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into the best method of providing for the reformation, as well as the safe custody and punishment of offenders." This committee, having called before them a large number of persons, who were considered most competent to give testimony, on the operation of prison discipline, made a voluminous report, which we have procured from England. Appended to the report, are the mi

we extract the following passages, in corroboration of the sentiments we have expressed.

little and little, will solitude become less intolerable to the convict; until, as the history of some European prisons inform us, if the imprisonment be greatly protracted, the mind adapts itself with wonderful ease to its situation, and becomes almost reconciled to its new position. Under such circumstances, sources of amusement and interest are found, of which it is not easy for those, to whom the world is open, to form an idea. We be-nutes of evidence, taken by the committee from which lieve it has never been intended to exclude books from the solitary cells, where the convict is able to read. He will find a sufficient source of amusement and occupation for his mind, in this literary food, to prevent the monotony of the life being felt so severely. We know it will be said, that none but books inculcating moral or religious duties will be permitted, and therefore the moral effect of their introduction will be good. We admit the benefit of them, where the convict is able to read; but we shall argue, hereafter, that all this benefit of moral instruction may be obtained, on another system, without perpetual solitude. Habit, therefore, we conceive, will familiarize the mind with the monotony of solitude, and teach it to value and be interested in subjects of comparatively small moment.

Mr. John Orridge, governor of Bury jail, gave it as his opinion, that "solitary confinement operates in different ways; on an idle, sluggish mind, it has no effect; on a man of an active mind it operates very differently." In answer to an inquiry, whether it would be prudent to continue a system of solitary confinement, without employment, for a length of time, he replied, “No, I should not, for after a certain period, I think it becomes familiar, and has not the same effect; but for seven, fourteen or twenty-one days, I think it has a good effect.”* Mr. William Bridle, governor of the gaol at Ilchester for eleven years, having been asked whether a short period of solitary confinement was not sufficient to subdue the most refractory prisoners, replied, "It may in many cases; but I think if a short period of solitude will not be sufficient, a longer one will not. I think, after a certain time, a person in solitude gets hardened, he gets callous and does not care what becomes of him." He added that he spoke of solitary confinement without labour.

Sir G. O. Paul, an acting magistrate of the county of Gloucester for seventeen years, expressed an opinion, that solitude with occupation or employment would reform the most hardened criminal; but he admitted that "the effect of solitude depends on the character of the patient," and generally, he thought, solitude ought not to be continued more than a month, without some occupation of mind or body.

In the second place, the hope of pardon, where the power exists, and the approach of the period of discharge, where the confinement is limited by the sentence to a term of years, will probably operate to reduce the quantum of suffering. Where the law sentences the criminal to solitude for life, and no hope of pardon is permitted, there is reason to believe that despair soon Mr. Thomas Brutton, governor of the gaol at Deviser, terminate the career of the victim. Upon this point, testifies, (among other important matters to which we we have been favoured with the opinion of the direc- shall recur hereafter,) that solitary confinement had rators of the Virginia penitentiary, at Richmond, as ex- ther an ill effect upon the spirit and disposition of the pressed in their report to the legislature, in December, prisoners; and being asked in what respect, he answer1825, in which it is stated, that since the pardoning pow-ed "dullness and constant heaviness; the prisoners have er had been taken away from the executive, no instance appeared dull and heavy in consequence of their solitary had occurred of a convict, sentenced for life, surviving confinement." an attack of sickness. In every case the attack proved fatal. In the comparatively short period, however, now allotted in this state for penitentiary punishments, and the still shorter term which the advocates of solitary confinement propose to affix in future, the prisoner will have before his eyes, in no remote prospective, the termination of his solitude, rendered still more brief by the hope of pardon. Under such circumstances, the mind, if not interested in some industrious and profitable pursuit, such as a well conducted prison labour ought to be, will, we conceive, be frequently engaged in planning schemes for future occupation, of which it is to be feared that honest labour will form only a small part. We are told, by Lafayette, that in his solitary dungeon at Olmutz;-"During the whole time of my imprisonment, all my thoughts were directed to one single object, and my head full of plans for revolutionizing Europe.”*And he adds, speaking with reference to the system of solitary confinement, proposed to be put in execution at the new prison near Philadelphia;-" So, I think it will be with the thief; and when he shall be restored to society, it will be with his head full of plans, concerted and devised during this singularly favourable opportunity." Thus engaged in speculation for the future, and animated with the hope of an early discharge, it does not strike us, that either the reflection on the past, or the monotony of confinement, will operate with the severity and effect attributed to them, upon the great mass of convicts. In order to ascertain how far our opinion and conjectures were supported by facts, we have taken some pains to collect all the information that is extant in point upon this subject, and to make the necessary inquiries of persons conversant with prison discipline, and shall proceed to lay before the legislature such testimony as we have obtained. We begin with foreign countries.

