Excerpt from Fourteenth Report of the Inspectors, Vol. 3: Appointed Under the Provisions of the Act 5& 6 Will; IV. C. 38 to Visit the Different Prisons of Great Britain
IT may safely be asserted that this prison is one of the best regulated in the district; and when the great disadvantages are taken into account under which it labours for want Of space for the due accommodation of the prisoners, the order and method conspicuous in every part Of its arrangements are highly creditable to the authorities. SO small is the extent of the area occupied by the prison, that in order to procure the means of lodging the male prisoners separately, the dormitories have been divided, under the direction of the present governor, into small sleeping-cells, by which subdivision, the prisoners are prevented from seeing each other in bed, although their very near proximity admits Of the inmates of the neighbouring cells holding converse together.
In some Of the male dormitories, which are separated, even by a wall, from similar rooms, inhabited by female prisoners, it has been ascertained by experiment that conversation can be carried on between the men and women from their cells.
Both the governor and chaplain, and I may add the magistrates also, are fully impressed with the evils I allude to, to the existence of which, also, the punishment-book bears but too intelligible testimony.
A considerable time ago the magistrates applied to the Secretary Of State for permission to extend the enclosure of the prison, by carrying the boundary-wall around a small piece of ground to the west of the present boundary. This application having been approved ofby the Secretary of State, the new wall was completed, and the Old one removed before my last visit, or I should have suggested a more complete measure Of relief to the great and growing evil of want of room. True it is that, by the change which has been made, room has been Obtained for a building capable of accommodating 22 additional prisoners, which is no small acquisition under the present circumstances but it must be borne in mind, that these prisoners will.be lodged in the same Objectionable way as those I have before adverted to, while all the original evils will remain unabated.
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