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besides one for the constabulary in a cell in the male yard. The earth-closet system is in use, and the moil is thrown into the ses every morning, but the Superintendent complains that the constables keep their latrine very badly, and that the smell is very offensive. There is no urinal.
There are no baths or lavatories; the prisoners are made to bathe every Saturday in tube in their own yards, and on other days tabs are placed for them to wash in, but they are not compelled to do so anless they are too dirty.
There are no lights in the prison except those belonging to the constabulary. patrolled every night at 12 and 4.
The prison is
The water supply is brought from a so-called fountain. It is not always good. Excellent water san be obtained from the Orange river, and although it is rather further from the prison than the fountain, we think the water ought to be taken from it.
The beds in use in the wards are the ordinary guard beds. In the calls the prisoners sleep on rugs on the floor, which is of wood. We recommend that a guard bed should be placed in each
celli
No separation is attempted. The unconvicted prisoners are kept in the constabulary lock-up cells if the district Court is near at hand, but if not they are marched to Spanish Town, a distance of nearly seventy miles, and sometimes scarcely arrive in time to be marched back again, for trial. As there is no want of rooms in this prison this hardship might surely be avoided.
The male prisoners are employed in breaking stones inside the walls, carrying water, and working on the roads. There is no shot-drill, crank, or treadmill Criminal children under 15 years of age are treated like other prisoners, except that they are separately locked up. There have been no imbecile or maniscal prisoners.
The officers of the prison consist of the Superintendent, one male and one female sub-officer, In consequence of the constabulary occupying part of the prison, the officers' quarters are very confined. No provision is made for the instruction or the reformation of prisoners, or for religious services. No flogging has been inflicted in the prison. One prisoner, who was employed outside, escaped, but was recaptured the same day. There have been no deaths or cases of insanity in the prison.
10. Montego Bay Short-Term Prison.
The building is situated in the town, and is built of limestone and brick. The armngement of this prison, which is also occupied by the constabulary, is very defective. The constables are quartered over the cells (ace Plan), and have free access to the female prisoners' yard. The privy for the women is in the male prisoners' yard, and the privy in the female prisoners' yard is used by the constabulary. The matron always accompanies the female prisoners when they have occasion to go into the male prisoners' yard. The whole matter might be settled by altering the privy of the women into that for *the constables, and vice verad,
The Superintendent's privy, which is close to the kitchen, is not on the dry-earth system, and was very offensive the day the Commissioners were there. This ought to be done away with, as, indepen- dent of its unhealthiness, it is too close to the outside wall, and prisoners have escaped by getting on the roof, and from there on to the top of the wall. The kitchen, which adjoins this privy, is also too close to the outside wall.
The ventilation is not good. The water supply is procured from a well within the walls, and is tolerably good.
There is a very good stone bath, which is sufficient for the wants of the prison. The only labour in use is breaking stones. The prisoners bring this in from the quarry in carts. prisoners wash clothes.
The female
There are five wards and six cells; they are not lighted, and the prison is only patrolled every two hours up to midnight. There is no hospital, but the sick are kept separate in one of the wards. There has only been one death during the last five years. A light is kept burning at the gate in the con- stabulary guard room all night.
Separation is not attempted.
The staff of the prison consists of a Superintendent, a taskmaster, and a matron.
11. Black River Short-Term Prison
This prison is situated in the middle of the town of Black River. It was for some time closed, but was reopened as a short-term prison in 1869, a large portion of buildings being being reserved as a constabulary station. The premises are built of stones with shingled roofs, and are in fair order, though one part of the walls of the yard requires to be raised. In that part of the building occupied se the prison there are three wands, containing respectively 6,188, 2,968, and 5,628 cubic feet. in also a ward in the constabulary station containing 1,460 cubic feet, which is used, when necessary, There for female prisoner. There are two yards, one belonging to the constabulary station, the other to the prison. There is an open passage between then, and the constables nse the same kitchen as the prisonera At a trifling expense the constabulary yard might be shut off from the prison yurd, and orders have been issued by Government to have this done.
Two
The boundary wall of this prison is too low in one portion, and could easily be got over. prisoners did escape by this way, but both returned to the prison and gave themselves up the next day. The Superintendent never reported this to the Inspector of Prisons, and so no notice was taken of it We believe the Superintendent, who was only on probation, has now been discharged. The prison was reopened on the 1st of March, 1869, as a short-terin prison.
There is more accommodation here than in many of the district prisons, and if the whole building was given up to the prison department and the constabulary rumoved elsewhere, there would be ample space, even as a district prison. The arrangements here, as at Montego Bay, Port Maria, and
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Port Antonio, of placing the constabulary in a portion of the prison buiklings, is not, in our opinion, at all desirable.