In the year 1819, the British house of commons appointed a committee "to inquire into the state and description of gaols, and other places of confinement, and

Letter before referred to.

34

We might multiply extracts from the testimony laid before the British committee, to the same effect; but these will probably be sufficient to show the sentiments entertained in England at that time. A very recent report of a select committee, appointed at the last session of the British house of commons, "to inquire into the cause of the increase in the number of criminal commitments and convictions in England and Wales," and which bears date June 22, 1827, furnishes equally strong evidence of the opinions entertained there at the present time. We make the following extract, as sufficient for the purpose: "As for solitary confinement, it operates on different individuals very differently. A sluggard would sleep the greater part of the time; whereas it would drive an active person nearly to madness.”

In our own country, the experience and observations of persons best qualified to judge of the operation of solitary confinement as a punishment, is not less conclusive. Captain Lynds, the very intelligent agent of the New York state prison at Sing Sing, and who was for several years superintendant of that at Auburn, agrees with the English committee in considering solitary confinement as extremely unequal in its effects. He also satisfied himself by the experience of two years infliction of it; the particulars of which will be given hereafter, that the continuance of solitude, for any considerable period, hardened the disposition of the offender, in a great majority of cases, and rendered him either reckless or stupid. According to his observation, a convict left to himself in a solitary cell, would in most cases pass his time in

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1828.1

PENAL CODE AND PENITENTIARY SYSTEM.

utter inactivity both of body and mind, and, unless roused by external application, finally settle down into a condition of brutal torpor and listlessness.

The enlightened and humane persons, who constitute the Prison Discipline Society of Boston, bear the same testimony. In the first report for 1826, page 26, they have enumerated among the objections to solitary imprisonment, the inequality of its operation, considering it as a terrible punishment to the man of cultivated intellect, and acute sensibility; but as a comparatively light infliction upon the ignorant, the dull, and the torpid.

In the state of Maine, the experiment of solitary imprisonment without labour, has been tried to a conside

rable extent.

The result in respect to the point we are now considering, corresponds with the ideas we have advanced, and the experience of other places. The following extract from the report of the superintendant of the prison is taken from the second report of the Boston Prison Discipline Society, p. 64

215

large proportion of convicts are persons of neglected education, and habitual vice, in whose hearts the prevailing and rooted sentiment is one of disregard for moral obligation, and contempt or hatred for the law of the land. To such persons, of what avail would be solitary reflection in a moral point of view? It might induce regret for the commission of the offence, since its result was disastrous; or mortification at the triumph of the law; but it is hardly to be expected, that the foundation upon which, alone, true repentance and a determined purpose of amendment can be erected, can be prepared by unassisted reflection; or that we can reasonably hope to gather a harvest of good out of the barren waste of a convict's heart, in which probably the sced of a single virtue has never been sown. We fear that those who look for this voluntary reformation, from the internal fountain of the heart, will, in most cases, be disappointed, and that, instead of a lively and sincere penitence, we shall witness a result, similar to what has already taken place in some of our penitentiaries, namely, a sullen dogged indifference, which is content to sleep through "The great diversity of character, as respects habits the period of probation, or an affected and hypocritical and temperament of body and mind, renders solitary im- conversion, assumed for the purpose of exciting sympaprisonment a very unequal punishment. Some persons thy, and obtaining an early pardon. We are told, howwill endure solitary confinement, without appearing to ever, that reflection is not to be left to itself, but will be be much debilitated, either in body or mind, while aided by religious and moral instruction. Now, instrucothers will sink under much less, and if the punishment tion may be administered in two ways; by lectures or were unremittingly continued, would die or become in-verbal discourse and by means of works. The first would curably insane." Several cases are adduced to prove so materially impair the solitude of confinement, that we that long periods of solitary imprisonment may be en- should suppose it out of the question, to say nothing of dured by some, without sensible suffering, while in the expensiveness and inconvenience of employing so others both mental and bodily diseases have been pro- many religious teachers as would be necessary for induced. struction of detached pupils. If the proposed instruction is to be by means of books conveyed to the cells, it is to be considered how few convicts are able to read with advantage; and we presume that it is not intended to break either the stillness or monotony of solitude, by the establishment of a school inside of the prison for the purpose of teaching the illiterate to read. Again, supposing any considerable number able to read the bible, it may be questionable whether without due explanation and assistance the awful denunciations, perused in the gloom and stillness of perpetual solitude, may not produce a state of feeling greatly to be deprecated. If then, there be a sensibility to the operations of conscience in the heart of a convict, it seems to us, that the abandonment of it to perpetual solitary reflection, would be most likely to produce an intense excitement and over action of the moral sense, ending in nothing short of mental disease. If, on the other hand, the moral sense is wanting or has become callous by frequent ex3d. The next argument, in favour of solitary confine-posure to vice, we cannot perceive how reflection in soment without labour, is derived from its supposed ten- litude can improve the individual. dency to produce serious and valuable reflections, in the mind; whereby the heart and disposition of the offender may be reformed.

