Introduction

The first law on this subject in our criminal code is that of 1786 generally called the “wheelbarrow law” which was amended by a supplement of the 27th March 1789. 

Both those acts were supplied and appealed by the act of the 5th of April 1790.

This act designates the punishment by solitary confinement generally, and in capital cases directs a transmission of convicts to the penitentiary of Philadelphia from the several counties of the state. As to lesser offences, than capital it is left to the discretion of the court in most instances to sentences to the penitentiary or to the County Jail. The Laws on this subject certainly intend that the convicts of the lesser order of crimes shall be combined and be put to hand labour in the counties where they have been convicted. The great expense to the Counties now incurred, by sending criminals to Philadelphia induces in some measure a necessity of employing the criminal convicts at home. There is no doubt but the country jails will furnish an employment fully sufficient for the maintenance of the prisoners respectively, to discharge the costs of prosecution and in instances of much industry, to leave a handsome balance in their favour, to be paid them at their discharge. We have a full proof of this from the experience of Dauphin county. There the commissioners who are excellent characters have provided looms, tools for making cut nails and hammered: also a set of shoemaker’s tools.

There is no good reason why the manufactory should not be extended to hemp: such as dressing it originally & forming it into twine: boatropes, and even fishing seines. One man at Harrisburg has been taught the weaving trade the cloth he makes is admirable. The ladies of that place seem to give it a preference on account of its strength and beauty and cheapness. Some prisoners have no mechanical profession but may not, withstanding be usefully engaged so as to earn their subsistence. A spooler at Harrisburg did so. A Bellons-blower to a sailor would meet at least his victuals and clothes, if not more.

If as it may be called this manufacturing manner of punishment was introduced into a country jail and under the eye of a good keeper (such as the Samuel Elder of Harrisburg) not only the county would in time be freed from the expense of maintenance but the costs of prosecution: These expenditures have really become a grievous bruthen to many, but most particularly to the County of Lancaster in this district. Many young offenders, if the system pointed out by the laws were prudently conducted and the pardoning power more self-restrained than it has been for the last 20 years; those youths might not only be taught trades but the principles of religion & morality might be effectively inculcated & strongly impressed by causing the establishment of sunday schools under the direction of some respectable christian preacher to be nominated by the commissioners and to be approved of by a majority of the judges of the court of general qua[r]ter sessions of the peace. 

The sessions of the different acts of assembly which concern this matter are the following.

Section 28. of the act of the 5th April 1790

The malefactors sentenced to hand labour in the several counties of this state other than the county of Philadelphia, shall be employed in the several goals [gaols] and workhouses in the respective counties, in such hand servile labour and fed and cloathed in such manner as is herein before directed; and the Sheriff of the proper county to whom the said malefactors shall be committed, in execution of their sentence, shall, from time to time, with the approbation of the justices of the court of Quarter Sessions of the proper county, in open court, appoint so many keepers of the said malefactors as shall be necessary, whose wages shall be ascertained and allowed by the said court & paid by the treasurer of the county out of the monies in his hands raised for the use of said county, by a warrant drawn by the said Sheriff, & at least one of the commissioners of the proper county & that the duty of the said keepers shall be to superintend and direct their labours, manage & attend to their clothing, diet, and ledging, and take care they be safely kept; and the better to effect this purpose they shall have authority to confine in close durance apart from all society, all those who shall refuse to labour, be idle, or guilty of any trespass, and during such confinement to withhold from them all sustenance, except bread and water; and also to put iron yokes around their necks chains upon their leg or legs or otherwise restrain in irons such as shall be incorrigible, or inclaimable without such severity.

Section 29. The Court of Qua[r]ter Sessions

Of any such county shall have power either ex-officio or upon information against any such keeper for partiality or cruelty to call to call before them such keeper together with the material witnesses, and enquire into his conduct & if it shall appear that he hath been guilty of gross partiality or cruelty, it shall and may be lawful for the said court to suspend or remove him; and any of the judges of the supreme court when upon the circuit in suc county, either on their own motion, or on complaint made by any other, may take original cognisance of the  months or oftener if required furnish the commissioners of their respective counties with a complete kalendar or list of all persons committed to their respective custody, under sentence of such servitude, together with the names of their crimes, the term of their servitude, in what court condemned, the ages and the discription of the persons of such as shall appear to be too old and infirm, or otherwise incapable, to undergo hard labour out of the jails or workhouses; and the said commissioners shall at the charge of the proper county provide the cloathing & the food herein before directed for them, as also such articles and materials of labour & manufacture, as shall be most suitable for the employment of all those who are capable of labour or manufacture & deliver the names to the said jailor or workhousekeeper taking a receipt therefor: and the jailor and workhouse-keeper shall render an account quarterly, or oftener if required to the commissioners, of the work done by the said malefactors, and dispose of the same in such manner as the commissioners shall direct. misbehaviour of any keeper, and remove him from office, if they see cause; and in case of suspension or removal of all or any of the said keepers, either by the justices of the quarter sessions or the judges of the supreme court  the Sheriff of the proper county, with the approbation of the justices of the quarter sessions of the same county, shall and is hereby authorised and directed to appoint another keeper of keepers in the room of such as shall have been so suspended or removed.

