that he
-is known to past associates, and that the public eye has
-gazed upon him, sees an accuser in every man he meets.
-The Philadelphia convict quits his cell secure from
-recognition, and exempt from reproach.” He also says,
-“It is a curious fact, that some of the strongest testimonies
-in favor of individual separation, may be collected
-from those who are the best acquainted with the
-operation of the Silent System. We can assert with
-confidence, that there is not one of the best conducted
-prisons, in which the Silent System is effectually enforced,
-that we have not repeatedly visited and closely
-inspected; and we can truly state, that with one exception
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">12</span>
-only, the governors of those prisons have acknowledged,
-that had they to decide upon the merits
-of the respective plans, they would unquestionably give
-their unqualified preference to the Separate System.”</p>
-
-<p>The enlightened and excellent Count Gasparin, in a
-letter to George Sumner of Boston, then in Paris, in
-commending the system (with the practical operation of
-which in France he was perfectly familiar), says, “Every
-government which in the actual state of society, and of
-the progress of social science, adopts any other than the
-Separate System, will expose itself to the necessity of
-having, before long, to reconstruct its prisons.”</p>
-
-<p><i>Insanity.</i>&mdash;In a short paragraph in our last Annual
-Report, we think that we fully met and refuted the
-charge frequently made by the opponents of the system,
-that its discipline is liable to produce insanity, and relieved
-the humane feelings of those who were under a
-sincere, but mistaken apprehension of this result, by referring
-to the close and systematic observation which
-had for many years been directed to this point, in the
-Eastern State Penitentiary of Pennsylvania, which
-established the fact, that instead of the mental health of
-the prisoners having been injured, it had in the aggregate
-been decidedly improved during their confinement.
-We propose now, in support of this position, to introduce
-the testimony of two acute observers of the operation
-of the same system in France. First, the distinguished
-Physician, <i>Dr. Lelut</i>, known in America as well as in
-Europe, by his important work on Insanity, &amp;c., in
-speaking of the results of an examination of the prisons
-on the Separate System, which he had made by direction
-of the French Government, states that there were then
-in France twenty-three such prisons, and that he had
-examined about half of them,&mdash;and goes on to say, “In
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">13</span>
-all these houses, I have confirmed <i>de visu</i>, what was previously
-declared by theory, that the Separate System,
-independent of all the facilities which it offers, for elementary
-and professional instruction, for the moral and
-religious education of the prisoners, for religious exercises&mdash;independent
-of the circumstance that it alone prevents
-prisoners from associating with each other, and
-from corrupting each other&mdash;<i>that it causes infinitely fewer
-cases of death and insanity than any other system of imprisonment</i>.
-The actual condition of our cellular houses,
-their history, which covers already a period of three,
-four, and five years, the testimony of their directors, of
-their physicians, of their visitors, do no leave any doubt
-upon this important point.”</p>
-
-<p>The Prefect of the Department, in enclosing to the
-Government the Reports of the Chaplain, Physician and
-Directors of the Prison of Tours in France, writes thus:
-“These Reports establish in the most complete manner,
-that in regard to the sanitary condition, and the moral
-education of the prisoners, the system of total separation,
-so violently and so unjustly attacked, produces the most
-remarkable results. Of a total number of 1,626 persons
-who have entered the prison since its inauguration, 16
-only have been transferred to the hospital, and one only
-has died,&mdash;and this single case of death was an old man
-of seventy, who was laboring under a chronic affection of
-the lungs. If we seek for the influence which it exercises
-on the intellectual faculties of the prisoners, we
-must recognize, that far from disturbing their reason, it
-produces on their minds the most salutary results. In proof
-of this, I may mention, that not a single case of insanity
-has occurred in the prison, and that many who have been
-condemned for a term which require their removal to the
-<i>Maisons Centrales</i>, solicit as a real favor, the permission
-to complete their imprisonment in their cell.”
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">14</span></p>
-
-<p><i>M. Moreau Christophe</i>, Inspector of French Prisons,
-<i>Dr. Julius</i>, who visited the Penitentiaries of the
-United States as a Commissioner from the Prussian
-Government, and <i>M. Ducpetiaux</i>, Inspector General of
-the Prisons of Belgium, with many other eminent
-foreigners, who had facilities for closely observing the
-working and results of the Separate System, and of comparing
-it with the “Silent” and other Systems of imprisonment
-existing in different places, have in their
-various Reports given very interesting and instructive
-views, confirmatory of the superior value of the system
-adopted by us, but we must pass them by, and proceed
-with our Report.</p>
-
-<p><i>Tobacco.</i>&mdash;The subject of the use of Tobacco in the
-Penitentiary has again claimed our attention and care
-during the year now coming to a close, as it did during
-the one which immediately preceded it. It will no
-doubt be acknowledged by most, that the practice of
-using it is of no real value to those who indulge in it,
-unless it be in the character of medicine, in a very few
-cases, and consequently, if there was no moral or
-physical evil resulting from it, its use should be discouraged
-on the score of economy, and with a view to
-lessening the number of the wants of individuals, and
-therefore, making it more easy to satisfy them. But
-when, in addition to this, its use is very often attended by
-serious physical and moral evils, such as impairing the
-bodily health, and exciting a craving for the use of intoxicating
-drink, it seems especially desirable that those
-who are clear on entering the Penitentiary, shall not
-there be permitted to contract the habit, and that an
-effort should be used to break the habit with those who
-have brought it with them, and in fact, that it should be
-made a part of the Prison Discipline, in teaching them
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">15</span>
-habits of economy for their own future good, during the
-period in which the law makes them subject to the control
-of the prison authorities. Our care of the subject,
-which has heretofore been in the way of moral suasion,
-with the prisoners, and those who had the control of
-them, and which has been exercised verbally, as suitable
-opportunities offered, has finally resulted in the adoption
-of a Resolution, respectfully asking the Inspectors
-wholly to prohibit its use in the Penitentiary, (as the
-Inspectors of our County Prison have done there, with
-highly satisfactory results,) unless it be in cases strictly
-medicinal. The quantity at present used in the Penitentiary
-is much reduced, but this is done, as we understand,
-as a matter of economy in conducting the Institution,
-as the cost of the article has latterly been much
-enhanced.</p>
-
-<p><i>Pardons.</i>&mdash;The very important subject of Pardons,
-and the manner in which the power is exercised, (not
-only in our own Commonwealth, but in most places where
-it exists,) has at different times occupied our attention,
-though not specially within the past year, with desires
-that some result might be reached by which the acknowledged
-evils of the pardoning system might be at least
-in part remedied. It is a power which should exist
-somewhere, and be exercised sometimes; but the good of
-society, and even of the parties on whom it is to operate,
-requires that it should only be applied to exceptional
-and rare cases, and with great caution. We have not
-yet succeeded in maturing any plan which it is believed
-would be likely to remedy, or materially lessen, the
-existing difficulties.</p>
-
-<p><i>Abuses by Committing Magistrates.</i>&mdash;We have again
-had under the care of a Committee, the abuse of power
-by the Aldermen or Committing Magistrates. This is
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">16</span>
-an evil of great magnitude, and has claimed the attention
-of the Society almost from its origin, but without
-yet making much advance towards its suppression; nor
-do we hope to effect it, till their mode of compensation
-is changed from fees to a stated salary from the Public
-Treasury. As we shall have occasion to refer to this
-matter again as we advance in our Report, this short
-notice may suffice here.</p>
-
-<p><i>Better Accommodations needed by the Society.</i>&mdash;The
-books and papers of our Prison Society are accumulating
-to such an extent, as to make it difficult, with the accommodations
-we possess, to take proper care of them.
-Many of them are so valuable as to make their preservation
-almost an object of public interest. An ample and
-secure fireproof would be very desirable, and also much
-more extensive book cases than we now have. Our
-funds, however, are so limited at present, as to be barely
-sufficient to meet our current annual outlay, such as the
-appropriation towards the support of the “Prison
-Agency,” that to the Prison “Association of Women
-Friends,” and for the aid of discharged prisoners, and
-the amount required to meet our Room Rent, the publication
-of our Journal, and various necessary incidental
-expenses. We therefore have nothing to spare towards
-procuring a suitable building or room of our own, which
-we think would be very desirable. We would therefore
-commend the Society and its various interests to the
-kindly notice of our many benevolent citizens who are
-blessed with ample means, as being deserving of their
-consideration and attention, both when making their
-current distribution from time to time of surplus income,
-and when through the medium of a will, they are
-making a final appropriation of their estates.</p>
-
-<p><i>The Prison Agent.</i>&mdash;William J. Mullen, the Prison
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">17</span>
-Agent, acting under appointment and authority of the
-Inspectors of the County Prison, and also on behalf of
-our Prison Society, has continued his services in investigating
-cases of alleged oppressive and illegal commitments
-to the County Prison, with unabated zeal and
-singleness of purpose. He has, with the co-operation
-of the proper authorities, succeeded in liberating during
-the year 1,223 of these from prison. Amongst them
-were many very interesting cases, where the common
-rights of individuals would have been successfully outraged,
-if they had not been inquired into and relieved
-by the action of the agent. And it should be remembered
-that the wrong and suffering in these cases is by
-no means limited to the individuals who are incarcerated,
-but that it often extends most cruelly to others
-connected with the prisoners. What must be the situation
-of the poor wife and helpless children, when the
-husband, the father, and provider for their urgent necessities,
-is thus wrongfully torn from them? Some are
-arrested and committed under mistake, but much of the
-wrong-doing in relation to such commitments, arises from
-the cupidity of the Police-aldermen, or committing
-magistrates, who many times, on the most frivolous
-charges, and sometimes without sufficient evidence
-against them, commit individuals to the prison from
-motives of gain. In some instances they are content
-with the fees established by law, but there is ground to
-believe that extortion is not unfrequently attempted to
-be practised, and sometimes with success. The mode
-of compensating the aldermen, by fees to be derived
-from the individual cases in which they act, gives them
-an interest in thus oppressing the helpless, and has long
-been a crying evil. Under this system, and in actual
-practice, there is good reason to fear, that much of the
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">18</span>
-income of many of them is not merely “the gain of oppression,”
-but that of extortion also. There are no
-doubt upright and honorable men among them, but until
-all fees for such cases are taken away, and a fixed salary
-substituted, we need not expect to find them as a class
-to be governed, in their official acts, by high-minded and
-disinterested motives.</p>
-
-<p>We propose here giving a synopsis of a few of the
-cases contained in the monthly reports received from
-the agent during the year, of individuals liberated
-through his investigations and attentions.</p>
-
-<p>One was that of a venerable old gentleman, for many
-years President of the Board of Commissioners of the
-Northern Liberties of Philadelphia, who had retired from
-business, being worth a handsome independence. He
-was in the habit of spending much of his time at the
-office of a relative of his, a merchant on the wharf. The
-clerk of the merchant on returning from bank, where he
-had been to make a deposit, found three five dollar
-United States notes, which he handed to the merchant,
-who advertised for the owner to come forward and
-identify the money, and it would be given up. The
-merchant authorized his relative, the prisoner, to act for
-him during his absence, and if anybody properly identified
-the money, to take it from his desk and return it.
