Borough Gaol and House of Correction / HMP Birmingham, Birmingham, Warwickshire

Construction.—Previously to the month of October 1849 the prisoners of this important borough were sent under contract to Warwick Gaol and House of Correction, the town of Birmingham not having a peculiar prison for their reception. This state of things no longer exists, as a very extensive and complete prison has now been built in a suburb of the town, which for excellence of site and completeness of construction will bear a comparison with the best modern prisons in the kingdom. It consists of a long range of building, composed of three main divisions; that in the centre being occupied by the adult male criminal prisoners; while the right and left wings furnish accommodation, the former to the female prisoners, and the latter to the debtors and juvenile criminal prisoners. The accommodation afforded by these several divisions, exclusive of the basement floor, to be afterwards described, is as follows:—

All the cells of the criminal prisoners are certified as fit for the separate confinement of prisoners.

The debtors have two convenient day-rooms allotted to them on the ground floor, which contains also an infirmary for males, visiting rooms for male and female prisoners and their friends, the surgery, and various other offices. The upper floors also contain other infirmary rooms for prisoners of both sexes, store-rooms, and sleeping apartments for male and female discipline officers.

In the basement are eight refractory cells for males and three for females, four of the former being dark. There are also nine reception cells for males, and three for females, with a reception room and baths for prisoners of either sex. An oversight has been committed in the construction of the males reception cells, in placing five of them in such a situation that the admission of daylight to them is impossible.

This is the more to be regretted from the tendency often exhibited by prisoners on their first committal to the commission of suicide, a tendency which is likely to be strengthened by the cheerlessness of a dark cell. As it is quite impossible to admit the light of day into these cells, and as they are much wanted for the service of the prison, I have suggested to the visiting justices that they should be lighted with gas at all times; a suggestion which I have reason to believe will be carried into effect before the publication of this report. Contiguous to the reception cells is a fumigating room, for exposing the clothes of prisoners to the vapour of sulphur.

This practice, although generally prevalent, and sanctioned by long usage, I have reason to believe is very ineffectual for the object designed, the destruction of insect life, while the sulphurous acid gas must have a direct tendency to destroy the fibre of the clothing. A far more effectual and less offensive method, and one which has the advantage of not being open to the latter objection, is the exposure of the clothes for a short time to the action of steam whose temperature has been somewhat elevated by high pressure.

There are separate kitchens for male and female prisoners with sculleries, bread-rooms, and other stores, and also, situated in the basement, the storekeeper's room, the officers mess room, and the blacksmith's shop. Fourteen workshops for separate labour occupy a considerable part of the central basement, eight of which are used for carpenters shops, and six contain handmills for grinding corn. The bakehouse and four waterclosets for officers complete the conveniences of the basement.

Below the males basement floor are three furnaces and two steam boilers, for warming and ventilating the male adults prison; those of the females and juveniles prison are situated on the level of the basement.

The females prison having been found to afford insufficient accommodation, large additions were being made to that division at the time of my last visit. These, when complete, will nearly double the extent of room for female prisoners, as 42 ordinary cells, 4 refractory cells, 2 baths, and some store-rooms will be added.

Another improvement of great value, which was then in progress, was the erection of a detached laundry and wash-house, the latter having 10 separate compartments for prisoners to wash in, with boiler-room and other conveniences.

The houses of the governor and chaplain are external to the prison, but communicating with it. Officers' quarters are placed in the angles of the walls. There are some separate airing-yards; but a fine open exercise ground was being made for the exercise of prisoners in large numbers, without the risk of any communication taking place between them; in my opinion a better method than the former, as more likely to preserve a healthy state of body and mind.

Prisoners on Day of Inspection.—The prisoners in confinement on the last day of inspection are shown in the following table:

Cleanliness.—The whole of the prison was in a state of extreme cleanliness, and the ventilation of the cells appeared perfect. All the prisoners wash themselves in their cells; the adult males and the females having fixed basins, with water laid on; and the juvenile prisoners and debtors having water laid on, but no fixed basins in the cells. Once a week every prisoner has an opportunity of washing his feet in a bucket of cold water brought in for the purpose. At the admission of every prisoner he has a warm bath, and this is repeated at the commencement of every month during his stay. Eight baths for the men and two baths for the women are found sufficient to effect this in one day. Each prisoner requiring it is shaved twice a week by a barber hired from without, at a stipend of 10s. per week. Every cell, with the exception of six of those belonging to juvenile prisoner's, are provided with fixed waterclosets, the rest having portable ones. The cells, with the exception of 14 which are floored with asphalte, and the refractory cells, which have the same kind of flooring, are paved with brick. They are washed twice a week, and as the bricks absorb much water the cells smell of the dampness for some hours afterwards. I would suggest that it would be better to wax the floors, after the French fashion. The cells would, I think, be kept cleaner, without the necessity of washing the floors.

