peated on the 29th of the 9th month, in company with Samuel Tuke, of York. We perceived no alteration in its arrangements, or in the condition of its inmates.

DURHAM OLD JAIL, HOUSE OF CORRECTION, AND NEW JAIL.'

The Old Jail is built over a gateway in the middle of the city. We found it clean, and in as much order, with respect to its arrangements, as the excessive contraction of the building will admit. Classification and inspection are impossible in this prison, nor is it capable of any accommodations for the employment of its inmates. The criminals are allowed 4s. 6d. per week for each person, together with a little clothing on particular occasions. They find their own firing. They are ironed only when refractory. At this time they had all their fetters on, in consequence of an attempt which they had made the evening before to escape from prison. The chaplain visits this prison once every week.

The women prisoners are so ill accommodated that they pass both day and night in one apartment, nor are they at all classified. In the men's day-room, which is small, we observed several prisoners, two of them under sentence of death, and two detained merely for want of bail. This lamentable want of classification was, however, owing partly to the temporary disuse of another small room, not in a condition of security. You descend from the felons' dayroom and from the daylight, by thirty steps, to the sleeping-cells, which are perfectly dark, and without any ventilation except from a hole in the ceiling. From these cells there is a still deeper descent into a horribly close dark dungeon, far under ground. This dun geon is no longer used; it is the dreadful relic of obsolete barbarity. Besides the Old Jail, there is a House of Correction, now used only for vagrants. It is built against a steep bank close by the riThe unfortunate persons, who are confined in this prison, are obliged to pass the night in a damp and most dismal vault, measuring nineteen feet and a half by fourteen, and built immediately above the level of the river, but thirty-three steps below the street from which you enter the prison. This dungeon is entirely without light, nor does it admit any air except from the passage which leads to it. Fifteen persons have at times been locked up in it together. These vagrants are allowed no other bedding than straw and a few rugs. When it is considered that those to whom this detestable lodging is allotted, are often guilty of no other offence than that

ver.

Visited eighth month 24th, in company with Thomas Henry Faber, Esq. one of the county magistrates, and Jonathan Backhouse, jun. of Darlington.

of passing from one place to another, and begging some assistance, it cannot be denied that in being consigned to such a place, they are treated with extreme injustice and cruelty. The very obvious evils of these two prisons have for some years been under the particular notice of the magistrates; and neither of them will be any longer required, when the New Jail, now far advanced towards its completion, is finished.

That jail is a handsome and extensive building on the outskirts of the town; its situation airy and convenient. In the middle of it is the governor's house, from which there will be inspection over all the airing-grounds; and, if certain arrangements now in contemplation are carried into effect, over the work-rooms also. On the right of this house is the debtors' prison; on the left, the house of correction; and in front of it, a large building not yet finished, intended for the reception of felons. The two former buildings are already partly occupied, chiefly by convicts sentenced to temporary confinement, some of whom beat flax and pick oakum. The day-rooms and sleeping-cells in these divisions of the prison are of a sufficient size, dry and airy. From the unfinished state of the felons' prison we were unable to form any accurate judgment of it: at the same time, we could easily perceive that it would not, on the plan then laid down, admit of any provision for work-rooms, or for the complete classification of the prisoners. We have since had the pleasure of learning that the magistrates propose making in this plan some important alterations, by which both these objects may be accomplished. It would indeed be a subject worthy of great regret, were a prison covering a large extent of ground and entirely new, to be left unprovided with those essential accommodations without which it must ever be a source of serious and deplorable evil. We were sorry to observe that so large and fine a house had been erected in this prison for the governor. The individual who is appointed to fill that office, and who is now the governor of the Old Jail, appears to be a person much devoted to his duties:-but were not this the case, might not a reasonable fear be entertained, lest the accommodations now provided for him should elevate him above his true station?

NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE TOWN AND COUNTY

JAIL.'

The Jail at Newcastle, like the Old Jail at Durham, is a tower

I Visited eighth month 25th, in company with George Richardson and Daniel Oliver, of that place.-The county of Newcastle extends from north to south about four miles, and two miles and a half from east to west, and is very populous.

built over a gateway, and like that prison is extremely ill adapted to its purpose. On the left side of the gateway, as you enter the town from the north, there are three small rooms for felons, measuring respectively about fourteen feet square. These rooms have severally a window looking into the street, through which the prisoners have an easy opportunity of communicating with the people who are passing below. On the ground floor there is a cold and miserable dungeon, now happily disused. There is also on this side of the prison a court-yard measuring sixty feet by eighteen; but as the walls which surround this yard are considered insecure, the prisoners are never allowed to walk in it except in the presence of the jailer. There were at this time four men felons in the prison, two together in a room. Some of these prisoners appeared to have derived much advantage from the kind care and instruction of a benevolent lady, who had frequently visited them. One of them, who was going off for the hulks on the following day, earnestly begged for a bible to take with him. The felons in this prison are allowed fivepence per day. They are heavily ironed, and may be fastened, at the jailer's pleasure, to an iron ring fixed in the floor of their cells.

