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 6/ 0'M':l?,;S£i 
 
Communication of the May or ^ on subjects 
 of employing Convicts. In Common 
 Council, February 18, 1822. 
 
 The Mayor begs leave to inform the board, that, 
 pursuant to the intimation given at the last meeting, 
 he, together with several members of the Common- 
 Council, and the Commissioners of the Alms House, 
 proceeded to the establishment at Belvieu, for the pur- 
 pose of consulting on the practicability of employing 
 the convicts, and others, confined in that establish- 
 ment, with advantage to the public, and the improve- 
 ment of those employed. The number of Paupers in 
 the Alms House, on the 13th inst. (the day on which 
 the house was visited) was 1744, including a great 
 number of children, and oldandinfirm adults (jf both sex- 
 es. The manner in which these persorig^'re employ- 
 ed generally, was stated to the Board by the Superin- 
 tendant, in his last annual report, and it is therefore 
 deemed necessary, only to state at this time, that the 
 machinery now in operation for spinning, and weaving 
 of cloth, is nearly sufficient for the use of the whole 
 estabhshment, and gives steady employmen Uo 2 0 wo- 
 men, 18 men, and 12 boys ; and tliat thereH» engaged 
 at the business of Shoe Making, 1 1 men, and 12 boys, 
 who are constantly employed at that calling ; and that 
 the Pin Factory, gives employment to 27 children of 
 both sexes. In addition to these, there are occasion- 
 
2 
 
 ally emplo)ed, ]\Iasons, Carpenters, Blacksmiths, 
 Wheelwrights, and Bakers, and tiie ordinary calls of 
 the house, for menial services, require#the regular at- 
 tention of a large number of the men and women wlio 
 are in health, and are unengaged at the factories. 
 There is however, much room for improvement, in 
 this department of the establishment at Belvieu, and 
 very advantageous employment might be furnished, by 
 additional machinery, for several more liands ; parti- 
 cularly in looms for weaving, by which, not only the 
 cloth necessary for the use of the Alms House may be 
 manufactured ; but also, a sufficient quantity for the 
 use of the Pcnitentiaiy and Bridevvell. This subject 
 has engaged the attention of tlie gentlemen who arc 
 more particularly charged with the care of this institu- 
 tion, and the satisfactory manner in which they have 
 performed the duties of their offices, is a pledge that 
 evcrj^ improvement in the discipline of the house, 
 which is calculated to lessen the expense, or reduce 
 the number of Paupers, will be made and progressed 
 in, as fasl^ig^j^^circumstance of the case will permit. 
 
 There uMH»in the Penitentiary at the aforesaid pe- 
 riod, 232 males, and 132 females, making a total of 
 364 persons. Of this number, except a few of the 
 women who are kept at sewing and spinning, and 
 about 30 of the men at out door work, there are but 
 31 regularly employed ; 23 at the manufactory of PinS, 
 and 10^^ hoe Making. It is to the state of this es- 
 tablishm«it therefore, that the attention of the Board 
 is particularly required. The experience of many 
 years, has only tended to prove, that the Penitentiary 
 System, as now conducted, will not produce the effects 
 it was intended to produce. The object and design of 
 
the system was, the punishment of the criminal, and 
 ihc deterring ol others from the commission of similar 
 crimes, neither of which, it is believed, has been ef- 
 fected ; for if any judgment can be formed from the 
 fact, that at every court held in this city, for the tria 
 of criminal offences, more or less of the prisoners ar 
 raigned, are old offenders, who, in some instances 
 have previously been convicted, and sentenced to the 
 State Prison or Penitentiarj", once, twice, and not un- 
 frequently three times, it is, that as yet, the experi- 
 ment has in a great measure failed ; and it may be 
 added as an additional proof, that it is an occurrence 
 by no means novel, for persons who have been com- 
 mitted to the Penitentiary or Bridewell, and discharged 
 after the time of their commitment had expired, to ap- 
 ply to the Police Magistrates, requesting as a favour^ 
 that they may again be committed, although no charge 
 whatever had been preferred against them. It is 
 pretty evident therefore, that there are no terrors in the 
 Penitentiary for those who have once been its inmates, 
 but rather, that the fare and discipline of the prison 
 vvitlim its walls, is preferred, to a life of industry and 
 frugality out of it. Several reasons might be urged 
 wh}' the system has failed tcapj^^ce the effect thai 
 was anticipated ; the princi|UA#AiMi are, the want of 
 cells for solitary confinement ; the want of accomo- 
 dations, in order to a proper classification of the pri- 
 soners : and the want of suitable emplo\-ment for the 
 vagrant and convict. The construction of the Prison 
 at Belvieu is suchj that the keeper is compelled, of ne- 
 cessity, to place old and hardened offenders in the 
 same apartment with those who are there for a first 
 offence, or perhaps, for the crime of vagrancy only : 
 