Clothing and Bedding.—The clothing for untried prisoners is dark grey, and that of the convicted a lighter grey. They wear leather shoes, except when working in the garden, when they wear clogs. Those who carry coke and coal have a working dress. The shirt and stockings are changed weekly. The woollen clothing of the men is worn continuously without being washed, a custom which might be advantageously amended after the example of Shrewsbury, where it is washed with much advantage to the freshness and purity of the air in the cells.

All the prisoners, with the exception of females and the sick, sleep on hammocks, and have a bed and pillow, generally stuffed with coir, 2 sheets and a pillow case, 2 blankets and a rug. The sheets and pillow cases are washed once a month; the blankets once in six months; those of the infirmaries according to the directions of the surgeon.

Diet.—The dietary is that recommended by Sir George Grey in his circular of December 1849. The food is of very good quality, but there is a peculiarity in the bread, arising from the corn being ground in the prison by an unusual process, that makes it deserving of particular notice. The wheat is all ground in steel handmills, and no sifting whatever is performed, so that the prisoners in reality receive a smaller quantity of bread than that contemplated by the regulations. As, however, there is no reason to think that the health of the prisoners is suffering, I do not propose any change in this respect. The cost of the handmills used for this purpose was only 5l. 5s. each; little more than half that of the hard-labour cranks used for unprofitable work. The average cost of the diet of a prisoner is 4l. 8s. 10d per annum.

Health.—The prison has been very healthy from its commencement in 1849. Only 3 deaths have occurred within it during the whole period, and the first 18 months passed without a single instance of fatal disease. The town was scarcely visited by cholera in 1849, and the prison not at all. The surgeon sees every prisoner in the reception cells before his admission into the general prison, and visits +he sick, but hitherto he has not made a monthly inspection. He visits all prisoners in close confinement for prison offences, and all the prisoners at the handmills and hard-labour cranks. The infirmaries for prisoners of both sexes are very commodious and unexceptionable, but they have not been occupied for the last 6 months.

Moral and Religious Instruction.—The establishment contains a schoolmaster and mistress as well as a chaplain. The chaplain attends at ½past 7 in the morning, for daily prayers in the chapel, after which he visits the prisoners in their cells for the greater part of the day. The Sunday duty consists of two full services at ½ past 10 A.M. and 3 P.M., and the sacrament is administered at least four times in the year, the chaplain ascertaining to the best of his judgment the fitness of the proposed communicants. No use is made of the chapel for the instruction of prisoners, except in the times of divine service. The schoolmaster attends from 6 in the morning till ½ past 7 in the evening, and gives instruction to ail the prisoners separately in their cells. The selection of books for the use of prisoners is solely under the direction of the chaplain, and is sufficient for ordinary use. There are few prisoners who represent themselves to be Roman Catholics, and of these a very small proportion even ask to see a priest, preferring to attend the services of the Establishment. Should they or any Protestant Dissenters request to see a minister of their own persuasion it would be granted.

Punishments.—The prison punishments are few in number, and seldom of any magnitude. The offences for which they are inflicted are generally attempts at communication, by rapping on the walls, whispering in chapel during the responses, and other methods. Acts of insubordination and disobedience are extremely rare.

