Summary
This is the school, in which so many brave men have been made.–
Beggars' Opera.In this jail the prisoners complained much of cold, and not unreasonably, as I thought, for the dayroom for all of them, at this time amounting to thirty-five, and at one period of the year for a short time amounting to as many as one hundred, is nine feet ten inches by nine feet six inches; eight feet three inches high. It is therefore evidently impossible, in snow, or rain, or frost, for them to obtain shelter or warmth. A prisoner, however, has the privilege, if he requires it, of being shut up all day in his sleeping cell, with unclosed windows and without fire, and these cells are opened in very severe weather.
There is no Infirmary, and no possibility of separating the healthy from the sick. They must sleep together, and the rooms must be crowded. Low fever was very prevalent in the autumn; there were as many as six cases at a time: had the disorder been very contagious, the consequences, in the Governor's opinion, must have been dreadful.
There is no chapel, service in fine weather is performed in the yard, in the winter it is often dispensed with.
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- An Inquiry, whether Crime and Misery are Produced or Prevented, by our Present System of Prison Discipline , pp. 40 - 45Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009First published in: 1818