ji ’ 
Vaux.) 654. {June 20, 
“ And whereas, the laws heretofore made for the purpose of carrying 
the said provisions of the Constitution into effect have in some degree 
failed of success, from the exposure of the offenders employed at hard 
labor to public view, and from the communication with each other not 
being sufficiently restrained within the places of confinement; and it is 
hoped that the addition of unremitted solitude to laborious employment, 
as far as it can be effected, will contribute as much to reform as to deter. 
‘* Section 8 of the act provides for the erection of cells in the gaol yard for 
the purpose of confining there the more hardened and atrocious offenders. 
Section 10 declares the cells to be a part of the gaol and requires all per- 
sons who cannot be accommodated in the cells to be kept separate and 
apart from each other, as much as the convenience of the building will 
admit. 
‘Section 18 restricts the visitors to the prison to various officials and 
persons having a written ‘license’ signed by two inspectors.’’ 
This law was a decided triumph for those engaged in prison reforms. It 
was the first authoritative endorsement by the Legislature of Pennsylvania 
of the two principles to which attention has been called. Though tenta- 
tive in its object, it placed the Pennsylvania prison system on its trial, 
limited as it was to the most ill-devised and circumscribed opportunities. 
In the year 1801 the society again addressed the Legislature stating the 
progress made by former Legislatures in preventing crime and reforming 
criminals were satisfactory, * * * ‘though it was not expected that 
the practical part could be suddenly or completely effected.’’ It was con- 
sidered then only as an experiment. The society again urged the Legis- 
lature to make a fair experiment of solitude and labor on convicts. 
In 18083 a marked confidence is shown by the memorial of the society to 
the Legislature, as the following extract proves : 
“Placed as we are in a situation to observe the salutary effects of soli- 
tude and labor in preventing crimes and reforming criminals, we trust you 
will as heretofore receive our application with indulgence, and therefore 
again respectfully submit to your consideration the propriety of granting 
another building for the purpose of making such separation amongst pris- 
oners as the nature and wants of this truly benevolent system requires,’’ 
Persistent in its efforts, and gaining knowledge and faith from experi- 
ence, in 1818 the society more broadly expressed itself in a memorial to 
the Legislature. Confirming the satisfaction which thus far had attended 
the trial of the system, imperfect as it was, the memorialist * * ‘‘there- 
fore respectfully request the Legislature to consider the propriety and ex- 
pediency of erecting penitentiaries in suitable parts of the State for the 
more effectual employment and separation of prisoners, and of proving 
the efficacy of solitude on the morals of those unhappy objects.’’ 
After such earnest appeals, asserting the confident belief in the princi- 
ples of separation of convicts during imprisonment by men whose high 