and the sole employment afforded the convict, except 
 the few engaged in the manufactory of pins, is the 
 work on the roads, avenues, and public property, a 
 labour by no means severe, and one that offers many 
 opportunities for conversation and intercourse between 
 themselves and friends, and not unfrequently, both the 
 inducement and means of escfipe from their keepers ; 
 and after the labour of the day has terminated, which 
 seldom exceeds six or eight hours out of the twenty- 
 four, they are returned to the Prison ; when instead of 
 ])eing placed in separate cells, an improvement impe- 
 riously called for, they are shut up in rooms, thirty or 
 forty of them together, and are thus deprived of one of 
 the objects of their confinement, an opportunity for re- 
 flection. The natural consequence is, that not being 
 sufficiently wearied by their labour, to require imme- 
 diate rest or sleep, their time is consumed in commu- 
 nicating to each other, the exploits of villany and har- 
 dihood in which they have been engaged, and thus 
 contaminating those of their fellow prisoners, who are 
 less debased than themselves. It is with a view to 
 the improvement of this description of persons, confined 
 in the Penitentiary, that this communication is sub- 
 mitted to the boarc^: and as it is confidently believed, 
 that regular and s^^OTWployment, moderate but in- 
 cessent, which shall preclude all conversation and re- 
 creation, will tend to effect a change in the habits and 
 dispositions of these unfortunate persons, it has been 
 deemed expedient, to recommend to the board, two 
 species of employment, w hich it is expected will effect 
 the object in view. 
 
 The first, is, the extention of the Pin Manufactory. 
 This business appears to be an employment, peculiarly 
 
suited fur prison discipline ; for although the labour is 
 )noderate, it nevertheless requires the whole attention 
 of the prisoner to perform it, and he has therefore, nei- 
 Ihcr time or opportunity for conversation or idle amuse- 
 ment, vi'liich only tends to make confinement agreea- 
 ble, while it produces no manner of reformation or 
 benefit to the parties concerned. To afford accommo- 
 dation for the 23 convicts now employed at this busi- 
 ness in the Penitentiary, it became necessary to remove 
 a number of females to the garret story of the building ; 
 but this arrangement can only continue during the cold 
 weatlier, as the place to which the females are remov- 
 ed, being immediately under the roof of the building, 
 will be too hot for endurance in the warm season of the 
 year, and the accommodation of the prison requires ad- 
 ditional apartments, instead of their diminution. It 
 is proposed, therefore, that the lower part of the Work 
 House, attached to the Alms House establishment, 
 and now occupied as a Carpenters and Wheelwrights 
 shop, should be appropriated to the Pin Factory, for 
 the emplo\Tnent of the convicts; and that a build- 
 ing be erected 25 feet by 100, to be occupied by the 
 Carpenters, Wheelwrights and Blacksmiths. The ex- 
 pense of this building is estimated to cost the public 
 jJ750, which sum, will be expended, in furnishing the 
 necessary materials for the building, except the stone, 
 which, together with the labour, it is proposed to have 
 furnished by the paupers, now in the estabhshment. By 
 tliis arrangement, about 20 or 30 of the convicts can 
 be employed, in addition to those already engaged at 
 the same business, and the money expended for the 
 object, will be repaid in a short period, from the pro- 
 ceeds of their labour. 
 
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 The second species of employment to which the at- 
 tention of the board is requested, is one wliich has been 
 successfully applied in several of the Prisons in En- 
 gland, butit is believed, that as yet, it is a novelty in this 
 country. The machine made use of, and which it is 
 stated has wrought wonders in the reformation of pri- 
 soners, is termed, a Discipline Mill, and is composed 
 of one, or two wheels, as the case may require, of about 
 5 feet diameter, and from 20 to 24 feet in length ; — 
 these are termed thread or stepping wheels, and are so 
 constructed that from 15 to 20 men may work on them 
 at the same time. The steps are formed on the out- 
 side of the wheels, at proper distances, and run horri- 
 zontal wit!i the shafts : there is a fixed rail extending 
 the whole length of tlie wheel, to w hich the persons at 
 work hold with their hands, wliile tlieir feet rest on 
 the steps, and by the weight of their body the wheel is 
 turned, which sets in motion, by means of spur or cog- 
 wheels, the wliole of the machinery attached to the 
 stnicture. The object is, to make use of the prisoners 
 as the moving powe>-, and the operation is precisely the 
 bame, as that produced by the wind, water, steam or 
 horses, and may be applied to any of the purposes to 
 which mills, worked by these agents are now applied. 
 The uses to which they have been applied in England 
 liovvever, is the grinding and dressing flour, breaking 
 malt, and raising Avater for the use of the Prisons. 
 T'lic buildings in which they are erected, are generally 
 in two apartments, separated from each other, either 
 by the wall of the prison, or some substantial bulwark, 
 and on the prison side of the building are the wheels on 
 which the prisoners work, so that the men are kept 
 within the precinct of the prison or yard, while the op- 
 
