A Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis Part 40

_EMPLOYING_ AND _REFORMING CONVICTS_.

The Author, having turned his thoughts to the Penitentiary System from its first origin, and having lately contrived a Building in which any number of persons may be kept within the reach of being inspected during every moment of their lives, and having made out, as he flatters himself, to demonstration, that the only eligible mode of managing an Establishment of such a nature, in a Building of such a construction, would be by _Contract_, has been induced to make public the following Proposal for Maintaining and Employing Convicts in general, or such of them as would otherwise be confined on board the Hulks, for 25 per cent. less than it costs Government to maintain them there at present; deducting also the average value of the work at present performed by them for the Public: upon the terms of his receiving the produce of their labour, _taking on himself the whole expence of the_ BUILDING, _fitting up and stocking_,[152] without any advance to be made by Government for that purpose, requiring only that the abatement and deduction above-mentioned shall be suspended for the first year.

[Footnote 152: All these articles taken into the account, the originally-intended Penitentiary Houses on the late Mr. Blackburne's plan, would not have cost so little as .200 per man:--for 1000 Prisoners, .200,000: exclusive of the whole _annual_ expence of maintenance, &c. to an unliquidated amount.]

Upon the above-mentioned Terms, he would engage as follows:

I. To furnish the Prisoners with a constant supply of wholesome _Food_, not limited in quant.i.ty, but adequate to each man's desires.

II. To keep them _clad_ in a state of tightness and neatness, superior to what is usual even in the Improved Prisons.

III. To keep them supplied with _separate Beds_ and Bedding, competent to their situations, and in a state of cleanliness scarcely any where conjoined with liberty.

IV. To insure to them a sufficient supply of artificial _warmth_ and _light_, whenever the season renders it necessary: and thereby save the necessity of taking them prematurely from their work, at such seasons (as in other places) as well as preserve them from suffering by the inclemency of the weather.

V. To keep constantly from them, in conformity to the practice so happily received, every kind of _strong_ and spirituous liquor; unless where ordered in the way of medicine.

VI. To maintain them in a state of inviolable, though mitigated seclusion, in _a.s.sorted_ companies, without any of those opportunities of promiscuous a.s.sociation, which in other places, disturb, if not destroy, whatever good effect can have been expected from occasional solitude.

VII. To give them an interest in their work, by allowing them a share in the produce.

VIII. To convert the prison into a _school_, and, by an extended application of the principle of _the Sunday Schools_, to return its inhabitants into the world instructed, at least as well as in ordinary schools, in the most useful branches of vulgar learning, as well as in some trade or occupation, whereby they may afterwards earn their livelihood. Extraordinary culture of extraordinary talents is not, in this point of view, worth mentioning: it would be for his own advantage to give them every instruction by which the value of their labour may be increased.

IX. To pay a penal sum for every _escape_, with or without any default of his, irresistible violence from without excepted; and this without employing _irons_ on any occasion, or in any shape.

X. To provide them with _spiritual_ and _medical_ a.s.sistants, constantly living in the midst of them, and incessantly keeping them in view.

XI. To pay a sum of money for every one who _dies_ under his care, taking thereby upon him the insurance of their lives for an ordinary premium: and that at a rate grounded on an average of the number of deaths, not among imprisoned Felons, but among persons of the same ages in a state of liberty within the Bills of Mortality.

XII. To lay for them the foundation-stone of a _provision for old age_, upon the plan of the _Annuity Societies_.

XIII. To insure to them a _livelihood_, at the expiration of their terms, by setting up a _Subsidiary Establishment_, into which all such as thought proper, should be admitted, and in which they would be continued in the exercise of the trades in which they were employed during their confinement, without any further expence to Government.

XIV. To make himself personally responsible for the reformatory efficacy of his management, and even make amends, in most instances, for any accident of its failure, by paying a sum of money for every Prisoner convicted of a Felony after his discharge, at a rate, increasing according to the number of years he had been under the Proposer's care, viz. a sum not exceeding 10_l._ if the Prisoner had been in the Penitentiary Panopticon _one_ year: not exceeding 15_l._ if _two_ years; not exceeding 20_l._ if _three_ years; not exceeding 25_l._ if _four_ years; not exceeding 30_l._ if _five_ years or upwards: such sum to be paid immediately on conviction, and to be applied to the indemnification of the persons injured by such subsequent offence, and to be equal in amount to the value of the injury, so long as it did not exceed the sums respectively above specified.

XV. To present to the Court of King's Bench, on a certain day of every Term, and afterwards print and publish, at his own expence, a Report, exhibiting, in detail, the state, not only moral and medical, but economical, of the Establishment; showing the whole profits, if any, and in what manner they arise; and then and there, as well as on any other day, upon summons from the Court, to make answer to all such questions as shall be put to him in relation thereto, not only on the part of the Court or Officer of the Crown, but, by leave of the Court, on the part of any person whatsoever; questions, the answer to which might tend to subject him to conviction, though it were for a capital crime, not excepted: treading under foot a maxim, invented by the guilty for the benefit of the guilty, and from which none but the guilty ever derived any advantage.

