PRISON DISCIPLINE. 



705 



Is above suspicion; he must unite to sagacity in the 

 discernment of character, knowledge of the world, 

 and an acquaintance with the most suitable species 

 of mechanical labour, the best manner of executing 

 it, and the proper results to be obtained from it; he 

 must combine firmness with essential kindness of 

 disposition ; he must be a man of an exact and 

 methodical mind; and, above all, he must be will- 

 ing, in the spirit of Christian benevolence, to devote 

 himself exclusively, and with singleness of purpose, 

 to the great objects which may be attained by his 

 agency. These are, certainly, high qualifications; 

 but they are not so uncommon as to justify any thing 

 like despair of obtaining them. The end to be 

 gained is worth the exertion necessary to secure the 

 means. The subordinate officers of a penitentiary 

 should also be men upon whose integrity and com- 

 petent acquaintance with the department they have 

 undertaken, unshaken reliance may be placed; men 

 whose characters have been proved trustworthy. 

 By officers of such merit, much may be done to- 

 wards introducing a valuable state of discipline, 

 even under unfavourable circumstances. But in 

 order to secure the great advantages of the best 

 system of prison discipline, it is equally necessary 

 that the buildings should be constructed with a view 

 to its introduction. For this purpose, the plan 

 which seems to us the best, is that which was first 

 adopted at Auburn, and has since been imitated in 

 many places. The workshops connected with the 

 dormitories may be arranged according to the kind 

 of labour to be exercised, and the judgment of the 

 managers or superintendent. We have observed 

 that this is the plan which appears to us the best ; 

 but in order that the reader may have some means 

 of judging of the comparative merit of this scheme, 

 and that of solitary labour, we shall also state the 

 plan of the prison which has been begun, upon a 

 vast scale, at Philadelphia, with the intention of 

 confining every prisoner to his cell, excepting for a 

 little time daily to be given to exercise in the open 

 air, in a court connected with his cell. The follow- 

 ing account and observations are taken from the 

 Third Report of the Boston Prison Discipline So- 

 ciety: " Construction. The yard wall, which is 

 built of stone, thirty feet high, encloses nearly 

 twelve acres. The building for the keeper's house, 

 and the offices of the prison government, makes a 

 part of the south wall, on each side of the centre. 

 The magnificence of this part of the prison may bt; 

 inferred from the fact, that the yard wall cost about 

 200,000 dollars. On the centre of the yard is 

 erected the observatory, and on seven lines, diverg- 

 ing from the observatory towards the wall, the 

 blocks of cells. Two rows of cells are arranged on 

 each of these lines, with a passage between them. 

 The cells are one story high. Connected with each 

 cell, on the outside, is an exercising yard. The 

 entrance to the cell is through the exercising yard. 

 The place of observation for the keeper over the 

 prisoner, is through a small orifice opening from the 

 cell into the passage, which may be closed at plea- 

 sure by the keeper, and which is intended to be 

 kept generally shut. The only mode of seeing the 

 prisoner, while confined in his cell, if the doors are 

 shut, is through this orifice. When he is let out of 

 his cell into the exercising yard, he may be seen 

 either by opening the door of the exercising yard, 

 or by walking on the top of the wall over the exer- 

 cising yard. The wall of the exercising yard is so 

 high, that he cannot be seen from the principal 

 observatory, in the centre of the large yard, unless 

 the observatory is raised to a height far above that 

 contemplated in the original plan. The entrance to 

 the cell, from the exercising yard, is secured by 



double doors, one on each surface of the wall; the 

 inner door of grated iron, and the outer door of 

 plank. The orifice between the cell and the pas- 

 sage, which is large enough to admit the face of a 

 man, is secured by double doors of plank." " The 

 estimated expense of the whole establishment when 

 completed, on the original design, is 500,000 dol- 

 lars. And when it is completed, it will accommo- 

 date only 250 prisoners. The expense of the new 

 prison in Connecticut, for the accommodation of 

 136 prisoners, was estimated at 30,000 dollars, and 

 three-fourths of the work has already been done 

 within the estimate." An obvious remark upon 

 these statements is, that economy is decidedly 

 favourable to the Auburn plan; and although, as 

 we have remarked, economy is not to be regarded 

 as its principal recommendation, yet, unless some 

 decided advantage is to be gained by a more expen- 

 sive system, it ought to be preferred. Many evils 

 were anticipated as likely to arise from imprison- 

 ment on the Philadelphia system, which was origi- 

 nally that of absolute solitude without labour; but 

 the introduction of labour remedied some of these, 

 and others seem not to have occurred. We learn 

 from the report of the Inspectors of the prison, 

 dated January, 1832, that " the general health of 

 the prisoners has been good," and that " the opi- 

 nion heretofore expressed, that the practical opera- 

 tion of this institution is beneficial to the moral, and 

 not injurious to the physical, powers of the prison- 

 ers, has been confirmed by another year's experience 

 and observation." It is thought, also, that " the 

 prisoners can generally maintain themselves by 

 their labour in solitude." In all this, however, we 

 perceive no advantage of this system over that of 

 united labour. What is here said of the Philadelphia 

 plan may be said also of that of Auburn, and, in 

 some respects, with much greater force; and there 

 are some obvious points of inferiority, besides that 

 of increased expense, the effect of which is not 

 counteracted, so far as we can yet perceive, by any 

 decided advantage. Thus, for instance, there is no 

 chapel, and there can, of course, in conformity with 

 the plan of total seclusion, be none of those public 

 services of religion, which, by judicious manage- 

 ment, may be rendered so serviceable in the great 

 cause of the reformation of the unhappy convicts. 

 Many excellent kinds of hard labour cannot be 

 practised in solitude; and thus the chances of pre- 

 serving health* are diminished, as well as the 

 revenue arising from the labour of the prisoners. 

 The difficulties of supervision are also much greater. 

 Perhaps further experience may show some great 

 benefit which will be derived from absolute solitude, 

 that will more than counterbalance these and other 

 disadvantages, which might be enumerated. But, 

 as far as our information now extends, we are dis- 

 posed to recommend the Auburn plan, as possess- 

 ing superior advantages of economy, and greater 

 facilities for instruction, discipline, and healthful 

 labour. 



It would extend this article beyond all reasonable 

 limits, were we to go into the details of the system 

 of discipline which may be most advantageously 

 practised. Many of these details, too, may and 

 must be varied by the circumstances that occur in 

 the prison, or in the community; and much must, 

 in all cases, be left to the wisdom and the ingenuity 



* From the same report of the inspectors of the Philadel- 

 phia prison above referred to, we learn that the average of 

 cli'Mh-i that have occurred, from all causes, <lurii> the last 

 year, is rather jess than six per cent, on the whole number of 

 prisoners. This exceeds the aveiwe of some other prisons, 

 for the same period; thus at Charlestown (Massachusetts), 

 and Auburn, the per centago is two and a half, and at Wethers 

 field, Connecticut, and Sing Sing, it is three. 



