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    wards of twenty pages of ?* Remarks , by a Friend . " la these * we trace the hand of a gentleman who is in the constant habit of enriching our pages from the treasures of his well furnished mind , and whose stores of knowledge are always at the command of any defender of the cause of truth and

    freedom and mercy .- They are a valuable addition to the Speech , and from them and the Speech itself we have been tempted to make several extracts , but are obliged to forbear , on account of the many publications claiming notice in our brief Review .

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    188 -Hewfeiu . —» Guvney ' t Notte op , Proton ** .

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    Art . IV . —Notes on a Visit made to some of the Prisons in Scotland and the North of England , in company with Elizabeth Fry , with some general Observations on the Subject of Prison Discipline . By Joseph John Gurney . 12 mo . pp . 178 . Longman and Co . 1819 .

    MRS . FRY ' s benevolent and successful efforts to reform the female prisoners in Newgate are known td the public . In a former part of this work , we have , we believe , inserted an interesting account of the visiting association of which she may be considered as the head . This little

    volume records another " labour of love undertaken by her in conjunction with her brother , the Author . A journey , « ' connected with the concerns of their own religious society , that of Friends , " was made subservient by these philanthropic persona

    to the further object of inspecting jails , and pointing out improvements in their management . Their observations are here published , and the reader of them will admire equally the wisdom and prudence , and the benevolence and zeal of the visitors .

    The public will be surprised to learn the miserable state of certain of the jails in Scotland . Happily , some of them are uninhabited ; but in the manufacturing districts these receptacles of misery are crowded , and some of them exhibit incredible scenes of vice and wretchedness :

    u No airing- gr ; ounds no change of rooms ; tubs in th ^ prisoners * cells for tjj e reception of every kind of filth ; black holes ; no religious service ; jailers living away from their prisons , consequently , an impossibility of any inspection , and an

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    almost total absence of care ; free com . munication through the windows of the cells with the public . " P . 105 . In the Scotch jails there is com ^ monly a long iron bar fixed in toe floor , through which the legs of the prisoner are fastened , by rings , by which means the legs are constantly kept apart from each other , # nd the prisoner is prevented from undressing or going to bed .

    The law of debtor and creditor is more severe in Scotland than in England . There , if a debtor escape from prison , the jailer or the magistrate becomes answerable for the debt . The consequence is a rigorous confinement , such as can be justified only in the case of the most desperate criminals .

    The want of lunatic asylums in Scotland has led to the confinement of lunatics in the jails / and some cases are stated by Mr . Gurney of the treatment of these unhappy creatures which harrow up the feelings .

    There are some exceptions to this miserable state of things in Scotland , and in most of the places visited , reforms were in contemplation . In the North of England , the jails

    are variously managed . Some have been strangely neglected , but others are in the way of reform , and some of the Bridewells are really houses of correction and moral improvement .

    The usual evils of jails , pointed out by Mr . G . u . rijey , are insufficiency of fpod ; want of clothing ; no firing ( in Scotland ); the crowding of prisoners in sleeping-rooms ; fetters , a marked cruelty in the case of prisoners

    untried , who must be presumed to be innocent ; disregard of cleanliness ; want of inspection and competent superintendance ; the non-classification of prisoners , so that debtors and criminals , youths and veteran culprits , men and women , the tried and untried

    are sometimes mingled together , and treated alike ; the absence of instruction ; and above all , the want of employment . These evils are not found in all jails ; all of them perhaps in

    none ; ajid tfyere are a few iijfitajnces where enlightened aiid hurjmne magistrates have bawshed ; tli ^ m al together . The supply of labour for > prir sonera , and the division of ) the profits of it with them , seem to be the best

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1819, page 188, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1770/page/52/