Labour.—The kinds of labour performed in the prison are pumping, by 20 at a time, at a crank-pump, for the supply of the prison. The quantity raised daily being generally larger than is required for the prison, a waste-pipe conveys the excess to the Lunatic Asylum which is immediately contiguous, so that that establishment is in a great measure supplied by the labour of the gaol prisoners. The other kinds of labour done are, the carpenter's, the blacksmith's, the tailor's, the shoemaker's, the brushmaker's, the cooper's; mat-making, with the picking the fibre and the formation of the plat used in that manufacture. There is also a machine for making the webbing for halter heads. Some prisoners are also employed in painting, whitewashing, polishing, and also in gardening. Four prisoners also assist in the kitchen, under a free cook, and are kept carefully separated from each other. The storekeeper has one to assist in the stores, the stoker has one with him in the stoke-hole, the baker has one, and one is employed in cleaning the offices. Besides these employments, there are 6 prisoners constantly engaged in grinding corn by handmills, and a few are generally employed in turning hard-labour cranks, of which there are 14 in the prison. The latter, I am glad to add, are never used except as instruments of prison punishments.

Debtors.—There are debtors in confinement, although the accommodation for that class of prisoners is very sufficient. This arises from the circumstance that all debtors, whether in execution or under commitments by the county court, are conveyed to Warwick County Gaol. I am not aware of any objections which could be urged against the reception of debtors in the borough prison which would be of sufficient weight to countervail those attaching to their removal to the distant gaol of the county. The case of county court debtors, often persons in great poverty, is peculiarly hard, since the fee of 1l. paid to the bailiff of the court, as well as the travelling expenses of the debtor after his liberation, add greatly to the difficulties inseparable from his incarceration. It is not at all an uncommon circumstance for the fee to the bailiff for the removal of a debtor to Warwick to exceed in amount the whole debt and costs. But this is not the only manner in which the regulation in question operates oppressively to the debtors, for, as their nearest friends almost always reside at Birmingham, and as the expense of travelling and the loss of time can be borne by few, the majority of the debtors are practically deprived of the privilege of seeing their friends, and of receiving from them the comforts allowed by the rules of the prison. I trust that an arrangement fraught with so much individual hardship will be brought under the review of the authorities.

Staff.—The staff of the prison includes the following officers: the governor, the chaplain, the surgeon, the matron, the schoolmaster and schoolmistress, two clerks, two porters, a storekeeper, engineer, stoker, carpenter, seven male warders of the first class and five of the second, four sub-matrons or female warders, cook, baker, barber, and messenger. Besides this very liberal staff, two warders following the trades of a tailor and a shoemaker are engaged to instruct prisoners in their respective callings.

Visited—12 March, 1903 and twice since.

Accommodation 498 men and 121 women, total 619.

Daily average 404 men and 60 women, total 464.

Numbers on visit of 10 January, 1905 : 456 men and 66 women, total 522.

Area of site—9½ acres : walled in 72 acres.

Number of prisoners accordingly 65, and 80, per acre.

Birmingham Prison is situated at Winson Green, in the West part of the city, nearly 3 miles (20 minutes drive) from New Street Railway Station. The site is long from North to South, and the gate is about in the centre of the West side, while a local Asylum forms the eastern boundary.

The Buildings, and boundary wall (except the stone cope) are all of Kenilworth red brick, and they were commenced in the year 1845, which date (with the name of Mr. Phillips, then Mayor of Birmingham) is inscribed on the) foundation stone to left of office door.

The central figure of the plan designed, is a square cross, A, B, C, F, with the short arm in front (F) which contains offices and Chapel, while B hall (at the back) has been considerably lengthened. The M. cell-spaces are: A 8x16, B 8×24, C 8× 16, D 8 × 12, H 16, total 560. A & B have 276 actual cells.

A prominent external feature consists of 4 round Extraction Towers at either corner of Towers the main Prison "centre," but B wing extract flues are now drawn to two square towers over the cells near the middle. The basements are drawn to the tower feet, while the upper floor flues ascend to roof trunks.

On left of the central figure is a T shaped Building (G), with extract tower over the join of the limbs, which form the women's Prison, and to the North end of this a new Females' Infirmary has lately been built (1903).

To the right of the central figure is an L shaped Building the front limb of which is the Reception men's Reception (E) while the other part (D), in line with C, is occupied on the 2 lower flats by debtors. It has a round extract tower (like a church steeple) over the join of the two wings, D & E.

To South of D, and almost in line therewith, is H, the men's Infirmary, but this is a two-flat Building with two roofs crosswise to its length, and not a 4-flat Prison hall, as are all the others. The Prison site has the advantage of a gravel soil.

