PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference -
C.O.885
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- | COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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under the admirable management of Mr. Castle, is fast becoming all that can bẹ expected.
A large number of officers and men lately belonging to the Ceylon Rifle Regiment, have been engaged as gaol guards, sub-overseers, and overseers. They are becoming a very efficient staff, and are receiving a thorough training from the gaoler, who spares no pains to qualify them for their work.
The Hultsdorf Gaol is now reserved for civil debtors, and persons awaiting trial; and is well looked after by Mr. Mussafer, late Sergeant-Major of the Rifles. The female prisoners have been removed to his charge, and are entirely separated from the male prisoners. They are now well employed within the walls of their own goal in making
yarn, and working cummerbunds, and other articles of prison clothing.
coir
As regards the Borella Hospital, I annex an extract from my diary of yesterday's date: "Visited the Hospital Borella between 9 and 10 last night; the sick prisoners were most comfortably provided for, each with a good blanket, pillow and cot. The attendants were all alert, the wards sweet and cool, and everything provided that could be needed.
"I frequently and unexpectedly visit the sick at night, and am much pleased with the attention they receive. Mr. Pereira, the overseer in charge of the prisoners, and Mr. Wait, the overseer in charge of the surgery, are doing their duty well."
It may be said that the picture drawn above differs very much from the one contained in the Report which accompanies this letter-such is the case. My Report is for last year, and refers to the condition of the Gaol up to the 31st December, when it really seemed to me a hopeless task to try and effect any radical reform; and when the question sug- gested itself to my mind whether I was justified in not asking to be relieved from the acting appointment of Superintendent, when the results of my efforts to reform had been so poor. But I take a very much more encouraging view of things; and having on several occasions been connected with this establishment, first as Deputy to the Fiscal, and subsequently as Fiscal and Visitor, I venture to say that at no period of the history of this gaol has it promised so well as at present. There is an amount of ventilation now as regards what goes on in the gaol which never existed before. The frequent visits of his Excellency the Governor, the Colonial Secretary, the Inspector-General of Prisons and the Principal Medical Officer, act as a check of the most valuable nature upon gross irregularities; and the officers recently appointed are, as a body, very much more trust- worthy and efficient.
Lest, however, I be thought to have drawn too bright a picture, I beg respectfully that before my temporary tenure of office ceases, as probably it soon will, the same Com- mission that inspected the gaol when so much was found that was unsatisfactory, be requested to revisit and report on it. I do not pretend that all is yet, or ever will be, all that it should be. We have to do with 600 inen, each one bent on evading the rules of the prison; and with a number of native peons too, often ready to wink at irregularities; but I think that the tendency of matters is towards improvement of a marked character; and I know that the prisoners now regard their incarceration with anything but compla- cency and satisfaction.
1 cannot conclude without saying how very close and unremitting have been the attentions of the medical officers to the wants of the gaol; and I am glad to say the most thorough good understanding has of late prevailed between them and the prison- officers.
I am, &c.
(Signed)
The Hon, the Colonial Secretary.
L. LIESCHING, Acting Superintendent.
Welikado, 1873.
(1.)
An increase of expenditure of rupees 708; 35, as compared with that for 1872. A decrease of profits of rupees 18,355: 50, as compared with those for 1872.
(B)—Additions to Welikada.
1. A block of cells three stories high has been built. There are fourteen cells in each story, except the top one, where two cells have been thrown into one, with a view to that space being used as a hospital.
Each cell is 12 feet long, and 7:3 broad, and 10-9 high, and contains 935) cubic feet of space. These cells were built by prison labour,
The whole block is inclosed by a wall.
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2. Two half-walled wards, with cadgan roof and tatts, have been built, to serve us a temporary hospital. Each is 80 feet long, and 40 wide.
Two latrines, on the dry earth principle, are at a convenient distance; and also a kitchen; a covered way connects the wards with the surgery.
The following works are in progress :—
A wall, 9 feet high, to separate the old hospital ward, &c., from the rest of the gaol, for the accommodation of women; they have been located in a temporary shed in one corner of the gaol, with a temporary wall.
It is in contemplation to build a new kitchen and store-rooms, and to run up a line
of sheds to serve as places for beating coir husks; and to erect the work sheds in another part of the gaol, so that all prisoners in the penal stage should occupy that part of the prison solely, which is divided by a wall from the rest of the gaol.
Alterations.
The plaster of the old cells has been completely removed, and Portland cement sub- stituted for it; and the ventilation of 120 cells is in progress, by enlarging considerably
the gratings which admit air from outside.
I would suggest extending these alterations to the remaining cells.
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(C.)-Prison Discipline.
regret to say that the discipline of the gaol is unsatisfactory in the extreme, and demands the most thorough reorganization. The overseers are, with but a few excep- tions, totally unfit for their posts, and are not to be trusted in the slightest degree; and bribery and corruption hence poisoned the whole establishment. I can only hope for, and await the arrival of trained warders from England; and, meanwhile I recommend, in the strongest terms, that a weeding and sifting process be undertaken,
The more I see of the gaol, the more am I satisfied that reform without a reorgani- zation of the establishment is impossible.
The Accountant of the gaul is now awaiting trial for embezzlement; and I am persuaded that his guilt must have been known to many other officers of the gaol; and the Head Turnkey was dismissed early in the year.
Under those circumstances it is difficult to say how the "penal-stage" and good- conduct mark system have succeeded. Had discipline been what it should be, many an instance of misconduct, involving forfeiture of good marks would have been reported; and as the strictly penal system was suspended when Welikada was emptied, owing to sickness, I have not had enough opportunity for judging of its effects.
2. Labour and Employment of Prisoners.-The prisoners have been employed mainly
in turning over the soil within the walls, and in carrying out the alterations and additions.
3. Classification.-It cannot be said that there is any system of classification, strictly speaking, except the separation of men from women, and of penal-stage prisoners from others.
4. The punishments have been refractory diet, and solitary confinement, forfeitures of marks, and flogging.
5. There have been three escapes in the year; and in all cases the prisoners have been recaptured.
(D.)-Diet.
Strictly, penal diet was resumed on the 1st December last. I have seen no ill effects from it.
The ordinary diet of the prisoners has been excellent. I think there has been decided improvement in that respect. The cooked meals constantly pass under my inspection.
The clothing is sufficient and good; each prisoner has a suit for the day, and one for the night, consisting of a white jumper and loose trousers. The sick and convalescents wear blue, and the prisoners have cummerbunds of red cloth, and flannel vests, when ordered. Blankets are being supplied in place of cumblies; and cellular prisoners who sleep on the ground-floor have cots or coir matting,
The water is excellent and abundant, and is brought from wells outside. The penal-stage prisoners are now made to bathe inside the gaol; and the water is supplied through a pipe from outside, and flows into a trough.
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