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.
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.”