Section 30. 

The keepers of the jails and workhouses on houses of correction, in such counties shall once in threeAnd the said commissioners are hereby authorised, from time to time, to draw orders or give their warrants on the treasurer of the proper county for the advance of such sums as they shall think reasonable and necessary, for carrying this act into execution; & all expense and charges incurred, or to be incurred, by virtue of this act, shall be levied & raised as other county charges are & be accounted for in like manners.

Section 31.

The said keepers of any of the jails & houses of correction within this commonwealth their deputies and assistants in case any of the said offenders shall escape from confinement without the knowledge or consent of the said keepers, their deputies and assistants shall forfeit and pay the sum of ten pounds, to be recovered and applied in manner aforesaid provided that nothing in this act contained shall be deemed or taken to extend to escapes voluntarily suffered by any such keepers of the said gaols and work-houses.

To elucidate and enforce the act of 1790, the act of the 4th April 1807 is still more explicit & energetic, and which is so very plain that it cannot be misunderstood. The mere recital will fully prove the strong desire of the legislature to carry this mode of punishment to its highest degree of perfection. It is our duty conjunctive by and severally to obey the public will. The clause spoken of is the 4th sect of the act last named. It enacts “that if any jailor shall neglect or refuse to give notice or furnish a complete kalendar or list of all the persons committed under the sentence of servitude, to the commissioners of the proper county as is directed by the 30th Section of the act to which this is a supplement if the courts of quarter sessions shall have ordered the jailor so to do, he shall forfeit and pay for every such neglect or refused $100 and if the said commissioners of any county after the receipt of such notice or calendar shall neglect or refuse to procure sufficient articles & materials of labour & manufacture or otherwise neglect the duties enjoined upon them by the said 30th Section such commissioners or any of them so neglecting or refusing shall forfeit and pay the sum of $100 for every such neglect or refusal: & if by the report of the commissioners of any county to the court of the commissioners of any county to the court of Quarter Sessions it shall appear that there is not sufficient room or conveniences in and about the common jail of any county for the employment and punishment of the convicts as is directed by the said section it shall be the duty of such commissioners with the consent and approbation of the court and grand-jury of the proper county to cause to be erected such additional buildings as may be necessary for that purpose and if need be to purchase ground proper and convenient for the erection of such additional buildings at the expense of the proper county.

Rules Orders and Regulation for the Jail of the County of Lancaster

1. No persons whatsoever shall be admitted to a communication with the prisoners except the keeper, his deputies, servants, or assistants–the (inspectors) commissioners, officers of justice, counsellors or attornies at Law employed by a prisoner, ministers of the gospel or persons authorised by law of the commissioners.

2. The males & females shall be employed and shall eat and be lodged in separate apartments & shall have no intercourse or communication with each other.

3. The prisoners shall be constantly employed in such labour as the keeper with the concurrence of the commissioners may consider best adapted to their age, sex, and circumstances: regard being had to that employment which is most profitable. 

4. If any of the prisoners shall be found remiss or negligent in performing what is required of them to the best of their power and abilities or shall willfully waster or damage the goods committed to their care they shall be punished for every such offence as may hereafter be directed.

5. If any of the prisoners shall refuse to comply with these regulations or to obey the officers of the prison or shall be guilty of profane cursing or swearing or of any indecent behaviour conversation or expression of any assault quarrel or abusive words with or to any other person they shall be punished for the same manner hereafter directed……

6. The convicts, prisoners for trial, servants, run-a-way and vagrants shall be separately lodged and employed.

7. Offenders shall be reported to the (inspectors) commissioners and punished by close solitary confinement and their allowance of food reduced but in cases where the security of the Prisoner is in danger or personal violence offered to any of the officers then the said officers shall use all lawful means to defend themselves; and secure the authors of such outrage.

8. No officer or other person shall sell anything used in the prison, nor buy sell or barter any article by which they can have benefit neither shall they suffer any spiritous or fermented liquors to be introduced except such as the keeper may use in his own family or for medical purposes prescribed by the attending physician under the penalty of 5 pounds if an officer & of dismission from office or if a prisoner he shall be proceeded against as in the VII article. 

