down to such as had made their first serious misstep, which may have been more from want of thought than from actual depravity of heart, and they soon became convinced, that if the community desired the spread of vice and wickedness, they here had schools admirably adapted to their purpose. Exactly in accordance with their conviction of what must be the result of this state of things, crimes were found to increase in number and boldness, and this association of convicts was apparently the only adequate cause which could be assigned for it. “This being the evil (to adopt the language of the ‘Sketch’ referred to), separation was the obvious remedy; and on this, therefore, as we shall soon see, they ultimately fixed, as the grand point to be aimed at. Thenceforth, separation and employment were felt to be the cardinal features of convict discipline; and even at that day it was maintained, that though the structures which this principle demanded, might be somewhat more expensive in the outset, they would, nevertheless, in the end, pay for themselves with large interest. In saving in police force; in the avoidance of conspiracies and insurrections; in the dispensing with violent and exciting modes of punishment; in the power to adapt the means of improvement and reformation to individual character and circumstances; in the exemption of the discharged prisoner from recognition by prison acquaintances; and in the moral and disciplinary virtue of seclusion in itself considered, were to be found a generous compensation for any extraordinary outlay.”

Former severity of the Penal Code.—According to the penal code existing in Pennsylvania at the commencement of the American Revolution, nearly a score of crimes were subject to capital punishment. In 1794, just eighteen years after the Declaration of Independence,

it was ordained that murder in the first degree should be the only crime punishable with death, a transformation truly remarkable, as being accomplished in so short a time.

Many other features of the old code and its administration would, in these days, be considered in Pennsylvania to be highly barbarous; such as exposing the offender in the public streets, with the clogg and chain upon the neck or leg, and not unfrequently on both, or punishing by cropping or the branding iron, the pillory or the whipping-post, all of which were at one time conspicuous features of the code and its administration in our city; and thus the victim was exposed to the gaze and taunts of the rabble, and almost necessarily hardened by the cruel system, instead of being reformed. Ten years proved sufficient to change all this, and instead of these relics of barbarity, to introduce a more rational, humane, and Christian system, by which restraints and “punishments were adopted, better fitted to reclaim the transgressor, and not less effective in penal suffering.”

Reforms Applied for.—On account of this odious state of things, so abhorrent to the better feelings of humanity, the Society, as early as August, 1787, appointed a committee to inquire into the effects produced upon convicts, then at work in the streets, and also its influence on society, and to collect such observations as might assist in correcting any abuses suffered therein. As a result of their inquiries, the Society adopted a memorial to the Legislature, asking that private, and even secluded labor should be substituted for that which had been public and disgraceful in the manner of its imposition. They also suggested that the mingling of the sexes, and the use of intoxicating drink in the prisons, were evils requiring legislative remedy.

Abuses Indicated.—In the autumn of 1788 the Society indicated the following defects and abuses in the treatment of prisoners.

1. Insufficiency of clothing for the untried, and that clothes which the Society had supplied to poor prisoners had been exchanged for rum.

2. The daily allowance to persons committed for trial was only a half of a four-penny loaf, while those detained as witnesses had no allowance at all.

A stranger accidentally present at the commission of a crime, without friends to enter security for his appearance, was committed to jail for the benefit of the community, and suffered more than the actual criminal; and what added greatly to this grievance, he was afterwards detained until he paid the jail fees! The Society earnestly protested against this practice, and against detaining any prisoners for any such cause after acquittal. This was one of the abuses which Howard ranked amongst “enormities.”

3. No provision was made for decent lodging; the inmates of the jail lying indiscriminately upon the floor, unless supplied with something better by their friends. It will scarcely be believed that, in the memory of persons now living, the male and female prisoners in the jails of this city, were allowed a promiscuous association, and were even locked up together in the rooms at night. The new Society remonstrated loudly, and the men and women were soon after confined in separate apartments. Almost equally incredible is the fact, that prisoners complained that they were not allowed to purchase intoxicating drinks where they could get them cheapest, but were compelled to buy them in the jail at a considerable advance. To obtain them, they not only stripped themselves, but when new prisoners were