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 erations of the mill are on the outside of the prison pre- 
 mises, to which any one permitted may have access. 
 The cost of the necessary buildings and machinerj' for 
 two run of stones, is estimated at §3000, but if it shall 
 be deemed expedient to employ but one run of stones, 
 the cost will not exceed ^2500. The object would be, 
 in the first instance, to grind the flom- and meal for the 
 use of the Alms House, Bridewell and Penitcntiaiy, 
 by -which a saving would be made to the public of 
 gSOOO per annum, that being the average sum, annual- 
 ly paid for grinding ; so, that if nothing more was gain- 
 ed, than the saving of this sum to the city, the object is 
 well worth}" the experiment. That it can be carried 
 into eflect, and prove beneficial in manj- points of view 
 there cannot be a doubt, for the experiment has been 
 satisfactorily tested, as will be fully shewn, by the fol- 
 lowing extracts from a report made in 1821, by the 
 Committee of the Society for the Improvement of Pri- 
 son Discipline in England. The Committee observe, 
 that in a great niunber of instances, offenders, even the 
 most hardened, who have for a reasonable time been 
 subjected to a well regulated system of discipline, do 
 abstain from the further violation of law, and have, in 
 a variety of cases been known to abandon their crimi- 
 nal pursuits. Numbers who on entering confinemoit 
 w ere debased by nearly eveiy vice that can degrade 
 human nature, whose repeated offences had formerl y 
 occasioned their frequent committal to the same Prison, 
 have not, since the estabhshment of a strict and im- 
 proved discipline, been found again within its walls. 
 
 There was but one re-commitment at the prison iir 
 the county of Hartford during the year after the step- 
 ping-mill was put in operation, while previous to thi:^. 
 
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 re-committncnts of vagrants and others were a common 
 thing. 
 
 The mill at Bury Prison has continued to produce 
 the best effects; the great reduction in the commitments 
 is attributed to the introduction of hard labour. The 
 prisoners dread the work. Shortly after the erection 
 of the mill, a man was committed in default of the 
 payment of a penalty ; he had not been in confine- 
 ment many days before he told the keeper, that if he 
 was to be put to the mill, he might as well pay the 
 money, as he could but work hard out of prison ; he 
 accordingly paid the money, by the help of friends, 
 and was discharged. 
 
 A person convicted of felony was sentenced to three 
 months imprisonment in the House of Correction ; 
 upon his discharge he returned to his evil associates, 
 and was again convicted of felony and sentenced to 
 six months confinement. During this second confine- 
 ment, he was compelled to labour on one of the step- 
 ping-mills ; the effect was striking, for, at his discharge, 
 he was anxious to submit to any hardships rather than 
 return to the prison again. 
 
 At one of the prisons, it is stated, that two of these 
 mills had been erected, one of which employed 12, 
 and the other 1 6 men, each for three hours in the day, 
 and the whole of the bread consumed in the prison, 
 and the County Gaol, was ground and baked by the 
 prisoners. The first good effect produced by the in- 
 troduction of the mills in this prison, was a great de« 
 crease of vagrants, and the number continued small. 
 The saving to the county in the baking establishment 
 alone for about 19 months is stated at $1956. 
 
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 At another of the prisons it is stated, that although 
 iVooi the construction of the building, several of the 
 prisoners are necessarily placed in one room to sleep, 
 they are nevertheless sufficiently fatigued, after work- 
 ing at the stepping-mill, to prefer sleep to conversation. 
 That they go to their daily labour with great reluc- 
 tance, for they have a horror of the stepping-mill, and 
 would sooner undergo, as they all declare, any fatigue, 
 or suffer any privation, than return to the prison when 
 once released, and as a proof of this it is stated, that 
 but one instance of a recommitment had taken place 
 during the whole year, while previous to the erection 
 of the mill, re-commitments were very common. 
 
