Trades. No convict, who shall hereafter be sentenced to imprisonment in either of the State Prisons, shall be permitted to work therein at any other mechanical trade than that which, as shall appear by the certificate of the clerk of the court in which he was convicted, such convict had learned and practised previous to his conviction, except in the making or manufacture of articles for which the chief supply for the consumption of this state is imported from other countries or states, except, also, that the convicts at Sing Sing may be employed in the cutting and manufacture of stone, and the convicts at Clinton in the manufacture of iron."

"SECT. 85. Female convicts, where to be confined. All female convicts sentenced in any county in the state to imprisonment in a State Prison, shall be confined in the female convict Prison at Sing Sing."

"SECT. 106. Provision in case violence is offered by convicts. - When several convicts combined, or any single convict, shall offer violence to any officer of the State Prison, or to any other convict, or do or attempt to do any injury to the building, or any workshop, or to any appurtenances thereof, or shall attempt to escape, or shall resist or disobey any lawful command, the officers of the Prison shall use all suitable means to defend themselves, to enforce the observance of discipline, to secure the persons of the offenders, and to prevent any such attempt to escape.'

"SECT. 108. No keeper, in any State Prison, shall inflict any blows whatever upon any convict, unless in self-defence, or to suppress a revolt or insurrection. If, in the opinion of the warden of such Prison, it shall be deemed necessary in any case to inflict unusual punishment, in order to produce the entire submission or obedience of any convict, it shall be the duty of such warden to confine such convict immediately in a cell, upon a short allowance, and to retain him therein until he shall be reduced to submission and obedience. The short allowance to each convict so confined shall be prescribed by the physician, whose duty it shall be to visit such convict and examine daily into the state of his health, until the convict be released from solitary confinement and return to his labor."

"SECT. 132. Bodies of convicts dying at Sing Sing, when to be given for dissection. · Whenever a convict shall die in the Sing Sing Prison, it shall be the duty of the warden, unless the body of such convict be taken away for interment by the relatives or friends of the deceased within 24 hours after his death, to deliver on demand such dead body to the agent of the college of physicians and surgeons in the city of New York, or to the agent of the medical faculty of the University of the city of New York, so that one half of the number of such dead bodies shall be delivered to each institution."

SECT. 133. The same at Auburn, except that the dead bodies shall be delivered one half to the University of Buffalo, and one half to Geneva College.

No female confined in

No such provision in regard to Clinton County Prison. "SECT. 149. Females not to be whipped. any Prison shall be punished by whipping for any misconduct in such Prison."

P

CONVERSATION WITH HON. FREDERIC ROBINSON, WARDEN OF THE STATE PRISON AT CHARLESTOWN, MASS.

STATE PRISON AT CHARLESTOWN, May 8, 1848.

the warden of the State Prison?"

2. "How long have you been?"

"Four years last July; nearly five years."

3. "You had no death last year?"

No death, sir, last year; and an average of about 270 men. Our numbers are now 288, i. e., above the average."

4. "Have you ever had any thing like this bill of mortality?" "We have had something like one death a year ever since I have been connected with the Prison. I think the health has been about the same each year as last year. Perhaps it was a little better than usual last year. should think the average number in the Hospital did not exceed two a day. I regard that as a remarkable state of health."

5. "Is this remarkable health owing to the fact, that the men are selected for this Prison with reference to health?"

“O, no, sir. I do not see how it could be; they are sent here from all the courts in the commonwealth, so far as I know, without any reference to health."

6. "Have the officers of the Prison, or any persons connected with its administration, any authority to select, or to reject, those who are sent, on account of health?"

"No, sir; we must take all who are sent; sick or well, sane or insane."

7. "Is one great reason of the remarkable health of this institution, that men are not sent here with impaired health?"

Many men come here with health very much impaired by intemperance and other vices. We have never kept a record of the health, or admission or discharge. Hereafter I think I shall."

8. "Do you frequently discharge men in impaired health, who come here in good health?"

"I am not now aware of any case; there may have been, but I do not recollect it."

9. "Is one reason of your favorable bill of mortality, that, when men become dangerously sick, they are discharged by pardon for this.

reason?"

"I have never known such a case; on the contrary, I have understood that it is considered a reason for not discharging a man, because he was sick, for fear others might feign themselves sick, or make themselves sick, for the purpose of getting a pardon. Since I have been sick myself, within two or three weeks, a convict has been discharged by remission of sentence, who was sick; but I have understood that he was discharged for other reasons. If not, the case of this convict, D., forms an exception. He was an interesting young man

himself, and had an interesting young wife and family, and interesting friends. I have seen his wife here with her young child; she was a beautiful woman, and he was sick, and had only about two months to stay. His disease was such, that he would probably die of it; but he had no expectation that he would die in Prison, if he was not discharged till his sentence expired. The physician did not think he would die till next winter."

10. "Then the reason why his sentence was remitted, was not to prevent his dying in Prison?"

'No, it was not. And if this case does not form an exception, I know of no one that does. And I know of no case since I have been here, in which a prisoner's sentence has been remitted on account of ill health."

11. " 'How, then, do you account for this very favorable bill of mortality, for a course of years, in the Massachusetts State Prison?"

