They were sentenced to seven days'
imprisonment, and on their liberation each prisoner was supplied
with a coat, waistcoat, pair of trousers, and a pair of shoes, and
one of them had a shirt also! Many times last winter gas-lamps and
the windows of the police-office and vagrant-office were broken, in
order to get admission to the prison. Out of eighteen male prisoners
who were brought to trial at the last Quarter-Sessions, twelve in my
opinion committed their offences for the direct purpose of being
sent to prison. Most of the vagrants committed to the prison still
pass their time in idleness; no prisoners except those sentenced to
hard labour being set to work."

'The following is an extract from the visiting justices' minute-book
at the same prison:--

"_Dec. 12th, 1849._--The number of prisoners who commit offences
with the object of being maintained during the winter increases
yearly, and is deserving of serious consideration, as a serious
expense is entailed thereby on the city. The imprisonment inflicted
is not looked on as a punishment, but a reward."'

If such really be the case, it is evident that a wrong course has
been pursued in making the prisons so comfortable. Some years ago,
when society was seized with a paroxysm of humanity, prisons were
got up in a style of palatial splendour, and criminals, the most
worthless of the population, were treated with a degree of
tenderness which was opposed to every principle of justice. Possibly
the method of reclaiming by kindness was not bad in the abstract,
and in numerous instances it was perhaps effective; but in the main
it was unsuitable to a complicated condition of ignorance, poverty,
vice, and wretchedness. It should have been borne in mind that there
is a distinct class of persons to whom any kind of provision is
desirable, and who, being sunk below all sentiments of self-respect,
shame, and regret, would very willingly sell themselves into slavery
for the sake of a momentary gratification. To think of a warm,
comfortable prison being an object of dread to this
utterly-abandoned class!

Another philosophical crotchet did no small mischief. It was alleged
that hard labour on the tread-mill would do harm: knowing that the
labour tended to no useful purpose but merely the turning of a
wheel, prisoners would feel degraded, and this feeling would prevent
their reclamation! The error here consisted in imagining that the
criminal class possessed the feelings of