We shall not augment the volume of this report with further testimony and reasoning on this point. Sufficient we think has been produced to show that solitary imprisonment, without labour, is not deserving of commendation as a regular, and equitable, and certain punishment. In the examination of the question we have taken it for granted that complete seclusion was practicable, and have been content to discuss the subject on that basis. We shall probably, hereafter, be led to inquire whether it be practicable to cut off the convict from all intercourse with society, consistently with some essential provisions of every humane system of prison discipline. If it shall appear that entire separation from all intercourse with other persons is not practicable, then, of course, the degree of punishment inflicted by solitary confinement, without labour, is proportionably lessened, if not rendered altogether abortive.

The advocates of this system, it is to be observed, would devote the whole time of a convict to solitary meditation upon past crimes, and future prospects. No system, which would devote a suitable portion of time to this purpose, nothing, in fact, short of this perpetual unmixed meditation, from the hour of waking to the hour of sleep, appears, in the minds of the friends of this theory, sufficient to accomplish the object. We reply, however, to the arguments by which their views are sustained, that in the first place, it is not clear to our apprehension, that amendment of the purpose or heart will always, or to any considerable degree be the result of abandoning convicts to their own reflection. That the natural disposition of man is prone to evil, is a truth taught by holy writ, and confirmed by all experience. Of the crimes and offences, for the commission of which the civil magistrate is called upon to impose the penalties of the law, it is well known, that very few are committed by persons, who have had the benefit of a religious or moral education, by which men are taught to keep down the natural propensities to sin. A very

In the second place, we believe that all the good that is anticipated for perpetual solitary reflection, may be obtained, at a less expense, both to the convict and the public, by solitary confinement, for a portion of his time, viz: during the hours of evening and night. In the quiet, and stillness, and composure, of the night season, the mind is naturally disposed for reflection, and in those hours, a sense of religious awe and responsibility is more apt to awake than at any other period. Abundant time, too, is afforded for such meditation, on this subject; since, even at the season of the longest day labour, the convicts would be nine or ten hours out of the twenty-four, in their cells, besides one entire day out of seven, which might be devoted to this purpose. We believe it to be in accordance with philosophical experience to suggest, that the mind is not so constituted, as to be able to dwell incessantly on any given subject without injury, and that, probably, as much would be gained for any valuable purpose by devoting one half of the 24 hours to reflection, as by leaving the whole to it. We cannot, therefore, agree with the advocates of continued solitary confinement without labour, in the belief of the paramount efficacy and value in reforming the heart and disposition of offenders.

4th. It is argued, in the fourth place, that, inasmuch as the term of imprisonment will be shortened, by the adoption of the system of solitary imprisonment without labour, therefore, the public will be the gainers by its introduction.

It is evident, that this argument pre-supposes the soundness of all the other reasons urged in support of this system, viz. the superior and conclusive efficacy of the punishment of solitary confinement, both in the mind and body of the convict, and its tendency to produce his moral reformation. If we have succeeded in showing that in neither of these respects is there reason to suppose it will operate so beneficially as its friends suppose, then we destroy the foundation upon which this last argument rests. It seems to us indeed, that a reduction of the present period of confinement will tend in a great measure to defeat the object of the law, and to destroy whatever hope might be entertained of the efficacy of the punishment; since, if a period of only six or eight years be thought sufficient, even for the very highest crimes, the prospect of an early emancipation, especially in the case of lighter offences, will serve to counteract any impression, which the prison would otherwise make. On the score of economy too, whatever saving might be effected by shortening the term of imprisonment, will be more than balanced by the expense which solitude with or without labour, will entail upon the public. We think this point may be dismissed without further com

ment.

