Chap. VIII.

BRITAIN.

609

crank is placed in every cell, and a single wire and crank communicates with the bells.When the handle is turned the label dies open, a single stroke is sounded, and a pendulumconnected vibrates with it; thus the attention of the officer on duty is attracted, and thelal>el, which remains open, indicates the cell where his presence is required.

SIDE ELEVATION.

Fig. 573.

ELEVATION OK GONG.

The exercising yards radiate from a central point, round which there is a passage ofcommunication, and an inspection into each is obtained through a large orifice in the door,covered by open wirework. The space within the passage forms a room with windowsabove, which command each yard. The yards have an open railing on the outside, to allowa free circulation of air, and one portion is roofed in to afford shelter, if required. In thecentre space is a water-closet, and there is an easy access to all the cells. There are alto-gether 114 exercising yards, which exceeds a fourth of the prisoners, so that each has onehour’s exercise in every four hours.

The baths are very simple in their arrangement; there are eight, which admit of thirty-two prisoners bathing each hour, and every one must bathe once in fourteen days.

The advantages which the prisoners derive from this judiciously arranged portion of theModel Prison are incalculable, and worthy of imitation by the directors and governors ofall the gaols throughout the world. The expense attendant upon cold, tepid, or a warmbath, is so inconsiderable, compared with the comfort derived from them, that it seemsextraordinary any establishment should be without them. Numerous plans have beensubmitted to the government at various times to establish public baths, and in some largetowns in the neighbourhood of the factories they have been erected at a considerableexpense, and found highly beneficial: the health of all the labourers and artisans resortingto them has been so infinitely superior to those neglecting this benefit, that the absolutenecessity of their introduction in all prisons is most obvious, where confinement preventsthat exercise which produces free circulation, and consequent healthy state of skin; forthis the bath is an excellent substitute. But perhaps one of its most important servicesin prisons is the producing notions of cleanliness in the prisoners, which they may carrywith them when restored to society ; and the squalid misery, so often the companionof poverty, may thus become less common, through the influence of those to whom weshould not generally look for reformations, the discipline of the prison would thenbecome a blessing instead of a curse.

The ample supply of good water throughout the Model Prison, and the judicious mannerin which it is distributed, tends to promote the comfort of those occupying the solitarycells. By a reference to the cost of the pipes and hydraulic arrangements, it does notappear that each cell has had expended upon it more than 40s., and this amount includesall the requisites for a prisoner with regard to the supply of water. Such beneficialresults are rarely found united in our public buildings with so much economy, and aredeserving the consideration of those who have the management of our hospitals, unionworkhouses, and similar establishments. By a reference to the evidence taken before theCommissioners of Inquiry into the State of Large Towns and Populous Districts, we seemany valuable hints to benefit the residences of the poor, but none in which the estimateis so small, and productive of such vast advantage.

The hoisting machine, by which the trays containing provisions or materials are raisedfrom the basement to the level of the ground floor and galleries above, is fixed in the base-ment on each side the central hall, and affords a direct communication between the kitchen

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