County Bridewell, Gosport, Hampshire

One day-room; a lodging-room below for men, and two above for women. The court airy. An oven to purify the clothes, but no fuel allowed by the county. No straw. Keeper a sheriff's officer: salary, £40: fees, 6s. 8d. no table. Licence for beer and wine. Allowance, two-pennyworth of bread a day (weight Nov. 6, 1782, exactly 1 lb.): no employment. Clauses of act against spirituous liquors hung up.

Keeper, Edward Hunt, now William Barber. Salary, 52l 10s. Fees, 6s. 8d.

No Chaplain, nor any religious attentions.

Surgeon, Mr. Harper. Salary, none; but makes a Bill.

Number of Prisoners, l802, March 3d,—14. 1807, Sept. l8th,—29.

Allowance, seventeen ounces and half of best wheaten bread per day; sent from the Baker's in loaves, and which I found to be of full weight.

Here are two court-yards; one for the Men-Prisoners, 30 feet square; the other for the Women, about 12 feet square. They are separated from each other by a single wooden palisade fence only, and thus exposed to continual intercourse, which might easily be prevented.

The Men's day-room opens into their court-yard, and is 20 feet by 13, with a fire-place; but, to go to their lodging-room, they must come into the other courtyard, assigned for the Females.

There are also two upper rooms, in one of which is included a single sleeping-cell, and a most offensive privy: the other room contains five sleeping-cells, about 9 feet by 4 each, and 9 feet high, supplied with loose straw on the boards, and a single blanket. The better sort of Prisoners, who sleep in the Keepers house, pay one shilling the first night, and sixpence every night after.

The Women's day-room below is likewise a sleeping-room, and at my visit in 1807, had in it four crib bedsteads, with a flock bed and blanket each, pestered by nauseous vermin; but, with the bed clothes, were then put out in the Court to air,—a severe reproof to the inattentive, for bestowing so little exertion to remove them. Such inconveniences as are voluntary, are culpable too.

Here is an oven to purify the clothes of Prisoners at coming in, and a pump in the Women's court-yard. The Keeper's house, which commands a view of both court-yards, was in a very ruinous state, as well as the floors of the Prison; yet I found the whole very clean. Coals are allowed to poor Prisoners in case of sickness, upon application to the Magistrates.

No Employment for the Prisoners in this House of Correction. How can we expect grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles; or decency of manners from indolence and sloth, amidst evil associations! A new Bridewell is nearly finished.

Construction.—This prison lies on the public highway, but is not overlooked by any other building. There is no boundary wall, and articles are sometimes thrown over. Part of the building is old, and the better and more commodious portion is new. The new cells are light and large enough for separate confinement, provided that the prisoner were taken out daily to the tread-wheel, or to take exorcise in the yard, for a certain lime, daily.

The number of cells for men is 20, for the women is 5.
Receiving rooms or cells, 1.
Divisions in the chapel, 4.
Infirmaries or rooms for the sick, none.
Warm and cold baths, or bathing-tubs, 1.
Airing yards, 4.
Refractory cells, light ones, 2.
Wards or divisions in the prison, 4.
Day-rooms, 4.
Number of prisoners the prison is capable of containing in separate sleeping cells, 25.
Number of prisoners the prison is capable of containing where more than one prisoner sleeps in one cell, 33.
All the cells are properly single cells, but occasionally three men, or two or three women, have been placed together in one cell.

Management.—The rules were printed in 1822. Besides the keeper there is only one turnkey and the matron. The keeper's daughter acts at present as matron, since the death of her mother; she is extremely young for the office. The untried associate together, but there are few prisoners of that description. No rule has as yet been issued for the observance of silence. Every prisoner at present is sleeping in a separate cell, nor, since the 1st of January 1837, has more than one prisoner slept in a cell. Those who are committed to solitary confinement are locked up in separate cells during the whole day, except during the space of about 20 minutes, which is allowed to them for exercise; they are occasionally visited by the chaplain and surgeon. The other prisoners take their meals in the day-rooms. Out of 16 male prisoners whom I found here on 7th June 1837, six were placed in solitary confinement. The females are exclusively attended by one of their own sex. The greater part of the prisoners are sent here for misdemeanours; several are soldiers. Visits are only permitted once in three months, and letters are not admitted except in slight cases, and they are then previously read by the gaoler.

Tobacco is forbidden. Solitary confinement is used as a punishment for the refractory. The chief offences committed within the prison are neglect of labour, and talking during labour. The greatest trouble which occurs here is occasioned by the soldiers.

Prisoners take exercise in the yard singly; there is a verbal order, which allows the prisoners in solitary cells to take exercise and to wash during the space of from 20 to 30 minutes, daily. All the prisoners are locked up soon after sunset. The gaoler or turnkey is always present during visits.

Diet.—Every prisoner receives daily l½ lb. of the best bread, and a pint of warm oatmeal gruel every morning, which is prepared by a male prisoner in a copper in the vagrants' yard. Each prisoner receives also 1 lb. of meat (including bone) and half a gallon of potatoes during the week. Beef and potatoes are cooked in each yard by a wardsman, and the gaoler sees the articles served out. The bread and meat are contracted for.