"I account for it partly by attention to cleanliness; by providing them with plain and wholesome food; by regular hours of labor and rest, and regular hours of taking their food; and by changing their employment, when an employment is found to be injurious to any one; that, I think, has had a very great effect; by the skill and care of the physician; by keeping the prisoners' minds free from fear and anxiety; by a kind and parental government of the Prison. I know continual fear and dread of punishment has a tendency to break down the health. It would break down my health. I should think a dozen men have said to me, at the time of their discharge, that they owed their life to being favored in regard to their employment. Where I have found a man of feeble constitution and impaired health, who looked pale, and emaciated, and feeble, I have changed his employment, taken him from the stone shed, or other severe labor, and given him something different to do, where there was less hard work, and more exercise in the open air. These changes of labor are generally recommended by the physician."

12. "Do you think that moral, religious, and intellectual instruction has had a favorable influence on the health?"

'Yes, sir, I think so; that the Society for Moral Improvement, and the library, and the Sabbath school, the morning and evening prayers, and the public worship on the Sabbath, have all contributed to the health of the body and the mind." [Mr. Robinson expresses himself very strongly in regard to the Sabbath school, and the daily morning and evening religious services in the chapel, and says he does not know any thing that would compensate for the loss of the latter. He thinks every thing which has been done here for moral and religious instruction, and intellectual improvement, has had a favorable effect upon the health of body and mind. The library has furnished an interesting book to every man, in his cell, which he has read many hours in solitude. This has diverted his mind from himself, and from the melancholy circumstances of his situation, and from the practice of solitary vice.]

13. "Do you think your division of time, between the solitary cell, and the workshop, and the chapel, and the exercise in moving to and

from these places, together with the opportunities allowed for exercise to the tailors and shoemakers in the open air, in the large yard, are such as will bear a close scrutiny, as to what is demanded by the nature of man, in case of the prisoner, to secure his health?"

"I think the division of time is favorable to health, and will bear the closest scrutiny, in regard to what is demanded by the nature of man to secure health. I think the time of labor in summer is about right. In winter, it is too short; but this cannot be helped, though the evil of so long a time in the cells, in winter, is very much mitigated by the books from the library, and the well-lighted Prison; the light having been quadrupled, at least, within a few years. Were it not for this, the long period of time in the cells daily, would be intolerable. In winter, it would be from about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, till near 8 o'clock in the morning."

14. "Do you think, with the present division of time, as the Prison is now managed, there is any more tendency in the system to produce insanity, than there is in society, among the laboring classes?"

"I should not think there was, from the experience I have had since I have been here, as there has been no case of insanity originating in the Prison during that time, according to my best recollection and judgment."

15. "What effect is produced on the health of body, or mind, by the system of punishment which you adopt for misdemeanor? Please to state your system of punishment for misdemeanor."

"I have always endeavored to administer punishment in such way, as not to injure the health, according to my best judgment. I have always had that in view. The well-being of the convict has always been uppermost in my mind, in such cases. When a convict has been reported to nie, by his officer, for the violation of some rule of the Prison, I have made it a rule to admonish and advise him, and on his expression of sorrow, and a disposition to do well thereafter, I have always, in such cases, forgiven him for a first offence. If he did not express sorrow and penitence, and resolution of amendment, I should punish him by solitary confinement in a darkened cell, without bed, on bread and water. In this case, I always discharge a man as soon as he asks to be discharged, and promises to do well. For the second and third offence, I should confine him longer in solitary; and finally, if he should continue to be a very bad man, violating the rules of the Prison, by doing things bad in themselves, and persisting in such a course, I should inflict stripes. 10 stripes is the extent to which the law allows me to extend the punishment; commonly it extends from 2 to 6."

16. "How often have you found it useful, with an average of 270 prisoners, to inflict stripes?"

"The books will tell; we keep a record of punishments. Perhaps there may be a dozen cases in a year."

17. "Do you think there are a few extreme cases, in a Prison of this extent, where stripes are a better punishment than any other?" "I do. A low class, whom it seems difficult to reach in any other

way, but by the infliction of bodily pain. I should never inflict stripes on a sensitive, intellectual, lofty-spirited man."

18. Have you known any case of ill effects from the infliction of stripes since you have been here?"

66 I know of no such case."

19. "Do you think the power of inflicting stripes should be given by law to subordinate officers?"

20. "Is the power here limited to the warden?"

"It is, except in case of his absence or sickness; and then it is given to the deputy-warden, with the consent of one of the inspectors."

CONVERSATION WITH REV. JARED CURTIS, CHAPLAIN OF THE PRISON AT CHARLESTOWN, MASS.

STATE PRISON, May 5, 1848.

"Rev. Jared Curtis. 21. Are you chaplain of the Charlestown State Prison?"

66 "Yes."

22. "How long have you been?"

"I received an appointment twenty years ago, in April."

23. "Was you chaplain at Auburn before you came here?"

"I was, about two and a half years. I went in November, 1825, and came away in June, 1828."

24. "What has been the system of Prison Discipline under your observation?"

66

Solitary confinement at night, and labor, in shops, by day."

25. "In this system, what has been the division of time, as you have seen it administered?"

"The prisoners generally commence labor as soon as the light will permit in the winter, and in the summer about sunrise.

This ap

plies to Charlestown, at present, and has so applied since I have been here."

26. "How long do they work before breakfast?"

"From one hour, to one hour and a half.”

27. "What do they do then?"

They go to breakfast; take their breakfast as they go to their cells, and eat it in solitude. Having done this, in which they occupy about three quarters of an hour, they go to the chapel, where the Scriptures are read, and prayer is offered, without singing in the morning, in which service, from ten to fifteen minutes are occupied; after which they go to their workshops. They work in the shops till half past 12, when they leave their work, pass the cook-room, and take their dinner to their cells, and eat it in solitude, occupying the same time,