Before proceeding in the narration, it is proper to mention, that the examination into the history of the Society during its earlier period, has been facilitated by referring to a pamphlet which it published about three years since, containing a sketch of its principal transactions from its origin to that time.
Origin and Organisation.—It appears that on the 2d day of February, 1776, a Society of a kindred character was organized in this city, under the name of “The Philadelphia Society for Assisting Distressed Prisoners,” which, though not identical with ours, was imbued with a good measure of the same spirit, and may be fairly viewed as a forerunner. It embraced among its members some of the most prominent citizens of that day, and immediately commenced to carry out its benevolent purposes, and extended relief to many prisoners; but in September of the following year, the British army entered the city and took possession of the jail, which caused a dissolution of the Society, after an existence of nineteen months. The troubles resulting from the Revolutionary War, prevented any further organized action in the same direction for a number of years. But finally peace having been restored, and public attention having been again called to the condition of prisoners, and to the many abuses which existed, not only in the manner of administering the penal laws, but also from a want of proper statutory enactments—a number of benevolent citizens assembled on the 8th day of May, 1787, and agreed to form themselves into an Association to be called “The Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons.” This meeting was attended by twenty-five persons, and was composed of men eminent in the community for their general position, and their enlarged Christian benevolence; and, with those who came into the arrangement immediately afterwards as original members, embraced several who, through a continued career of virtue and usefulness, attained to a good old age before they were gathered to their fathers, and were consequently personally known to, and their memory is pleasantly cherished by, many of those still
active in the Society; and it may be said, as regards their example, that, “though dead, they yet speak.” A few of those who were longest spared to continue their useful services to their fellow men, were William White, (Bishop) Thomas Wistar, Zachariah Poulson, Dr. Benjamin Rush, Thomas Harrison, Dr. Samuel Powell Griffitts, Isaac Parrish, William Rogers, Jacob Shoemaker, Thomas Rogers, Tench Coxe, Charles Marshall, and Joseph James.
The reasons which prompted the organization, and the basis of the action contemplated, can hardly be better set forth than by here introducing the simple, but eloquent preamble to the Constitution:—“When we consider that the obligations of benevolence, which are founded on the example and precepts 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.”
The principles thus enunciated at the outset, have controlled the plans and efforts of the Society from its origin to the present time, and their truth and value have been abundantly confirmed by large experience.
The late venerable William White (Protestant Episcopal
Bishop of the Diocese) was elected the first President of the Society, and held the office until his death, on the 17th of July, 1836, a period of nearly fifty years. The general sentiment of the community with regard to this worthy man, was beautifully expressed in an editorial notice published in one of our daily newspapers, shortly after his decease, of which the following is an extract:—“If he went forth, age paid him the tribute of affectionate respect, and children rose up and called him blessed.”
Abuses in Prisons.—In the year 1773, John Howard, emphatically called “the Philanthropist,” entered on his course of self-sacrificing, and almost unprecedented devotion to the interests of humanity, particularly as connected with Prisons and Penal Institutions generally. In the course of his examination into the condition of these Institutions, which he did by personal visits to most of them, not only in England, Ireland and Scotland, but in nearly all the countries of Continental Europe—he discovered that some of the penal laws in force were so erroneous in principle, and so evil and oppressive in their practical operation, that he was convinced they ought to be either wholly repealed, or so amended as to rid them of their obnoxious features; and also that there was a great want of salutary legal enactments, regulating the manner of construction and arrangement of buildings for Prison purposes, and establishing rules for their management when occupied. And in the Prisons he saw such an amount of abuse in their administration, and of misery on the part of those in confinement in them, as often shocked and deeply grieved him. Many of the scenes which he witnessed, and facts he ascertained, were truly heart-sickening. A few of which may here be briefly noticed. Speaking of the dungeons in
the Conciergerie in Paris, he says, they “are totally dark, and beyond imagination horrid and dreadful. Poor creatures are confined in them for weeks—for months together.” In another of the Paris Prisons he states “that there are eight dungeons which open into dark passages. In four of these, 10 feet 8 inches by 6 feet 8 inches, I saw sixteen prisoners, two in irons, and all lying upon straw.” In the course of his account of the condition of things at Liege, in Belgium, he says: “The dungeons in the new Prison are abodes of misery still more shocking; and confinement in them so overpowers human nature, as sometimes irrecoverably to take away their senses. I heard the cries of the distracted as I went down to them. One woman, however, I saw, who (as I was told) had sustained this horrid confinement forty-seven years, without becoming distracted. The cries of the sufferers in the torture chamber may be heard by passengers without, and guards are placed to prevent them stopping and listening. A physician and surgeon always attend when the torture is applied; and on a signal given by a bell, the gaoler brings in wine, vinegar, and water, to prevent the sufferers from expiring. ‘The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.’”
Let us for a moment look at the then condition of a few of the prisons in England, where we might have hoped to find a better state of things. Of Cheshire County Gaol, at Chester, he says: “Under the pope’s kitchen is a dark passage, 24 feet by 9; the descent to it is by twenty-one steps from the court. No window; not a breath of fresh air; only two apertures (lately made), with grates in the ceiling, into the pope’s kitchen above. On one side of it are six cells (stalls), each about 7½ feet by three, with a barrack bedstead, and an aperture over the door, about