138
It would gravely imperil the discipline which Mr. Sealy is successfully enforcing there, if more prisoners were sent there than there are separate cells for. If there must be temporary avererowding somewhere, I would rather it should be under immediate inspection in Georgetown than in any of the County Prisons, or at Massuruni.
7. Besides the New Prison at Massaruni, the Colonial Civil Engineer has, at my request, prepared designs for temporary wooden prisons for hutting male prisoners in the The first I propose to country, where they can be usefully employed on public works. erect is one for eighty prisoners on the property called the Best, on the western bank of the Demerara River, where they will be usefully employed in rebuilding the sea damı, These prisons will consist simply of two rows of cells, back to back, and divided from euch other by galvanized iron partitions, like those in Chatham Convict Prison. The outer walls of the prisons, and the long centre partition which divides the two rows of cells from each other, will be of wood. The roof will be of galvanized iron, and the necessary arrange- ments for securing ample ventilation are shown on the plan, while, as the prison will be occupied only at night, the heat, which will be generated from the iron roof in the day, will not be an objection. Every cell will have a door opening straight into the open air. These prisons will be guarded by the police, and I propose to send to them men, whether creoles or coolies, convicted summarily of petty crimes, larencies, theft of growing produce, fighting, indecency, and offences of a similar character. I do not propose to send to them coolies for breaches of the Labour Law, as I think it better that they should be kept apart and only employed in purely agricultural labour, just as they are, in fact, now employed at Malaica and Fellowship.
L'inclose a copy of the plan* of these prisons, which, being intended only as temporary prisons for prisoners undergoing short sentences, are of the simplest and cheapest character. They are so constructed as to be easily taken to pieces and removed to another place when it is desirable to do so in order to execute another work, and they may be put up in lengths of twenty, forty, or fifty cells, giving accommodation for forty, eighty or 100 prisoners respectively. It will, of course, be necessary to attach to each an hospital room, where a prisoner can be properly attended, but all serious cases of illness will, when possible, be removed to Georgetown Gaol.
8. These temporary prisons will, I believe, be much feared by the unruly class for whom they are intended-men who do not in the least care about being sent to George- town Gaol, but who will be deterred by the prospect of being moved into the country, apart from all their companions, and set to hard work under pain of solitary confinement, which I propose to adopt as the punishment for idleness in gaol. My first object is to reduce the number of prisoners in Georgetown Gaol so as to have room for the enforce- ment of strict discipline, but, if imprisonment in these temporary prisons has the effect I expect, the fourful increase in the number of offenders will be arrested and the number of prisoners will be permanently reduced.
9. I am taking steps for carrying into effect your Lordship's instructions as to the separation of youthful offenders, and I believe that, in all the measures necessary for the improvement of our police and prisons, I shall continue to receive the support which, I am glad to acknowledge, I have already received from the Legislature.
10. Not the least of my anxieties in respect of the over-crowded state of the Georgetown Gaol has been lest the health of the prisoners should be injuriously affected, and any fever or disease become epidemic during the hot and usually unhealthy season through which we have been passing; but it will be seen from a Report made by the Medical Officer, of which I inclose a copy, that though there was at one time much sickness,
Since the date of it was of an ordinary type, and not at all of an epidemic character. Dr. Hutson's letter, the number of prisoners in Georgetown has been already very largely reduced, and I hope, when the arrangements I have detailed are complete, to reduce the number of male-convicted prisoners (exclusive of those in hospital) to 200, for which number there is accommodation in separate cells.
I have, &c.
(Signed) J. R. LONGDEN,
137
I am of opinion that the hot season of the year and the large number of prisoners at present in gaol, many of whom come to prison in a weak and emaciated condition, suffering from ulcers, may fairly be taken as the cause of the excessive number at present in hospital. I have no reason at the present moment to anticipate an outbreak of any of those epidemics which so frequently occur in over-crowded goals, but I must candidly admit that if the present crowded state of the prison continues much longer, we shall be running a very great risk of such an occurrence, and it would be most desirable if the prison could be relieved as early as possible of the overplus.
I have, &c.
His Honour J. Brumell, Sheriff, &c. &c. &c.
(Signed) HE. HUTSON, Gaol Surgeon.
Inclosure 2 in No. 31.
MEMORANDUM of Patients in Hospital on the 24th August, 1874.
Abscess Ansernia .. Blind Bronchitis
Chaneres..
Boile
Chigur toes Contusions Diarrhea Debility
..
Dysentery
Delirium and abscess
Fever
Fever and abscess Incised wound
3
Jtch
Indisposition
1
Insanity
Lacerated wound
2
Opthalmia
Palpitation
Paralysis..
3
Rheumatism
2
Ringworms
1
Strangulated bernia
1
Uleers
18
Vomitting
2
Whitlow..
1
Total ..
Total number in prison on same day, 609; nearly 15 per cent. in hospital.
(Signed) WILLIAM WALSH,
No. 32.
92
Hospital Superintendent.
The Earl of Carnarvon to Governor Longden, C.M.G.
(No. 179. British Guiana.)
Downing Street, November 10, 1874.
Sir,
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 175 of the 22nd of September, reporting the arrangements you have made for providing additional prison accommodation.
This despatch gives evidence of praiseworthy activity on your part in dealing with the evils arising from overcrowding of prisoners, but it does not exhaust the questions raised in my despatch of the 10th of August, and I do not doubt that I shall receive further communications from you as to the general prison system of the Colony.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
No. 33.
CARNARVON.
Sir,
Inclosure 1 in No. 31.
George Town Gaol, August 24, 1874. IN reply to your letter of 22nd inst, I have the honour to inclose, for your information, an extract from the Hospital Journal of the 21st instant, showing the number of patients under treatnient and the various complaints from which they were suffering.
"
Not reproduced.
Governor Longden, C.M.G., to the Earl of Carnarvon.—(Received January 28.)
(No. 1. British Guiana.) My Lord,
Government House, George Town, January 1, 1875.
IN my despatch No. 102 of the 15th June last, I had the honour to lay before your Lordship the reasons which led me to propose to the Combined Court a vote of money for the purpose of enlarging the Convict Prison at Massaruni.
In a subsequent despatch No. 115 of the 4th of July last, I had the honour to
* No. 31.
(128)
† No. 26.
‡ No. 27.
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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