County Bridewell, Alnwick, Northumberland

Gaoler, David Cousins. Salary 25l.

Fees, for Felons, 13s. 4d. paid by the County; and 13s. 4d. for Assaults, and Bastardy, paid by themselves.

No religious attentions.

Surgeon, Mr. Haswell; who makes a Bill.

Number of Prisoners, 19th Sept. 1809, Two.

Allowance, 4d. a day, paid to the Keeper for their support.

This Prison, first inhabited in October, 1807, has, on the ground-floor, two of the Keeper's rooms in front. These are divided by a passage 4 feet 6 inches wide, leading to the Gaol door, and entrance into a lobby 24 feet long, and 4 feet 6 inches wide; with an iron-grated and glazed casement at the end of it, 19 inches by 16; and into this lobby five sleeping-cells open.

The smallest cell is 9 feet 5 by 7 feet 8, and 8 feet 4 inches high to the crown of the arch; the whole of stone, fitted up with wooden bedsteads for two persons, loose straw, two blankets, and a coverlet: a small uncovered tub for a sewer, emptied every morning; and a wooden stool to sit on. Every cell-door has an inspecting wicket 84 inches square.

On the North side is a court-yard for Men, who are allowed to be out for one hour in the day, accompanied by the Keeper: It is 42 feet square, and, in the centre, has a sewer, and a pig-stye; and part of it is planted with cabbages.

The Women's court is on the South-side, 63 feet by 36, with a detached sewer in it. The area forms the Keeper's garden, and is planted with vegetables. Females have the use of this garden one hour in the day.

Above stairs are three sleeping-cells for Women, of the same size with those below, and opening into a lobby of like dimensions. Their cells contain two wooden bedsteads for two persons each, and are fitted up like those assigned for the men.

There is also a large work-room on this floor, of 22 feet by 12, with two large grated and glazed lift-up sash windows, and a large fire-place; for which coals are allowed during the six winter months. For the rest of the year the prisoners work in their sleeping-cells, which, having no grate, are frequently very cold.

The Magistrates hold their Petty Sessions every fortnight in a convenient room above stairs. No rules, however, or regulations are printed and stuck up. Here are no rooms set apart for the sick: No day-room allotted: No bath or oven to purify foul or infected clothes: No water accessible: even the Keeper, for his own use, fetches it from a pump 300 yards distant! The Act for preserving the Health of Prisoners, and Clauses against Spirituous Liquors, are not hung up.

The employment of the Prisoners consists in beating hemp, picking oakum, winding cotton, cutting candle-wicks, spinning and knotting of rope. The aver age of earnings is 3d. per day, which the Keeper has, in aid of maintenance. The Prisoners have no share; neither do they receive any money on being discharged, to carry them home, or prevent those necessities, which may impel them to predatory acts, when happily liberated from a gaol.

The prison of Alnwick is used both as a house of correction and police prison. It was built about 30 years ago, and cost about 1,500l. It stands in the outskirts of the town, and on a sandy and dry foundation. The place is small, as might be expected from its cost; but it appears to be substantially built; and the construction, though not more than moderately good, is better than that of the generality of prisons. There are 2 rooms and 8 cells.

The prison is not secure in all parts, the ceilings of 3 of the cells and of one of the rooms being made of wood. An escape was made through one of these ceilings 2 or 3 years ago; but the keeper told me that the ceiling has since then been strengthened. The prison is dry, and it appears to be well ventilated. I found it clean also. The only provision for warming is a fire in each of the day-rooms. In winter, therefore, the prisoners are generally collected in these rooms, the males in one, and the females in the other; though in summer, the prisoners are usually kept separate, I was assured, in their different cells.

Prisoners.—Criminal prisoners only are received here, this not being a prison for debtors. There was only 1 prisoner at the time of my visit (a male); and the average number is not more than 6. The total number of prisoners admitted last year, exclusive of police offenders, was 66 (60 males and 6 females); or, including police offenders, about 120. Ihe greatest number at any one time was 12; though in other years there have been as many as 30 at a time. The man I found in confinement was clean; and I learnt from him that he generally washed himself every day, but that he sometimes omitted doing so.