-Among the claimants was an ignorant woman, who said
-that she and her husband had lost $50 between Frankford
-and South Street, and they did not come up any
-further in the city than Second Street; that the money
-they lost was in one, two, and three dollar notes. The
-prisoner informed her that neither the money she had
-lost, nor the place where she had lost it, agreed with
-that which had been found, and therefore she could not
-have it. She immediately went to an alderman and
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">19</span>
-swore that the prisoner said he had her lost money, but
-would not give it to her. Upon this statement, accompanied
-by an affidavit from her husband (who had not
-heard the prisoner say anything on the subject), a warrant
-was issued, and he was arrested. On the hearing,
-the prisoner denied ever having said what had been
-testified against him, and informed the alderman that he
-had never seen the lost money, nor even either of the
-five dollar notes which had been found. Upon a commitment
-being made out, he asked the constable to go
-with him to get bail, which he refused to do. He also
-informed the alderman that he was abundantly able to
-go his own bail, which, however, he refused to take.
-The agent, seeing him in the prison, procured bail to be
-entered, and soon had him released.</p>
-
-<p>A second was that of a woman who was committed
-for larceny, being charged with having stolen a box of
-jewelry of but little value. Upon investigation of her
-case, the agent ascertained that her prosecutor had previously
-robbed her of some bed ticking, and had brought
-this charge against her to defeat the ends of justice.
-She was arrested and imprisoned at the very time when
-she was required to be at Court to testify in reference
-to her stolen property. Careful examination enabled
-the agent to prove in Court that instead of the prisoner
-having committed a larceny, the prosecutor had entered
-her house during her absence, ripped open a pillow, and
-after placing the jewelry in it, sewed it up with a peculiar
-kind of thread, such as the agent found in the prosecutor’s
-house. In confirmation of this, when the officer,
-in company with the prosecutor, was searching the
-prisoner’s house for the jewelry, and could not find it,
-the prosecutor pointed out the very pillow which contained
-it, and asked to have that searched.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">20</span></p>
-
-<p>A third case was that of an innocent woman who had
-been convicted and sentenced to three months on a
-charge of “false pretence.” The charge consisted in
-her having applied to a member of the St. Andrew’s Society,
-of which her husband had been a contributing
-member, for money to pay the funeral expenses of her
-deceased child, which had been buried the day before.
-A police officer, who was near at the time, arrested, and
-caused her to be committed, saying that she was an impostor,
-and he did not believe her story about the child.
-When her case came up for trial, the agent supplied her
-with competent counsel who explained the case and
-defended her. She was, however, convicted on the
-testimony of this officer, although she herself addressed
-the Court, and protested against the testimony, explaining
-her case in a simple, earnest, and truthful manner.
-Judge Ludlow, seeing her great distress, humanely sympathized
-with her, and directed an officer of the Court
-to accompany her to her home to ascertain the facts, see
-the sexton of the ground where she said the child was
-buried, &amp;c., promising to release her yet, although convicted,
-if her story proved true, but if false, to increase
-her sentence. The officer, after going a short distance
-with her, took her back to the Court, and reported that
-she was unable to direct him to a single person who had
-known her to have buried a child.</p>
-
-<p>The judge then sentenced her for three months to the
-County Prison.</p>
-
-<p>After this, the agent investigated the case, and found
-that every word she had said to the Court was literally
-true, as to the death, and the time and place of burial,
-&amp;c. The physician was seen, who at the time of its
-death had given the certificate; the sexton who had
-buried it was also seen, and the clergyman who had authorized
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">21</span>
-the burial, and paid the charges of the undertaker,
-with the understanding that she was to pay him
-again, he having perfect confidence in her promise to do
-so. When the agent had given to the Court satisfactory
-proof of these facts, Judge Ludlow reconsidered her
-sentence and discharged her from prison. Thus, through
-the services of the agent, this poor but respectable
-woman was saved not only from the pains and privations
-of a three months’ imprisonment, but also from the
-odium of being an impostor and a convict, which would
-probably have been attached to her character during the
-remainder of her life.</p>
-
-<p>We shall introduce one other case, for the purpose of
-illustrating the value of this agency, beyond the mere
-liberating of persons from prison, which is that of a
-“peacemaker” between the prosecutor and the person
-whom he had procured to be committed, which is a frequent
-result of the settlement of cases.</p>
-
-<p>This was that of a German soldier who borrowed
-money from two different persons for the purpose of
-getting a commission as captain in the army, and promised
-to pay them as soon as his commission was obtained.
-He failed, however, to procure one, and having expended
-the money, he was unable to repay them. They therefore
-had him committed to prison on the charge of “false
-pretence.” The man had a wife and seven children in
-New York depending upon him for support. He had
-an abundance of recommendations of good character.
-The agent saw his prosecutors, and succeeded in getting
-them to go to the prison and talk with him. They soon
-became very much interested in him, gave him some
-money, went to the District Attorney and asked for his
-discharge, and paid all the Court charges and expenses,
-becoming satisfied, upon reflection, that nothing wrong
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">22</span>
-was intended by the prisoner. They invited him to
-their houses, and proffered him their friendship for the
-future.</p>
-
-<p>Many other cases are almost equally entitled to a
-place in this Report, as strikingly illustrating the value
-of the agency to the cause of humanity, and also to the
-community, in the large annual saving of expense to the
-County, resulting from the discharges effected by it,
-before the cases reach the Court. The cost of maintenance
-and of prosecution, thus saved in the year 1861,
-amounted to upwards of $11,000. Its value is fully
-appreciated by the public authorities, as the following
-paragraph from the Presentment of the Grand Jury for
-the June Term, 1862, will testify. In speaking of their
-visit to the County Prison, they say: “During a part
-of their visit through the prison they had the company
-of the prison agent, William J. Mullen, and were glad
-to find that he still continues in the discharge of his
-arduous duties, thereby saving great expense to the
-County, as well as affording protection to the rights of
-the poorer classes of society.”</p>
-
-<p><i>Lunatics.</i>&mdash;We last year referred to the practice which
-prevailed of committing lunatics to the County Prison, to
-the great disadvantage of that institution, and stated
-that this Society was co-operating in an application then
-about being made to the Legislature, which, it was hoped,
-would result in relieving the prison of this class of its
-inmates. The contemplated application was made, and
-a Committee attended at Harrisburg to make such explanations
-as might secure the favorable notice and
-action of the Legislature, but without success. Subsequently,
-however, the prison agent, after considerable
-effort, succeeded in inducing the Board of Guardians of
-the Poor to rescind instructions which had been issued
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">23</span>
-to the officers of the almshouse, prohibiting the admission
-of persons sent from the County Prison, so far as to
-give their President power to admit (under certain restrictions)
-such persons as he might deem proper, on
-application of the Inspectors of the County Prison, to
-that effect.</p>
-
-<p>Under this arrangement, thirty-one insane persons,
-some of whom had been imprisoned for years, have been
-sent from the prison to the Insane Department of the
-Almshouse within the past year.</p>
-
-<p><i>House of Correction.</i>&mdash;The establishment of a House
-of Correction, (an institution intermediate to the almshouse,
-and prison,) was referred to last year, as an object
-of much interest to the community, and a hope was expressed
-that this highly important advance in the reformatory
-movements of our Commonwealth, might, under
-the Act of March, 1860, be soon carried into effect. It
-is cause for regret, however, that no substantial advance
-has yet been made. The delay in purchasing the ground,
-and erecting the necessary buildings, is understood to be
-occasioned by the City Councils having failed to make
-an appropriation of the requisite funds. The measure is
-so important, that we earnestly hope that the different
-parties having the control of it, may, by hearty and
-united action, be enabled to bring this long desired
-establishment into early and successful operation.</p>
-
-<p><i>Prison Society’s Visitors and Visiting.</i>&mdash;We propose
-now to refer to the subject of visiting the prisons and
-the prisoners, the duties of which we feel to be of constant
-obligation, and if faithfully discharged, under right
-qualification, we believe to be of importance, second to
-nothing else, which devolves upon the Society. As
-heretofore, the Acting Committee, (consisting of the
-officers of the Society, <i>ex officio</i>, and forty-four other
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">24</span>
-members), has been divided into two sub-committees:
-one of them being allotted as visitors to the Eastern
-Penitentiary, and the other to the County Prison. These
-Committees have been regularly organized, and each of
-them has held Stated Monthly Meetings, at which
-Reports have been received from the individual members,
-as to the character of their services during the
-month, and these Reports, or a summary of them, have
-been transmitted to the Monthly Meetings of the Acting
-Committee. From the accounts thus received, there is
-reason to believe that the interest in this service has in
-no degree abated, and that the duties of the visitors are
-discharged with increased efficiency. Owing to the
-long continued indisposition of one or two of the members
-of the Penitentiary Committee, and the protracted
-absence from the city of others, the aggregate number
-of visits paid there is not quite equal to that reported
-last year. There have been, however, 175 written
-Reports received from members of this Committee, by
-which we are informed that 656 visits were paid by them
-to that institution during the course of the year, in which
-7,031 interviews were had with the prisoners, 4,728 of
-which took place within the cells, and 2,303 at the cell
-doors. We have no doubt but that many other visits
-were paid, but omitted to be reported.</p>
-
-<p>The manner of meeting the prisoners is in a kindly
-spirit, approaching them not as convicts, but as men, the
-consequence of which is, that the entrance of a member
-of the Committee into a cell proves, with rare exceptions,
-a source of real satisfaction to the inmates; confidence
-being by this means established, an avenue is opened to
-their better feelings, and on being inquired of, they
-freely give a history of their past lives, and state what
-were the immediate influences under which the crime
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">25</span>
-was committed, which resulted in their being confined
-in a felon’s cell. The information thus obtained, has
-fully convinced us, that a very large proportion of the
-vice existing, and of the crimes committed, if traced to
-their root, will be found to spring from Intemperance.</p>
-
-<p>It must be remembered that this baneful influence is
-not limited to those individuals who commit crimes while
-under the immediate effect of the intoxicating draught,
-nor even to such, and those who by their ruinous habits,
-have brought themselves into such a state of destitution
-and degradation, that their necessities present strong
-temptations, and at the same time their sense of the
-obligations of integrity and the rights of their fellowmen,
-is so weakened, that the fatal step is easily taken.