XVI. By neatness and cleanliness, by diversity of employment, by variety of contrivance, and above all, by that peculiarity of construction, which, without any unpleasant or hazardous vicinity, enables the whole Establishment to be inspected at a view, from a commodious and insulated room in the centre, the Prisoners remaining unconscious of their being thus observed, it should be his study to render it a spectacle such as persons of all cla.s.ses would, in the way of amus.e.m.e.nt, be curious to partake of: and that, not only on Sundays, at the time of Divine Service, but on ordinary days, at meal-times, or times of work: providing thereby a _system of superintendance, universal, unchargeable and uninterrupted_, the most effectual and _indestructible_ of all securities against abuse.

Such are the methods that have occurred to him for accomplishing that identification of "_interest with duty_," the effectuating of which, in the person of the Governour, is declared to be one of the leading objects of the Penitentiary Act.--[19 GEO. III. ch. 74.]

The station of Gaoler is not in common account a very elevated one: the addition of Contractor has not much tendency to raise it. He little dreamt, when he first launched into the subject, that he was to become a suitor, and perhaps in vain, for such an office. But inventions unpractised might be in want of the inventor: and a situation, thus clipped of emoluments, while it was loaded with obligations, might be in want of candidates. Penetrated, therefore, with the importance of the end, he would not suffer himself to see any thing unpleasant or discreditable in the means.

_Outline of the Plan of Construction alluded to in the above Proposal._

The Building _circular_--about the size of _Ranelagh_--The Prisoners in their Cells, occupying the Circ.u.mference--The Officers, (Governor, Chaplain, Surgeon, &c.) the Centre.

By _Blinds_, and other contrivances, the Inspectors concealed (except in as far as they think fit to show themselves) from the observation of the Prisoners: hence the sentiment of a sort of invisible omnipresence.--The whole circuit reviewable with little, or, if necessary, without any change of place.

_One_ Station in the Inspection-Part affording the most perfect view of every Cell, and every part of every Cell, unless where a screen is thought fit occasionally and purposely to be interposed.

Against _Fire_ (if, under a system of constant and universal inspection, any such accident could be to be apprehended,) a pipe, terminating in a flexible hose, for bringing the water down into the central Inspection-Room, from a cistern, of a height sufficient to force it up again by its own pressure, on the mere turning of a c.o.c.k, and spread it thus over any part within the Building.

For _Visitors_, at the time of Divine service, an _Annular Gallery_, rising from a floor laid immediately on the cieling of the Central Inspection-Room, and disclosed to view, by the descent of a central _Dome_, the superior surface of which serves, after descent, for the reception of Ministers, Clerk, and a select part of the Auditory: the Prisoners all round, brought forward, within perfect view and hearing of the Ministers, to the front of their respective Cells.

_Solitude_, or _limited Seclusion_, _ad libitum_.--But, unless for punishment, limited seclusion in a.s.sorted companies is preferred: an arrangement, upon this plan alone, exempt from danger. The degree of _Seclusion_ fixed upon may be preserved, in all places, and at all times, _inviolate_. Hitherto, where solitude has been aimed at, some of its chief purposes have been frustrated by occasional a.s.sociations.

The _Approach_, _one_ only--_Gates_ opening into a walled _avenue_ cut through the area. Hence, no strangers near the building without _leave_, nor without being _surveyed_ from it as they pa.s.s, nor without being known to come _on purpose_. The gates, of _open_ work, to _expose hostile_ mobs: On the other side of the road, a wall with a branch of the road behind, to _shelter peaceable_ pa.s.sengers from the fire of the building. A mode of fortification like this, if practicable, in a city, would have saved the _London Prisons_, and prevented the unpopular accidents in _St.

George's Fields_.

The _surrounding Wall_, itself surrounded by an open palisade, which serves as a fence to the grounds on the other side.--Except on the side of the Approach _no public path_ by that fence.--A _Centinel's Walk_ between; on which no one else can set foot, without forcing the fence, and declaring himself a trespa.s.ser at least, if not an enemy. To the four walls, four such walks _flanking_ and _crossing_ each other at the ends.--Thus each Centinel has two to check him.

In contemplating the whole of this important design, it is impossible to avoid congratulating the Public on the prospect which now opens by a recent vote of Parliament,[153] for the purpose of carrying it speedily into effect.

[Footnote 153: At the close of the Session in June 1798, the House of Commons voted 36000_l._ to Mr. Bentham, toward the expence of carrying his plan into execution. See the Appropriation Act, 39 Geo. III. c.

114.]

It comprizes in its structure every thing humanity can dictate, or which a mind full of resource, and a judgment matured by great depth of thought could suggest, for the purpose of relieving Society from a dreadful and oppressive evil.

It is even to extend comforts to offenders in the course of punishment; and they are to be returned to Society after the period expires, not as at present, polluted and depraved beyond what the human mind can conceive; but impressed with the force of religious and moral instructions, with an abhorrence of their former course of life, and with a resource for obtaining an honest livelihood by the trade or occupation which they were taught during their confinement.--And if employment should fail, when at liberty to make their own election, an asylum is provided, into which they will be admitted, and where they may continue to exercise the trades in which they were employed during their confinement, with certain advantages to themselves.

