County Bridewell, Spalding, Lincolnshire

This prison, lately built, has several sizeable airy rooms 13 feet by 10: chimneys in two of them. A work-room 28 feet by 9½. The under-rooms vaulted, 12½ feet by 9½, and 7 feet high: the entrance is by a trap-door from the upper rooms. There is a pump now in the court, which not being secure, the prisoners have no access to it. Allowance, three pence a day. When they work they have three fourths of the profit; turnkey, the remainder. Clauses against spirituous liquors hung up: as also is the late act for preserving the health of prisoners, neatly painted on a small board. Keeper's salary, £38: fees, 5s. no table. Surgeon's salary, £12. In the twelve years preceding 1782, there were 473 prisoners, of whom 41 were debtors.—By the act for the court of requests for the hundred of Elloe, in this county, the debtor shall remain in confinement three months.

Keeper, Thomas Ives; now John Chapmann. Salary, 48l. 8s. Fees, 5s, as per Table, hung up.

Surgeon, Mr. Vyse. Salary, 12l.

Number of Prisoners,
1802, Aug. 11th, Four. 1809, Sept. 4th, Three; and Mary Allain, a Lunatick, who had been confined there four and twenty years.

Allowance, sixpence a day. When the Prisoners work they receive three-fourths of their Earnings, and the Turnkey has the remainder.

REMARKS.

The ascent to this Prison is by 12 steps, and the doors open into a boarded gallery. The eight upper rooms (the work-room being divided into two), are 13 feet by 10; chimnies in two of them: all airy, and well ventilated. The eight under-rooms are vaulted, 124 feet by 91, and 7 feet high. The entrance to four of them is by a trap-door from the upper rooms: The doors of the other four open into the court, in which there is a pump; but, not being secure, the Prisoners have no access to it.

The County allows straw on boarded floors, two blankets, and a rug, to each Prisoner. If the Keeper furnishes a bed, he receives (as per Table) 4d. per night from each, if one only; or, if two sleep together, the same.

The Court of Requests for the Hundred of Elloe, send their Prisoners hither; and the Costs sometimes exceed the original Debt!

The prisoners are divided into seven classes; and there are detached infirmaries for males and females. The prison contains forty-eight sleeping-cells.

The tread-wheel labour has been introduced for the men: the women wash and mend the linen, under the direction of a matron. The prisoners work eight hours daily in summer, and during day-light in winter. The weekly diet for each prisoner consists of 13 lbs. of bread, 1 lb. of beef, without bone, ½ peck of potatoes, and ½ a quartern of oatmeal. Each man at the tread-mill is allowed ½ lb. of beef extra during the week. The chaplain reads prayers twice on Sundays, and also preaches a sermon.

This prison stands in an open space in the town of Spalding, with its principal front to the market-place, It is a plain brick building of four stories, containing 12 cells and 4 rooms on each floor, with the keeper's apartments and chapel in the centre.

Dimensions.

Chapel.—23 ft. by 27 ft.
Sleeping Cells.—6 ft. by 8 ft., 8 ft. 6 in. high.
Day-rooms.—13 ft. by 15 ft.

The roofs and floors of the cells are of Yorkshire paving, the doors of iron, and the windows fitted with iron shutters, and containing a glazed light in their centres. The keeper's-house contains a room for the magistrates, turnkey, pantry, and offices on the ground floor; on the first floor one sitting room and three chambers; on the second floor two chambers; and on the third floor two chambers. The chapel is divided into a double range of pens, four for females above, and five for males below, with separate entrances for each sex. It is well contrived, and the sexes secured from communicating with each other. There are six paved airing yards, with water laid on and privies to each. Detached from the principal building at the back are the offices and infirmaries, the latter converted into a ward for the females, who there carry on their washing, &c. The tread-wheels are in two divisions in separate yards.