-But to these two classes must be added the children of
-such, who, growing up under the influence of the evil
-example of the parent, feeling the degradation which he
-has brought upon his family, and suffering from the destitution
-which he has entailed upon them, and at the
-same time, being without the benefit of any sound moral
-and religious instruction, and permitted to roam the streets
-in idleness, without the knowledge of any business, are
-easy victims to the attacks of the tempter. When will
-the proper authorities of the land, by the enactment of
-suitable and effective laws, lay the axe to the root of
-this giant evil?</p>
-
-<p>In these interviews with the prisoners, such counsel is
-given, as seems suited to their condition, so far as the
-visitors feel themselves qualified, not unfrequently, as we
-trust, seeking for Divine aid in the performance of the
-service. We believe that <i>many</i>, during their confinement,
-are improved in their <i>moral</i> perceptions, and reach
-the conviction that “honesty is the best policy,” and are
-thus brought to resolve to endeavor to lead a correct
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">26</span>
-life from the time of their discharge, and we hope that
-not a few of these, with the Divine blessing on their
-efforts, have not again relapsed into their former course
-of vice and crime, and that some, even amongst those
-who may not have yet attained to the true ground of
-reformation, an abhorrence of themselves in the sight
-of God, may, through Divine mercy, before the close
-of life, experience that change of heart which will render
-them acceptable in His sight. And we feel assured, that
-we have witnessed some instances of <i>true conversion</i>,
-which have resulted through the co-operation of Divine
-grace, with the instrumentalities connected with our
-prison system, and we cannot doubt but that the labors
-of our Prison Society have had some agency in effecting
-this happy change.</p>
-
-<p>One peculiarly interesting case of this kind has recently
-occurred, which is thought to be of sufficient
-value to justify special reference to it. This was a young
-man, No. 4,160, aged 17, sentenced January 6, 1860, for
-two years and six months. He had been a very bad
-boy, and had been imprisoned before, (but not under
-our System,) without being benefited. After being in
-the Penitentiary several months, he was favored with
-a sense of the “exceeding sinfulness of sin,” and of his
-need of a Saviour, and by yielding to the monitions of
-Divine grace, he in due time, as we trust, experienced
-an entire change of heart, and attained to a state of acceptance
-in the Divine sight. Several months before
-the termination of his sentence, he was attacked with
-consumption, which soon gave evidence that he was not
-long for this world. During the remainder of his term,
-his disease steadily progressed and he often suffered
-much, but he was entirely reconciled to his condition,
-and felt comparatively happy, esteeming it as a great
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">27</span>
-mercy that he had been placed there, where as he said
-he had found his Saviour. He only hoped that he might
-not die till he was discharged, and reached the arms of
-his pious mother at a distance from this city, for her
-comfort and his own. On the 6th of July last, at the
-termination of his sentence, he was discharged. This
-occurred on the first day of the week. A member of our
-Committee took him from the Penitentiary to his own
-house, and kept him there until he could be suitably forwarded
-to his mother. This member in referring to him
-remarks, “One evening, after our family reading [of the
-Scriptures], I went up with him to his chamber and
-knelt with him at his bedside in prayer, when we each
-offered up a petition to the Throne of Grace. I was
-about leaving the room when he said, ‘Don’t go yet,
-stay and have a good talk.’ I did so, when we had a
-full and free interchange of thought. I questioned him
-as to what he was resting his hopes of pardon on, and
-found that it was on the only sure foundation,&mdash;Christ
-Jesus and his atoning sacrifice.” He reached his mother,
-and was with her nearly a month when he died on the
-8th of August last. The following is an extract from a
-letter written by her to the member referred to, a few
-days after his decease: “I know you and Mrs. &mdash;&mdash;
-will sympathize with a sorrow-stricken mother. My
-darling child is no more. He sweetly fell asleep in
-Jesus, at 4 o’clock on Friday, August 8th, after three
-days’ great suffering, which he bore without one murmur.
-His answers to all were surprising, his conversation
-humble and childlike. His confidence in his Saviour
-never wavered; patient, gentle, and loving to all, but to
-his poor mother he was all love. How hard I feel it to say,
-Thy will be done! His consoling words to me were, ‘My
-dear mother, don’t weep but look up.’ In the valley he
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">28</span>
-felt his Saviour’s presence.” Soon after, she addressed
-to the same another letter, from which the following is
-an extract: “I did not know how dear I loved him until
-we were called on to part. His patience under such
-suffering was surely the work of grace, so gentle, so
-meek. For a week he seemed to be getting somewhat
-better, and a ray of hope shot up, he would be spared
-for some time at least. But four days before his death,
-<span class="nowrap">...</span> his agony was great, but not one word of complaint
-escaped his lips. His whole conversation was his Saviour’s
-wonderful love. His anxiety for the children’s conversion,
-especially his brother Thomas, was great, and his
-prayer that God would make him the instrument in converting
-one soul was lovely to me, nor have I one doubt
-but that [his] prayers will be answered<span class="nowrap">....</span>
-For the whole day before he died, he kept on saying,
-‘Dearest mother, look up but don’t weep.’ At 4 o’clock
-he called for his brothers and sisters to bid them farewell,
-which he did, shook hands and kissed each one
-with a prayer, that his Saviour would grant them grace
-so to live, as they would meet him in heaven,&mdash;but to
-Thomas he said, ‘Kneel beside me, dear brother.’ Thomas
-did so, and then James said, ‘Dearest Thomas, will you
-promise your dying brother to seek the Lord, to give
-him your whole heart?’ Thomas said he would try;
-then he lifted his dying eyes to heaven and said distinctly,
-‘O Saviour, grant him grace to keep this solemn promise.’
-He seemed in great pain. I asked him how the Saviour
-appeared to him in the dark valley. Aloud and clear
-he said, ‘Dearest mother, Jesus is precious.’ These were
-his last words. He became insensible, and continued
-in a sort of stupor until a few minutes before 4 o’clock,
-when I whispered in his ear, ‘Do you know your mother,
-my son?’ He turned such a lovely look of recognition,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">29</span>
-moved his lips for me to kiss him, I did so, one gentle
-sigh, and all was over.”</p>
-
-<p>In the introduction to this branch of the Report, we
-speak of visiting the <i>prisons</i> and the <i>prisoners</i>. The
-Law incorporating our Prison Society, and that conferring
-on the Acting Committee the character of Official
-Visitors, contemplate that in addition to the salutary influence
-we may endeavor to exert upon the prisoners, by
-social intercourse with them, and impressing upon them
-moral and religious instruction, we should also observe
-the workings of our Prison System, bring anything which
-appears to be wrong to the notice of the proper authorities,
-that it may be remedied, and suggest any reforms
-or improvements in the System which may appear to be
-desirable. Under this view of our duties and privileges,
-our Committee, besides observing the general condition of
-the Institution, as to good order, cleanliness, healthfulness,
-&amp;c., make special inquiries as to the supply of
-labor furnished the prisoners, whether the ignorant and
-illiterate among them receive proper attention from the
-teacher, how they are progressing in their learning, and
-if those who can read are freely supplied with books
-from the prison library, and have copies of the Sacred
-Scriptures placed in their cells. All these inquiries have
-resulted satisfactorily, excepting that the teaching force
-is not sufficient to give such frequent lessons to those
-requiring them, as would be desirable. The progress
-which many of them make is very gratifying, and indeed
-surprising. The instances are frequent, where prisoners
-who entered wholly without school-learning, that is to
-say, without any knowledge of letters or figures, in a
-very few months, are able to read, write, and cipher,
-with considerable facility, and a very gratifying circumstance
-connected with this is, that most of them highly
-value the knowledge they are thus acquiring.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">30</span></p>
-
-<p>The library is now in a very good condition, having
-been overhauled during the year and a new catalogue
-prepared, after withdrawing several hundred mutilated
-and imperfect volumes from the collection. It now contains
-about 2,600 volumes, all complete and in a good
-state of preservation, about 2,060 in the English, and
-540 in the German and French languages. While the
-library was regularly open, 11,526 books were loaned,
-and in addition, considerable reading matter was furnished
-during the several months in which they were
-engaged in examining and re-arranging the books, of
-which no regular record was kept.</p>
-
-<p>The various officers of the Penitentiary, by their
-general kindness and good temper in their care of and
-intercourse with the prisoners, evidence their fitness for
-their position, and as “like begets like,” similar deportment
-is reciprocated by the prisoners towards them.
-This is one of the excellent features of our System,
-which rarely, if ever, calls for the exercise of harshness
-by the keepers, and, consequently, instead of vindictive
-or bitter feelings being excited towards them, on the
-part of those under their control, a mutual feeling of
-sympathy is frequently brought into action. This was
-recently very pleasantly exemplified in the presence of
-a member of our Committee. A keeper, who had charge
-of about thirty prisoners in one of the corridors, received
-intelligence of the death of a son in the army, and having
-obtained leave of absence for a few days that he might
-go to Virginia to bring home the remains, before leaving,
-called at the cell of each of those under his care and bade
-them farewell. Both the words and deportment of the
-prisoners evidenced that they sympathized with their
-caretaker in his bereavement. It is also a general
-practice with the keepers in the evening, as they pass
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">31</span>
-from cell to cell to hand in a light and lock the doors,
-to exchange a parting salutation with the inmates. We
-think it must be self-evident, that such a condition of
-things is much more favorable as a school of reform than
-that where the harshness of discipline prevails, which is
-said to be inseparable from the <i>Silent</i> System. The
-former is like the mellow soil moistened by the gentle
-shower, which receiving the seed kindly, when deposited
-by the hand of the husbandman, it soon germinates, and
-in due season brings forth fruit, which abundantly rewards
-him for all his toil. Whilst the latter is like the
-arid, indurated clay, upon which equally good seed may
-have been scattered, but being dry and impenetrable, it
-either never springs up, or at best it has a stunted
-growth, and its yield never compensates for the labor
-bestowed upon it. The entire number of prisoners in
-the Penitentiary during the year 1862 was 586. The
-largest number at any one time was 451, on the first
-day of the year, and the smallest 353. The number in
-confinement there on the first day of this year (1863)
-was 369, to wit: white males 297, white females 18,
-black or colored males 51, and black females 3. There
-were 6 deaths and 18 pardons in the course of the year.</p>
-
-<p>The Committee on the County Prison have attended
-faithfully to their duty as visitors during the year, but
-the reports from them are not so minute as those from
-the Committee on the Penitentiary, and, consequently,
-we are unable to analyze them so as to set forth the
-particulars of their services. One of the members so
-thoroughly devotes his time to the duty, as to visit the
-prison more than 500 times during the year, generally
-twice a day for more than 250 days. The other members
-report having among them paid 419 visits in the
-course of the year.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">32</span></p>
-
-<p>Under the care of the present judicious and efficient
-Board of Inspectors, the prison has been satisfactorily
-conducted; but the population is so unsettled (being
-largely composed of vagrants, the untried, and those
-committed for petty offences), that it cannot be considered
-to fairly illustrate the “Separate System,” and
-therefore we think it proper to make more especial and
-extended reference to the Penitentiary than to it.</p>
-
-<p>The Prison “Association of Women Friends” (which
-is recognized by us as an auxiliary in the good work),
-have continued to be diligent visitors to the females confined
-in both prisons, and have entered on the service
-under a full sense of its serious importance, and with
-desires that their labors might be promotive of the
-temporal and eternal good of the visited. In the course
-of the year they paid 987 visits to the prisoners in the
-two institutions.</p>
-
-<p>In addition to the moral and religious instruction
-communicated to those confined in each of the institutions,
-through the medium of our visitors and those of
-the association just referred to, the Eastern Penitentiary
-has, as one of its regular officers, a “Moral Instructor,”
-whose time is devoted to visiting the prisoners individually
-in their cells, and there instructing them in
-those things which most nearly concern their temporal
-and eternal interests. The present incumbent of the
-office is John Ruth, a worthy minister of the Methodist
-persuasion, who appears to be well fitted for the discharge
-of the duties of his station. Ministers of different
-denominations also frequently visit the Penitentiary, both
-for the purpose of having religious opportunities with
-individual prisoners, and for the more general and public
-discharge of the duties of their calling. In the County
-Prison, although there is no regular officer employed for
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">33</span>
-the purpose as in the Penitentiary, yet the institution is
-pretty well supplied with volunteer religious instructors
-from different sources, and, on the first day of the week,
-the prison agent generally procures the attendance there
-of one or more ministers.</p>
-
-<p>In our Report last year, we informed that the Quarterly
-Journal, which had been published by the Society
-for a number of years, was discontinued, and an Annual
-Report and Journal substituted for it. The principal
-reason then assigned for the change was, the large absorption
-of our funds which its publication occasioned,
-while our means for aiding discharged prisoners and sustaining
-other objects of practical benevolence in carrying
-out the original object of our organization, that of
-“Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons,” were entirely
-too limited. The result, we think, has already
-confirmed the propriety of the course then adopted.
