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.

    77/280 (page 65)
    the system was broken in upon and suspended by the influx of numbers, for wliom it was impossible to provide separate apartments, nearly the reverse of all this took place. Order was succeeded by insubordination ; labour, instead of being voluntary, became distasteful and constrained; and religious instruction, with all its desirable consequences, was either neglected or became inefficacious. O About three years after the completion of the Gloucester Penitentiary, the consideration of a national penitentiary in the vicinity of the metro¬ polis was resumed, agreeably to the proposal of the late Jeremy Ben- tham. Esq., for the erection of a structure on a large scale for the con¬ finement and employment of offenders, and called by him a “ Panopti¬ con.” The plan of this building was laid before the Lords Commis¬ sioners of the Treasury by that gentleman, in a paper entitled “ A Proposal for a new and less expensive Mode of employing and reforming Convicts.” The prosecution of Mr. Bentham’s project was impeded by various obstacles, which it is needless to enumerate; and it was not until a Committee of the House of Commons, which (in consequence of a motion of Sir Samuel Romllly upon the subject of penitentiaries, in the month of June, 1810) was appointed to consider of the expediency of erecting a penitentiary house under the forementioned Acts, had ffilly examined Mr. Bentham’s plan, that, in accordance with the recom¬ mendation of that Committee, the measure was i-egarded as inexpedient, and finally abandoned. It must, moreover, be borne in mind that the institution contemplated by Mr. Bentham was merely a great manufactory, without regard being had either to the penal or moral objects of a prison. Appendix B. Boundary Wall of a Prison. With a view to security, the boundary wall of a prison should be from 18 to 20 feet high above the ground line; but, provided this point is attained, and that it is not necessary on other accounts to raise it, so as to prevent the interior being overlooked, or to protect the prison from violent winds, it cannot be too low w'ith reference to the buildings or yards. The coping at the top should be smooth, and of a semicircular form, or it may be finished in open brickwork. This latter mode will be found useful in all cases where it may be necessary to raise the wall above the height required for security, as it w’ill prevent the interior being over¬ looked without materially interfering with the circulation of the air. In cases where division w'alls in the interior join a boundary wall, the latter should be i-aised, so as to obtain the same amount of security from escape that exists elsewhere. If buttresses are required, they should be placed on the outside, and should be made not less than three feet w'ide, in order that they may not afford facilities for escape. With the same view, there should be no projections of the coping, and the lace of the wall should be per¬ fectly smooth on bpth sides. E