he did not care for prison rules, the Governor had pardoned him. A notice of the fact was made known. to the Governor, and a telegram was received recalling the commutation pardon.

The Commutation Law, however, is good; it gives the prisoners an opportunity with hope, to try good habits, and has thus been the means of leading some to good conduct when discharged.

This principle of recompense is now entering into most of the prison systems in Europe, and it is largely recognized in almost every State in this Union.

CHAPTER III.

REPORTS OF FOREIGN PRISON ESTABLISH

MENTS.

We have prepared some statements with regard to the condition of the prisons, the character of prison systems, and the nature of the prison administration in several countries of Europe. We have not reports directly from all of them, but using the reports which we do receive, and translating from the reports of others more favored, we give a pretty clear view of the state of prison science and prison practice in those parts of Europe whose opinion and practice are entitled to general respect, and in which the people of this country feel the most interest.

GREAT BRITAIN.

We have received copies of the thirty-seventh Annual Report of the Inspector of the prisons of Great Britain-one for the northern and one for the southern division of that kingdom.

And also the fifty-first Annual Report of the prisons of Ireland.

These reports contain information very minute on

certain points, interesting to those who conduct prisons and penitentiaries, as showing what is the progress of prison discipline in that kingdom. How the prisoners are classed or employed, how fed, how punished; but the reports are not definite with regard to the moral discipline and education of the prisoners.

Directly, these reports are interesting to the inspectors and officers of prisons in this country; indirectly, they supply those who would ameliorate the condition of prisoners with means of judging the influences of certain systems, and particular administrations, and we shall therefore use them, though far more sparingly than we do the reports of the prisons in Belgium, Prussia, France, and Italy.

It will scarcely be required to give the items presented by these reports, as they do not particularly relate to the matters that concern this Society. Where we can by particular reference to the British and Irish statement, illustrate the Pennsylvania system and show the growing importance abroad, or if any theory against that system is fairly presented, it will be noticed.

COLD BATH FIELDS PRISON, LONDON.

We refer to this prison particularly, because its statements are precise, and because that, in a report made by the representative of this Society at the Penitentiary Congress, London, in 1872, the Cold Bath Fields Prison was presented as a representative institution, which had been visited by the delegate.

The Cold Bath Fields Prison contains one thousand six hundred and seven prisoners of various grades, all males, of whom forty-three are juveniles, that is, under of age.

sixteen years

The total expenditure of the prison for the year was $197,562, including the salaries of all the officers. This is more than the annual cost of the Philadelphia County Prison, while the Philadelphia County Prison contains more inmates than does the Cold Bath Fields Prison. The average net annual cost per prisoner is $115 50. The work which constitutes "hard labor" of the first class, is the tread-mill and heavy mat making. The second class is made of the various trades. The pun

ishments for one year were:

It may be recollected that in the delegate's report it was stated that many of the governors (wardens) of the prisons advocated the use of the whip. The Governor of the Cold Bath Prison, it is remembered, disapproved of the tread-mill as eminently cruel.

The solitary confinement alluded to in the statement of punishments has reference to offences against the rules of the prison, as, of course, have all the 11,614 punishments. But "SEPARATE confinement" has, it

seems, received favorable consideration in this important prison, for we find the following paragraph in the report:

"One hundred and fifty-seven cells in the vagrant "prison have been altered and certified for separate "confinement, and two hundred and fifty-one cells in "the old prison have also been altered so as to be fit "for separate confinement."

Religious services are performed on Sundays, Good Friday, and Christmas, by the Chaplain, and here, as elsewhere, prisoners, not of the Established Church, can see clergymen of their own creed, if they desire it. We have occasion to know that liberal provisions are made for the religious instruction of those who are not of the Church of England.

The dietary of this and all the prisons in Great Britain is wonderfully minute; the exact number of ounces and fractions of an ounce of oatmeal gruel, pudding, and bread, being given, with the variations for classes and for punishment.

WESTMINSTER COUNTY PRISON FOR FEMALES.

A notice of this prison was made in the report to the Society of the visit of its delegate to the London Congress in 1872.

The whole number of prisoners is six hundred and thirty-six, of whom six are juveniles. The whole number of commitments in the year 1872 was seven thousand two hundred and fifty-seven, of whom one