The work is divided into five sections treating of Distress in Prisons; Bad Customs in Prisons; Proposed Improvements in the Structure and Management of Prisons; An Account of Foreign Prisons; A Particular Account of all English Prisons, accompanied by tables relative to fees, numbers of crim inals, the crimes for which they were tried, etc. Howard's attention was first directed to the necessity of obtaining some legislation for the preservation of the health of the
willing to work, were refused tools, lest they should furnish felons with them for escape and other mischief. Although bread-money was allowed debtors by the Act of 32 Geo. II., there were not, in all England, twelve debtors who had obtained from their creditors the four pence a day allowed by the Act. In one of his journeys, Howard found over six hundred debtors whose debts were under twenty pounds apiece, some of them not above three or four pounds, all languishing for want of food, and was in-
AA. Iron bars, nailed to floor, which entered the flesh; B B. Sp1kes 12 Inehes long fixed to a collar of Iron 71 lbs. In we1ght, preventing a prisoner from resting his head on the ground; c. Cha1n which fastened the prisoner tothe ground; D. Hc.ivy Iron bar crossing his legs and fastened to one. so preventing him ehanging his posture. TORTURE INFLICTED IN ELY PRISON IN 1768.
prisoners. He saw men and women, wallow ing in filth and foul air, expiring on the floors of loathsome cells, of pestilential fevers, and the confluent small pox, victims to the cruelty and inattention of sheriffs and others in the commission of the peace. Want of food, want of water, want of air, and want of light were ordinary evils. In half the pris ons, debtors had no bread, although it was granted to the murderer, the highwayman, and the house-breaker. Medical assistance, which was provided by the former, was with held from the latter. Debtors, who were
formed that the expense of suing for the aliment was in excess of the sums claimed. Felons, on the contrary, received a penny worth or two pennyworth of bread a day, the penny loaf weighing about eight ounces, lessened in some cases by farming to the gaoler. Miserable, indeed, was the con dition of the debtors. They entered prison in health, and came forth famished, scarcely able to move, and incapable of labor. If a debtor was discerned to have a little money, he was detained by the bailiff in a sponging house at an enormous expense, — the bailiff