This prison seems to have been built by the same architect, and constructed on a similar faulty plan to those at Louth and Spilsby. The day-rooms being on different floors, access to the yards and inspection of the prisoners is difficult and imperfect, and the labour of the officers materially increased by this inconvenient disposition. The windows of the cells both in front and rear require blinds. The laundry, where the prisoners' linen is dried, having a boarded floor and open fireplace, is exposed to accident from fire. Water is supplied from two clumsily placed cisterns, elevated upon brick piers to the height of the second story. The privies are offensive, and the drainage generally defective, although great pains have been taken to obviate the inconvenience. The cost of erection was 16,000l., and a portion of the debt incurred is still in course of repayment, and will not be wholly discharged until the year 1845.

Diet.—Prisoners committed for further examination, for trial, for misdemeanors, and debts, 3 lbs. of good wheaten bread daily, 1 lb. of good beef without bone on Tuesday, 4 ounces of oatmeal daily, half a peck of potatoes Saturday.

Prisoners committed for hard labour, except vagrants and paupers from workhouses, 4 lbs. 5 oz. 8 dr. of good bread on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays; 4 ounces of oatmeal daily.

Vagrants and paupers from workhouses, 2 lbs. 2 oz. 12 dr. of good bread daily.

Salt sufficient for each class. The prisoners cook their food in the day-rooms. Debtors, in addition to the diet, are allowed to purchase provisions, and a pint of ale daily.

Clothing.—No clothing allowed except in case of necessity.

Bedding,.—Iron and wooden bedsteads, palliasse, sheets, two blankets and rug.

Fuel.—One bushel of coals every six days to each day-room all the year.

Cleanliness.—The prison clean, with the exception of the day-rooms. Clean linen is issued once a week; sheets every month.

Health.—The surgeon visits the prison twice a week, and daily if required by cases of sickness; he examines the prisoners before they are classed, but does not attend corporal punishment. He states, "I consider the diet sufficient, but could not recommend its reduction, except in the case of the females, who, I think, have too much bread. Intermittent and remittent fever of the typhoid character, and catarrhal affections, are the ordinary ailments. The cases of typhus have been numerous, but were confined principally to one part of the building. It was without doubt generated in the prison: it first showed itself as remittent fever, and was very general with the prisoners on one side of the prison. During its prevalence further professional advice was called in, the sewers were improved, to which the origin of the disease was ascribed, and no case of fever with typhoid symptoms has since occurred. There were no deaths. I think the catarrhal affections principally arise from the prisoners' exposure to the air when heated with the labour of the wheel. The greater proportion of vagrants are infected with eruptive or venereal disease, and often require the terms of their imprisonment, for restoration to health. The solitary confinement has been generally for no longer period than a fortnight. I think prisoners do not then require so much food, when the digestion is in an inert state, as when at labour. In most cases where my attention has been called to solitary confinement, there has been a greatly marked alteration in the mind of the prisoners within a fortnight. In those I advert to, the first or last fortnight or week of the term of imprisonment has been solitary. I only visit the prisoners in solitary when sent for, but I scarcely recollect one who has not sent for me, and in the generality of cases I have found it to be the mind that has been affected. I have only been called in when the health has given way, or they have suffered mentally. They are placed in the usual sleeping cells, with 2 lbs. 2 oz. of bread and water daily. I have met with instances of great depression; one in particular, where a prisoner for trial was ordered to be placed alone, who attempted to destroy himself, and was all but gone. He, however, recovered, and a constable was placed along with him."

Moral and Religious Instruction.—The chaplain performs one service with sermon on Sundays, and visits the prisoners once during the week, distributing tracts and conversing with them. The sacrament has not been administered, no prisoner having been found in a suitable state of mind to receive it. He states, "I have not visited the prisoners in solitary confinement. I have thought it might be too groat an alleviation. The officers attend Divine service regularly. There is no regular instruction of the prisoners. In some cases they teach one another. They do not take care of the books. They have never solicited me to visit them. I am afraid the appointment of a schoolmaster would not be attended with much benefit. Their ignorance is very great; they read the tracts when they are lively and short, and which tempt them to a perusal when a larger volume will not."

The matron says, "the women are very ignorant, many cannot even handle a needle. There is a prisoner here now who expressed a wish to learn to read; she did not know her letters, and has been taught by the others. This is the only instance I have ever heard of such a desire among them. She is 22 years of age. and sentenced to 12 months imprisonment."

