Town Gaol, Rye, Sussex

An old tower called Ypres-fort. One of the three lower rooms is about 17 feet diameter, with a fire-place; the other two about 6 feet : above stairs are three rooms of the same dimensions. Allowance to prisoners, three halfpence a day. Fees, 3s. 4d. no table. Salary, none. Keeper, a sergeant at mace.

Gaoler, James Small; Sergeant at Mace. Salary, 4l. Fees, 3s. 4d. No Table.

Prisoners, 1804, Sept. 22d, Nine, Frenchmen. 1807, Sept. 12th, None.

Allowance, sixpence a day.

REMARKS.

This Gaol is in a very old square building, not far from the Cliff, called Ypres Tower; and contains five rooms. One below, is about 16 feet square, totally dark, denominated the Condemned Room; and close to it, a small one, nearly circular, about 5 feet 6 inches in diameter.

Above stairs is another large room, of the same size with the first; and adjoining are two small ones, nearly circular, like the second, and 6 feet 9 inches in diameter. Each of these is lighted solely by an unglazed small double iron-grated window, of about 15 inches by 13;. In the larger room above, a fire-place, but no grate. The three circular rooms have floors of mortar, but the two larger ones are boarded; and of the lower one the flooring is very rotten, and unsafe.

Here is no court-yard; nor any water, except what is brought daily by the Gaoler. Loose straw on the floors, (changed once a fortnight, when used,) is the only bedding for the wretched inhabitants. The two sewers are, one below the other, in the upper part of the Tower.

Before the front door and grated window, is a small piece of ground, enclosed in, to prevent people from handing Liquors to the Prisoners in such a Gaol. It is seldom, if ever, visited by any Magistrate, or other of the Corporation. No firing allowed. Never has been whitewashed, and very dirty.

This establishment is divided into two parts; one of which is for the confinement of persons under criminal process, the other portion is appropriated for the accommodation of vagrants, and may be more properly called an asylum for the houseless and destitute, than a part of a prison wherein penal discipline is enforced; for poor persons may come here of their own accord, and obtain shelter (or the night, with a ration of bread and may receive another when they depart in the morning. The police, also, when they find any destitute persons wandering about the streets of the town, take them to the vagrants’ ward of this prison; and it is quite an understood arrangement by the inhabitants to send mendicants to the gaol for shelter and temporary sustenance. The keeper has a discretionary power to admit or refuse these poor people, according as he deems them to be sufficiently necessitous. He says there is scarcely a night in which he does not refuse several, either on the ground of their being not absolutely destitute or because he has reason to know that they are idle, and unwilling to exert themselves to obtain their living. The vagrants’ ward is a part of the old Ypres’ towers (the ancient fortifications of the town), and is an apartment of considerable size; there are two small dark rooms adjoining, which are seldom used. The only bedding supplied is a quantity of loose straw, which lies on the floor, and the poor inmates may Obtain as much warmth and comfort as they can in this miserable place by huddling together and covering themselves over with the straw. The keeper asserts, that as many as nine poor people are not unfrequently sheltered here in the course of the night; and, as might be supposed, the place is swarming with vermin, and is exceedingly filthy and unwholesome. It forms no part of our duty to make any remarks respecting the arrangements most desirable for the relief of the poor; but it is clearly our duty to object to any such establishment as the above in connexion with the prison. The objects of the two establishments are perfectly dissimilar; and as they are here managed by the same officer, the strict discipline which ought to he enforced in the one, must, we think, necessarily he infringed by the union of the other. Besides, in a sanatory point of view, we submit that the practice of admitting, indiscriminately, into the same room considerable numbers of destitute vagrants in an unclean, or perhaps diseased state, without being subjected to medical examination, is fraught with much danger to the inmates of the whole establishment. The prison consists partly of the old towers, and partly of a new structure, which was erected in 1837, and contains six cells and one airing-yard common to the whole. On the side adjoining the towers there are four cells, two on a level with the airing-yard, and two above, for females, which are approached by an outside stair, from the top of which an extensive view of the surrounding country can be obtained, as well as of several houses in the neighbourhood. These cells are 11 feet by 9 feet, and 11 feet high, and are formed partly by the round towers. These are tolerably well fitted up, being each furnished with a soil-pan upon a good construction, and also a hand-basin, with water laid on to both. The wooden bedsteads are fixtures, and take up more room than can he conveniently spared. The cells are lighted by small windows immediately under the ceilings: but the ventilation is defective; at least we found it so in the cell that was occupied at the date of our inspection. The other two cells, situated on the opposite side of the airing-yard, are in dimensions 13 feet by 10, and 9 feet high; one is placed over the other, and they are exclusively for the safe custody of males, either debtors or criminals, according as there are one or other of these classes in confinement. They are not of a similar construction to the other cells, nor are they furnished with the same kind of fittings; and as there are no water-closets in connexion with them, the prisoners there confined, are obliged to use chamber utensils. The airing-yard is 60 feet long, and 24 feet wide.

At the period of our last inspection there were only two prisoners in confinement, viz., one male, and one female. The former had been two months in custody on a charge of assault, The female was a convicted prisoner, sentenced to nine months imprisonment for procuring goods under false pretences; she had been in custody throe months before trial, and at the date of inspection she had been altogether six months in confinement, during which period she had enjoyed excellent health, and had made some progress in mental acquirements. It was said that the previous habits and conduct of this girl had been most abandoned, but the circumstance of a six months’ separation from her vicious companions, with the suitable instruction and assistance of the chaplain, had produced in her case a very satisfactory moral amendment.

