S3 
PHILADELPHIA. 
treafing number of the convifted. At this period, fome 
of the moli refpeftable citizens of Philadelphia formed 
rhemfelves into a fociety, with the view of alleviating the 
miferies of the prifons, of afcertaining their defeats, and 
of pointing out to the government the prevailing abufes. 
This fociety was the occafion of an additional mitigation 
of the penal code. In 1790 the legiflature abolifhed the 
punifhments of public labour, of mutilation, and of whip¬ 
ping; and fubflituted, in their dead, imprifonment, fine, 
and reparation for the crime committed. The fame law 
gave it in charge to a board of infpeftors to make (with 
the approbation of the judges, &c.) fuch alterations as 
might be neceflary for the internal management of the 
prifons. Regulations were fpeedily concerted, and, the 
neceflary alterations in the buildings being made, the new 
difcipline commenced. The trials already made have fo 
fully anfwered expeftation, that, during the laft year, 
the legiflature has proceeded to a further mitigation of its 
- penal code, and has confined the punilhment of death to 
premeditated murder. 
It is only in that part of the Philadelphia-prifon which 
is appropriated to convifts that the new difcipline has at 
prefent been introduced. Thofe convifts who are con¬ 
demned for crimes heretofore puniftiable with death, are 
always fentenced to folitary confinement during a part of 
their detention. Thofe convifts who are not under foli¬ 
tary confinement have work afligned them, adapted to 
their ftrength and capacity. Every one is paid in pro¬ 
portion to his labour: out of the profits the prifoner is 
obliged to pay his board, and the price or hire of the in- 
ftruments he ufes; he pays, alfo, the expenfes of profecu- 
tion, and a fine, as a reparation of his crime. As the pri¬ 
foner is never put in irons; as blows, ill-treatment, and 
threats, are ftriftly forbidden; as, in fine, the whole difci¬ 
pline of this houfe of correction tends to make it a houfe 
of amendment, the office of gaolercannot be repugnant to 
the feelings of a well-inclined individual. The falary is a 
very good one, and the wages of the under-officers fuffi- 
cient for their ftations. The frequent vifits of the in¬ 
fpeftors enfure, in fome meafure, the integrity of the 
keepers, and prevent every fpecies of exaction. The pri¬ 
soners are never permitted the ufe of fermented liquors ; 
laughing, finging, bawling, and mutual reproaches, are 
prohibited, and long converfations. The turnkeys are 
conffantly parading in the paflages, in the courts, and 
among the prifoners. The prifoners are punifhed for 
difobedience to the orders of the houfe, and for idlenefs, 
by folitary confinement, inflifted by the gaoler; who is 
obliged, as foon as poflible, to report what he has done to 
the infpedtors. This is the only punifnment known in 
the gaol, the gaoler and turnkeys are forbidden even to 
carry flicks, left, in the moment of paflion, they fhould 
ftrike a prifoner, and break in upon that fyftem of tran¬ 
quillity and impartial juflice from which is expedted fo 
much benefit. The new regimen has produced a remark¬ 
able change in the health of the prifoners, which is evi¬ 
dent in the phyfician’s bill, which formerly amounted to 
two or three hundred dollars per quarter, but at prefent 
feldom rifes above forty. The prifoners have religions 
inftrudtion afforded them, and religious books are given 
to thofe who requeft-them. 
The infpedtors are permitted to petition the governor 
for the pardon of prifoners. They make ufe of this pri¬ 
vilege whenever they think t'nemfelves well allured of 
the amendment of the convidt, and that he has acquired 
a fufficient fum of money by his labour, or has the means 
of fubfiftence in his family. The convifts, on leaving 
the prifon, receive the overplus of their gains. There 
are fome wdio difpofe of their profits even during the time 
of their imprifonment for the maintenance of their fami¬ 
lies ;>tnd, fuch have been the admirable fruits of the new 
difcipline, that, out of thofe who leave the gaol, whether 
in confequence of a pardon, or on jhe expiration of their 
fentence, not above two in a hundred ever return to it; 
while, under the old fyftem, the prifons were filled with 
confirmed criminals, who carried out more vices than 
they brought in, and u'ere continually returning to their 
fetters, till they terminated their exiltence on the fcaf- 
fold. 