-Our financial condition has considerably improved, and
-our appropriations in 1862, in aid of discharged prisoners,
-were upwards of fifty per cent. greater than in 1861.</p>
-
-<table>
- <tr>
- <td><span class="smcap">Edward H. Bonsall</span>,</td>
- <td class="br bt"></td>
- <td rowspan="5">Committee on<br />Annual Report, &amp;c.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><span class="smcap">Joseph R. Chandler</span>,</td>
- <td class="br"></td>
- <td />
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><span class="smcap">Townsend Sharpless</span>,</td>
- <td class="br"></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><span class="smcap">Charles C. Lathrop</span>,</td>
- <td class="br"></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td><span class="smcap">Alfred H. Love.</span></td>
- <td class="bb br"></td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Philadelphia</span>, <i>1st Mo. (Jan.) 15, 1863</i>.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">34</span></p>
-
-<h3><span class="medium author">
-For the Prison Journal.</span><br />
-
-MAGISTRACY.</h3>
-
-<h4>The Magistrate must have his reverence, the laws their authority.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Burke.</span></h4>
-
-<p>Moses, in reply to the question of his father-in-law,
-“Why sittest thou thyself alone and all the people stand
-by thee from morning unto even?” said, “Because the
-people, when they have a matter, come unto me; and I
-judge between one and another, and I do make them know
-the statutes of God and his laws.” In him we have a
-model magistrate. But finding the labor “too heavy”
-for him, by the advice of Jethro, he confined his duties
-in this respect to those of an appellant judge, to be for
-the people “Godward,” to “bring the causes unto God,”
-and to hear “every great matter,” and he did “provide
-out of all the people, <i>able men, such as fear God, men of
-truth, hating covetousness</i>, and placed such over them to be
-rulers,” or minor magistrates, “and made them heads
-over the people,” “and they judged the people at all
-seasons; the hard cases they brought unto Moses, but
-every small matter they judged themselves.” In this
-record of the first institution of the office of the magistrate,
-and the qualifications considered as requisite in the man
-to fill the position, we have a lesson that it becomes us
-diligently to consider at the present day. If there has
-been degeneracy of the world since the days of Moses,
-in no respect perhaps has it been more forcibly felt, than
-in the mode of administering justice, (or as it would be
-more properly termed <i>in</i>justice,) at the present day, by
-the police or committing magistrates. The evils resulting
-to the community, the cruelty done to the unfortunate
-being who falls into their hands, by the system prevailing
-and carried out by many of the magistrates, especially of
-this city, have become so aggravated as to demand a
-thorough reformation. “Moses chose <i>able</i> men,” whose
-qualifications were known “out of all Israel.” Men who
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">35</span>
-acted in the “fear of God,” and “who hated covetousness;”
-or would not take “<i>fees</i>” or levy severe contributions
-on their victims, or the victims of others’ wrongs,
-or commit them to prison on false or trivial charges, to
-exact the payment of “charges and costs.” He did not
-leave the <i>election</i> of the magistrate to any body of the
-people whom they were to judge, much less to the worst
-or dissolute portion of them.</p>
-
-<p>The very word “magistrate,” (from <i>magister</i>, master,)
-implying control, direction, suggests to the mind the idea
-of equity, safety, and purity. It excites reverence and
-a sense of exalted dignity, and imposes such a power
-and responsibility as never should be exercised by a bad
-or incompetent man.</p>
-
-<p>In countries where the magistrate is <i>appointed</i> by the
-head or ruling power for his qualifications, and is <i>independent</i>
-of the people over whom he presides, this feeling
-or sentiment, as a general thing, has been justified.
-The people living under the administration of such, lay
-themselves down and sleep in peace, and arise and go to
-their avocations, feeling that their rights, their property,
-and their lives are secure, because the righteous magistrate
-dwells in the land!</p>
-
-<p>Under our democratic ideas, that because “the people
-are sovereign,” we must therefore permit them, in carrying
-out these ideas, to exercise the power of electing all
-of our officials from the highest to the lowest, we run
-a great risk of placing the liberty and the welfare of the
-citizen, in the hands of bad and immoral men. However
-capable the people may be <i>as a whole</i> to judge of the
-qualifications and fitness of any certain person for a
-magistrate, <i>if they would as a whole exercise their sovereignty</i>,
-no one, we presume, will claim that the portion of
-the “sovereigns” who congregate in “grog-shops,” and
-act under the inspiration of intoxicating beverages, in
-procuring nominations, are properly exercising the sovereign
-power, or that “the voice of <i>the people</i>,” thus expressed,
-is “the voice of God.” That <i>some</i> good magistrates,
-as we truly have, are elected under the present
-system, but illustrates the truth <i>that it is possible</i> to elect
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">36</span>
-the right kind of men to office, if the better class of
-citizens will but exercise the privilege of the franchise,
-which under our theory of government it is the <i>bounden
-duty</i> of every good man to do.</p>
-
-<p>The evils arising from the magistracy, as at present
-administered, are the results of two causes, which ought
-to be removed:</p>
-
-<p>1st. The mode of selecting or making magistrates.</p>
-
-<p>2d. The mode of compensating them.</p>
-
-<p>From the nature and duties of their office, they should
-be removed as far as possible from any dependence upon
-the favour, the votes, or the fees of the people over whom
-they judge or rule.</p>
-
-<p>Being a part of the ruling power, having delegated to
-them the “mastery” over the people, they should receive
-their authority or appointment from, and be dependent
-upon, the supreme authority or head magistrate, or
-“Master” of the City or State, and his constituted advisers,
-the council or senate, and removable only for cause.
-Being thus appointed by him who represents the sovereignty
-of the people, and by his position and responsibility
-to the people for his acts, we might reasonably
-expect to find men appointed, capable of discharging the
-duties, and worthy of the sacred trust of a magistrate.
-Again, as to the second point, the magistrate should not
-in any way be dependent upon, profited by, or have any
-portion of the “<i>fees</i>” of his office, but should be appointed
-for a certain precinct, ward, or district, and receive a
-certain <i>fixed</i> compensation or salary from the public
-treasury. All “fees” or charges, being the penalty for
-breaking or infringing the laws, should be collected and
-paid over to the public treasurer by the magistrate, leaving
-him free to act uninfluenced by them, as the impartial
-agent of the law, as between the ruling power or
-sovereignty of the people and the accused, and enable
-him to act as a peacemaker, or reconciler of difficulties.
-Under the influence of the “fees” to be derived from
-“committing” the person accused, is there not danger
-that self-interest may sometimes induce the magistrate
-to commit unnecessarily, or otherwise encourage bad
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">37</span>
-feelings between the accuser and the accused, when a
-more independent position might lead the magistrate to
-secure a reconciliation and settlement of the difficulty?</p>
-
-<p>All persons thus appointed and acting, should have
-power to act not only as committing magistrates of persons
-after examination, to be tried by a higher court or
-magistrate for heinous offences, but they should be authorized
-and required to try all trivial or minor cases,
-summarily, and to decide upon the same, and pronounce
-sentence accordingly, without appeal except in specified
-cases. A system similar to this prevails in other cities,
-or did at least in New Orleans before the rebellion, where
-Recorders or criminal magistrates acted or presided
-over certain defined districts; justices of the peace acting
-in civil cases only, one being entirely separated from
-the other, and the same person not allowed to act in
-both positions. The system was found to work to
-advantage there, though the incumbents of the position,
-contrary to what we deem wise, were elected by the
-people. As adjuncts to such a system, a Work-house
-for mature offenders and vagrants, and a House of
-Industry (or Refuge) for juvenile ones, to which the
-magistrate could sentence them, would be needed to relieve
-our County Prison of the <i>surfeit</i> of cases now sent
-there, and to relieve the public, by the fruits of their
-labor, from their cost of maintenance; and so situated
-as to lead as far as possible to their reformation, and to
-the formation of habits of industry, regularity, and temperance.
-Such institutions could, as elsewhere, be made
-to pay a profit to the city, instead of as now maintaining
-the victims of the magistrate at heavy cost, in idleness
-and amidst evil associations. The workings of the
-present system prevailing in our city, are forcibly presented
-by the Reports of the Inspectors of the County
-Prison, and those of the prison agent of the same,<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">2</a> from
-the latter of which we select only the following, which
-are but a sample daily occurring:</p>
-
-<p>1. One of these cases is that of a young soldier committed [May
-15th], on the charge of homicide. The Agent went to Washington,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">38</span>
-visited the camps, and saw that witnesses therefrom were brought
-here. These were brought here under the charge of an officer,
-specially detailed by the Court for the purpose, to prove an alibi in
-his behalf. It was not, however, found necessary to present this evidence,
-as another witness was found who testified to seeing the murder
-committed by a different person. The prisoner, in consequence, was
-at once acquitted.</p>
-
-<p>2. Another case was that of a United States marine, the victim of
-a conspiracy, whose object was to have him arrested and imprisoned
-as a deserter, in order to recover $30, which are usually allowed in
-such cases by Government. The chief actors here&mdash;as it appeared&mdash;were
-a sergeant and two tavern-keepers, who sued him before two
-different aldermen for an indebtedness, amounting to $17 for board
-and for money obtained&mdash;as they say&mdash;under false pretence, which
-consisted in his promising to pay after receiving his wages from
-Government. At the settlement the sergeant claimed $135 out of
-$140.80; exacting one-fourth of the sum loaned for its use, and
-leaving but $5.80 for the prisoner to cancel the $17 debt. This $135
-was paid to the sergeant for the use of $101.25 advanced to the
-prisoner within 19 days subsequent to his being paid&mdash;all of which
-he had spent. A ten days’ furlough was granted to him, and then he
-was imprisoned, as above mentioned.</p>
-
-<p>In investigating the case, the Agent learned from the prosecutors,
-that they intended to get paid by keeping him in prison till after his
-furlough expired, and then getting the major to arrest him, as a deserter,
-with a promise that he would see them paid out of money,
-which the prisoner would eventually have to pay, after being put in
-irons and confined, for three months, in the barracks&mdash;which is said
-to be the customary punishment in such cases.</p>
-
-<p>3. Another case was that of a United States Army captain, who
-was imprisoned on the charge of <i>enticing</i> soldiers out of a regiment
-in one State into a regiment of another State. It appears that, from
-patriotic motives, he had resigned the command of his company in
-Virginia and went to New York to raise a regiment of which he was
-to be major. While he was in Philadelphia the orderly-sergeant of
-his former company sent him a letter, inquiring how he progressed in
-forming his new regiment, and also informing him that, after pay-day,
-many of his old command would quit their company.</p>
-
-<p>This portion of the letter came to the knowledge of one of our city
-aldermen, who construed it, as enticing soldiers from one company
-into another, and thereupon unjustly committed the captain to prison.</p>
-
-<p>On the Agent stating the truth of the case to the alderman, and
-asking the prisoner’s immediate release, as his services were needed
-in our country’s defence; the magistrate refused to discharge him,
-unless he or his friends would pay the costs, and thus submit to the
-illegal extortion of money, as also to the imputation of having violated
-the laws. Whereupon the Agent, after consulting the United States
-Court officers, applied to the Court of Quarter Sessions for a writ of
-habeas corpus, had the case examined, and the prisoner was discharged
-by the authority of Judge Thompson.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">39</span></p>
-
-<p>4. Another extraordinary case was that of a woman charged with
-kidnapping and robbery. The alleged kidnapping&mdash;as was proved in
-Court&mdash;consisted in her taking possession of her own son, of 16 years
-old, a runaway, found by her in Schuylkill County, and the robbery
-in the taking of his clothes, which she had a right to take, as was
-shown by her acquittal in Court, at her hearing upon a writ of habeas
-corpus, procured by the Agent; when the fact of his being her son
-was established, not only by herself, his mother, but by his brother,
-of 19 years old, and by a respectable citizen and others, who had
-known him from infancy.</p>
-
-<p>5. Another case, presenting, perhaps, still more striking features,
-was that of a woman committed, on a bail-piece issued by one of our
-city aldermen, November 20th, and discharged November 21st, by
-bail being entered for her appearance at Court. The original charge
-against her was for assault and battery on a neighbor woman.</p>
-
-<p>According to the prisoner’s account, she got into difficulty with
-this neighbor about some children belonging to another party. They
-struck each other, and then the prisoner was sued by the other woman
-before an alderman, who granted a warrant gratis, as at the time she
-had no money. The prisoner was required to give bail, or go to
-prison. She then arranged with the alderman’s constable (at his
-suggestion) to pay him $2 for being her bail, on her receiving money,
-which she expected daily from her husband and son, who were in the
-United States Army. She also agreed to pay the alderman $1.80.
