68 ' REPORT — 1861. 



having already pointed them out in a paper published in the Transactions of 

 the Society for the Promotion of Social Science, we shall not pursue that sub- 

 ject on this occasion, but at once proceed to consider the dietaries opposed 

 to this scheme. 



The Welsh gaols, as a whole, have a reduced scale of dietary ; but one of 

 them, viz. the Cardiff Gaol*, is the most remarkable in the deficiency ; whilst 

 another, the Brecon Gaol, is nearly equally remarkable for its plenty. It is 

 instructive to notice how widely the schemes differ under different adminis- 

 trations, whilst the condition of the inhabitants of the localities must be much 

 the same. In the Cardiff Gaol there are four classes of prisoners, the highest 

 including all those condemned for periods exceeding fourteen days, a terra 

 scarcely equal to the second class of the government dietary, and even in 

 that no meat or other animal food in any form is given. For breakfast and 

 supper there is half a pound of bread and two ounces of oatmeal made into 

 gruel, whilst at dinner there is only half a pound of bread and one pound of 

 potatoes. But if the prisoner should be condemned to hard labour he will 

 receive one pint and a half of soup, made from two ounces of Scotch barley 

 and two ounces of rice, and it is the same whether he is condemned to hard 

 labour for fifteen days or fifteen months ! If the prisoner is condemned for 

 more than seven and less than fourteen days, he receives for dinner half a 

 pound of bread only. If not exceeding three days or seven days, the break- 

 fast and supper consist of half a pound of bread only, whilst the dinner is 

 composed of half a pound of bread, and in the latter case of one pound of 

 potatoes in addition. Thus, if he be confined for three days or for fourteen 

 days, half a pound of bread only is sufficient for the dinner; but, if it be for 

 seven days, he is supposed to need one pound of potatoes in addition ! This 

 is the worst dietary in the whole of the county gaols , but the dietary of the 

 Derby Gaol* shows that Englishmen as well as Welshmen are sometimes fed 

 with the almost entire absence of animal food. The Derby dietary is divided 

 into three classes ; but we are not favoured with the grounds of this division. 

 In the first class there are six ounces of bread and one pint of porridge for 

 breakfast, whilst in the second and third classes the quantities are increased 

 to eight ounces and one pint and a half. The word porridge docs not imply 

 that excellent article which we remember to have enjoyed in boyhood, but it 

 consists of a quarter of a pint of milk and three-quarters of a pint of water, 

 and one ounce and a half of oatmeal, instead of two ounces ordered by the 

 Government to each pint of gruel. The supper consists of four ounces of 

 bread and one pint of gruel (we are not informed as to the ingredients of the 

 gruel) for the first class, six ounces of bread and one pint of porridge for the 

 second, and eight ounces of bread and one pint of porridge for the third. 

 The dinner in the first class is ten ounces of bread only; in the second class 

 there are eight ounces of bread and one pound of potatoes five times per 

 week, and eight ounces of bread and one pint of soup twice per week (the 

 excellence of the soup is not stated); in the third class eight ounces of bread 

 and two pounds of potatoes I twelve ounces of bread and one pint of soup 

 thrice, and twelve ounces of bread and four ounces of meat once per week. The 

 points of greatest interest are the excessive amount of farinaceous food, and 

 the great defect of animal food. There is also a note appended to this return, 

 stating that cases do sometimes occur of prisoners losing weight I If in the 

 Wakefield Prison, to which we shall refer presently, a very large number of 

 the prisoners lose weight under the best management, and with a much better 

 etary, it is not wonderful that at Derby they should lose weight sometimes^ 

 We should be glad to know if they are weighed accurately and periodically ; 

 if they enter the prison having an average weight ; what percentage in each 