We have now gone through the examination of the several reasons urged in favour of the adoption of solitary imprisonment without labour, and have endeavoured to show, that those arguments are either unsound in themselves, or inconclusive in the present controversy, because equally applicable to other, and less expensive, and inconvenient modes of punishment. We proceed, now, to point out to the legislature, certain positive objections to, and arguments against, this system, which we had not occasion before to notice.

And, first, it is no small objection to the system of solitary imprisonment without labour, that it imposes upon the community a great annual amount of expense. We are aware, that it may be said, as it often has been urged, that in a question of subduing vice and protecting the innocent, expense ought not to be considered; and, that inasmuch, as the great number of offences affect property, it is the truest economy to adopt the most effectual, however expensive, means of guarding it from invasion. Notwithstanding this argument, we cannot but think, that the question of cost is an essential ingredient in all discussions of penal discipline. In every community the honest and virtuous suffer more or less in their property from the dishonest and vicious. A large por tion of what is paid from the hard earnings of the industrious, or from the savings of the prudent, for municipal taxes, is appropriated to the prevention or punishment of crimes. Under any system of penal discipline, whether offenders are hung or imprisoned, the expenses of arresting and convicting them, must be borne by the virtuous part of the community. All these, it must be remembered, are over and beyond the annual loss of property occasioned by the crimes of robbery, arson, counterfeiting, &c. the amount of which it is not easy to estimate, but which must certainly average a very considerable sum. Such being the fact, it appears to us, that the system of punishment ought to be one, in which the least expense is incurred to arrive at a good result. The honest part of the community being already so heavily taxed by the depredation of offenders, it ought not to be additionally burthened by great annual expense in maintaining them. We wish however to be fully understood. If it can be shown, that the system of solitary imprisonment without labour, is able to work the almost miraculous effect of extirpating crime; if criminals are to be reformed or banished by the dread of the punishment, from our land, then indeed the past cost will have been well expended. But, as we have seen no reason to think

that crimes will cease; and as we believe that all that can be hoped for, from any human system, is the diminution of the number of offenders for the time, or the amelioration in the character and shade of crimes, the question becomes a mixed one, involving considerations of the capacity to produce a certain result, and of the expensiveness of the machinery employed in the operation. And, in this view of the subject, it becomes material to inquire how far legislators may justly go, in imposing taxes upon the honest and industrious, for the support of criminals in idleness, and for their attempted reformation. If a comfortable dwelling house, and an annual salary, sufficient for the purchase of fuel, provisions and clothing, were to be presented by the commonwealth to every person convicted of larceny, it is probable that the convicts so provided for, would steal no more, but it will hardly be contended, that the result would justify the expenditure. In comparing, therefore, one mode of punishment with another, the question of the greater or less expensiveness of the several plans becomes material and important.

Let us consider, then, the system of solitary confine. ment with reference to its annual cost. To enable us to give a full and proper view of this part of our subject, it is necessary to enter somewhat into detail respecting the two great penitentiaries now built or building at Pittsburg and Philadelphia.

First of the penitentiary at Pittsburg.

The official report of the commissioners appointed by the Governor, in pursuance of the Act of April 1, 1826, which report was made to the last session of the legisla ture, states the whole cost of the Pittsburg penitentiary at $165,846. Which has provided 190 cells, calculated exclusively for solitary confinement, without labour. How far it answers the intended purpose, we shall see hereafter. The annual interest upon the sum thus expended, is $9,950.

The prison affords accommodation as we have stated, for 190 convicts. At the date of our last report, however, there were only 30 persons in confinement; the prison having been finished only a short time. The number that are probably become inmates of this prison can be ascertained, with sufficient precision, by taking the returns from those counties, which have heretofore sent their convicts to Philadelphia; but which are now by the act of assembly, to send them to Pittsburg. According to the returns which we have received from the inspectors of the prison in Philadelphia, the average number of convicts in that prison from those counties was as follows:

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Making the average of the three years amount to 90; which, we have reason to suppose, will be about the number to be confined in future in the Pittsburg penitentiary. Now, according to an estimate with which we have been furnished by the inspectors of that prison, the present annual expense of maintaining convicts there, (exclusive of the salaries of officers,) amounts to $77,57 for each prisoner. Taking the future average number of convicts at ninety, and calculating the annual expense of each at $77, the whole cost of support will be 6,930 dolls. per annum. The amount now paid for salaries is 2,000 per annum; but this amount must be increased with the increasing number of convicts. The annual expense of the Pittsburg penitentiary, therefore, will be

Not less than

Which we think, for reasons that will be stated hereafter, must be defrayed out of the state

$8,930

* It is believed that this expense will be somewhat reduced with the increase in the number of convicts; but in the same proportion must the number of officers be increased, and the consequent expenses of the establishment.