-On her receiving, soon after, a remittance from her son, she promptly
-paid the amount agreed upon.</p>
-
-<p>She was then told, by the alderman and constable, that she must
-now enter freehold bail for her appearance at Court. She replied,
-that she thought that unnecessary, as she and her prosecutrix had
-settled their quarrel, and were now as friendly and intimate as sisters,
-visiting each other in their respective premises almost every hour in
-the day. But, notwithstanding all this, and although, being a simple
-case of assault and battery, it was fully within the magistrate’s power
-to settle it, he would not do it, but insisted on having freehold
-security.</p>
-
-<p>She then consulted a distinguished lawyer on the case, who addressed
-a note to the alderman, requesting him to dismiss it. He
-would not comply with the request, but persisted in exacting freehold
-bail.</p>
-
-<p>The alderman’s constable then proposed getting his brother-in-law
-for her bail, on condition that she would pay him $5 for the service.
-Becoming frightened, as she had three small children, with no one
-but herself to care for them, her husband and son being in the army,
-she assented to his terms and paid him the money&mdash;which (be it
-noted) was in addition to the $3.80 previously paid to the alderman
-and constable.</p>
-
-<p>She was then allowed to depart for a few days, at the end of which
-the constable visited her, early one morning, and told her the bail
-was about to give her up unless she would pay some more money.
-She gave him all she had, a half-dollar, which she at the time actually
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">40</span>
-needed to get food for her children. He took it, but said it was
-not enough, and he must, therefore, have her husband’s coat, which
-was hanging within view. She gave him this, and he then further
-insisted on having some breakfast, which she also gave him.</p>
-
-<p>He left, but not long after returned, and declared she must go to
-prison, as her bail would incur no further risk unless he received more
-money. She replied that she had no more money to give; but, instead
-of this, she gave him her husband’s pantaloons and drawers,
-which he took, and thereupon insisted on having her husband’s razor
-and shaving apparatus, which she gave him. He concluded his call
-by demanding his dinner, which she also gave him, and he went
-away.</p>
-
-<p>A few days subsequently, his brother-in-law (the bail) called, and
-told her he was going to surrender her to be sent to prison, unless
-she either gave him more money, or complied with certain infamous
-proposals of his. The latter she promptly refused, with the remark
-that she would not dishonor her husband and son, who were then
-enrolled for the defence of their country.</p>
-
-<p>He then left, and went to the alderman and had her sent to prison,
-cruelly separating her from her sucking infant, who was left at home
-with her other two young children, and no one else.</p>
-
-<p>The Agent, on learning these atrocious facts, at once saw that the
-prisoner was released on bail, and permitted to return home to her
-family.</p>
-
-<p>6. Another case was that of a woman, the mother of a large family
-of little children, who was committed by one of our aldermen on the
-vague charge of misdemeanor. Her husband is a soldier in the
-United States Army. It seems that her landlord wished to remove
-her from the house she tenanted in a summary manner, and he appears
-to have formed a conspiracy with the prosecutor for this object.
-She refused to leave till she got a remittance from her husband. A
-quarrel ensued, and the prosecutor struck and beat her most shamefully.
-A proof of this was that her person, when she entered the
-prison, was black and blue with bruises. After the prosecutor had
-done this, he went to the alderman and sued her on the charge above
-named. This he did to secure himself from being prosecuted by her
-for assault and battery.</p>
-
-<p>Let the community arise! Let our City Councils and
-our State Legislature act, and perfect such legislation
-as will remedy this crying evil, and rid our beautiful
-city, so distinguished for progress in arts, science, and
-benevolent institutions, of this polluted sore.</p>
-
-<p class="author">
-C. C. L.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">41</span></p>
-
-<p class="author small">For the Prison Journal.</p>
-
-<h3>IMPRISONMENT.</h3>
-
-<p>So far as we are acquainted with the actual condition
-of the various countries of the civilized world, we are
-compelled to the painful and humiliating conviction, that
-there are individuals amongst their inhabitants who are
-prone to, and actually will interfere with, and depredate
-upon the rights of others, unless they are subjected to
-moral or physical restraint. This fact has made it necessary
-that measures should be adopted to protect the
-general mass of society against the wrong-doing of these
-evil-disposed persons. It must be evident to all, that in
-originating and maturing these measures, or in framing
-and perfecting laws for this purpose, an intimate acquaintance
-with human nature, and a high order of wisdom,
-are essential pre-requisites to fit those upon whom
-the duty should devolve, to enter upon the highly important
-work. The instinct of self-protection would
-naturally, and even properly suggest, that the first object
-should be to secure the community against a repetition
-of the wrong-doing, by placing the individual who has
-committed a serious offence under such physical restraint
-as to make it impossible for him for a time to
-continue his evil course. This object may be secured
-by a close confinement of the culprit in a prison or penitentiary.
-But if we rest satisfied with having accomplished
-this, we are taking a very narrow view of a very
-broad subject. This same instinct, if its promptings are
-intelligently pursued, will convince us that the punitive
-character of this restraint or imprisonment should be
-such as to operate upon the fears of the evil-disposed
-who are at large, and thus deter them from yielding to
-temptations which may prompt them to commit offences
-against society or individuals. And, also, as this imprisonment
-cannot be permanent, the individual incarcerated
-should, through this source, as well as others,
-be made to feel that “the way of the transgressor is
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">42</span>
-hard;” and from this experience (in the absence of any
-higher motive) be induced to so conduct himself, after
-his liberation, as not to render himself liable to be subjected
-to a repetition of these “pains and penalties.”
-At the same time, however, that the imprisonment and
-discipline provided, should embrace such elements as
-would subject the convict to a full sense of punishment,
-they should be carefully guarded from partaking of the
-character of vindictiveness or revenge. If this care is
-not exercised, the higher and more enlarged action of
-Christian philanthropy and duty, which should immediately
-follow that referred to as being prompted by the
-instinct of self-protection, which is, the temporal and
-eternal good of the offender, by his reformation, will be
-entirely defeated.</p>
-
-<p>We are aware that in some countries, in framing their
-penal laws and discipline, the only object appears to be
-to prevent the continued perpetration of offences by the
-imprisonment of those convicted as offenders, and by the
-severity of their punishment to deter them from a repetition
-of their crimes after their discharge; the example
-of which punishment, it is desired, shall also operate to
-restrain others from entering upon and pursuing an
-equally criminal course. This object is effected, at the
-smallest possible cost to the community, by constructing
-their prison buildings, almost exclusively, with reference
-to the safe-keeping of the prisoners, making no arrangements
-for their separation, but congregating them together
-in large masses, with very little, if any, regard to
-difference in age or degrees of criminality. The consequence
-is, that instead of the prisoners being reformed
-or made better, by the discipline to which they are subjected,
-they are almost inevitably made worse; and many
-times, those who were committed on a charge of pocket-picking
-or some other minor offence, are fitted for burglars
-or the commission of the highest class of crimes on
-their discharge.</p>
-
-<p>A valuable member of our Prison Society who has recently
-spent several years abroad, during which time he
-became very familiar with the penal system and the arrangement
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">43</span>
-and manner of conducting the prisons of one
-of the countries of Continental Europe, having frequently
-visited and personally inspected the prisons, speaks of
-it as being generally admitted amongst the people there,
-that reformation was no part of their plan, and was
-never expected to result from the imprisonment of
-criminals. We are happy, however, in the belief, that
-this system is now viewed by nearly all countries as
-being a relic of the barbarism of the dark ages, which,
-besides partaking of the character of cruelty, evidences
-great short-sightedness and want of wisdom, if we consider
-how its results affect the best interests of the community.
-Instead of being a school of reform, through
-whose influence the number of those from whom outrages
-might be apprehended would be lessened, if it
-does not actually increase them, it at least makes life-long
-criminals of the most hardened character, of a large
-proportion of those subjected to its discipline, who, at
-the time of their first commitment, were by no means
-steeped in wickedness; many of them when quite young,
-having, in an unguarded moment, yielded to strong
-temptation to commit some minor offence, of which
-having been convicted, they have been thrust amongst
-the most abandoned outcasts of society, and soon lost
-to all hope of restoration, when by a really humane and
-Christian course of treatment they might have been
-led back from the by-paths into which they had, without
-due consideration, stepped, and have been brought
-to experience the happiness of a virtuous life, and to
-be a blessing instead of a curse to society.</p>
-
-<p>We believe that all reflecting men must be convinced
-that the <i>reformation</i> of criminals, besides being a question
-of <i>expediency</i>, in which the community has a deep stake
-on the score of self-protection, is one, the promotion of
-which, so far as is in our power, is of the highest Christian
-obligation, in reference to both the temporal and
-eternal good of those who, having by their criminal conduct,
-forfeited the liberty enjoyed by the common mass
-of their fellow men, have, for the security of society,
-been committed to prison. In most Christian countries
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">44</span>
-<i>reformation</i>, on the ground of <i>expediency</i> at least, and we
-trust, under some sense of Christian duty, is now acknowledged
-to be properly <i>one</i> of the elements of their
-penal systems; and, consequently, some provisions,
-either theoretical or practical, are adopted for the promotion
-of this object. It is much to be regretted, however,
-that most of the existing prison systems are such
-as greatly to interfere with, and many of them almost
-wholly to defeat the accomplishment of this vitally important
-purpose. This state of things exists to a great
-extent, not only in Europe, but throughout most of the
-Commonwealths of the United States.</p>
-
-<p>The systems are generally “<i>congregate</i>,” either with
-little, if any, restraint from free social intercourse between
-the inmates, whatever may be their different degrees
-of depravity, or with the imposition of silence
-while together, and separation at night and at their
-meals only. The former of these, in our judgment, wholly
-excludes reformatory influences, unless it be through
-the immediate operation of Divine grace and mercy,
-which, we freely admit, can overrule obstacles however
-great; but this fact will not excuse us from doing our
-best to facilitate this operation. At the same time, also,
-that it excludes reformation, its attendant circumstances
-rapidly school the young offender in the ways of depravity
-and crime, and harden the more practiced in
-wickedness, and prepare them for the commission of still
-darker deeds than any they had previously been guilty
-of. Whilst the latter system, where <i>silence</i> is imposed,
-though certainly a step in advance of the former, as it
-cannot so extensively <i>propagate</i> criminality, yet from
-the fact that the prisoners cannot be approached separately,
-and that this system of silence and non-intercourse
-amongst them, under the strong temptation to
-the indulgence of their social propensities when placed
-in the presence of each other, is only maintained by
-harsh and severe discipline; reformatory agencies can
-hardly be brought to bear upon them, and efforts in this
-direction, very rarely, indeed, produce the desired
-effect.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">45</span></p>
-
-<p>It seems to us that what is generally known as the
-“Pennsylvania System,” which is that of entire cellular
-separation of the prisoners, by which they are precluded
-from either seeing each other, or holding any kind of
-intercourse by word or sign, is far in advance of any
-other system of imprisonment yet introduced. We do
-not propose at this time to go into a general explanation
-of its peculiar features, but may merely advert to a few
-prominent points in support of this position.</p>
-
-<p>First, as regards the effectual restraint of those found
-guilty of crime from continuing their outrages upon the
-community; its security against escape, is fully equal
-to, if not greater, than that under any other existing
-prison system, and its punitive character, though really
-humane and mild, is looked upon with much dread by
-the evil-disposed, on account of their being subjected to
-separation from their fellow convicts, and therefore it is
-potent in deterring from a criminal course.</p>
-
-<p>These primary objects of imprisonment being thus
-effectually secured, we are next to consider what are its
-effects, evil or good, upon the moral condition of those
-subjected to its discipline. And here the results of our
-inquiries are pre-eminently satisfactory. From the
-thorough isolation maintained, we think it must be evident,
-that no prison under it can ever become a moral
-pest-house, where the depravity and wickedness of one
-prisoner may be communicated to another, or, as it were,
-prove contagious, and thus spread moral corruption
-around him. As neither the words, countenance, nor
-gestures of one can be heard or seen by another, it is
-clear, that those committed are not subjected to such influences
-whilst in confinement, as will make them morally
-worse on leaving, than when they entered.</p>
-
-<p>Having thus demonstrated, as we trust, that our system,
-without doing a moral wrong to the offender,
-thoroughly effects the purpose for which society claims
-the <i>right</i> to imprison&mdash;that of self-protection, by placing
-him under secure restraint&mdash;we have next to consider
-what is its adaptation to the higher and less selfish purpose,
-which immediately follows as a Christian obligation,
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">46</span>
-that of promoting his reformation. In the first
-place, then, as there is nothing in the working of the
-system which calls for harshness of treatment; it is administered
-on principles of kindness, and consequently,
-instead of the prisoners being hardened, and their vindictive
-and other evil passions being called into action,
-they are softened, and the better feelings of their nature
-(which with many had so long slept, that the degraded
-beings were hardly aware that they possessed them) are
-awakened. Under these favorable circumstances, those
-who are desirous of communicating moral or religious instruction
-can visit each prisoner in private in his separate
-cell, and when the service is accomplished, leave him to
-his reflections, without being disturbed by the presence,
-or deterred from a serious consideration of his condition
-by the scoffs of depraved companions.</p>
-
-<p>The purpose of this essay has not been to suggest the
-details of any particular system of imprisonment, but to
-call attention to the general principles which should
-control the subject. And especially have we desired to
-impress upon the reader the vital truth, that if we would
-hope to reform the prisoner, we must treat him with
-comparative kindness. We must do nothing, which either
-is or seems to be, by way of revenge or retaliation.