The chaplain's journal contains entries of services performed and tracts distributed. The very useful practice of entering the number of prisoners present at Divine service appears to have been discontinued.

Classification—The prescribed classification is generally adhered to as respects the males. The females of all classes are placed together, with the exception of the vagrants.

Labour.—The convicted male prisoners labour on the tread-wheel; the females at cleaning, washing, and mending. The prisoners receive no remuneration for their labour.

Offences and Punishments.—The ordinary offences are attempts at escape and disorderly conduct, punished by placing them in iron, and confinement in the refractory cells. No case of whipping has taken place for the space of four years.

Scourge.—Handle of hard wood 18 inches in length, with nine lashes of common whipcord each 2 feet long, with knots at the ends.

Irons.—Refractory prisoners. 21 lbs.; transports 7 lbs.

Visits and Letters.—The prisoner see their friends by an order from a magistrate. This is not required for the debtors. Letters are written at the discretion of the keeper, and always inspected by him.

General Discipline.—Unchecked association prevails through this prison, neither regularity nor decency at meals are enforced. The diet is abundant, the labour trifling, and the discipline lax. Attempts at escape are frequent. I find one during the last winter thus recorded in the keeper's Journal:—

"This evening at 7 o'clock, the usual time of locking up, on opening the door oft he day-room, occupied by Joseph Tow, Thomas Brooklesby, and Charles Blood, Joseph Tow sprung up and seized me by the cravat with his left hand, pressing his fist in my neck, and at the same time striking with his right. Thomas Brooklesby was on the point of laying hold of me, but seeing a party coming to my assistance, he retreated precipitately into the day-room. The turnkey was also seized by Charles Blood."

On the day of inspection, in the debtors' room I found a board for gambling; and over the fire-place the following inscription:— " The Rules of this prison is that every fresh member pay one shilling for the good of the company, or else have nothing to eat. To either stand it in ale or meat, as the company thinks proper."

Provisions were strewed about the day-rooms. The keeper states, that "he has frequently complained of the dirt and inconvenience arising from,the prisoners cooking the diet for themselves. He thinks they do not derive the support from it they would if obliged to conform to regular meals. They barter their provisions, and sometimes eat at once the whole quantify issued. Has even found it necessary, in order that a man might have an equal support, and who could not resist his appetite, to take his food away from him, dress it, and serve it out to him at regular hours." Communication is incessantly taking place between the male and female prisoners. The matron states, "I frequently see the women up at the windows opposite the cells where the men are, they are constantly calling and talking to each other. The keeper states. "Great difficulty arises from the want of a convenient place for the women. The men who are in the upper story, and those engaged in cleaning the cells during the day, cannot help seeing the women in their yard and laundry below." The turnkey says, "I have seen the women looking out and making signs to the men in the opposite part of the building. I have heard them shout to the men in the morning: it is a frequent practice." The wheel has no partitions for separate labour: the turnkey states, "I watch the mill, but I cannot keep the men from speaking, they will whisper even when I am in the yard: I do not think the labour is very hard."

It appears that by diminishing the quantity of food formerly allowed to vagrants in this prison, their numbers have decreased. The keeper says, "I ascribe the decrease in the number of vagrants to the reduction in the diet allowed to that class. I have known them commit acts of vagrancy for the mere purpose of being committed to prison. They have told me formerly, "I've heard your diet well spoken of; and we think we cannot do better in the winter than throw ourselves upon you."

Keeper.—Age 52; appointed 1817 .salary, 100l.; coals, washing, and garden.

Matron.—Appointed 1820; salary. 15l.; wife of the keeper,

Turnkey.—Age 25; appointed 1837; wages, 15s. a week; does not reside in the prison; read and write.

Miller.—Age 57; appointed 1834; married; wages, 18s. a week; does not reside in prison; read and write.

Chaplain.—Appointed 1836; salary, 45l.; second master of the endowed grammar-school at Spalding.

Surgeon.—Appointed 1825; salary, 40l., for medicines and attendance.