There is no hospital. There have been no deaths since the reopening of the prison in 1869.
The only labour in force is quarrying stones, carting it from the quarry, and breaking it in the prison.
There is no patror lights, and the Superintendent, who did not appear to be as efficient as he ought to have been, goes to bed after locking up the prison.
The female prisoners are under the charge of a matron, and are employed in breaking stones and washing the male prisoners' clothes.
The usual books are kept by the Superintendent.
12.-The Reformatory.
"The Industrial School Act, 1857," 21 Vict., c. 41, provides for the establishment of industrial schools under the sanction and certificate of the Governor, and under this Act a certified industrial school for boys and another for girls were established in the parish of Kingston. By Law 11 of 1869,
as amended by Law 30 of 1872, Government reformatories were substituted for industrial schools, and the control of the institutions and the appointment of their officers was vested in the Governor.
Under these laws any child, apparently under the age of 14 years, who is found begging in any street or public place;
Who is found wandering, not having any home or settled place of abode, proper guardianship, or visible means of subsistence;
Who is found destitute, either being an orphan, or having a surviving parent who is undergoing penal servitude or imprisonment, or who frequents the company of habitual thieves; may be sent to a reformatory and detained up to the age of 16 years.
And any child under the age of 16, convicted of any offence by a Court of Law, may also be sent to a reformatory till he completes the age of 16. The Governor has power to order any child to be discharged upon such conditions as he approves, and the manager every six months may, by licence, under his hand, renew a licence with the Governor's sanction at any time after the expiration of eighteen months of the period allotted for the detention of a child, permit such child to live with any trustworthy and respectable person named in the licence, and may, at any time after the granting of the licence, bind him, with his own consent, apprentice to any trade, and suo in his (the manager's) narue for the wages, or institute a prosecution for the ill-usage of the apprentice.
Further, any child at the expiration of the period for which he shall have been committed to any reformatory, may, with the consent of his natural or appointed guardians, or if he has no such guardian, then of his own free will, contract with the manager to serve for a further period not exceeding two years, in order to be improved in any craft which he has already been partially taught.
There is at present only one Reformatory constituted under these laws. It is situated at Stony Hill, about nine miles from Kingston, at an elevation of 1,400 feet above the sea. originally constructed as barracks for European troops, and are well adapted for their present purpose. The buildings were They consist of several detached blocks, tlie boys' quarters being at a considerable distance from those of the girls. One of these blocks is occupied as a trainage college for young men intended to be schoolmasters, who are also under the supervision of the Malinger of the Reformatory. Considering the character of the people, this arrangement scarcely seems a desirable one, as the college for these young men is just opposite the girls' quarters, and there is no fence of any kind between them. It is believed, however, that no ill results have occurred at present.
The institution is not surrounded by any wall. To use the Manager's own words, he prefers "moral to mural control.”
The buildings are of stone, shingled. They have all roof-ventilation, and all, except the boys' barracks, have floor-ventilation also. There is also in both the barracks an open space of about three feet between the roof and the wall within the piazza.
room
In both the barracks there are fourteen square feet of window to every nineteen square feet of With the exception of the hospital the ventilation of the buildings is good. The drainage is excellent, there being a natural fall as well as good artificial drains.
There are latrines attached to the boys and girls' quarters, one to the workshops, one to the hospital, and another to each officer's quarters. In all but one of these the earth system is in use, and well carried out.
The water supply is obtained from springs on the premises, and is sufficient and of good quality. There is a stone open-air bath about sixteen feet square for the boys, who bathe in it every day. They are also taken to the river once a week The girls are bathed every other day in a room in their own barracks.
So far as we can judge from their appearance the children's cleanliness is well attended to.
The temperature is taken twice every day from a self-registering thermometer; the average is 70°. The highest registered temperature during the past year was 83°; the lowest 58°,
Both boys and girls sleep in general wards. A kerosene lamp is kept lighted in each ward all night. The number of cubic feet to each boy is 363; to each girl 483.
The buildings, however, require considerable repairs Not only are the walls themselves and the shingles out of order, but in several instances the railings of the piazzas, which are at some height above the ground, are broken down, and the place is positively dangerous for children.
The greater part of the buildings are sadly in want of paint, and altogether in a discreditably shabby condition, to be done for their general appearance and neatness.
In the words of the Manager they require not only considerable repairs, but much proper conduct of an institution like the Reformatory. The eye must be educated for establishing a This latter requisite is indispensable for the good habit of onder, taste, and arrangement; disorder and disfigurement will, of themselves, furm
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