These Convicts are, moreover, while in confinement, to have an interest in the work they perform, by being allowed a share of the produce, which may be either partly or wholly applied in laying the foundation-stone of a provision for old age, upon the plan of the Annuity Societies, which is to form one of the oeconomical arrangements of this excellent Establishment.

Among many other advantages calculated to improve the morals of delinquents, and to render them useful to Society, it will possess, after a certain period, the singular faculty of extending to the Public these incalculable benefits, _perhaps without any expence whatsoever_; since it may be reasonably expected, that by training both s.e.xes to productive labour, extended and rendered valuable by the proposed introduction of ingenious machinery, it will hereafter become an object of advantage to new Contractors, (after the System is fully matured, and the profits arising from it clearly ascertained), to take upon them the conduct of the design, without stipulating for any annuity or a.s.sistance whatsoever from Government. Nay, the certainty of this profit, and its magnitude arising from labour alone, may, perhaps, ultimately even create a compet.i.tion of Contractors, who, instead of _receiving_, will be induced to _offer_ a premium to Government for the appointment to the situation; the value of which will be evidenced by the increasing annual profits.

It is, indeed, highly probable, that as the Inst.i.tution advances to maturity, under a plan so admirably adapted to render labour productive in the greatest possible degree; in the same manner will the profits gradually increase year after year until they shall be rendered obvious and certain, and not as at present depending on speculative opinions.

The proposed annual report to the Court of King's Bench, through which medium the progressive profits will be generally promulgated, will create notoriety, and excite attention; and it is by no means improbable, that when the contract becomes open, by the decease of the two Gentlemen to whom the Public are to be indebted for this invention, that it will acquire _a precise value_, like any other saleable commodity.

This was exemplified in the instance of Convicts sent to America, which for a great length of time cost Government a large sum annually, until a discovery of the profits, arising from the disposal of the services of Felons, created a compet.i.tion, which eased the Public of every expence whatsoever on account of their Transportation.

But these are not the only advantages which the Country will derive from this new Penitentiary System. Its success will rapidly change the oeconomy of the many unproductive Houses of Correction, which have been erected at an enormous expence to the different Counties, under the Act of the 16th of Geo. III. cap. 43. Those in the management of these respective Establishments will gladly follow an example which mingles in so great a degree--_humanity with reform and profit_, thereby holding out a prospect both of diminishing crimes, and reducing the County Rates, now estimated by the Finance Committee at _fifty thousand pounds a year_ for prisons, and criminal Police alone.

Such are some of the benefits which may be reasonably expected to arise from the proposed Penitentiary System. If they shall be realized to the extent which is contemplated, so as to render transportation, as well as the Hulks, unnecessary, the pecuniary saving to Government in twenty years will be immense. This may be ascertained by referring to a preceding page, where the disburs.e.m.e.nts in the criminal department are inserted, which have taken place since the commencement of the American war, which rendered a new System necessary. If to this sum is added the expences incurred by the Counties, it will probably be found to have exceeded _Two millions sterling in all_.

But still further advantages may be contemplated in addition to those of a pecuniary nature.--By retaining delinquents in the Country, and rendering their labour profitable to the State, a new source of wealth is opened which never existed at any former period, since the labour of convicts transported, whether to America or New South Wales, has been totally unproductive to the Country.

The success of such a design, once clearly manifested, would give a new and favourable turn to the System of Punishments. Labour would be exacted in almost every case, not more for the benefit of the State than the advantage of the Prisoner, since labour and reform generally go hand in hand.--Without the aid of labour, it is in vain to expect an improvement in the morals or habits of delinquents--without an asylum to which discharged prisoners can resort for employment, their punishment produces no advantage. On the contrary, the vices of a Gaol send them forth more hardened in iniquity, and greater adepts in the trade of thieving than before.

Nothing, therefore, can be more hostile to the diminution of crimes than the present mode of punishment for small offences, by a short imprisonment, without being employed in useful and productive labour.

Under this defective System the different Gaols in the Metropolis and the Kingdom, are periodically vomiting forth hordes of Minor Delinquents, who serve as recruits to the more desperate gangs, and remain in a course of turpitude until cut off by the commission of higher offences. Some exceptions, doubtless, there are; but while the resource for honest labour is so effectually shut out, many who have totally lost character, and are without friends, seem to have no other resource.

To all who may be confined in the proposed Penitentiary Establishment, this difficulty will be removed.--A difficulty in the present state of things, the magnitude of which cannot be estimated, since it generates most of those evils to which are to be attributed the extensive corruption of morals, and the increase and multiplication of crimes.

Upon the whole, it would be expedient to give full effect to the new Penitentiary System as soon as possible; which, to use the language of the Select Committee, (p. 30.) "seems to bid fairer than any other that was ever yet offered to the Public, to diminish the Public expenditure in this branch, and to produce a salutary reform in the objects of the proposed inst.i.tution."