The mitigation of the feverity of the laws renders the 
certainty of punifhment much greater, and this certainty 
of punifhment has proved a great check upon criminality. 
The regularity and order of the prifon, and the uninter¬ 
rupted and unrelaxed ftridtnefs of the difcipline to which 
the prifoners are fubjedted, contribute to the fame end. 
The prefent llate of the prifon holds out to the offenders 
no other fcenes than thofe of annihilated liberty, the ob¬ 
ligation to labour, and the injundtion of regularity and 
filence. The fyftem of labour, regularity, and exaftnefs, 
was at firft vehemently oppofed by the prifoners, as was 
the tread-mill more recently with us. 
The refult of the experiment, after the firft four years 
of trial, was, iff. That many perlbns formerly loft to fo¬ 
ciety are reftored to it, become ufeful members to the 
community, and bring back into it thofe habits of labour 
and induffry, which in every quarter of the globs are the 
moll certain and powerful prefervatives againlt wickednefs 
and crimes, zdly. That the expenfe of their detention 
does not fall upon the public ; fince the ftate, which had 
formerly to fupport only the expenfes of repairs and of 
fervants’ wages, is at this time burdened with no part of 
the expenfe 5 but has, on the contrary, an excefs of in¬ 
come arifing from this fund, which is thrown into the 
public trealury, to be employed in other public works. 
The fuccefs of the new fyftem is therefore more 
complete than Howard himfelf had ventured to contem¬ 
plate : for he confidered the hope, that the labour 
of prifoners would defray the expenfes of their detention 
as an illufion ; and yet thofe in the gaol of Philadelphia, 
on their difmiffton, befides paying their expenfes of every 
kind, take with them an overplus of profit. His opinion 
was, likewife, that fetters, and even whipping, were in- 
difpenfable in the management of prifons; and yet, all 
corporal correftion, as well as irons, are forbidden in this 
gaol. And laftly, the punifhment of death, which, accor¬ 
ding to Howard, the law ought ftill to inflict on houfe- 
breakers, incendiaries, and murderers in general, is con¬ 
fined here to murders of the firft degree, by which is 
meant, murder that is perpetrated by wilful premeditated 
intention, or in attempts to commit rape, robbery, or the 
like. Every other offence, according to its enormity, is 
punifhed by folitary imprifonment of a determined dura¬ 
tion. The longeft term of imprifonment is for rape, 
which is not to be lefs than ten years, nor more than 
twenty-one ; even for high treafon, the confinement is 
only from fix years to twelve. From 1787 to 1791, under 
the old fyltem, there were 594. convifts; from 1791 to 
1795, under the new fyftem, there were only 243 ; though, 
during the firft four years, the prifons were peopled from 
the city'and county of Philadelphia only; and, during 
the laft four years, the whole ftate of Pennfylvania fent 
its convifts in addition. Daring the firft four years, 
feventy-three criminals were condemned for the fecond 
time, and fome even five or fix times; five convifts only, 
of thofe belonging ftriftly to the new order, were re- 
convifted during the lait four. 
Several canals are let into the town, which add much 
to the beauty and convenience of the place. Its quay is 
200 feet fquare, to which (hips of 400 or 500 tons may 
come up, and lay their broadiides clofe to it; with wet 
and dry docks for building and repairing fhips, befides 
magazines, warehoufes, and all other convenience for 
exporting and importing merchandize. Scarcely any 
thing can appear more beautiful than, the city and the 
adjacent country, which for fome mites may be compared 
to a fine and flourifhing garden. Philadelphia is diftant 
728 miles fouth-weft of Paflamaqnoddy, the moft eafterly 
part of the fea coaft of the United States; 347 fouth-weit 
of Bolton; 95 weft of New York; 102 north-eafl of 
Baltimore; 144 north-eafl of Wufhington; and 925 
north- 