-Under the present dispensation we must not exact “an
-eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” If we do this,
-the prisoner feels that he is persecuted, and that as
-society is doing its worst by him now, he will repay it
-upon his discharge. In effect, that as every man’s hand
-is against him, his hand shall be against every man.</p>
-
-<p class="author">
-E. H. B.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">47</span></p>
-
-<p>The following are the introductory remarks of a writer in
-the “North British Review” for February, 1863, to “Observations
-on the Treatment of Convicts in Ireland” and the
-Subject of Transportation, to wit:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>The public mind of England awakes periodically, and with
-a start, to a sense of the danger it incurs by the presence of a
-large criminal population in the very heart of the community,
-which is dealt with on no rational or consistent system, watched
-by no adequate police, and disposed of in no conclusive manner.
-We rave against the evil, we abuse our rulers, we insist
-upon a remedy being found, we listen eagerly to every quack
-and every philosopher, we discuss the subject passionately,
-illogically, and superficially; and we end by adopting some
-fresh plan which touches only a small fragment of the mischief,
-and darns only a small rent in the tattered garment, and
-which is usually some ill-digested and unworkable compromise
-between old habits and new fancies. We then grow sick of
-the subject, ashamed of our panic, and stupidly satisfied with
-our mild aperient and our emollient plaster, and go quietly
-to sleep again for another term of five or seven years. Meanwhile,
-however, there are two classes of men who never sleep:
-the criminals, who are always at work to invent new modes of
-preying on society and new dodges for evading justice; and
-the officials, who are always, after the fashion of their kind,
-and by a sort of ineradicable instinct, wriggling back into the
-old channels, and falling away into their normal inertness.
-There was such an awakening as we have described in 1853;
-there was another in 1857; there is another now. Let us see
-whether this last cannot be made to yield some better and
-more lasting fruit than its predecessors.</p>
-
-<p>That the evil is a very great one no one can doubt. It
-amounts to a positive insecurity of life and property which is
-disgraceful in the richest, most civilized, most complicated
-society on earth. At this moment, the number living by
-depredation and outrage, and known to belong to the criminal
-class, is estimated to reach in the United Kingdom to 130,000.
-In this year, 1863, a considerable portion of the respectable
-inhabitants of London are reduced to carry concealed weapons
-for their own defence; and this from no groundless apprehensions,
-but because they <i>may</i> any day be called upon to use
-them, and often <i>are</i>. We annually commit to, and liberate
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">48</span>
-from, our county jails in England and Wales, at least 130,000
-offenders, a very large proportion, if not the majority, of whom
-are habitual pilferers, burglars, or in other ways violators of
-the law, and recognized preyers upon the industrious and
-peaceful part of the community. Besides these, we turn loose
-every year, at the expiration of their sentence of penal servitude,
-or shortly before its expiration, 3000 convicts, nearly all
-of whom are professional, finished, hardened offenders, and all
-of whom, with scarcely any exceptions worth naming, have
-been confined for crimes in which ruffianism and dishonesty
-were combined. Of these 3000, at least 2500 on an average
-are liberated in this country, and almost invariably go back to
-their evil courses, more vicious, more skillful, more irreclaimable
-than ever. Many of them have been convicted several
-times, never dream of adopting an honest mode of life, and
-could not do so if they wished. In a word, we have among
-us an army&mdash;very active, very well trained, tolerably organized,
-very resolute, and in part very desperate&mdash;of internecine enemies
-and spoliators, as numerous as the troops of most European
-kingdoms, and more numerous than the military and police
-forces in our own country combined. This is the evil we have
-to deal with. It is an evil, in some degree and in some form,
-incidental to every large and populous community; but the
-form and degree depend entirely on our own management.
-We may reduce it to the minimum which human temptation
-to wrong and the imperfection of human powers of repression
-must always leave, a minimum which would be seldom heard
-of and little felt, and which should be always tending to decrease.
-Or we may suffer it, as we are in a fair way to do
-now, to augment and intensify year by year till it reaches the
-maximum compatible with a comfortable existence and a secure
-civilization. Now what we affirm is, that, for the height to
-which it has reached at the present moment, we have only
-ourselves to thank. For a long time back, in spite of ceaseless
-warning, and ignoring all the lessons of experience, physiology,
-and common sense, we have done little to repress crime
-and much to encourage it. Our plans of dealing with it have
-been based upon no clear understanding and no settled principle;
-the changes we have introduced from time to time, have
-been either inconsistent <i>nibblings</i> or mutually destructive
-fluctuations; we have neither aimed at felling the tree, nor at
-cutting off the nourishment from its roots; we have simply
-pruned the branches, and contented ourselves with wondering
-that it should flourish still. We believe that all this is remediable
-still, though the mischief has assumed such vast dimensions;
-but that which is imperatively needed before we can
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">49</span>
-hope to remedy it is, that we should boldly face all patent
-facts; that we should courageously accept all undeniable conclusions
-from those facts; that we should at once and for ever
-place sentiment under the control and supremacy of sense;
-that no inconvenience should drive us to do injustice to others;
-and that no expense should make us shrink from doing justice
-to ourselves.</p>
-
-<p>Criminals, the moment we look at them closely and analytically,
-divide themselves into two distinct categories&mdash;the
-casual and the habitual. Many of the more trifling, and some
-of the most heinous offenders, belong to the former class.
-Temptation there will always be; and this will be liable to increase
-with the progress and complexity of civilization, as long
-as some are poor and some are rich, and as long as the appliances
-of wealth are spread out in the sight of the struggling
-and needy. Defective moral natures there will always be&mdash;natures
-weak to resist and prone to fall; but these, it is to be
-hoped, will diminish as comfort and instruction penetrate
-among the masses. Passions will always exist among all ranks,
-and passions will occasionally burst through the restraints of
-morality and law. Boys will thieve who are no worse than
-idle, neglected, and ill-trained. Poor men, who are habitually
-respectable, will steal under circumstances of sudden and desperate
-necessity. Clerks will occasionally forge or rob to
-avert exposure, to meet debt, or to purchase vicious pleasures.
-Any man, in any rank, of violent or malignant temper and ill-disciplined
-mind, may, in a moment of provocation or of fury,
-be guilty of manslaughter; or, if he be thoroughly bad and
-licentious, may outrage a defenceless woman, or murder one
-whom he hates, or whose possession he desires. Crimes and
-criminals of this sort, however, are not those that embarrass
-our police, and perplex our rulers and philosophers; they do
-not constitute the social problem we have to solve. They are
-the casual outbreaks of human vice and passion, incidental to
-all stages and forms of civilization, and incurable by any. But
-besides and independent of these cases, we have among us a
-large population, numbered by thousands and tens of thousands,
-who <i>live by</i> outrage and depredation; to whom crime is
-an employment and <i>profession</i>; who are brought up to it;
-who have no other teaching, no other vocation, no other resource;
-to whom the respectable and industrious portion of
-society is the oyster they have to open; who prey upon the
-community, and sometimes hate it also. They are simply the
-enemies of society; and the protection of society against them
-constitutes precisely the difficulty which at this moment our
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">50</span>
-thinkers have to master, and the duty which our rulers have
-to discharge.</p>
-
-<p>Now we do not say that the obstacles and embarrassments
-with which the solution of the problem is surrounded are not
-actually great, because they are. But the problem itself is
-neither difficult nor obscure, as soon as we take pains to place
-before ourselves distinctly its precise nature and conditions.
-The thing to be done is simple enough; the impediments in
-the way of doing it are nearly all of our own creation, arising
-partly out of ignorance or thoughtlessness, and partly out of
-willfulness; partly because we have not fully understood what
-we had to do, and partly because we have been unwilling to
-accept the consequences and incur the annoyance and expense
-of doing it. Divested of all complications, our task is to <i>defend
-ourselves</i> against the criminal population,&mdash;the professional
-criminals; to guard society against their outrages and depredations
-in the most prompt, effectual, and enduring fashion we
-can devise. That is all: we have <small>NOT</small> to <i>punish</i> them; and
-we shall only confuse our minds and perplex our action if we
-try to do so. It is the almost universal neglect of this vital
-distinction, more than any other error, which has led us into
-such grotesque and inconceivable blunders. <i>Individuals</i> may
-regard these offenders in any light which harmonizes with their
-several idiosyncracies. Some may look at them as objects of
-vengeance; some as objects of compassion; some as subjects
-of conversion; some as patients to be cured; some as unfortunate
-lunatics to be carefully and comfortably confined;
-and there may be much truth in all these different views, and
-they may be allowed to influence some of the <i>details</i> of the
-practical treatment of criminals in prison and on their discharge
-from prison. But <i>the State</i>, as we said, has only got
-to protect the community against them&mdash;to regard them as
-domestic foes, against whom self-defence is legitimate and necessary.
