St. Albans

Summary

We first went to the Borough Jail, which is a wooden building.

A girl was confined in the day-room, the window at which she sits, opens to the street, with which it is nearly on a level. We, standing in the street, conversed with her, and the bars are wide enough to admit any thing, of which the bulk is not very considerable; of course spirits could not be excluded. On the Sessions day, this window is closed by a shutter, as it was found that the prisoners got drunk, and were in that state during their trial. The jailer opened a door, of what appeared to us a dark closet, assuring us that when we entered we should be able to see;–and, in fact, we could discover the dimensions by the light admitted through the crevices of a hole, which had been formerly stopped up, at the top of the room. To this day-room for men, (in which the difference between night and day is hardly discernible) the only entrance was through the women's apartment.

The bed-rooms were equally incommodious. The men and women are separated by an open railing, the bars of which are about six inches distant from each other, and the only air, or light, admitted to the men's apartment, is through this lattice. The allowance of food is one pound and a half of bread per day, and no firing is provided, in fact it would be needless, for there is no fire-place.