Making a tour of the Prison yard, commencing to the left of the gateway, the first external Building seen is the old R. C. Chapel near the N. W. corner of F wing. It occupied the upper flat of a store-house, and was a neat but small Building chamber, with 96 places for men, on open forms where each was allowed 1' 9" width, but the forms appeared very close together. There is an open timbered roof (without ceiling), there was a close flat gallery at back or South end which held 30 women, and the Building is heated by steam. An alarm bell to the main Prison centre was fixed in 1902, but the means of discipline were not considered satisfactory. A proposal had been made to bring the Chapel down to the ground and abolish the store now below it, and to seat the women in a high gallery partly above the men: but this would not have been so advantageous as removing the service to the commodious general Chapel in F wing. A new R. C. Chapel was however built in 1906, and the old one made a store, and gallery removed.

Behind this is the Prison Kitchen, entered by a covered way from A hall, worked by men, and having steam boilers at the North end. There are 6 cooking pots, 2 steamers, 1 range, and an oven 11' 0" × 7' 11", which has been the cause of some complaint, because 2 bakings and 2 mixings are necessary daily, but there are Prisons to be seen where three daily bakings are usual. A new oven was however added in 1906. There is a good provision store (1902), but although there is a good hood there is still found to be steam hanging about in the roof lanterns (see Laundry).

The yard between old R.C. chapel and kitchen contains a full-sized weigh-bridge, and the northern part (called the coal yard) is cut off by gates from the passage leading to the connecting corridor between A & G. A small covered way on West, outside this yard leads to the Females' Reception entrance, which is at the end of West limb of G, and also to the detached Laundry in N. W. part of Prison yard. To this Building the steam pipes are led from the Kitchen, below the ground, to heat the hot water-tank and the 2 coppers, but not to the tubs. There are 20 wash-tubs now of F. C. in very close boxes, and these extend southwards along a narrow passage which renders supervision difficult. A new roof-lantern was constructed in 1906, which was more wanted in the kitchen. There was a drying closet on Haden's plan, having 5 horses each 10' 8" long and with plate iron ends 1' 9" wide, and as there are on this system no pipes below the horses, nettings were not needed, but there was a rather close floor grating. A new and larger drying closet on the best principles was built in 1907. The Laundry is worked by women and has a drying green between G block and itself on its East side.

Beyond the Laundry stands the little brick office, formerly used by the Foreman of Works who built the Females' Infirmary by hired labour during 1903-4, and who was killed by falling into the N. W. area of G hall on 22nd December 1904, near to the drying green. Additional yard-lights have been thought desirable and added since this accident.

Passing the new Infirmary the Female Exercise yard East of G is reached, and here a fence had been erected to protect the area at N. E. corner of that hall A bridge from the "centre" of G crosses the same area diagonally, and this became the permanent exercise door (when new unclimbable side railings were fitted thereon), as the North end door of G is now available to Infirmary only. At East gable of the East short limb of G stands the Photo-house, and a set of 4 yard W. C.'s was erected in 1903 on South of exercise rings against the yard wall dividing W.C.'s men and women, but removed in front of Female Officers' quarters when built.

Passing to the Men's yard A-B, this is found to be a very fine clear space, with no Building in it but the new R. C. Chapel and detached weekly Bath-house for men, situated near to A wing on its East side, and entered therefrom by a covered way to the South end of the Bath-house.

There are 12 baths of vitrified iron, each in a square compartment, ranged along the two sides of the Building, with wide passage between, and heated by an independent dome-topped Keith boiler.

Both the A-B and B-C men's Exercise yards have well-paved walks, and are provided with built-in iron trough yard closets, that in the latter yard having 8 brick divisions.

To South of the B-C yard is found the old tread-wheel house and mill. The former was re-roofed and re-constructed as an Industrial labour shop in 1905, while the latter (at East end) having a good floor upstairs and a door to each floor on South side (the upper one with windlass over) gives increased storage accommodation. A carpenters' shop for J. A.'s was being built in front in 1908.

Parallel with the tread-wheel house, on South Workshop side is the "Works" Workshop and Engineer's office. This also was re-roofed and re-arranged (with a ladder shed along side) in 1905.

Near its East end stands the East wall Tower (once a Warder's quarter but abandoned for want of external access) now a round store of 3 flats and Basement, used by the Engineer.

