Second report of the Surveyor-General of Prisons.

  • Great Britain. Surveyor-General of Prisons.
Date:
1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Second report of the Surveyor-General of Prisons. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    30/280 (page 18)
    W arming. The system of warming, by the circulation of water in iron pipes, adopted at Pentonville, and adverted to in my Report on the Construction of that Prison, p. 21 and Plate VI., has been generally and successfully applied in all the principal prisons subsequently built for the enforcement of the Separate System (see also Plate XIII. of this Report). Means of Regulating the Temperature in the Cells. In my Report on the construction of Pentonville Prison, p. 24, and Plate VII., the details of a regulator were explained by which a prisoner could admit into his cell warm air from the main flue or cold air from the corridor, and their general adoption in all new prisons was recommended (see also Plate XIV., fig. 1) :— By maintaining a degree of heat in the main flues, cal- “ culated to produce the maximum effect required, a prisoner “ would then have the power of keeping his cell at any tem- “ perature between that limit and the temperature of the “ corridor, which could be regulated so as to produce a mini- “ mum effect. About 6 or 6' will be found a sufficient “ range to embrace all the special cases which have been re- “ ferred to; and it is only in such cases that any alteration “ in the original adjustment will be found necessary,” during the day. There appears reason, however, to doubt whether an equally high temperature during the night is either essential or advantageous, and there is no difficulty in providing the means of lowering the temperature generally, and in a very short space of time, should it be considered conducive to health. One mode of effecting it would be by freely introducing cold fresh air into the corridors, and “ shutting off' the warm air from the main flues by the Regulator, 'which should be in such case fixed by the officers at locking-up time, so as not to be at the control of a prisoner. The same object might be effected by admitting cold fresh air in several places into the main flues, at the same time drawing off the hot water from the pipes, and filling them with cold water. Tlie former plan would be the most economical in fuel, as the heat would accumulate during the night in the main flues, ready to be applied in the morning. The only incon-