Health.—Apparentlv good. The surgeon states that the most common diseases are itch and venereal diseasess, contracted, of course, before entering the prison. There were only 3 cases of sickness (not counting slight indisposition) last year; and there has been no death for several years.

Food.—The keeper is allowed 4d. per day for each prisoner, and for this he is expected to give them a sufficient quantity of wholesome food. The prisoners have generally porridge and milk for breakfast and supper, and soup or herrings, with potatoes or bread, for dinner; but there are no stated quantities.

Bedding.—Loose straw, 3 blankets, and a coverlet. I found the bedding tolerably clean, but it is not washed at any stated times.

Clothing.—Clothing is supplied only in cases of destitution. The dress for males consists of a jacket, and waistcoat (made of plain grey cloth), and canvass trowsers, woollen stockings, and sometimes a cotton shirt. There is at present no stock of clothes for females.

Discipline.—The discipline, though better, in many respects, than that of the generality of prisons, is nevertheless unsatisfactory and lax. Owing to the want of a sufficient number of cells, and of the means of inspection, it must often be impossible to carry the principle of separation into full effect oven in summer; and in winter, as already stated, little more is done than to divide tho prisoners according to sexes. I am sorry to have to record one gross instance of irregularity, which I was witness to the morning after my arrival. On approaching tile prison, I saw a man on the outside, and in a public thoroughfare, shovelling away the snow; the only other person present being a stranger, to whom he was talking. On drawing nigh, it struck me that this man looked very much like the prisoner I had seen the day before; and on coming up to him I found that it was really he; and it appeared that it was by the keeper's direction that he was out of the prison and thus occupied.

The hours of rising and going to bed, &c., are not punctually observed. Work is provided for the convicted prisoners, and for such of the untried as are willing to labour, which appears to be the case with most of them. The chief employments are making mats, teasing horsehair, knitting, sewing, bag-making, crushing corn, pounding Sand, mending clothes, and washing. The work, however, is scarcely productive, which is probably owing, to some extent, to the prison being on so small a scale, and to its being placed in an agricultural district. The only instruction is that which is given occasionally by the keeper himself. The keeper and the matron read part of the church service to the prisoners every Sunday, and sometimes on the week-days also, there being no chaplain. The prisoners are supplied with bibles, prayer-books, and sermons, but with no other books. The usual prison offences are making noises, refusing to work, and scribbling on the walls; and the ordinary punishment is confinement in a separate cell, and loss of a meal, or of part of a meal. There do not, however, appear to be many offences or cases of punishment. There is no corporal punishment.

Female Prisoners.—The female prisoners are superintended by a matron, but they are not distinguished in any other way.

Miscellaneous.—Untried prisoners, as already stated, are not required to work; and more care appears to be taken to keep them in a state of separation, than is the case with tried prisoners. No other difference, however, is made between the two classes. Visits are allowed on an order from a magistrate. Letters are examined. Tobacco in every form is forbidden. Assistance is sometimes given in helping prisoners back to their parishes after liberation.

Officers.—There are a keeper and a matron, both of whom reside in the prison, the matron being, in the present instance, the mother of the keeper. Both the keeper and the matron appear to be intelligent and respectable, and to be kind in their treatment of the prisoners. The breach of discipline mentioned, however, was discreditable to the keeper's judgment or sense of duty. There is a regularly appointed surgeon, who attends when sent for, and while any prisoner is ill.

Fees.—None of any kind.

As my stay at Alnwick was necessarily short, and as I had not an opportunity of meeting the visiting magistrates, I made only the following recommendations, leaving anything more important to a future time:—

1st. A Venetian blind to he put up before the window at the end of each of the passages into which the cells open, so as to prevent the prisoners communicating with people on the outside and yet allow a free current of air.

2nd. The rule requiring each prisoner to wash himself thoroughly every day to be strictly enforced.

3rd. The keeper to be instructed to have any scribbling, &c., that may be done on the walls removed or washed over the instant it is discovered, so that every new offence of the kind may be at once evident; and partly for tho same reason to have all broken panes of glass repaired without delay.

The foregoing recommendations have, I believe, been carried into effect.