Volume 1

[Letters on prisons].

  • Lettsom, John Coakley, 1744-1815.
Date:
[1803-1813]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: [Letters on prisons]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    13/240 (page 3)
    rHE GENTLEMAN’S MAGAZFNI For JANUARY, 1804. 7 LETTER II. ON PRISONS. Mr. Urban/ Jan. 2. O •'fads are eftab- ^ lifiled upon more % N ^ indubitable experi- \ enee, than that ^ ventilation and ■!*ffcleanlincfs are ef- fential to the prefervation of health 5 to which may be added a proper degree of exerclfe. But as the en- joyment of the laft is rarely within the reach of the prifoner, more at- tention is due to the acquifition of ithe two former; and^ happily for ithe poor objeds of confnement, ifome of the modern ftrudures are jjadicioufly formed to promote !them j whilft it is more generally ’to be lamented, that moil of the •old prifons, and particularly the Torough ones, are defedive in J'thefe material comforts. They I were, however, objeds of the firR I enquiry with the celebrated How- ARD3 and the fame fentiments influ- ence his fucceflbr in the walk of benevolence, whofe letter I lhall take the liberty of introducing here, , and which evinces how trivial are the improvements in ■ the Rate of many of our prifons fince the pe- riod when Howard publiihed his Views of Beneflccnce read in- deed by many, adopted but by few. The exertions of Howard once roufed the attention of-thc Legiila- ture 5 and, in 1774, a Bill was palled by Parliament, containing many judicious claufes fuggefted by this celebrated Philanthropifl, aided by the fagacity of a Fotiirr- GiLL. The heads of this Bill I in- ferred in the Gentleman's Maga- dne in the fame year; and then obferved that it wifely inculcates cleanlinefs. “ The feveral judices of the peace are authorized and required to order the walls and cielings of the I'everni cells and wards, both of the debtors and felons, and alfo of any other rooms tiled by the prifoners in their refpeflive gaols, and prifons, where felons are u fuallv confined, to be Icraped and white-wafhed once in the vear at lead ; to be regularly waflted and kept clean, and condaiitly fuppiied with frefli air, by means of hand ventilators or other- wife ; to order two rooms in each gaol or prifon, one for the men, and the other for the women, to be fet apart for the dek prifoners ; dire6ting them to be removed into fuch rooms as fooii as they fltall be feized with any diforder, and kept feparate from thofe who dial! 1)6 in health ; to order a warm and cold hath, or commodious bathing-tubs, to be provided in each gaol or prifon, and to dire6l the pridaruTs to be walked in fuch warm or cold baths, or ha thine;- tubs, according to the condition in which they fliall be at the time, he- fore they are fide red to go out of fiich gaols or prifons upon any occafiou whatever.” So foreign is the oeconomy of prif)ns from encourngiiig the ac- quifltion of water, and much lefs of any fpecies of baths, for preferv- ing and promoting the health and comforts of the prifoners ; that tliis falutary article islcarcely known but on the floori ng of their dangt'ons, atid that in a flagnant Rate. Howard never approached a prTon without enquiring, Is it well fuppiied with good water.^” He informed me of ail anecdote, in forae mealure connedled with this idea. He went to Litchfield, with the view of ex-* aminitig the prifon there; but pre- viouiiy