The state of the prisons in England and Wales, with preliminary observations, and an account of some foreign prisons and hospitals / By John Howard, F.R.S.
- John Howard
- Date:
- 1792
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The state of the prisons in England and Wales, with preliminary observations, and an account of some foreign prisons and hospitals / By John Howard, F.R.S. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.
29/596 page 15
![The Marquis B&ccaria, in his EJfay on Crimes and Punijhments, page 75, obferves that t{ Imprifonment, being only the means of fecuring the perfon of the accufed, until he cc be tried—ought—to be attended with as little feverity as poflible.—The diftrefs occafioned by chains is increafed by Varying the towns where quarter-feflions and aflizes are held: fo that prifoners have Varying to walk in irons ten or fifteen miles to their trial: and fometimes to towns that have no prifon; where numbers of both fexes are fhut up together for many days and nights in one room. This occafions fuch confufion and diftrefs, and fuch fhrieks and outcries, as can be better conceived than defcribed. Surely prifoners ought to be conveyed m carts; or elfe committed at firft to the town where the feffions or aflizes are to be held. And in that town a proper prifon ought to be built. Gaol-delivery is in fome counties but once a year. What reparation can be made to a ^ Gaol- poor creature for the mifery he has fuffered, and the corruption of his morals, by con- finement in a prifon near twelve months before a trial, in which, perhaps he is at laft declared by his country not guilty ? The judicious Marquis, whom I quoted above, afferts, that Privation of liberty being a punifhment, ought not to be inflicted before condemnation, but for as fhort a time as poflible. And in cafes of guilt, his doctrine is, <c The more im- mediately after the commiflion of a crime, a punifhment is inflicted, the more juft f< and ufeful it will be. This fentiment is illuftrated by a variety of acute remarks in the chapter of the Advantage of immediate Punifhment. My mind reverts to an ad- mirable thought of Mr. Eden's; Principles of Penal Law, page 330. <c A very flight reflection, on the numberlefs unforefeen events which a day may bring forth, will be fufHcient to fhew that we are all liable to the imputation of guilt; and confequently all interefled, not only in the protection of innocence, but in the alignment to every particular offence, of the fmalleft punifhment compatible with the fafety of fociety. One caufe of gaol-delivery being fo feldom, is in fome places the expence of entertain- ing the judges and their retinue. At Hull they ufed to have the aflize but once in feven years. Peacock a murderer was in prifon there near three years: before his trial the principal witnefs died] and the murderer was acquitted. They now have it once in three years. Although acquitted prifoners are by the late act in their favour * cleared of gaolers- fees ; they are ftill fubject to a fimilar demand made by Clerks of ajfize and Clerks Clerks of the peace f; and detained in prifon feveral days after their acquittal. At aflize, Assize, &c * 14th George III. f See the Table of the Fees of the Clerks of Aflize at the end of the book»- The Clerk of the Peace in one county demands as follows : For larceny, and acquitted, £1 7 o Whipped publicly, £1 3 4 Petty larceny, - - 184 Eaftardy, - - o 17 4 till](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2136493x_0029.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
