+
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101. By Law 26 of 1873, passed on the 13th of August, the Governor has power to make regulations for the photographing of convicted prisoners, and the clerk of the Circuit and District and of Petty Sessions Courts are to make returns of persons convicted of any criminal offence in such manner as the Governor may direct. We are not aware that any regulations have as yet been issued under this law. Further, by the 6th section of the same law, any person convicted on an indictment of any crime after a previous conviction may be subjected to the supervision of the police for a period not exceeding seven years. And every male
person under the supervision of the police who is at large is bound to notify his residence and every change of residence to the inspector of police for the parish, and to report bimself every month personally or by letter as such inspector directs. On failure to comply with these conditions he is liable to be imprisoned with or without hard labour upon summary conviction before a District Court for any period not exceeding one year.
103. The inspector of detectives sends the inspector of every parish a quarterly return containing the particulars of every habitual criminal who has been discharged during the quarter, and each inspector sends back a quarterly return showing what has become of each habitual criminal. In the opinion of the inspector of detectives the "Habitual Criminal Law, 1870,” did not work well; as no provision was made by it for criminals reporting themselves, it was very difficult for the police to exercise any real supervision over them. As this defect has now been amended, it is to be hoped that more satisfactory results will follow.
Visits to Prisoners.
106. First class misdemeanants are allowed to see their friends between the hours of ten in the morning and four in the evening, and are permitted to write, send, or receive letters. The rules relating to other prisoners are laid down in the Schedule to the "Prisons Consolidated Act, 1856,” under the head “Visitors." Though the rules are silent on the point, no one, except under special circumstances, is admitted to see a prisoner except by an order of a visiting justice, and then only once in three months. The interview must take place in the presence of an officer, and must not last more than 20 minutes, and must take place between the hours of ten and four o'clock, unless a visiting justice otherwise order. In the General Penitentiary the practice is only to admit the friends of prisoners to see them on Saturdays.
Letters.
107. After a prisoner has been in prison for three months he is allowed to write or receive a letter once every three months; all such letters are read by the Superintendent. In the Penitentiary it is the duty of the schoolmaster to write letters for such prisoners as are entitled to send them and cannot write themselves. As a matter of fact, the number of letters sent or received is extremely small.
Diseases and Deaths.
108. In all the prisons of the island the prevalent diseases are dysentery, diarrhea, venereal diseases, and fever, the latter usually not of a bad type., Ulcers of the legs, also, are extremely prevalent; a large number of prisoners come in with them, and in fact, as appears by the medical evidence, are more fit for an hospital than a prison.
109. In the General Penitentiary, during the last five years, 21 cases of insanity occured. Of these 16 were treated in the Institution and 5 sent to the lunatic asylum. No cases of insanity have occurred in any other prison. No suicides have occurred during the above period. Inquests have always been held in cases of death occurring within the gaol or prison, except at Port Maria, where, from 1867 to 1869, seven deaths occured, as to which no inquests were held, as there was no coroner for the parish at the time. In these cases the cause of death was certified by the Govern- ment medical officer and the order of burial given by a justice of the peace.
Surgeons.
He
110. Every prison has a surgeon, who is now appointed by the Governor. reports every three months to the Inspector of Prisons the condition of the prison and
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the state of the health of the prisoners; he is bound to visit the prison and see the sick every day, and every prisoner twice a week, to examine every prisoner on his admission and discharge; in case of the life of any prisoner been endangered by detention in prison, to cause the same to be reported to the Governor, to attend at all corporal punishment, a generally to superintend the sanitary condition of the prison and prisoners.
111. His duties will be found in detail in section 31 of the "Prisons Consolidated Act, 1850," and in schedule A to that Act under the head "Surgeon." These duties seem to have been generally well performed, although in the country district the rule which requires the surgeon to visit the prison every day is not always complied with when there are no sick in prison. と
112. It should be remembered that in most of these cases the surgeon of the prison is also Government medical officer for the district, and has to attend to the constabulary at several stations, in many instances miles apart, and to the paupers, as well as to his private practice, so that in some cases it is very difficult for him to visit the prison daily. Only one instance, however, has come to our knowledge in which a surgeon neglected to pay his daily visit to sick prisoners.
Hospitals.
113. The prisons in general are very poorly supplied with hospitals. They are for the most part rooms not built for the particular purpose, and differing very little from the ordinary rooms. In the General Penitentiary there is both male and female hospital, which we think sufficient. Dr. Bowerbank, one of the most eminent medical men in the Colony, in speaking of the former, said that in his opinion it was the model hospital of Jamaica in point of (structure and ventilation. The other hospitals will be
bospital commented on in the Appendix.
Inspection.
114. The Inspector of Prisons is required to inspect every prison in the island three times in every year. With this exception there are no regulations for the visita- tion or inspection of prisons by the Superior Civil Authorities. As a matter of fact, the Judges of the Supreme Court generally visit the prison of those towns in which they hold their Circuit Courts. It is very seldom that the prisons have been visited by any other officials, and we cannot but regret that the heads of the Surveyor-General and Island Medical Departments have been unable to find time to pay more frequent visits. The presence of the former seems to us to be specially required at several of the prisons.
115. An annual report is made to the Governor by the Inspector of Prisons, con- taining, besides an account of the general state of the prisons and of any particular incidents which have taken place during the year, full statistics relating to the labour performed and earnings made, together with the costs and expenditure of each prison, accompanied by any observation or recommendation which he may think necessary. To this is annexed the annual reports of the surgeon of the General Penitentiary. The Inspector's report is founded on his personal observation made at his periodical visits and on the quarterly and monthly returns furnished to him by the Superintendents. A list of these will be found in the Appendix marked 9.
General Remarks.
116. It will be seen from the foregoing Report that the prison system of Jamaica is defective in several respects. In the first place, separation is not carried out, except in the General Penitentiary to a certain extent, and it is obvious that it will be im- possible to carry it out till the buildings are entirely reconstructed, except in the case of one or two of the smallest prisons, and there only on the supposition that the number of prisoners is not materially increased. In the General Penitentiary, during the year 1871-72, the daily average number of prisoners was 450, and the number of separate cells available at the outside 303. A new range of buildings is therefore required, which ought to contain not less than 150 cells. There is rooni for such a range to be built without enlarging the area of the prison; and totally irrespective of the question of separation, we consider that the present associated wards are, from the character of the buildings and the impossibility of improving them, unfit to be used. This is simply
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
6T
Reference -
1 TT & CO. 885
4 PUBLIC RECORD
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
OFFICE, LONDON