ON PRISON DIET AND DISCIPLINE. 65 



The Committee venture to think that the time is approaching when the 

 •whole subject of prison discipline must be reconsidered, and when a deter- 

 mination may be arrived at as to the propriety oC continuing a system which 

 when practised occasions vast waste of the vital powers of the prisoners, 

 and vast expenditure of money to provide a dietary which, although scarcely 

 sufficient, is far beyond that provided for the poor in workhouses, and beyond 

 that obtained by the working classes in general. The different systems 

 adopted in prisons are furnishing some evidence as to the relative value of 

 three plans, — viz., 1st, waste of animal force by the treadwheel and the crank ; 

 2nd, the use of manufacturing operations ; and 3rd, the effect of simple de- 

 tention and instruction without labour; and these, when conjoined with the 

 intelligent efforts put forth in the sister island, may almost suffice to guide 

 those to whom its consideration may be intrusted. 



It is, however, certain that if much bodily labour be enforced, whether in 

 a profitable or unprofitable manner, there must be an expensive dietary to 

 supply the reparative material ; and no plan can be so wasteful as that which 

 enforces profitless labour, and supplies an expensive diet to meet its demands. 



The Committee also think that some steps should be taken to ensure uni- 

 formity in prison discipline throughout the kingdom ; so that not only should 

 great care be exercised (as at present) to apportion the sentence to the 

 crime, but also that wherever the sentence is pronounced the carrying-out 

 of it shall be also proportioned to the crime. This may be effected in the 

 dietary, and yet allow such a variety of food as may be found relatively 

 economical in different parts of the kingdom; for the nutritive value of various 

 kinds of food is now tolerably known, and the quantity of each to give the 

 same nutriment may be estimated. So also in reference to punishments. It 

 is quite possible that the instruments should be of uniform construction, 

 that by supervision they should be kept in uniform order, that the speed at 

 which they are worked should be uniform, and the amount of a day's work 

 should be universally the same, subject only to the opinion of the Surgeon as 

 to the fitness of any individual to perform the required task. A committee 

 of scientific men would find no difficulty in placing all this upon a satisfac- 

 tory basis, if they were only authorized by the Government to do so. 



It is also easy to estimate the amount of labour required in ordinary ma- 

 nufactures, at least so far to keep within the bodily powers of the prisoners ; 

 for we have the advantage of common experience as to the effect of such 

 labour in ordinary life. But the Committee are of opinion that, when all 

 the above-mentioned care shall have been taken, the effect of the proper 

 prison punishments, as the treadwheel, crank, and shot-drill, upon the pri- 

 soners will still be very unequal, since it varies greatly with such natural 

 conditions as the height, weight, age, and previous occupation of the person. 

 Hence these punishments must be at all times objectionable. 



The Committee defer until another occasion their recommendations in 

 reference to the exact adaptation of labour to supply of food ; but they take 

 this opportunity of stating that, as it involves the fundamental question of the 

 propriety of making the dietary an instrument of punishment, it will be 

 necessary in limine to decide the latter question. When Sir James Graham 

 appointed the Commissioners to draw up the present scheme of dietary, he 

 expressly directed that the dietary should not be used as an instrument of 

 punishment; but the Committee venture to affirm that the food supplied in 

 the lowest scale is so totally unequal to the wants of the system, that it can 

 only be regarded as an instrument of punishment ; and that it is so regarded 

 both by criminals and magistrates may be inferred from the dislike which 



1861. F 



