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given me of the system of management. All the prisoners except those condemned to a solitary cell are employed in some manual art; if they have been previously taught one which can be practised within the prison walls they are of course set to it, if not, as most frequently happens, they are instructed in one. Part of them are kept in regular employment by tradesmen who provide them with work; the rest are variously employed on behalf of the establishment. Of their earnings, the greater part, along with the profit on manufactured articles, is appropriated to the expenses of the prison; a small proportion is allowed to accumulate for the benefit of the prisoner, that he may be stimulated to good behaviour and industry, and if disposed to lead an honest life when his term of punishment expires, have a little money with which to make a commencement. The expenses of the establishment however have always exceeded its receipts, and the deficiency is provided for by an annual vote of the State Legislature. In the keeper's office is a supply of arms and accoutrements, to equip his household and assistants in the event of any attempt at outrage on the part of the prisoners; of these weapons however I believe they have never yet had occasion to avail themselves.

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Going out into the court yard, we found in it a great number employed in hewing blocks of granite into graduated sizes and shapes for building. This is a staple commodity in the prison, and a stock of

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building stone is kept constantly on sale. the work shops we saw the prisoners variously engaged, as bakers, weavers, shoemakers, tailors, carpenters, turners, brush makers, nailers, woolcombers, spinners, &c. &c. All seemed to be as busy and as attentive to their work, as if it had been their chosen and voluntary employment; and the workmanship which they produced seemed not only good, so far as I could judge, but some of it even of a superior finish and appearance. The clothes of some of the workmen were not of that party-coloured kind which I remarked on most of them, and the keeper informed me that this was an indulgence granted to those whose conduct was exemplary; it had been recently introduced and had been found to have considerable influence upon the prisoners, giving them the idea that some degree of confidence was reposed in those who were so distinguished, and that they had thus made one step of approximation towards the character of honest men and good citizens.

The prisoners are not allowed to utter a word in the presence of strangers, and at all times quietness and decorum are rigidly enforced. The female delinquents are confined in a separate part of the prison, and are employed in cooking, washing, and sewing for the establishment, as well as in other branches of female industry.

During the whole year the prisoners are required

to rise half an hour before the sun.

They commence labour at sunrise; at eight o'clock they are allowed fifteen minutes for breakfast, at noon half an hour for dinner; they leave off work at half an hour before sunset, are allowed fifteen minutes for supper, and at sunset are locked up. Their food consists of rye and Indian corn bread, cocoa, molasses, soup, vegetables, and occasionally meat. A sermon is preached to them every Sabbath, and I believe the more ignorant are instructed in reading.

Prisoners who are disorderly are punished by privations of various kinds, and sometimes by solitary confinement, when they are not allowed to converse even with the man who brings them their food; some I observed with a clog of wood chained to one foot, which they were obliged to carry in their arms when moving from place to place; this is the only species of corporal punishment which is allowed. As we passed along, a mu→ latto boy distinguished by this order of merit came up to the conductor, and begged hard to be released from it; this however was decidedly and somewhat sternly refused, and the keeper told me that it would not have been asked, but that they expect to find him more easily mollified in the presence of strangers, for the sake of thus acquiring the character of kindness and humanity. I

It must be recollected here that an American summer day is considerably shorter than ours.

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observed that a very considerable proportion of the prisoners were men of colour. It is but too obvious that these unfortunate people are in a great measure outcasts from society; they are too often left without education when young, and treated with distrust when older, till they become gradually and almost necessarily not trust-worthy; and having no character to lose, they feel little scruple, when honourable means of support fail, in having recourse to those of another kind.

I was next conducted to their sleeping apartments, which are at the opposite side of the courtyard, and have every appearance of being both comfortable and secure. A gallery runs along each floor between two ranges of small rooms, in each of which are wooden bed frames for four, consisting of two upper and two under births, but both on the same side. Two narrow openings in the wall admit air and light; the walls are white washed and every thing perfectly clean. Under the sleeping apartments are the solitary cells, and above is an hospital for the sick; we found few in it, and all of them in the way of recovery.

The building is every where of very great strength; many of the blocks of granite of which it is built are twelve feet long, and in the sleeping rooms and galleries those forming the floors and roofs in all cases reach from wall to wall. The doors on the sleeping rooms are of iron, some of them solid and others grated; a strong iron

door also terminates each gallery, so that the escape of the prisoners seems altogether hopeless. The keeper indeed said that none had ever effected their escape by force, although one or two had succeeded by false keys. An Irishman had on one occasion got out in this way from one of the solitary cells, but being unable to reach the padlock which is fastened outside of the door at the end of the gallery, he concealed himself till sunset, when they happened to bring in another prisoner, and managed to slip out unobserved while they were lodging him in his cell; the sentinels had just been removed from the walls, as they always are after the prisoners have been locked up, and Paddy was never more heard of. There are at present in confinement 369 persons, and I was happy to learn, that among all these there is but one Scotsman.

Of the efficacy of the penitentiary system, as at present administered, the keeper appears to be very doubtful; and it is unquestionable that an opinion prevails, in the larger cities, that for the purpose of either deterring from crime or reforming the criminal, the penitentiaries are at present in a great measure inefficient. The prisoners are in many respects too comfortable to feel their confinement as a very severe punishment, for although the deprivation of personal liberty is in itself a great hardship, it may to very many be compensated for by a degree of comfort in clothing and habitation, to

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