In the course of the last year, ending Michaelmas, 1844, the number of prisoners committed to this gaol was 62; 39 of whom were males, and 23 were females. During the preceding year the number committed was 74, viz., .51 males, and 23 females. The great majority of offences have not been of a serious character, for of the total number of prisoners committed only five were sufficiently important to be tried at the Quarter Sessions, two of whom were acquitted; the other three, being cases of felony, were sentenced respectively to two, four, and five months imprisonment. Twenty-one were cases of summary convictions, two of which (for smuggling) were sentenced to 6 months’ imprisonment, two to 2 months, and three to 1 month, respectively; the remaining 14 cases of summary conviction were sentenced to imprisonments ranging between 4 and 17 days. Out of the 62 committed in the course of the year no less than 27 were discharged upon examination, after being, in the majority of instances, only 1 day, and in no case longer than 3 days, in custody. Convicted prisoners who are sentenced to hard labour are sent to the County House of Correction at Lewes. Besides the usual prison-cleaning, the only work supplied to the prisoners is the picking of oakum; the quantity required of each prisoner, whose sentence requires him to be so employed, is 3 lbs. per diem; but the keeper acknowledges that he is not strict as to the quantity; he chiefly requires the work to be well done. Upon the commitment of prisoners to this gaol they are placed in the reception room, (which is a large unfurnished apartment, corresponding in size to the vagrants’ ward, and situated immediately above it,) until they are examined by the surgeon. That officer is said to attend punctually when summoned by the keeper for that purpose as well as in cases of sickness; and he attends pretty regularly, and sees every prisoner in custody once a week, whether his services are required or not; but he is not legally appointed, Agreeably with the 33rd section of the 4 Geo IV., C.64, but receives his fees according to the attendance and medicines which he deems it necessary to give. We beg to notice, also, that the same statute enacts, that the surgeon of every gaol shall visit the prison twice at least in every Week and see every prisoner confined therein, whether criminal or debtor. The prisoners in confinement have hitherto enjoyed excellent health; out of the 62 committed in the course of the last year only eight were slightly indisposed but it would appear that these were very trivial cases. It is worthy of remark, that there am no itch cells, and no place available for the treatment of that disease, in this prison. The dietaries in force are those recommended by the Secretary of State for prisons in, England and Wales. The condition of this prison as to cleanliness (with the exception of the vagrants’ department which was dirty and unwholesome in every respect,) was creditable to the keeper. There is no prison clothing allowed by the borough; but upon the discharge of prisoners whose clothing may he insufficient, if they can give satisfactory proof of their inability to procure better clothing, if their conduct during their Imprisonment has been good, and particularly if they evince symptoms of contrition, and give reasonable hope of future amendment, the magistrates order linen, shoes, stockings, or other clothing to be given to them to a moderate extent.

It appears that the Rev. H. Cooper, the vicar of Rye, visits the prisoners at least once in every week, sometimes oftener, according as there are prisoners in custody who may require his assistance. Friday is generally the day set apart for his stated attendance, when the prisoners, both male and female, are at the same time assembled in the keeper’s parlour for the purpose of divine worship. On those occasions Mr. Cooper reads prayers selected from the liturgy, and expounds a portion of Scripture, or preaches a short sermon. The conduct of the prisoners at the service is said to be devout and proper. There is no regular provision made for the secular instruction of the prisoners; the keeper says he occasionally gives a lesson to those who are desirous of learning to read; but it is quite dependent upon his leisure and inclination. When it is said that this prison consists of six cells, for the separate confinement of prisoners’ and that four of these are tolerably well fitted up as to the convenience of the prisoners, we think that is all that can he urged, in strict propriety, in its favour; whilst the objectionable points in several details of structure and arrangement, in position, and general discipline, are many and important. The prison, in our opinion, is not secure. There are no regular hours appropriated for the prisoners to taka exercise; sometimes they have only one hour in the course of the day, at other times they are allowed to walk about the airing-yard nearly, the half of the day; the keeper asserts that it depends upon his engagements, and the time he has to spare to superintend them. It would seem, also, that, although said to be separately confined, they are occasionally permitted to exercise in company; and the fact of a strict superintendence being necessary on these occasions, would appear from the following admonitory inscription written by the keeper on the wall in large characters, "Not any swearing, gaming, or noise allowed." We have already stated that the airing-yard is common to the whole of the cells, so that unless the gaoler keeps a constant watch over the prisoner at exercise, the sexes have every facility of communication. And as there is no other officer to assist the keeper in .maintaining the discipline of the prison, we have no doubt that much association prevails; besides, there are occasionally more prisoners in custody than can be provided with separate cells. In the course of the last year the greatest number in confinement was 8, the cells being only six in number. The means of inspecting the cells, without being observed, are defective : the airing-yard, however, may be readily overlooked from the door of the keeper’s parlour. Prohibited articles are not infrequently thrown over the boundary wall into the airing-yard; the keeper says he has known coffee, tea, sugar, tobacco, &c., to be thus introduced into the prison. He acknowledges also that there have been no punishments awarded for any infringements of the discipline; indeed, the remissness of the discipline is everywhere observable. We visited the prison at 9 o’clock in the morning, and at that late hour we found the female prisoner just getting up.

The Visiting Justices are said to attend at the gaol regularly once a week, and to pay considerable attention to their duties. We submit that there is much in the management of this prison requiring their best attention; for the discipline, to be rendered efficient, should undergo a thorough revision and amendment.