9. The prisoners on their first admission shall be separately lodged washed and cleansed and shall continue in such separate lodging until it shall be deemed prudent to admit them among the other prisoners; & the clothes in which they were committed shall be baked fumigated and laid by; to be given them at their discharge, & during their confinement to be clothed according to law.

10. Any persons detected in gaming of any kind shall be proceeded against agreeably to the VII article.

11. Any person who shall demand or exact a garnish, beg, steal, or defraud, shall be punished as directed by the VII article. 

12. The prisoners who distinguish themselves by their attention to cleanliness, sobriety, industry & orderly conduct shall be reported to the (inspector) commissioners & meet with such rewards as is in their power to grant or procure for them.

13. The prisoners shall be furnished with suitable bedding, shall be shaved once a week, their hair cut once a month (if necessary), change their linen once a week and regularly wash their face and hands every morning.

14. The prison shall be whitewashed at least twice in the year & oftener if occassion requires it: the floors shall be swept every morning & and washed on Wednesdays and Saturdays from the 20th of May to the first of October and once a week for the remainder of the year.

15. The sweepings of the prison shall be collected and deposited in a place to be prepared for the purpose and shall be removed once every two weeks: and the necessaries shall have quick lime thrown into them daily and be cleaned annually.

16. The yards of the prison shall be kept free from cows, hogs, dogs, and fowls.

17. The physician for the time being shall keep a register of the sick, their disorders, and his prescriptions and shall under his accounts for the examination and allowance of the (inspectors) commissioners at each of their quarterly meetings.

18. At the performance of divine worship all the prisoners shall attend except such as may be sick.

19. The Turnkey, deputies and assistants shall be tradesmen in order that the trades and employments within the house shall be more effectually & profitably. (conducted)

20. All prisoners committed as vagrants and who have been convicts shall be confined in the cells during their commitment.

21. No provision other than prison allowance shall be furnished to a convict or vagrant without the permission of the visiting (inspectors) commissioners.

22. There shall be wardsmen appointed by the visiting (inspectors) commissioners whose duty it shall be, to keep the windows, passages, yards, & privies [toilets] clean and who also shall be lodged and fed in a room by themselves.

23. Runaways or disorderly apprentices and servants shall be separately lodged, fed and employed & the keeper shall give notice to their masters or mistresses at the time of their commitment of the charge that will accrue for their daily maintenance, who may at their option agree to pay the same or provide the necessary food themselves.

24. The charge for the maintenance of slaves shall be the same as that of apprentices or runaways.

25. The diet of prisoners shall be on Sunday, one pound of bread & one pound of course meat made into broth. Monday one pound bread & one quart of potatoes. Tuesday, one quart of indian meal made into mush. Wednesday, one pound of bread & one quart of potatoes. Thursday, one quart of indian meal made into mush. Friday, one pound of bread and one quart of potatoes. Saturday, one quart of indian meal made into mush. Besides the above, a half pint of molasses shall be distributed to every four prisoners, on every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

26. If the keeper shall discover that a prisoner is laborious & attention to the work assigned to him he may with the assent in writing of one of the commissioners make him a further reasonable allowance of beef or pork not exceeding one pound of beef nor three quarters of a pound of pork per day.

27. That all such convicts shall at the public expense of the county during the term of their confinement be cloathed in habits of coarse materials uniform in colour & make and distinguishing them from the good citizens of the commonwealth. And the make shall have their heads & beards shaven at least once in every week.

28. The labour consistent with sex, age, health, & ability shall be of the hardest and most servile kind in which the work is least liable to be spoiled by ignorance neglect or obstinacy & where the materials are not easily embezzled or destroyed and if the work is of such a nature as may require previous instruction proper persons for that purpose to whom a suitable allowance shall be made shall be provided by any two of the commissioners during which labour the said offenders shall be kept separate and apart from each other if the nature of their several employments will admit thereof and when the nature of such employment requires two or more to work together the keeper of the jail or one of his deputies shall if possible be constantly present.

29. That the offenders unless prevented by ill health shall be employed in work every day in the year except sundays and the hours of work shall be as many as the season of the year will admit with an interval of half an hour for breakfast and an hour for dinner but not exceeding eight hours in the months of November, December, and January nine hours in the months of February & October and ten hours in the rest of the year and when such hours of work are past the working tools implements and materials or such of them as will admit of daily removal shall be removed to places proper for their safe custody until the hour of labour shall return.

See the Sup. p. 4th April 1807 8th state laws 133-4.

Lancaster County

January Sessions 1810

The Grand Jury unanimously highly approve of the foregoing.

John Light, foreman