The meals are taken at half-past 8 and at half-past 12.

Coals are sent in when required by the gaoler; they are burnt in the day-rooms all the year round for the purpose of cooking. Combs and towels are allowed. The prisoners shave themselves; a razor is supplied to them on one day in the week.

Clothing is only supplied to the destitute. The bedding consists of a straw mattrass, two blankets, and a coverlit.

The officers pay 6d. daily for each soldier confined.

Labour.—Consists in a capstan-mill for those sentenced to hard labour; its power is not applied to any purpose.

The capstan will hold eight men; when there are more present they place them double. They work in silence, and the gaoler or turnkey are always present during the hours of labour.

White-washing and cleaning the prison supply another form of labour, and the women are employed in washing and in mending. The hours of labour are 9 daily in sum mer, and 6 in winter. There is no profit from the labour.

The following was the proportion of prisoners employed and unemployed from Michaelmas 1835 to Michaelmas 1836:—

Prisoners at hard labour, 15.
Prisoners at employment, not being hard labour, 3.
Prisoners not employed, 2.

Fire.—There has been no alarm from this source during the last four years and a-half.

Religious and other Instruction.—The gaoler and turnkey are always present at chapel and the matron also, if there is any woman present. There is no singing in the chapel. The chaplain performs Divine service twice, and delivers a sermon every Sunday. On Thursdays he reads prayers, and on Tuesdays he visits the prisoners who are placed in solitary confinement, and also the wards; he comes at other times when particular cases appear to him to require his presence. He delivers the sacrament when he is requested to do so by the prisoners; this has happened five or six times in 15 years. There is no schoolmaster; but the chaplain examines the prisoners as to their proficiency in reading, hears them read lessons, and appoints some prisoner to teach the others. He keeps a private journal as well as a public one, and the prisoners are attentive in their deportment towards him. Books are moderately well supplied; there are many tracts. The chaplain has no other public duty except that which is connected with the prison. He has occasionally received letters from prisoners after their discharge expressive of gratitude. The chaplain has known one instance in which a soldier suffered in his health from solitary confinement.

Care of the Sick, Disease, and Mortality.—The surgeon treated 59 cases of disease in the Bridewell part last year, only, six of which were acute cases. The Bridewell has been visited daily, and the whole of the prison every third day.

From Michaelmas 1835 to Michaelmas 1836 no death occurred, and the greatest number of prisoners ill at the same time was one. The principal disorders here are rheumatic and venereal ones, the itch, and sore legs. No cases of cholera occurred here during the epidemic attack, and no influenza prevailed here during the last spring. No death has happened within the last four and a-half years. The surgeon has witnessed two or three cases of soldiers, whose health has been impaired by solitary confinement, and on such occasions he has recommended the gaoler to permit them to enjoy a larger portion of exercise.

General Statistics.

No. I.—Suicide:—
There has been no instance of it during the last four years and a half.

No. II.—Recommittals:—
Of the 18 prisoners at present confined here one man has been committed once before, and one woman has been committed four times previously. During the last year nine came for the second time, four had been twice before committed, and one, three times.

No. III.—The number and description of prisoners in the prison at the date of my visit, June 7, 1837:—

Number of misdemeanors, males, 6; females, 1.
Soldiers committed by courts martial, 9.
Number of felons, males, 1; females, 1.
Total, males,  16
Total, females, 2
————— 18.

No. IV.—Number from Michaelmas 1835 to Michaelmas 1836:—
Total number of prisoners, at Michaelmas 1835, 28,
Ditto at Michaelmas 1836, 20.
Number of debtors, none.
Number of prisoners committed in the course of the year, 339.
Greatest number of prisoners at one time, 39.

No. V.—Punishments for offences within the prison during the same period:—

In irons, none.
Solitary confinement, 12.
Other punishments, none.

Suggestions towards Improvement.

1. To prepare some infirmary cells for sick prisoners of both sexes, with a fire-place in each cell; two cells for the men, and one for the women.

2. To improve the ventilation of the solitary cells in the ward appropriated for soldiers. These cells are at present so badly lighted that it is difficult either to read or to work in them. This inconvenience would be, to a certain extent, remedied by taking off a portion of the iron shutter.

3. In the vagrants' yard the inclined roof, particularly in the corner, affords facilities for escape; a revolving cheveux-de-frise, placed a little above the edge of the inclined roof, would present some obstacle.

4. Prisoners should not be allowed as at present to clean the front yard of the prison, because, although they are said to do this in presence of the gaoler or turnkey, they are still able to see, or to be seen by, the public passing on the outside the gate.

5. To enjoin silence to all prisoners.

6. To distribute a prison dress.

7. To define in writing the time to be allotted for daily exercise to the prisoners confined in separate cells.

8. To separate visitors more completely from the prisoners, by putting up a grating or grated-door.