-The reason why it should not seek to <i>punish</i> them,
-in the strict and proper meaning of that word, is, that it has
-not the knowledge requisite for the just discharge of that
-function. It cannot possibly apportion the penalty it inflicts
-to the <i>guilt</i> of the offender, which apportionment constitutes
-the very essence of <i>punishment</i>. Neither the wisest judge, nor
-the most patient and enlightened jury, nor the most omniscient
-police officer, can do more than form a plausible conjecture as
-to the <i>moral criminality</i> of any convict; since this, it is obvious,
-must depend on the organization which he inherited, on the
-antecedents which have surrounded him from the cradle, on
-the degree of instruction he has received, on the special nature
-and <i>adaptation</i> of the temptation, on a multitude of circumstances
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">51</span>
-which we neither can know, nor could estimate if we
-did. The State, too, is just as incompetent to estimate the
-severity of the infliction as the guilt of the offence. How is
-the legislator who awards, or the judge who pronounces, to
-ascertain the weight and bearing of any given sentence upon
-any individual culprit? The same penalty which to one man
-would be almost too lenient for a theft, may, to a differently
-organized and differently trained offender, be too severe almost
-for a murder. The educated convict, whose ungoverned
-passion led him to a heinous but a single crime, would be
-driven mad by the association and the <i>entourage</i> which the
-habitual and hardened ruffian would find congenial and even
-pleasant. Punishment which <i>retributes</i>, like vengeance which
-<i>repays</i>, can, by its very term, belong only to that higher intelligence
-which can estimate aright both the debt to be repaid,
-and the intrinsic value of the coin in which repayment
-is awarded.</p>
-
-<p>The thing to be done, then, being ascertained, the next
-point for consideration is how to do it. Now, society may
-protect itself against habitual criminals in three ways, separately
-or in combination. It may deal with him so as to <i>deter</i>
-him, to <i>reform</i> him, or to <i>get rid</i> of him. It may so arrange
-and contrive its penalties as to frighten him from bad courses,
-or to incapacitate him from recurring to them, or to persuade
-him to amend them. And, putting out of view the very few
-whom it will or can hang, it has to effect these objects by such
-secondary punishments as lie within its reach, as the public
-purse will pay for, and public conscience and feeling will allow
-the State to inflict.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">52</span></p>
-
-<table class="members">
-<caption>MEMBERS.</caption>
-<tr>
-<td>
-Ashhurst, Lewis R.<br />
-Armstrong, William<br />
-Anderson, V. William<br />
-Atmore, Frederick B.<br />
-<br />
-Brown, John A.<br />
-Brown, Frederick<br />
-Brown, Moses<br />
-Brown, Thomas Wistar<br />
-Brown, Abraham C.<br />
-Brown, N. B.<br />
-Brown, David S.<br />
-Brown, Joseph D.<br />
-Brown, Benneville D.<br />
-Brown, Mary D.<br />
-Bell, John M. D.<br />
-Biddle, William<br />
-Biddle, John<br />
-Barton, Isaac<br />
-Burgin, George H., M. D.<br />
-Bohlen, John<br />
-Binney, Horace, Jr.<br />
-Bayard, James<br />
-Beesley, T. E., M. D.<br />
-Beesley, B. Wistar<br />
-Bowen, William E.<br />
-Bettle, Samuel<br />
-Bettle, William<br />
-Baldwin, Matthias W.<br />
-Barcroft, Stacy B.<br />
-Bailey, Joshua L.<br />
-Baily, Joel J.<br />
-Burr, William H.<br />
-Boardman, H. A.<br />
-Bunting, Jacob T.<br />
-Bacon, Richard W.<br />
-Bacon, Josiah<br />
-Brock, Jonathan<br />
-Barclay, Andrew C.<br />
-Brooke, Stephen H.<br />
-Baines, Edward<br />
-Budd, Thomas A.<br />
-Bispham, Samuel<br />
-Broadbent, S.<br />
-Brant, Josiah<br />
-Beaux, John Adolph<br />
-<br />
-Corse, J. M., M. D.<br />
-Cope, Alfred<br />
-Cope, M. C.<br />
-Cope, Henry<br />
-Cope, Francis R.<br />
-Cope, Thomas P.<br />
-Colwell, Stephen<br />
-Caldwell, James E.<br />
-Caldwell, William Warner<br />
-Cresson, John C.<br />
-Claghorn, John W.<br />
-Chandler, Joseph R.<br />
-Carter, John<br />
-Carter, John E.<br />
-Campbell, James R.<br />
-Comegys, B. B.<br />
-Childs, George W.<br />
-Child, H. T., M. D.<br />
-Chance, Jeremiah C.<br />
-Coates, Benjamin<br />
-Chamberlain, Lloyd<br />
-Conrad, James M.<br />
-Cooke, Jay<br />
-Collier, Daniel L.<br />
-Comly, Franklin A.<br />
-<br />
-Demmé, Charles R.<br />
-Ducachet, Henry W.<br />
-Dawson, Mordecai L.<br />
-Dorsey, William<br />
-Dutilh, E. G.<br />
-Ditzler, William U.<br />
-Dreer, Ferdinand J.<br />
-Dickinson, Mahlon H.<br />
-Davis, R. C.<br />
-Derbyshire, Alexander J.<br />
-Derbyshire, John<br />
-Dennis, William H.<br />
-Duane, William<br />
-<br />
-Earp, Thomas<br />
-Evans, Charles, M. D.<br />
-Evans, William, Jr.<br />
-Evans, Robert E.<br />
-Evans, J. Wistar<br />
-Erringer, J. L.<br />
-Edwards, William L.<br />
-Elkinton, Joseph<br />
-Elkinton, George M.<br />
-Ellison, John B.<br />
-Emlen, Samuel<br />
-Eyre, Edward E.<br />
-Eyre, William<br />
-Erety, George<br />
-<br />
-Farnum, John<br />
-Fraley, Frederick<br />
-Fullerton, Alex.<br />
-Farr, John C.<br />
-Frazier, John F.<br />
-Ford, William<br />
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">53</span>
-Ford, John M.<br />
-Furness, William H.<br />
-Field, Charles J.<br />
-Fox, Henry C.<br />
-Franciscus, Albert H.<br />
-Funk, Charles W.<br />
-<br />
-Garrett, Thomas C.<br />
-Griffin, E., M. D.<br />
-Greeves, James R.<br />
-Gilpin, John F.<br />
-Grigg, John<br />
-Gummere, Charles J.<br />
-Gardiner, Richard, M. D.<br />
-<br />
-Hunt, Uriah<br />
-Hockley, John<br />
-Holloway, John S.<br />
-Husband, Thomas J.<br />
-Hughes, Joseph B.<br />
-Homer, Henry<br />
-Homer, Benjamin<br />
-Hancock, Samuel P.<br />
-Hand, James C.<br />
-Hazeltine, John<br />
-Hastings, Matthew<br />
-Huston, Samuel<br />
-Hacker, Morris<br />
-Hacker, William<br />
-Hunt, William, M. D.<br />
-Hurley, Aaron A.<br />
-Harbert, Charles<br />
-<br />
-Ingersoll, Joseph R.<br />
-Ingram, William<br />
-Iungerich, Lewis<br />
-<br />
-Jackson, Charles C.<br />
-Janney, Benjamin S., Jr.<br />
-Jeanes, Joshua T.<br />
-Jenks, William P.<br />
-Jones, Isaac C.<br />
-Jones, Jacob P.<br />
-Jones, Isaac T.<br />
-Jones, William D.<br />
-Jones, Justus P.<br />
-Jones, William Pennel<br />
-Johnson, Israel H.<br />
-Johnson, Ellwood<br />
-Johnston, Robert S.<br />
-Justice, Philip S.<br />
-<br />
-Kaighn, James E.<br />
-Kane, Thomas L.<br />
-Kelly, William D.<br />
-Kelly, Henry H.<br />
-Ketcham, John<br />
-Kiderlen, William L. J.<br />
-Kimber, Thomas<br />
-Kingsbury, Charles A., M. D.<br />
-Kinsey, William<br />
-Kirkpatrick, James A.<br />
-</td>
-<td>
-Kintzing, William F.<br />
-Kitchen, James, M. D.<br />
-Kneedler, J. S.<br />
-Knight, Edward C.<br />
-Knorr, G. Frederick<br />
-Klapp, Joseph, M. D.<br />
-<br />
-Laing, Henry M.<br />
-Lambert, John<br />
-Landell, Washington J.<br />
-Lathrop, Charles C.<br />
-Latimer, Thomas<br />
-Leeds, Josiah W.<br />
-Lewis, Henry, Jr.<br />
-Lewis, Edward<br />
-Lippincott, John<br />
-Lippincott, Joshua<br />
-Longstreth, J. Cooke<br />
-Lovering, Joseph S.<br />
-Lovering, Joseph S., Jr.<br />
-Ludwig, William C.<br />
-Lynch, William<br />
-Lytle, John J.<br />
-<br />
-McCall, Peter<br />
-Meredith, William M.<br />
-Milliken, George<br />
-Myers, John B.<br />
-Morris, Isaac P.<br />
-Massey, Robert V.<br />
-Maris, John M.<br />
-Morris, Charles M.<br />
-Morris, Wistar<br />
-Morris, Caspar, M. D.<br />
-Morris, Anthony P.<br />
-Morris, Elliston P.<br />
-Montgomery, Richard R.<br />
-Mercer, Singleton A.<br />
-Mullen, William J.<br />
-Megarge, Charles<br />
-Martin, William<br />
-Martin, Abraham<br />
-McAllister, John, Jr.<br />
-McAllister, John A.<br />
-McAllister, William Y.<br />
-Macadam, William R.<br />
-McAllister, F. H.<br />
-Marsh, Benjamin V.<br />
-Morton, Samuel C.<br />
-Merrill, William O. B.<br />
-Morrell, R. B.<br />
-Mellor, Thomas<br />
-Mitcheson, M. J.<br />
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">54</span>
-<br />
-Norris, Samuel<br />
-Neall, Daniel<br />
-Needles, William N.<br />
-Nesmith, Alfred<br />
-Nicholson, William<br />
-Neuman, L. C.<br />
-<br />
-Ormsby, Henry<br />
-Orne, Benjamin<br />
-<br />
-Purves, William<br />
-Parrish, William D.<br />
-Parrish, Joseph, M. D.<br />
-Poulson, Charles A.<br />
-Perot, William S.<br />
-Perot, Francis<br />
-Perot, Charles P.<br />
-Perot, T. Morris<br />
-Patterson, Joseph<br />
-Patterson, Morris<br />
-Patterson, William C.<br />
-Potter, Alonzo, D.D.<br />
-Price, Eli K.<br />
-Price, Richard<br />
-Pearsall, Robert<br />
-Pitfield, Benjamin H.<br />
-Peters, James<br />
-Peterson, Lawrence<br />
-Potts, Joseph<br />
-Parry, Samuel<br />
-Palmer, Charles<br />
-Perkins, Henry<br />
-<br />
-Quinn, John A.<br />
-<br />
-Richardson, Richard<br />
-Richardson, William H.<br />
-Robins, Thomas<br />
-Robins, John, Jr.<br />
-Ritter, Abraham, Jr.<br />
-Rasin, Warner M.<br />
-Read, W. H. J.<br />
-Robb, Charles<br />
-Rehn, William L.<br />
-Rutter, Clement S.<br />
-Ruth, John<br />
-Roberts, Algernon S.<br />
-Ridgway, Thomas<br />
-Robinson, Thomas A.<br />
-Randolph, Philip P.<br />
-Rowland, A. G.<br />
-Richards, George K.<br />
-<br />
-Smedley, Nathan<br />
-Shippen, William, M. D.<br />
-Scull, David<br />
-Schaffer, William L.<br />
-Scattergood, Joseph<br />
-Shannon, Ellwood<br />
-Sharpless, William P.<br />
-Simons, George W.<br />
-Smith, Nathan<br />
-Stokes, Shmuel E.<br />
-Shoemaker, Benjamin H.<br />
-Speakman, Thomas H.<br />
-Starr, F. Ratchford<br />
-Saunders, McPherson<br />
-Stokes, Edward D.<br />
