Bedfordshire Archives Service Catalogue
  • Reference
    QGR3/6
  • Title
    General Annual Report of the Justices of the Peace to the General Quarter Sessions, including the reports of the Keeper of the Gaol & House of Correction; the Surgeon of the prisons and the Chaplain of the prisons. Includes the following:
  • Date free text
    15 Oct 1844
  • Production date
    From: 1843 To: 1844
  • Scope and Content
    The Gaoler reported in each Quarter that the health and conduct of the prisoners had been generally good except as to the four boys in the Epiphany Quarter Sessions who had been punished by close confinement for misconduct in the yard. The Surgeon reported that in the Epiphany Quarter there had been in the House of Correction two cases of scurvy, two of rheumatism, one of pleurisy, one of incontinence urine. Several slight cases of diarrhea, venereal disease and influenza. David Johnson committed in April 1843 was attacked with dropsy at the commencement of the Quarter and on application to the Secretary of State for his discharge he was removed from the prison to the County Infirmary. At the Easter Sesions the Surgeon reported that James Craft in the Gaol had influenza which speedily degenerated into typhus fever and prevented his taking his trial at the Assizes but he had since been relieased from prison in a state of convalescence. In the House of Correction there was epidemic influenza for nearly the whole quarter, in a few instances it had been accompanied with symptoms of a severe and alarming nature such as congestion of the lungs, pleuratic pains and affections of the heart. That such unusual severity of symptoms greater than the age and previous health of the patients warranted he attributed to the impossibility under the present circumstances of the prison of preserving a proper degree of external warmth on the first seizure of the disease. The worst cases were removed to the Infirmary but in the milder ones he considered the alternative of keeping the men at the wheel better than letting them remain in their cold cells during the whole of the day. He thought the present improved dietary well adapted to keep the prisoners in a healthy state. One case of malignant tumour at the upper part of the arm which rendered amputation at the shoulder joint necessary and the operation had been successfully performed at the Bedford Infirmary to which institution he was removed on his discharge obtained through the Secretary of State. At the Midsummer Quarter the Surgeon stated that in the House of Correction the crowded state of that prison during the greater part of the Quarter had necessarily occasioned a good deal of illness but principally of a mild character. A female prisoner was for some time dangerously ill with congestion of the brain but ultimately recovered. The Chaplain mentioned a very striking circumstance in relation to those tradesmen from the large manufacturing towns who occasionally pass through the prisons that theuy are almost all infidels professedly rejectors of the Bible and disciples of Combe & Owen. That with the writings of Mr Combe particularly his work of phrenology some of them were ultimately conversant. That one there had told him a few days before that "he could not be otherwise than he was; that his life was the acting out of a principle planted in his brain". That these unhappy men were utterly reckless and in their recklessness had disburdened themselves of all annoyance of conscience, for they said they did not believe that there was any such thing as conscience; that what we call moral distinctions are merely conventional creations of the social system; that the unhappy prisoners who had imbibed these notions were generally ignorant of even the first and simplest elements of divine truth. In the House of Correction there is a little library of 150 little books of various character but all excellent in their kind. Each prisoner who could read (besides a bible and a prayer book) had use of these books. which when read he returned and n the contents of which he (the Chaplain) conversed with him before he gave him another and these interviews are valued by many. The Visiting Justices of the prisons at the Epiphany Quarter Sessions stated that the construction of the prison was such that it was found impossible to enforce discipline and carry out the requirements of the Acts of Parliament. That it was at variance with every system that had been recommended by all those who had devoted their attention to the subject. The Governors House was in the centre of the prison and so connected with it as to render it impossible to prevent communication with the prisoners. The debtors day room and cells wre so connected with the prison that great abuses had existed and must exist unless analteration was effected. The Chapel was placed in a situation so near the Infirmary that occasions had occured in which the duties of the Chaplain had been suspended for days together and even on Sundays in consequence of the noise arisong from the assembling of the prisoners as well as prisoners being in the Infirmary with infectious diseases thatmight endanger the health of those assembled for worship in the Chapel. The Cells in the prison were not sufficiently numerous for the admissions and the ventilation and warmth of the cells were inadequate to secure the health of the prisoners. The garden belonging to the Gaoler in which persons were employed were only separated by an openfence from the day yards of prisoenrs and Gaolers family, servants and friends was well the continued and unrestrained visits to the Debtors in the internal part of the Gaol created inconvenience which seriously impeded prison discipline. The subject of greatest importance was the impossibility of effecting a proper classification of prisoners under the present arrangement of the prison.That as many as from 12 to 16 and even more prisoners had been assembled together during the day inone room and yard for whole weeks in succession without employment and the intercourse that was occasioned was demoralising and contaminating tending more to harden than to amend and must in every point of view be deplored by all who were awareof it except the most abandoned of the prisoners. The Chaplain stated that the effects of his visits were much more satisfactory in the House of Correction than in the Gaol from the circumstance of the separation of the prisoners than existed in that prison. In the House of Correction the accommodation required was far from what was requisite and the entries in teh Journals of the Prison bore repeated testimony of this fact. There are 56 night cells and last week there were 93 prisoners out of which 10 had been placed and had slept together in the laundry and the surplus number in the receiving room, in the refractory and other parts of the prison in numbers that could be best arranged, but not undre sufficient security to prevent an escape from the prison. There was not a single cell in the prison of the dimensions required by the Act of Parliament. In the Summer months when the doors of the night cells were opened in the morning the effect of bad ventilation was so offensive that even the Officers of the prison felt reluctant in the performance of their duty. In the Winter during the first part of the night the prisoners suffered much from extreme cold so much that in addition to their bed clothes they often slept in their day clothes and it was found impossible without extra artificial means to provide proper warmth and ventilation and the Medical Officer of the prison had brought this subject before the notice of the Visisting Justices on former occasions. At the Midsummer Session the Visiting Justices requested the attention of the Court to the case of Reuben Tansley a prisoner sentenced to three years imprisonment with hard labour for an assult upon a boy under aggravated circumstances o f which term two years had expired and his conduct had been during thet time good. He had been reported by the Surgeon to be affected in mind in consequence of lengthy imprisonment. The Visiting Justices recommended to the Court to apply to Her Mjesty for her most gracious pardon.
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