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Which will furnish accommodations for 114

convicts.

And the whole cost of the penitentiary, upon the original scale, is estimated at

We may safely add to this estimate five per cent. inasmuch as the actual expense of all such undertakings largely exceeds the estimates; which would make

$330,649 00

The annual expense for clothing, provisions, fuel, lights, medicine, &c. including the estimated value of convict labour employed in the prison for these purposes, during the same years, was in

1820

1821

1822

1823

1824
1825

$27,120

26,389

32,690

33,848

34,525

34,039

The difference between these sums, and the total amount of expense above stated, consists of the salaries of the officers, repairs of prison, furniture, &c. The average annual cost, therefore, of each convict during $430,627 00 these six years, calculated on the total annual amount of expense, is $82 90. Calculated, however, on the annual amount of expenditures for clothing, support, &c. the average is $60 26; which agrees remarkably with the cost in the New York city prison for the year 1823, where the expense of each convict, including the materials, &c. furnished within the establishment, average $60 28. The subsequent reports from that institution are incomplete, in not furnishing estimates of the value of the materials and labour provided within the prison.

$452,127 00

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Making an average of 498, which we must suppose will be about the future number.

In order to ascertain the probable annual expense of supporting the number of convicts, in solitary confinement without labour, we caused returns to be made from the Philadelphia prison, of the actual expenses of that institution for support, clothing, &c. for the last five years.

We have also obtained returns from the penitentiaries of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York city, Auburn, and New Jersey, from which the annual expense of maintaining their respective convicts may be ascertained. It is to be observed, however, that in most of these the actual cost is not stated; because the labour of the convicts in the prison, in preparing food, making the materials of clothing, making up the garments and other clothing, and performing the menial services of the household is not charged; which items will form a material part of the expenditure of a prison without labouring convicts. The details of the expenditures of the prisons, we have spoken of, will be given hereafter. At present, it is only necessary to state, that the returns from the Philadelphia prison enable us to ascertain very nearly the actual annual expense of each convict, because they furnish estimates of the whole value of the convict labour employed about the establishment. From these returns it appears that the total annual expense of the institution, for the six years ending with 1825, was as follows:

No. 14.

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234 unprovided for; the expense of cells for whom, somewhere, must be furnished by the state, and will form an additional item in the expense. We shall show hereafter, what proportion of the annual charge above stated, may be defrayed by the convicts themselves, under a judicious system of labour. We have not included in this estimate the cost of transporting convicts from the different counties to the penitentiaries, which in the three years previous to 1821, averaged $8,681 per annum. We are justified then, we think, in calling the attention of the legislature to the greater comparative expense of the system of solitary confinement, without labour, as an important consideration in determining upon its re-removed to the hospital, after short periods of confinelative merits.

2. The next objection that we feel called upon to make to solitary confinement without labour, is its tendency to produce bodily infirmity, and perhaps mental disease or imbecility.

It appears, that the state prison of Maine has been in operation about three years. A large number of the convicts have been sentenced to six months solitary confinement, day and night, and to a period, afterwards of solitary confinement by night, and hard labour by day. Others have been sentenced to solitary confinement, by day and night, for the whole term of their imprisonment. The result of the experiment has been stated in a report to the legislature, by the superintendant, who is represented to be a physician by profession, and a person of general ability and intelligence. Eleven cases are particularly mentioned; of whom five were necessarily ment; two committed suicide in their cells; three endured each three months, and one six months solitary confinement without any visible effect on their health, bodily or mental. The general result however may be stated in the words of the superintendant.

