Fry, Elizabeth Gurney, 1780-1845; Prison reformers -- Biography
classes, and putting them under monitors, had been of the greatest
advantage. There is some little pecuniary advantage attached to the
office of monitor which makes them emulous to obtain it. We went
through the female wards with Mrs. Fry, and saw the women at
various works, knitting, rug-making, etc. They have done a great
deal of needle-work very neatly, and some very ingenious. When I
expressed my foolish wonder at this to Mrs. Fry's sister, she
replied, "We have to do, recollect, Ma'am, not with fools, but with
rogues."... Far from being disappointed with the sight of what
Mrs. Fry has done, I was delighted.
This _naive_, informal chronicle of a visit to Newgate incidentally lets
out the fact that the gloomy prison was fast becoming attractive to
visitors--indeed, quite a show-place. That Mrs. Fry's labors were
receiving official honor and recognition also, there is plenty of
evidence to prove. In Prussia, her principles and exhortations had made
such headway that the Government was adapting old prisons and building
new, in order to carry out the modern doctrines of classification and
employment. In Denmark, the King had given his sanction to the measures
proposed by the Royal Danish Chancery for adding new buildings to the
prison. As soon as these buildings were completed the females would be
separated from the males, female warders were to be appointed,
employment found for all prisoners, and books of information and
devotion were to be supplied to each cell; while a chaplain (an unknown
official, hitherto) was to be appointed. In Germany, four new
penitentiaries were to be constructed; viz., at Berlin, Muenster in
Westphalia, Ratibor in Silesia, and Koenigsberg. Two of these
penitentiaries were to be exactly like the Model Prison at Pentonville;
separate confinement was to be practically carried out, and the
prisoners were to be taught trades under the superintendence of picked
teachers. From Duesseldorf came information that all the female prisoners
were improving under the new _regime_; that an asylum for discharged
prisoners was effecting a wonderful transformation in the characters and
lives of those who sought refuge there; and that the inmates only left
its shelter to secure situations in service. In addition to these
cheering items she had the satisfaction of holding communications with
many princely, noble and royal personages on the Continent, respecting
the progress of her favorite work, and the new regulations and buildings
then adopted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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