Names of Prisons.Discharged by Magistrates for want of ProofDischarged by Proclamation and Gaol deliveryDischarged by AcquitalsDischarged after being whiptDischarged after being finedDischarged after suffering imprisonmentApprentices dischargedOffenders bailed out of PrisonDischarged by PardonTotal discharged
LondonNewgate 134272121120 129578
Poultry Compter199 27 226
Giltspur Compter2871010 4511 114 477
Bridewell Hospital 24938 287
MiddlesexNew Prison Clerkenwell237170359 9 127 587
House of Correction, in Cold Bath Fields56823160 353111 1323
Tothil Fields Bridewell25327461 27 154 715
SurryNew Gaol, Southwark13074352 28 269
167489341824566971494221294462

N.B. Although the Author has been at infinite pains to render this Summary as exact as possible, yet from the different modes adopted in keeping the accounts of Prisons, he is not thoroughly satisfied in his own mind that the View he has here given is accurate, to a point.—He is, however, convinced that it will be found sufficiently so for the purpose.

[To face [page 430].]

It would not only remove that aversion which Prosecutors manifest on many occasions, to come forward, for the purpose of promoting the ends of public justice; but it would prevent, in a great measure, the possibility of compounding felonies, or of suborning witnesses.[125]

It would also be the means of counteracting the various tricks and devices of old thieves; and occasion an equal measure of Justice to be dealt out to them, as to the novices in crimes:—It would do more,—It would protect real innocence,—for in such cases the Public Prosecutor would never fail to act as the friend of the prisoner.

The prevailing practice in criminal trials, in the true spirit of mildness and humanity, induces the Judge to act in some degree as counsel for the prisoner.—Without a Prosecutor for the Crown, therefore, every trifling inaccuracy in the indictment is allowed to become a fatal obstacle to conviction;[126] circumstances which would frequently throw great light upon the charges, are not brought under the review of the jury, and thus public justice is defeated.

Upon an average, the Magistrates of the Metropolis commit annually, (out of many times that number who are equally objects of punishment,) from about 2500 to 3000 persons, male and female, for trial, at the seven different Courts of Justice in and near the Metropolis; charged with a variety of felonies, misdemeanors, and other petty offences. But after fully convincing their own minds, from a careful, and in many instances, a most laborious investigation, that the parties are guilty, they are obliged, from experience, to prepare themselves for the mortification of seeing their labour and exertions in a great measure lost to the Community: the major part of these criminals being returned upon Society, without any effectual steps adopted for their reformation, or any means used for the prevention of a repetition of their crimes. A considerable proportion of this wretched number may have suffered perhaps a slight punishment for their demerits; but which produces no effect that is not ultimately mischievous to the Community; since it serves merely to initiate them, in a greater degree, in the knowledge and means of committing new acts of fraud and villainy.

To establish a System calculated to prevent criminals from returning to their evil practices after punishment is the very essence of good Police; but notwithstanding its importance to the Community, no measures have ever yet been adopted, calculated to attain so desirable an object.—It is however ardently to be hoped, that the period is fast approaching, when this great desideratum will be in a certain degree obtained; and that the suggestions offered in the subsequent Chapters, may tend to accelerate the renovation of this forlorn and miserable class of outcasts, by means of an appropriate Penitentiary System.