"In general, nearly as much time is necessary in the

It has never been distinctly stated, by the friends of this system, so far as we recollect, whether it is their in-hospital, to fulfil long solitary sentences, as in the cells." tention to propose that the solitary convict should be fed "Some persons will endure solitary confinement withupon the diet of bread and water, most frequently used out appearing to be much debilitated, either in body or in cells, or receive the ordinary prison allowance of the mind, while others sink under much less, and if the pupresent penitentiary. If the first be contemplated, then nishment was unremittedly continued would die or bewe have no hesitation in averring our conviction, that come incurably insane. However persons of strong the confinement cannot be continued for any conside- minds who suffer in what they deem a righteous cause rable period without materially and sensibly affecting the may be able to endure confinement, and retain their bohealth and strength of the prisoner. A slight know- dily and mental vigour, yet it is not to be expected of ledge of the human constitution, especially of the consti- criminals with minds discouraged by conviction and distutions of that class of persons who are found in our pri- grace." "Long periods of solitary imprisonment, insons, is sufficient to support this belief, which is fully Hicted on convicts sentenced to be confined at hard lasustained by the experience of all the superintendants of bour, are in my opinion worse than useless, as a means prisons to whom we have applied for information. Capt. of reformation; and are very expensive to the state.Lynd, to whose testimony we have already referred, By debilitating the body and mind, it renders the constated to us, that in his opinion, health could not be sus-vict both indisposed and unable to perform profitable tained in solitude, upon a diet of bread and water, be- labour. They will therefore be maintained for a consiyond a very short period. At Auburn, the experiment derable part of their time of imprisonment as invalids, at of solitary confinement was tried in 1823, by direction of an increased expense for medicines and hospitable the legislature. Where the system of low diet was con- food." tinued beyond 60 or 70 days the inspectors were under the necessity in most instances of transferring the convict from his cell to the hospital, where tonics and nourishing food were necessary to restore his strength.

Mr. Gibson, the keeper of the state prison in the city of New York, informed us that he had known men kept seventy days in the cells on a bread and water diet. At the expiration of that period, they were found so emaciated as to be unable to walk; and in many cases were with difficulty recovered. He thinks, that a confinement of more than thirty or forty days on bread and water is injurious to the health.

Mr. Labaw, the keeper of the New Jersey state prison, expressed to us similar sentiments. He stated, that he had known cases in which a confinement upon bread and water, for so short a period as twenty days, had rendered it necessary to transfer the convict to the hospital. We avoid citing any other testimonies to the same purpose, because we are satisfied that the scheme of attempting to support convicts in solitary confinement on a very low diet can find but few advocates.

In consequence of this report the legislature of Maine, in February last, passed an act abolishing solitary imprisonment, except as an instrument of prison discipline, and substituting the punishment of hard labour.

In Massachusetts, the experiment of solitary confinement has also been tried, but without any valuable results. We were informed; on a recent visit to the state prison in Charlestown, near Boston, that one prisoner had been in solitude without the possibility of communication with any other for nearly five years, but without any visible advantage. Another had been in the same kind of seclusion for two years without any benefit.

We come now to the state prisons of New York. We have already quoted the opinion of Captain Lynd, the former superintendant of the Auburn prison, in which place the experiment of solitary confinement was fully tried as to the effect of the punishment with a diet of bread and water. A valuable record of the experience of that prison, and an useful document for our own state, is to be found in the report of Messrs. Allen, Hopkins, and Tibbits, the commissioners appointed by the legis What will be the effect upon the bodily condition of lature of New York, in 1824, to visit the state prisons solitary confinement without labour, where the convict and report upon their discipline and comparative effiis furnished with the usual prison allowance of food, is ciency. Their examination of the question of solitary a question of, perhaps, more difficult solution. That confinement appears to have been conducted with great bodily infirmity will be created, appears to us probable, minuteness and impartiality, and the report goes into when we consider that the air of the narrow and much detail. We are anxious to illustrate and strengthclose cell, in which the convict must be confined, will en our own opinions by their valuable labours; but we in all likelihood be unwholesome; that he will be de- are restrained from making many extracts by the fear of prived of the advantage of exercise, or at all events ex-increasing too much the bulk of this report. The fol ceedingly limited in the use of it, and that wherever the mind or spirits of the convict become affected by his confinement, the body will suffer in proportion. We proceed, now, to ascertain whether we are borne out in our suppositions respecting the influence of solitary confinement, on the minds and bodies of convicts, by the experience of those prisons in which the experiment has been tried. We begin with the state of Maine.

lowing passages, however, are too important to be omitted. It will be seen that they bear upon all the objections to solitary confinemet.

"The convicts doomed to solitude, amounting to 36, have been separately examined in the cells, and a mi

* 2d Report of the Boston Prison Discipline Society, page 61.

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