-Sloan, Samuel<br />
-Smith, Joseph P.<br />
-Stone, James N.<br />
-Simes, Samuel<br />
-Stuart, George H.<br />
-Stewart, William S.<br />
-Stevens, Edwin P.<br />
-<br />
-Townsend, Edward<br />
-Taylor, Franklin<br />
-Taylor, John D.<br />
-Taylor, George W.<br />
-Trewendt, Theodore<br />
-Tredick, B. T.<br />
-Thomas, John<br />
-Taber, George<br />
-Troutman, George M.<br />
-Thornley, Joseph H.<br />
-Thissel, H. N.<br />
-<br />
-Van Pelt, Peter<br />
-Vaux, George<br />
-<br />
-Wharton, Thomas F.<br />
-Wood, Horatio C.<br />
-Wood, Richard, Jr.<br />
-Welsh, William<br />
-Welsh, Samuel<br />
-Welsh, John<br />
-Wetherill, John M.<br />
-Williamson, Passmore<br />
-White, John J.<br />
-Wainwright, William<br />
-Wright, Samuel<br />
-Wright, Isaac<br />
-Willets, Jeremiah<br />
-Wiegand, John<br />
-Wilstach, William P.<br />
-Williamson, Peter<br />
-Warner, Redwood F.<br />
-Walton, Coates<br />
-Williams, Jacob T.<br />
-Wilson, Ellwood, M. D.<br />
-Woodward, Charles W.<br />
-Whilldin, Alexander<br />
-<br />
-Zell, T. Ellwood</td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">55</span></p>
-
-<table class="members">
-<caption>LIFE MEMBERS.<br />
-<span class="copy">ON PAYMENT OF TWENTY DOLLARS AND UPWARDS.</span></caption>
-<tr>
-<td>
-Barclay, James J.<br />
-Bache, Franklin, M. D.<br />
-Bonsall, Edward H.<br />
-Besson, Charles A.<br />
-<br />
-Cope, Caleb<br />
-<br />
-Ellis, Charles<br />
-<br />
-Fotteral, Stephen G.<br />
-Foulke, William P.<br />
-<br />
-Hacker, Jeremiah<br />
-Horton, John<br />
-Hollingsworth, Thomas G.<br />
-<br />
-Knight, Reeve L.<br />
-<br />
-Learning, J. Fisher<br />
-Love, Alfred H.<br />
-Longstreth, William W.<br />
-<br />
-Marshall, Richard M.<br />
-</td>
-<td>
-Ogden, John M.<br />
-<br />
-Perot, Joseph<br />
-Perkins, Samuel H.<br />
-Parrish, Dillwyn<br />
-Powers, Thomas H.<br />
-Potter, Thomas<br />
-<br />
-Sharpless, Townsend<br />
-Sharpless, Charles L.<br />
-Sharpless, Samuel J.<br />
-Steedman, Miss Rosa<br />
-<br />
-Turnpenny, Joseph C.<br />
-Townsend, Samuel<br />
-<br />
-Whelen, E. S.<br />
-Willits, A. A.<br />
-Weightman, William<br />
-Wilhams, Henry J.<br />
-Wain, S. Morris<br />
-<br />
-Yarnall, Charles<br />
-Yarnall, Benjamin H.<br />
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">56</span></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">57</span></p>
-
-<h3>ARTICLE IV.</h3>
-
-<p>The Treasurer shall keep the moneys and securities, and pay
-all orders of the Society or of the Acting Committee, signed
-by the presiding officer and Secretary; and shall present a
-statement of the condition of the finances of the Society at
-each stated meeting thereof.</p>
-
-<p>All bequests, donations, and life subscriptions, shall be safely
-invested; only the income thereof to be applied to the current
-expenses of the Society.</p>
-
-<h3>ARTICLE V.</h3>
-
-<p>The Acting Committee shall consist of the officers of the
-Society, ex-officio, and fifty other members. They shall visit
-the prison at least twice 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 on the morals of the
-prisoners. They shall keep regular minutes of their proceedings,
-which shall be submitted at every stated meeting of the
-Society; and shall be authorized to fill vacancies occurring in
-their own body, whether arising from death, or removal from
-the city; or from inability or neglect to visit the prisons in
-accordance with their regulations. They shall also have the
-sole power of electing new members.</p>
-
-<h3>ARTICLE VI.</h3>
-
-<p>Candidates for membership may be proposed at any meeting
-of the Society or of the Acting Committee; but no election
-shall take place within ten days after such nomination. Each
-member shall pay an annual contribution of two dollars; but
-the payment of twenty dollars at any one time shall constitute
-a life membership.</p>
-
-<h3>ARTICLE VII.</h3>
-
-<p>Honorary members may be elected at such times as the
-Society may deem expedient.</p>
-
-<h3>ARTICLE VIII.</h3>
-
-<p>The Society shall hold stated meetings on the <i>fourth</i> fifth-day
-(Thursday) in the months called January, April, July, and
-October, of whom seven shall constitute a quorum.</p>
-
-<h3>ARTICLE IX.</h3>
-
-<p>No alterations of the Constitution shall be made, unless the
-same shall have been proposed at a stated meeting of the
-Society held not less than a month previous to the adoption of
-such alterations. 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 the casting
-vote.
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">58</span></p>
-
-<div class="bbox">
-
-<h2 id="OFFICERS_OF_THE_SOCIETY">OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY.</h2>
-
-<hr class="short" />
-
-<table>
- <tr>
- <td class="smcap tdr">President,&mdash;</td>
- <td />
- <td>JAMES J. BARCLAY.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td rowspan="2" class="smcap tdr">Vice Presidents,</td>
- <td class="bt bl" />
- <td>TOWNSEND SHARPLESS,</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="bb bl" />
- <td class="tdr">WILLIAM SHIPPEN, M. D.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdr smcap">Treasurer,&mdash;</td>
- <td />
- <td colspan="2">EDWARD H. BONSALL.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td rowspan="2" class="tdr smcap">Secretaries,</td>
- <td class="bt bl" />
- <td>JOHN J. LYTLE,</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="bb bl" />
- <td>EDWARD TOWNSEND.</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td rowspan="2" class="tdr"><span class="smcap">Counsellors</span>,</td>
- <td class="bt bl" />
- <td>HENRY J. WILLIAMS,</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="bb bl" />
- <td>CHARLES GIBBONS.</td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<table class="members">
-<caption><i>Members of the Acting Committee.</i></caption>
-<tr>
-<td>
-Charles Ellis,<br />
-William S. Perot,<br />
-Thomas Latimer,<br />
-John M. Wetherill,<br />
-Abram C. Brown,<br />
-Benjamin H. Pitfield,<br />
-James E. Kaighn,<br />
-Alfred H. Love,<br />
-Jeremiah Willits,<br />
-William H. Burr,<br />
-Jacob T. Bunting,<br />
-John C. Farr,<br />
-George Taber,<br />
-William L. J. Kiderlen,<br />
-</td>
-<td>
-Mahlon H. Dickinson,<br />
-William Ingram,<br />
-James Peters,<br />
-Robert E. Evans,<br />
-Charles Palmer,<br />
-Charles P. Perot,<br />
-Charles C. Lathrop,<br />
-William Dorsey,<br />
-Abram Martin,<br />
-John Adolph Beaux,<br />
-Wm. Armstrong, M. D.,<br />
-Wm. Nicholson,<br />
-Charles W. Funk,<br />
-Philip P. Randolph,<br />
-</td>
-<td>
-Joseph R. Chandler,<br />
-Samuel Townsend,<br />
-Albert G. Roland,<br />
-Benj. H. Shoemaker,<br />
-Lewis C. Neuman,<br />
-Wm. Warner Caldwell,<br />
-Henry Perkins,<br />
-George M. Elkinton,<br />
-William R. MacAdam,<br />
-J. M. Corse, M. D.,<br />
-E. Griffin, M. D.,<br />
-William Hacker,<br />
-John E. Carter.<br /></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-
-<table class="members">
-<caption><i>Visiting Committee on the Eastern Penitentiary.</i></caption>
-<tr>
-<td>
-Townsend Sharpless,<br />
-Edward H. Bonsall,<br />
-John J. Lytle,<br />
-Edward Townsend,<br />
-Abram C. Brown,<br />
-James E. Kaighn,<br />
-Alfred H. Love,<br />
-Jeremiah Willits,<br />
-William H. Burr,<br />
-</td>
-<td>
-George Taber,<br />
-William L. J. Kiderlen,<br />
-Mahlon H. Dickinson,<br />
-James Peters,<br />
-Robert E. Evans,<br />
-William R. MacAdam,<br />
-Charles Palmer,<br />
-William Dorsey,<br />
-</td>
-<td>
-William Nicholson,<br />
-Charles W. Funk,<br />
-Samuel Townsend,<br />
-Albert G. Roland,<br />
-Benj. H. Shoemaker,<br />
-William Hacker,<br />
-J. M. Corse, M. D.,<br />
-E. Griffin, M. D.<br /></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-
-<table class="members">
-<caption><i>Visiting Committee on the County Prison.</i></caption>
-<tr>
-<td>
-William Shippen, M.D.,<br />
-Charles Ellis,<br />
-William S. Perot,<br />
-Thomas Latimer,<br />
-John M. Wetherill,<br />
-Benj. H. Pitfield,<br />
-Jacob T. Bunting,<br />
-</td>
-<td>
-John C. Farr,<br />
-William Ingram,<br />
-Charles P. Perot,<br />
-Charles C. Lathrop,<br />
-Abram Martin,<br />
-John Adolph Beaux,<br />
-Wm. Armstrong, M.D.,<br />
-</td>
-<td>
-Philip P. Randolph,<br />
-Joseph R. Chandler,<br />
-L. C. Neuman,<br />
-Henry Perkins,<br />
-George M. Elkinton,<br />
-Wm. Warner Caldwell,<br />
-John E. Carter.<br /></td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-
-<p><span class="large">👉</span> <span class="smcap">Wm. J. Mullen</span> is Agent of the County Prison, appointed by the
-Inspectors, and acting under their direction, and also appointed by the
-Prison Society.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnotes">
-<h2 id="FOOTNOTES">FOOTNOTES:</h2>
-
-<hr class="short" />
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">1</a>
-Less than one-sixth the size of the cells in the corridors which were
-then completed in our penitentiary, as described by the same writer, to
-wit: eleven feet nine inches long, seven feet six inches wide, and sixteen
-feet high to the top of the arched ceiling.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">2</a>
-William J. Mullen.</p></div>
-</div>
-
-<div class="transnote">
-
-<h3>Transcriber's Note:</h3>
-
-<p>Dialect, obsolete and alternative spellings were left unchanged.
-Printing errors, such as backwards or upside down letters, were
-corrected; duplicate words were deleted; missing punctuation was added.</p>
-</div>
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<pre>
-
-
-
-
-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Journal of Prison Discipline and
-Philanthropy, January, 1863, by Anonymous
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