Part 74 (1/2)

”Why you know you would, sir,” replied the prisoner firmly and respectfully, looking him full in the face before them all.

Mr. Lacy. ”You don't think so, or you would not take these liberties with him now.”

The prisoner cast a look of pity on Mr. Lacy.

”Well, you _are_ green--what, can't you see that I am going out to-day?

Do you think I'd be such a cully as to tell a pack of greenhorns like you the truth before a sharp hand like our governor, if I was in his power; no, my term of imprisonment expired at twelve o'clock to-day.”

”Then why are you here?”

”I'll tell you, sir. Our governor always detains a prisoner for hours after the law sets him free. So then the poor fellow has not time to get back to his friends, so then he sleeps in the town, ten to one at a public-house; gets a gla.s.s, gets into bad company, and in a month or two comes back here. That is the move, sir. Bless you, they are so fond of us they don't like to part with us for good and all.”

Mr. Lacy. ”I do not for a moment believe, Mr. Hawes, that you have foreseen these consequences, but the detention of this man after twelve o'clock is clearly illegal, and you must liberate him on the instant.”

Mr. Hawes. ”That I will, and I wish this had been pointed out to me before, but it was a custom of the prison before my time.”

Mr. Eden. ”Evans, come this way, come in. How long have you been a turnkey here?”

Evans. ”Four years, sir.”

Mr. Eden. ”Do you happen to remember the practice of the late governor with respect to prisoners whose sentence had expired?”

Evans. ”Yes, sir! They were kept in their cells all the morning; then at eleven their own clothes were brought in clean and dry, and they had half an hour given them to take off the prison dress and put on their own. Then a little before twelve they were taken into the governor's own room for a word of friendly advice on leaving, or a good book, or a tract, or what not. Then at sharp twelve the gate was opened for them, and--”

Prisoner. ”Good-by!--till we see you again.”

Evans (sternly). ”Come, my man, it is not for you to speak till you are spoken to.”

Mr. Eden. ”You must not take that tone with the gentleman, Evans--this is not a queen's prisoner, it is a private guest of Mr. Hawes. But time flies. If after what we have heard and seen, you still doubt whether this jailer has broken the law by punis.h.i.+ng the same prisoner more than once and in more ways than one, fresh evidence will meet you at every step; but I would now direct your princ.i.p.al attention to other points.

Look at Rule 37. By this rule each prisoner must be visited and conversed with by four officers every day, and they are to stay with him upon the aggregate half an hour in the day. Now the object of this rule is to save the prisoners from dying under the natural and inevitable operation of solitude and enforced silence, two things that are fatal to life and reason.”

”But solitary confinement is legal.”

Mr. Eden sighed heavily. ”No it is not. Separate confinement, i.e., separation of prisoner from prisoner, is legal, but separation of a prisoner from the human race is as illegal as any other mode of homicide. It never was legal in England; it was legal for a short time in the United States, and do you know why it has been made illegal there?”

”No, I do not.”

”Because they found that life and reason went out under it like the snuff of a candle. Men went mad and died, as men have gone mad and died here through the habitual breach of Rule 37, a rule the aim of which is to guard separate confinement from being shuffled into solitary confinement or homicide. Take twenty cells at random, and ask the prisoners how many officers come and say good words to them as bound by law; ask them whether they get their half hour per diem of improving conversation. There is a row of shambles, go into them by yourself, take neither the head butcher nor me.”

Mr. Lacy bit his lip, bowed stiffly, and beckoned Evans to accompany him into the cells. Mr. Hawes went in search of Fry, to concert what was best to be done. Mr. Eden paced the corridor. As for Mr. Lacy, he took the cells at random, skipping here and there. At last he returned and sent for Mr. Hawes.

”I am sorry to say that the 37th Rule has been habitually violated; the prisoners are unanimous; they tell me that so far from half an hour's conversation, they never have three minutes, except with the chaplain.

And during his late illness they were often in perfect solitude. They tell me, too, that when you do look in it is only to terrify them with angry words and threats. Solitude broken only by harsh language is a very sad condition for a human creature to lie in--the law, it seems, does not sanction it--and our own imperfections should plead against such terrible severity applied indiscriminately to great and small offenders.”

”Oh, that is well said, that is n.o.bly said,” cried Mr. Eden with enthusiasm.

”Sir! I was put in here to carry out the discipline which had been relaxed by the late governor, and I have but obeyed orders as it was my duty.”

”Nonsense,” retorted Mr. Eden. ”The discipline of this jail is comprised in these rules, of which eight out of ten are habitually broken by you.”