The manner in which they are confined is extremely objectionable. Having no access to the yard nor any sleeping-cells, they pass both day and night in their small day-rooms, without change or intermission. I have been informed by a person well qualified to substantiate the fact, that six persons have been confined for several months together in one of these day-rooms. Notwithstanding the great attention given in this jail to cleanliness, it is quite clear that such a circumstance could not take place without very serious injury to the health of the prisoners.

On the opposite side of the prison, called the Debtors' side, and on the right of the gateway as you enter the town, there are two more small rooms used occasionally for felons. In one of these we observed a wretched woman, committed on the charge of murdering her child, but apparently insane, in solitary confinement, and looking out of her window on the street below. The accommodations for debtors consist of one large day-room and six small lodging-rooms without fire-places, the doors of the latter opening into the former; also a small court-yard, of which the debtors make but little use, as they prefer taking their exercise on the leads at the top of the prison. There is no effectual separation between the men and women debtors. There was at this time one of the latter description in the jail. We found her in one of the small lodgingrooms already mentioned, to which she could have no access except through the men's day-room. We have seldom observed a female

in prison so fearfully exposed to danger. As the faults of this prison may be traced chiefly to the inadequacy of the building, it gives me much pleasure to state, that the magistrates of Newcastle-who are justly celebrated for the excellence of their police establishment-have it seriously in contemplation to erect a new jail.

MORPETH,-COUNTY JAIL FOR NORTHUMBERLAND.1

This prison, although old and defective, is by no means liable to so much exception as some which I have already described. On the right as you enter, is the felons' prison; on the left, the apartments for debtors; in the centre, the governor's house; and behind the whole building, a walled garden. This garden is at all times open to the debtors, who are also well accommodated within-doors. On the felons' side there were at this time only three men. We found them in a small day-room, in the floor of which is fixed an iron ring, as in the day-rooms at Newcastle. The prisoners, however, were without irons. They are allowed good bedding, and clothing occasionally, but only fourpence a day for their maintenance. When bread is dear, this sum must procure them a most miserable supply of food. The chaplain attends these felons once in the week. The female prisoners, when there are any, are employed in knitting, sewing, and spinning. The felons are allowed to walk in the garden occasionally. We found the whole prison in a state of neatness and order. Conspicuously good effects are produced in this jail by the benevolence of the jailer and his wife, John and Elizabeth Blake. The prisoners are ruled by the law of kindness; chains are therefore unnecessary for them. They appeared to us to be subdued and softened by the gentleness with which they were treated.

BERWICK BOROUGH JAIL.2

Nothing can be much more defective than this small prison. It consists of two large boarded rooms in the upper story of the Court-house; one for debtors, the other for criminals—a simple wooden door between them.

Connected with these day-rooms is a small range of sleepingcells. The whole prison is so exceedingly insecure, that the cri

• Visited eighth month 25th. 2 Visited eighth month 26th.

minals cannot be permitted to make use of their day-room except in the presence of the jailer. Thus they are almost constantly confined in their comfortless sleeping-cells. Nor is this provision deemed sufficient: when their cases are bad, they are chained to the wall. The injustice and barbarity of such a mode of confinement are too conspicuous to require a comment. Neither criminals nor debtors have any airing-ground. The prison allowance is sixpence per day. No clothing is allowed, nor is there any provision for medical attendance or religious instruction. The last of these defects is probably remedied ere now, by the voluntary kindness of a clergyman, the vicar of the town, who informed us of his resolution to visit the prisoners weekly, without any remuneration:such an example is well worthy of being followed.

DUNBAR JAIL.'

You ascend up a narrow dirty staircase into two small rooms, of which this little borough jail consists. These rooms, one of which is for debtors, the other for criminals of all descriptions, are kept in a state of extreme filth, and are severally furnished with a little straw, and a tub for every dirty purpose. There is no court nor airing-ground in the prison, nor any other accommodation whatever. Happily there was no one confined here.

HADDINGTON COUNTY JAIL.2

Very different was the case with this jail: for in consequence chiefly of a riot, which had taken place in the neighbourhood, we found it crowded with prisoners; and seldom indeed have we seen any poor creatures so wretchedly circumstanced. That part of the prison which is allotted to criminals and vagrants consists of four cells on the ground floor, measuring respectively thirteen feet by eight, and one on the second story, measuring eleven feet by seven. It is difficult to conceive any thing more entirely miserable than these cells. Very dark-excessively dirty-clay floors-no fireplaces-straw in one corner for a bed, with perhaps a single ruga tub in each of them, the receptacle of all filth. In one of the cells we observed three men who had been engaged in the riot; in another, a woman (the wife of one of them) and two boys; in a third, two more men and a woman (the wife of one of them).

Visited eighth month 26th. 2 Visited the same day.