county gaol at Beverley. It is used for the purpose of grinding chalkstone. The manufacture of whiting is carried on by those who are convicted, but not sentenced to hard labour. Prisoners before trial are employed in making list shoes.

Several important alterations have taken place in the construction of the house of correction at Wakefield, since the publication of the Society's last Report. The part appropriated to the female prisoners has been enlarged. The tread-wheels have lately been completed, but no women are employed at them. Weaving coarse cloth from the raw wool, and also calicoes and linseys, continue to be carried on; and a sufficient quantity is manufactured to supply, in a great measure, the prisoners of the county with clothing.

Very extensive alterations have been made at the bridewell at Glasgow, agreeably to an excellent design recommended to the commissioners of that city by Mr. Brebner, the intelligent governor.* In this prison there are a number of mills for twining yarn, or making cotton and linen thread, and which furnish regular employment to upwards of a hundred persons daily: the cost of each of these machines is about £15. The threadmill is worked by one individual at a time: it is a species of labour well adapted to a gaol, as while it is clean and healthy there is no possible way of avoiding the performance of the work, and it admits also of placing the prisoners in solitary confinement.

For a more detailed description of the improvements that have taken place in the several prisons throughout England, the Committee refer to the Appendix, which records the actual results of a great variety of expe

* Vide Appendix, page 194.

rience: its perusal cannot fail to give rise to reflections of deep interest, and has suggested several considerations to which the Committee beg to solicit the public attention.

It will be seen by these statements, that considerable alterations are now in progress in the construction of various gaols and houses of correction. At such a period, too much attention cannot be paid to the adoption of sound principles of prison architecture. On this important subject very erroneous notions prevail. The power of obtaining constant and complete inspection is perhaps the most valuable feature in the construction of a prison. It is therefore highly important, in the arrangement of designs for gaols, that this power should be exercised by the governor with the utmost facility, and to the greatest extent. Inspection should be obtained not only over the prisoners in their respective departments and different occupations, but likewise over the inferior officers-an object of no small importance, when it is considered that their example has great influence on the conduct of those over whom they are placed.* An opportunity was lately afforded to the Committee of examining the plans of the principal county prisons in England; and it appeared, from a careful investigation of the merits of each, that out of 96 plans which came under the notice of the Committee,

The great necessity of inspection has been fully recognised by the Legislature in the Gaol Act, in which it is required "that in the altering, enlarging or repairing of any gaol or house of correction under this Act, the justices shall adopt such plans as shall afford the most effectual means for the security and inspection of the prisoners. The building shall be so constructed or applied, and the keepers' and officers' apartments so situated, as may best ensure the safety of the prison, and facilitate the control and superintendence of those committed thereto.”

28 only afforded the power of inspecting the airing yards: in 32 prisons a very partial inspection could be exercised, and 36 were found to be entirely defective in this primary feature of the construction of a good gaol. It is painful to observe that even in gaols of modern erection, the importance of inspection has either not been adequately appreciated, or has been altogether neglected. Many buildings constructed on the radiating principle offer no means of inspecting the day-rooms or work-rooms from the central station occupied by the governor, without his approach being made known to the prisoners. This is a great defect; and is especially to be lamented in those gaols where manufactures have been introduced, and where consequently a small portion only of the prisoners' time is spent in the airing-yards, where in many cases they are under inspection.

It is to be regretted that the semicircular or crescent plan, which is by no means calculated to secure inspection, should be frequently adopted. As the objections to this form of prison building do not appear to be generally understood, the Committee cannot forbear to notice its most prominent defects. A conviction of the inferiority of designs on this principle, to which the Committee made some allusion on a former occasion, has been strengthened by continued observation and experience; and some Reports in the Appendix strikingly exemplify the errors peculiar to this mode of gaol construction. In the semicircular plan the prisoners' apartments are placed at a considerable distance from the central station occupied by the governor: the possibility of inspecting the apartments is thereby precluded, unless the officers of the gaol expose themselves to observation. They must, in fact, cross the airing-yards

before they can enter the prisoners' rooms; during which time their movements are discovered, and the prisoners are enabled to prepare for their approach. Thus, the advantage of constant and secret inspection is lost; as is also the facility of access to each department. These objects may be secured by buildings on the radiating principle, properly constructed, in which every day-room, work-room, and cell-gallery, can be brought near to the central station, and the whole of the interior placed under the complete inspection of the officers, who are also enabled to make immediate and unobserved visits to the several departments. The semicircular arrangement of the buildings and airing-yards is objectionable; as, by adjoining, they afford facility for communication between different classes of prisoners. The walled enclosure on three sides of each yard, renders the departments much less airy and salubrious, than when a thorough ventilation is obtained by means of an iron-railed enclosure, placed on two opposite sides of the yards, as in the radiating plan: by these means the interior of the prison derives the benefit of free air from every quarter. The position of the semicircular range of building is very detrimental to the general security of the gaol, as it diminishes the extent of inspection within its boundaries. The prisoners' buildings effectually conceal the external wall, and become as it were a screen, behind which, preparations may be carried on by the prisoner for escaping over that part of the boundary, should he succeed in breaking through the back-wall of the cell-buildings, where he knows that he has least to fear from inspection. But, in prisons on the radiating principle, this defect is re

moved, as the ends of the buildings present but a small obstruction to the officers' view, from the centre, over the whole of the grounds in the rear, including the boundary. The airing-yards are also brought into view, as in the semicircular plan, but with the advantage that no prisoner can attempt to pass any of the intermediate boundaries, without the risk of being seen by the officers: even if he should succeed at night in breaking through his sleeping-cell into the airing-yard, he will then have an additional barrier to oppose his progress; as he must surmount the lofty iron-railed enclosure of the yard, before he can make his way to the boundary-wall. The converging form of radiating buildings possesses the advantage of facilitating the conveyance of sounds to the centre, at night; an arrangement which essentially contributes to the general security of the prison.*

To reduce to one standard of reference a variety of documents relating to prison discipline, which have been laid before Parliament, the Committee have inserted in the Appendix a comparative statement, combining many details of management, of the prisons included in the Gaol Act. It appears that eighty prisons, therein referred to, are still deficient in the number of classes required by law. In many, the want of a sufficient number of sleeping-cells is found to be a great evil. In twenty-two county gaols, the actual num

This advantage may be secured, to a considerable extent, by means of tubes or pipes passing from each cell or gallery, and terminating with a funnel in the officers' apartments. Vide Appendix, 1824, page 116. + Page 164, 181.

It is a common practice in many prisons to place two, three, or more prisoners in one night-cell: many of these cells are of a sufficient size to contain two prisoners, and these might generally be divided into smaller