 At another it is stated, that a mill has been in ope- 
 ration for two yeai s, which employs 36 men, 1 8 at one 
 time,- and that they change three times each day. The 
 produce of this mill is sold to a person who contracts 
 for it by the year. 
 
 At another, that the County has employed no capi- 
 tal to furnish grist, constant work having been furnished 
 by persons in the neigbourhood. That there was then 
 but 70 persons confined in that prison, while the ave- 
 rage number had been 1 30, and sometimes more ; and 
 that the reduction was clearly to be attributed to the 
 mill. 
 
 At another it is stated, that the best effects begin to 
 be experienced from the operation of the stepping-mill, 
 at which both the male and female prisoners work in 
 separate classes. That the dread which is now felt 
 for imprisonment, contrasted with the perfect indiffer- 
 ence witli wliich confinement had hitherto been regard- 
 ed, is very perceptible, as the number of convicts, 
 which for several years past, had been more than 
 B 
 
10 
 
 double the number requisite (o keep the mill in opera- 
 lion, and was now so reduced, that the number in fu- 
 ture would not be sufficient to enable the mill to per- 
 IbiTO the quantity of work for which it was constructed. 
 
 It is further stated, that previous to the introduction 
 of the stepping-mill, the re-commitments to the prisons 
 in England averaged about 32 out of every hundred, 
 but that since that period, they were reduced to about 
 4 out of every hundred. 
 
 If the foregoing extracts are to be relied on, and 
 lliere cannot be a doubt of their authenticity, as the 
 persons composing the Committee whose names are 
 attached to the report, appear to be of the first respec- 
 tability and standing in the country, then the in)port- 
 ance of the Discipline Mill to tiie United States must 
 be incalculable, because it will at least have the effect 
 of continuing in operation our Penitentiai7 system, 
 which, under the present arrangement, is fast falling 
 into disrepute, even in the estimation of those upon 
 whom the claims of humanity were never made in vain; 
 and this is by no means to be wondered at, for what 
 man is there, who can calmly contemplate the fact, 
 that out of one hundred instances of conviction and 
 confinement, scarce a single reformation is effected, 
 and still say, that he is satisfied with the result. 
 
 The beneficial effects which have been stated as re- 
 .-,ulting from the discipline introduced in the EngUsh 
 prisons, are in a great measure due to the exertions of 
 the gentlemen composing the Committee of the Soci- 
 ety alluded to, and it is worthy the consideration of our 
 own citizens, whether much improvement in this par- 
 ticular might not be effected, if a similar society was 
 established here. 
 
N V i ' - - 11 
 
 M'uci\^06d' mrghl .be done by supplying the means 
 of instruction to the unfortunate inmates of our State 
 and City Prisons ; and if additional assistance could 
 be afforded for religious instruction, the effects would 
 no doubt be very salutary. It is, however, the peculiar 
 duty of the Common Council of this City, under 
 whose control and management, the law has placed 
 the Alms House and Prisons, to adopt every proper 
 measure for the improvement of those confined within 
 their walls, for it is a truth that cannot be controverted, 
 that in neglecting the improvement of the ignorant 
 convict, and the reformation of the depraved one, 
 more or less suffering is brought upon the community 
 at large ; for by the discharge of a prisoner from con- 
 finement, on whom the sentence of the law has 
 wrought no reformation, a renewal of the injury sus- 
 tained from his depredations is experienced, and the 
 influence of his example, is fraught with the most inju- 
 rious consequences on all with whom he associates, 
 and consequently, there is an increase in the number 
 of offenders, instead of a diminution, tlie end and ob- 
 ject of his punishment. 
 
 The estimated expense of the whole improvement 
 hereby recommended, is stated to amount to $3,750. — 
 This is a suni which it would be imprudent to hazard 
 
 .on mere experiment, but when we are in possession 
 of the facts already stated ; when we have seen the 
 
 .-operation of the factory now in successful practice at 
 Belvieu, and are satisfied with its results ; and are 
 furnished with indubitable evidence of the operations 
 and effects of the Stepping Mill, it would almost 
 amount to infidelity to doubt of its success : besides, 
 the sg^ving that will be effected in the amount annually 
 
paid for grinding the grain consumed at the establish- 
 ment, and the expenditure for extra keepers, together 
 with the waste and wear of tools and clothes by the 
 convicts employed on the avenues and roads, taken in 
 the agregate, will amount to a sum, which will not 
 only pay the interest on the money expended, but in a 
 short time will sink the principal also. It is therefore 
 respectfully recommended, that the sum of $3,750, be 
 appropriated for the aforesaid puiposes, to be expended 
 under the direction of the Commissioners of the Alms 
 House. 
 
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