PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
برنگار
Reference :-
C.O.885
118
Escapes and Attempts.
Under this head a large number have to be reported; one prisoner has successfully effected his escape, while thirteen attempts have been made and frustrated.
It is necessary to state that the probabilities of escape are somewhat increased by the peculiar condition of the prison, and the disposal of the working parties. In many cases when an attempt was made, the warder had no means at hand to stop the runaway, he being alone with a party of prisoners working a considerable distance from the prison. A bold escape was effected on the 28th December, by a French refugee, by cutting a two inch greenheart plank of his cell floor, and enlarging the air hole in the stone wall, on which the wooden structure stands, and then reached the boundary fence through which he passed, and so made good his escape to the bush. Of these escapes. I have only to observe that the prison rules are defective on this point; a more deterrent punishment to be administered immediately on their re-capture would have a most beneficial effect; and in addition, to be made to wear light leg irons for six months, instead of, as at present, waiting for instructions for a month or more, during which period the offender is unemployed, and in many cases, after having remained undecided for several weeks, the prisoners have been sent to their work, and so escape punishment for their offence.
Suicides.
One prisoner made an attempt to destroy himself while a patient in hospital, by climbing to a window and throwing himself out, falling a distance of thirty feet into the prison yard; he was picked up insensible and mutilated, and removed to the hospital, and under prompt treatment, partially recovered his senses, but expired two days after the
occurrence.
Insanity.
Three convicts have been removed from this prison to Georgetown Gaol for medical observation, with a view to their removal to the lunatic asylum, two of whom have been certified as insane, and one is still under observation. It may be mentioned that one prisoner was removed on the ground of insanity in the year 1871, certified as cured of insanity, but with loss of speech and hearing.
Dietary.
The dietary consists as per form per man for one week :-
119
Employment of Prisoners.
The prisoners have been employed continually during the past year on the work in progress for the general improvement of the prison and lands, and in the main are as follows:-Quarrying stone, breaking metal for the Civil Engineer's Department, felling timber, cutting shingles, making roads, cultivating vegetables for prison use, shoemaking, tailoring, blacksmiths and tinsmith work, the whole of the repairs and alterations of the prison and officers' quarters, keeping the land about the Leper buts at Kaow Island clean and in good order; such are the works upon which the prisoners have been employed. In addition to the above detail of labour, an average of 15 prisoners have been employed daily as boatmen, cleaners, cooks, bakers, hospital orderlies, and yardmen.
The extent to which the stone bas been quarried here, according to the weight taken by the Colonial Civil Engineers Department, has been 2,842 tons, and about 130 tons of rubble stone have been supplied for various purposes in Georgetown, besides large quantities of metal, which have been used in road-making in and about the prison lands.
There are two other points which have to be noted under this head; first, the task work as performed here. On my assuming charge I found that the task work had existence, except in the quarry, in drilling holes for blasting, which was performed as follows:-
A task consisted of drilling 14 feet per day for two men, who required to be sup- plied with sharp drills every 8 or 10 minutes, and every succeeding drill to be smaller in This was done at a greater outlay for material in tempering and sharpening; it may be stated that when five sets of drillers were at work, as many as 115 drills passed through the fire in one day. This waste of material and time was too apparent to be overlooked; I at once clanged the system of drilling with the favourable result of reducing the number of drills tempered from 115 to 69 in one day, thus affecting a considerable saving in labour, coals, and steel,
the bore.
2. I must beg to point out also, that in consequence of there being uo fixed time to commence labour in the morning, as the prisoners were premitted to bathe and wash their own clothes before commencing to work, and finding that little or no work was done after 430 P.M., I was induced to re-arrange the bell scale, and alter the hours of labour.
The following will show the old bell scale, and the hours set apart for labour, as also the system as at present pursued :—
R
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
3 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
Bread
Cocoa
Molasses
Salt beef
Pork
Rice
Potatoes
Plantains
Barley
Peas
Onions
Cornmeal
Fish.
Fresh beef
Lbs. oz.
Pts. qts.
7 10
OLD SYSTEM.
NEW SYSTEM.
0
31
A. M.
A. M.
A. M.
1 5
Prisoners to rise.
4 30 to 5 25
Firat bell
5
0
0 7
Morning meal
5 21
5 55
0
1
Prayers and muster
6
0
6 2)
Officers assemble Unlock and breakfast
5 15
5 25
12
Turn out to labour
6 20
Officers to breakfast
5 45
2
0
Midday meal
10 30
11.30
Ditto, recall
6 15
5
0
P. M.
Prisoners to chapel
6 20
0
4
Turn out to labour
11 30
5 30
Turn out to labour
6 50
F. M.
Cease work for dinner
11 40
2
5 30
6 0
P. M.
P. M.
1
6
#
Turn out for labour
1
0
0
12
5 0
0 7
5 0 to 6 0
There is no reduced scale of diet for idlers and men at "light labour." This is an injustice to the hard-working prisoner, while it encourages the malingerer and skulker. I would strongly press this subject upon the Government, with a view to the introduction of a lower scale of ration for idlers, &c. On the whole it may be said that the diet is ample, and I may add, too much for the lazy, and the prisoners at light labour.
It has, at all events, the effect of maintaining the prisoners in robust and excellent health. It may be pointed out here that the convicts under punishment (penal class) are better fed than those at hard labour, inasmuch as they receive daily the following rations; bread 12 ozs., salt beef, cooked, 2 ozs., cornmeal 4 ozs., molassesgill, 1 pint of soup, con- taining barley 2 ozs., onious & oz., and thickened with stale bread and bread fruit, and 1 lb. of potatoes or yams.
There is no approved scale of diet for the hospital. I submit that the dietary of the prison hospital should receive the sauction and approval of the Government, as well as the diet scale for the working population, and a printed form of which should be hung up for the guidance of all.
Cease work and bathe Supper and lock up
Cease work for the day Bathe, supper, and lock up
With reference to the foregoing detail of the hours of labour, I have to remark, that although the hours of actual labour are less than in the old scale, the prisoners are kept continually at their work during the whole of that period, and I am of opinion that nine hours continuous work, exclusive of one hour for dinner, in a tropical climate, is a heavy tax even upon the energies of the free populatiou, and it applies with greater force upon convicts who are kept at labour for six days in each week. There can be no question that the industry now obtained is the effect of a different system in the hours of labour, and much advantage has resulted from its adoption.
The mark system as laid down by the Board of Prisons on the 9th April, 1872, has not been efficiently carried out in this prison, to which I have already called attention, it may be stated in explanation of the foregoing remark, that upon the reception of every convict into this prison, his time was calculated from .one year after conviction, and reduced to marks, the convict was then informed on his card that he would be entitled to his ticket-of-leave on a certain date, thus presuming that he would earn eight marks per diem during his imprisonment, and eight marks per diem have been invariably accorded
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.