There are 60 wooden boxes for stone-breakers along in front of the East boundary wall, and a depression of the ground on the South extremity contains a round or "ring" house, used for stone-breakers also, and the canal comes through the South end boundary wall by an extraordinary barge door leading to a basin inside.

Proceeding round the West side of the Men's Infirmary, a nice walled garden is found attached thereto, in S. W. corner of which stands the Mortuary.

Next to this garden comes the Debtors' yard, entered from D wing, and passing by the West end of E (men's Reception) the disinfector is seen outside its N. W. corner, and then in yard C-F (partly a stone-yard) there was an L shaped one-flat store-shed, with a fragile roof covering to the portion running North and South, (there being neither ceiling nor roof boarding), this was re-roofed in 1908. At the inner or South end of same is the Execution shed which was re-fitted in 1903, with 11 ft. high beam and modern bracket. It is peculiar in having both shutters and beam across the short way of the chamber. A whipping block is kept here also. This completes the circuit of the Prison enclosure.

Outside the gate, the Governor lives on the right and the Medical Officer on the left, while at the gate itself a Warder till lately lived on the left, and the house above the gate office on the right (2 flats) is unoccupied. Warders occupy 4 other Towers as quarters, circular Buildings on the boundary wall, each of 3 flats and basement. In addition there are two sets of 6 Warders' houses each, in Winson Green Road, one set to right of Governor and one to left of M. O. The latter row is interesting, these being the houses specially designed by Sir Edmund Du Can himself in 1891, and erected at a cost of £220 each by contract. They each have on 2 flats, 5 rooms and a scullery, and are rated at £10 per annum ; the rooms are rather small but very comfortable and the quarters are popular. The Governor has a detached stable to right of the southern row, but it is now let.

Entering now the Central Prison through the office corridor in F II, the Governor's office is found on right of Prison "centre" and the Chief Warder's opposite between B & C.

A spiral iron stair leads to the upper galleries, which has lately been protected by wire netting, and the wings themselves have each fair straight staircases of iron, not in the very middle of corridor but against the gallery sides, as at Pentonville.

The Prison "centre" is roofed with corrugated iron (painted blue) and has a good roof lantern, while the wings have all been lately much improved in light and aspect by painting the roof timbers white, instead of varnishing them as heretofore. This is specially noticed in G wing, where the roof was formerly very dark.

The Cells are uniformly of the Pentonville size and type, but their windows (like Warwick) are semicircular headed and about 2' 3" × 2' 3" with four 1 in. diameter horizontal guard bars, except in basements, where they are about 4 ft. high with 6 bars : the top row of panes falls down as a ventilator in each case: the glass is not clear. At the intersection of the wings outside arches are thrown diagonally across the corners, to support the cope above, and the windows set back square in space below the same ; this gives an odd appearance, but preserves the light and prevents the windows being too close.

The Basements of the various wings are all Basements quite below the ground, and it is the provision of areas to light their cells and rooms which has caused the sloping back of the ground around them.

All the cell doors have Thomas' locks, with bevelled bolts and 2 throws, and the weakness of the bevel plan is that it can never be known when closed, if the bolt is thrown or not. This would be remedied by squaring off the bevels and compelling the use of the key to close the door at all. The second throw is only obtained by the master key.

In A & C wings the heating pipes are below Heating the basement floors, but in B they are under the B II galleries : the general central circulating boiler-house is below the basement of the main Prison centre (see also G I).

The cells generally are paved with blue-black Cell floors Staffordshire bricks, which wear well, though of dark aspect : a few cells have wooden floors.

With the exception of a few Association and other cells all their gas-lights were "naked" till 1907, when new gas boxes were formed.

The cell extract-gratings are vertical, and placed below the window, and the inlets over the door are of the same shape.

The Prison corridors are ceiled with brick Corridors arches (like Wandsworth) for the 4 bays in each nearest to the "centre," and beyond this have separated skylights, and no clerestory openings except a few access doors, and there is no corridor ventilation at all.

Up to the present time a "Capital" case has always been confined in the Hospital, and had far to walk, both to exercise and execution, and many steps to descend : CI 30-31 was in 1904 selected for formation into a condemned cell, and No. 32 for a doorway of exit to yard C-F.

