In many respects these Parliamentary Reports may be regarded as of more consequence to Boards of Prison Inspectors, than to the “Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons,” as they set forth the economy of the institutions, the discipline, the means of comfort, and the character of employment, as well as the results of all these, and the exact cost; and thus they may become useful as indicative of what Boards of Inspectors should carefully shun or promptly adopt, with such modifications and adaptations as difference of circumstances renders necessary.
But, in Great Britain and Ireland, much of the labor assumed by the Philadelphia “Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons,” is undertaken by the Government; and the closeness of the investigation of their affairs, and the fulness of the Reports, are consequent upon the interest which philanthropic individuals have awakened throughout the country, and the action which has been secured by both Houses of Parliament. The great volume of Reports of the action of “a committee of the House of Lords” is of deep interest, even in this country, as showing not merely the condition of certain great prisons, but as illustrating, especially, the effect of different systems of treatment and labor. The elevated rank of the persons who composed the commission of inquiry, shows the importance which the House of Lords attached to the subject; and the constancy of attendance, and the searching character of questions put to those under examination, show the fidelity of the distinguished noblemen to the interests submitted to their care.[2]
The select committee consisted of the Duke of Marlborough, Marquis of Salisbury, Lord Steward, Earl of Carnarvon, (who was elected Lord President,) Earl of Malmsebury, Earl of Romney, Earl Cathcart, Earl of Ducie, Earl of Dudley, Viscount Eversley, Lord Wodehouse, Lord Lyvedon, Duke of Richmond, Lord Wensleydale.
Of the five hundred and twelve folio pages of these Reports, there is not one that is without interest to every active member of this Society. There are 5,337 questions propounded by the various members of the commission, and answers rendered by those who have been in the administration of the prisons, or who had been exercising the duties of visitors, inspectors, physicians, &c., of the several prisons; and those answers present a most minute exhibit of the exact state of the prisons, and all that relates to their administration.