Volume 2

[Letters on prisons].

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

Licence: Public Domain Mark

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

    180/204 (page 1052)
    one inan*. Allowance to felons and criminal prifoncrs one pomu! of bread every day ; a quart of oatmeal gruel for breakfall every day •, Sunday dinner half a pound of meat, one pound of potatoes ; Monday dinner two pound of potatoes •, 'ruel'day dinner a quart of peafe fonp ; Wednefday fame as Monday, Thurfdav fame as Sunday, Friday lame as V^ ednelday, Saturday fame as Tuefd.iy. ilemarks.—d’he Cadle-yard is fpaciotis, the county members are chofen in it, but the wood and iroti work of the entrance gales are fo much decayed as to render.tlte court very infecure and unfaf'e. 'rhe debtors’ fide of the prifoti is leparated from the criminals’Ikle by a bricl-: wall, and di- vided into two clafles, \ iz. the'malter’s ward and the common ward; the Ijia- cious court yard (which is for the ufe of both) is one ium 'red and eleven feet by fixty-five, Mafiei's tide debtors have a day-room 21 feet by 13 feet 3 ‘inches; they pay 2s. Od. per week for a Tingle bed, if two lie together Is. (id. each ; and thercareekn’en good lodging- rooms in the ga(tler’s houle. Common fide debtors have a free ward, IS feet hy 17, to which (he county allows draw, but no bedfling or firing, 'fhe cooking-room, which is comnutn to both, is 1() feet fquare. There is no ditlincl or leparate apartment for male and female debtors ; ihcv are confined together in one common ward. Thole females who can alford to pay for a bed deep in the gaoler’s hoofe. 'fhe poor debtors compUitted grievotiflv that as th.e.y had no allowance, and w’cre both able and willing to wor’r, there flionld he no attention p.iid to the means of indoftry; that they liad no ])Iace or room to work in ; and which the compaflionate gaoler told me he fhoLild find no (htficoliv to procure in this mauufad'luviog ci'V, adding that ihey-were otten poor and ])ennyleTs, in a mil'erabie tiate bordering on ftasya- tlon, and that rnatw mull have periflied from want, bud ihev not been relieved by cajudl ebarit'.’. 'This (liews how full of emphaiical meaning is the curie of a fevere creditor, who pronounces bis debtor’s doom to jiurve and rot in * Since iny kill vifit the Keeper in- forms me that the confiderate magiftrates have now given dir-edlions for an allow- ance to poor debtors who had no pro- perty, and the bill to be brought in every quarter-fehions. gaol. There are (very improperly) two wdiidows iu this ward, through which the debtors may converfe with the felons, and allill them with tools to e(fe6t their efcape, as [irafliled at York, Scc. and which the utmofl attention of the keeper cannot prevent. The delitors attendance on flivine lervice is optional,and on my vifit 7ih November 1802 only three (out of twelve) were at chapel ; but all the felons and cri- minal prifoiiers were there, and their behaviour orderly and attentive. I'he fick ward of the male felons is in ing debtors court, and confilts of two rooms which communicate with each other, fo that the males anfl females are obliged to be put therein, hccatile the other ward inteiuicd for fick females is very remote fiaun ifie honfe, and an infecure place of confinement ; and there is but one privy for the fick deb- tors, to which tile male and female felotis, wliaiever may be their difeafe, refort. On the Crown fide of the prifon, there are no reccjition-rooms for the fnrgeon to examine prllbiiets on their commit me IU, or to lumigate and cleanfe their clothes, if tieceffary, previous to their admillion amougfl the other pri- foners. The court-yard is 127 feel hy 80. \\here perlons committed or ad- judged guilhj of mifdemeanors, and thole committed for trial for felonies, and the convifted felons and tranfporrs, with the male prifoncrs of every clafs, are ohligcfl by day lo aflbciale together, contrary to the Statute 31 Geo. Ill, c. 4(). There is a day-room, called the round lionj'e, 34 f> el bv if), and on the lame fide the court 1 () cells, 10 feel 2 inches hy 7 feet 2 deep, and well venti- lated ; but thefe arc not Tnihcieiu to Teparaie the criminals, the gaoler hax ing been obliged to confine two, three, and more iiriibners at night in one cell ; and in 1801 02 male prifoiiers flept in llicfe 1() cells, lie.Illy four perfons.ln each. F.verv cel! has a bouliin of Ibaw (long wheat I:raw, about 15 or l() pounds, To called) on the boards, and two blankeis each. Female felons have a leparate con it 31 feet by 19, a day-room 19(00'. by 12, and two deep- ing cells on the ground floor; but all female'criminals of every deferiptinn ad’oeiate together, as is the cafe w ith tlie male prilbners above deferibed. There is no leparate place of con-fine,- meat for Tuch perfons us are inteinkJ 19