In CII cells there were 11 looms, but they were to be removed to the Industrial shop when that was completed, and the cells restored to the Prison accommodation.

In FI (office basement) 12 visiting boxes, 6 on each side of the Building, have lately been fitted up. They are arranged on the face-to-face pattern, with gauze wire nettings 6" apart. On 10 January 1905 these were found in poor condition, being badly holed, and the old style (warders between) was much preferred by all the officers on duty.

As already named, Block E is the men's Reception: it is a one-sided Prison hall of 3 flats and about 8 cell-spaces long, the cells being on the South side. Of late years 17 boxes for waiting have been fitted in the corridor, and each cell on flat I divided for two more, giving accommodation for 33 admissions.

On the North side of flat I corridor the Examination room and Reception baths have been built out as an annex. All the 16 upstairs cells are used for night accommodation. DI & II is occupied by debtors, having a day-room at N. W. corner of lowest flat, and a separate exercise door therein leading to their yard on West side.

The Men's Hospital in wing H has an 8 ft. wide passage lengthwise on the lower flat, on the West side of which are the Medical Officer's room and surgery, Officers room and store, and there are in all 12 cells here for convalescents, and a Pocock's india-rubber padded cell, (which till 1905 was the only one known to have been torn up). Each cell has a 21-pane cell window, and the pipes "boxed in" below. The corridor has neat granolithic paving, and the stairs are in centre on East side.

Upstairs are two good-sized wards, the North one having 9 beds, and fine large "room" windows with fanlights, but all with cast fluted glass. The South ward is equally good, but unoccupied.

Entered from outside by a separate stair in the corner next D, and at North end of flat II is a 5-bed Isolation Hospital ward, with nurse's room and all sanitary accommodation, available at any time for either sex.

Turning now to G Block (the women's Prison) the cells are found similar to those for men, and the basement GI (not opened up) is occupied by ordinary cells, but the pipes are above the doors outside and the heat does not draw in. There are baths on the East side.

The front "limb" on flat III was occupied Female as the Matron's quarters till 1907 and the Female Warders' rooms were much scattered about amongst the cells. The former Infirmary provided more space, and it was proposed to extend the East limb further back and provide Warders' rooms therein. A new detached house was however built in 1906-7 (see later).

As already mentioned the new Females' Infirmary forms a northern addition to Block G. It was built in 1903-4 by hired labour at a cost of £ 4856, and the entrance is in line with the North door of G. On the East side is a "crêche," and next to the entrance passage comes the surgery and Officers' room, and West of the stairs are 5 convalescents' cells and one india-rubber padded room. One cell has steps in passage for observation, and all 5 have the bare pipes running through for heating. Wood block floors are general on both flats, and at West end of each is a fine Bath-room with W. C. and sink adjoining. The upper floor has two admirable wards, the West one being available for more than 4 beds, and the East one (called the lying-in ward) for more than 2 beds, and as before stated each ward has ample modern sanitary accommodation attached. Up to 1907 the Hospital cells had never been used, and one or two maternity cases alone treated in the wards, (see Swansea and Usk).

The Prison Chapel on F III & FIV remains to be described. It has now been neatly decorated, is seated with open forms, and has a good open timbered roof It is a spacious and appropriate chamber, has been supplied with an organ, had an old fashioned but neat Altar, and a gallery at end for women, in front of which are hanging screens (fitted in 1903) to hide the men below them.

The new R. C Chapel stands in A-B yard and was dedicated about 20 February, 1907. It is a plain, neat and suitable brick Building, running East and West, and entered at West end opposite A, behind the men's Bath-house. It is seated for 120 men and 40 women, with excellent pitch-pine seats made by free labour in the Prison shop. It has a good open roof and many bright coloured windows. The colouring and decorations are rather startling, but it meets with much appreciation.

The Female Officers' quarters is a large two-floored house standing in yard behind G, and was completed and occupied in 1907. An excellent mess-room with kitchen, scullery and larder and 2 bedrooms occupy the ground floor. Upstairs are 11 more bedrooms, but only one W.C. and one bath, and a store-room available for extra bedroom occupation if needed. The Matron's house attached appeared too good, having 4 rooms and a separate bath and W.C. for one, while 13 use the second.