D—No. 2a

THE JUDGES OF THE SUPREME COURT. measuring only eleven feet four inches by four feet one inch, and six feet ten inches high. It is not fit for a decent man's occupation. And during the late rains the wet has poured in and turned the turnkey from his bed. All these cells communicate, through the day-room, (No. 1), with the airing yard. There remain only three cells, viz., Nos. 8, 9, and 10, for the ordinary occupation of criminal prisoners. No. 8 has been lately occupied by an insane prisoner, whose state of health absolutely required an airy eell —and No. 8 measures eleven feet six inches by ten feet six inches, and is ten feet in height. No. 9 measures eleven feet three inches by ten feet six inches, and is of the same height as No. 8. In these two cells I yesterday found thirteen persons sleeping, viz., seven in No. 8, and six in No. 9. They are all men waiting for trial, and peradventure one or more maybe returned innocent by a Jury. No. 10 measures about twelve feet by eleven feet, and this cell, with Nos. 8 and 9, comprise all the accommodation provided for male felons and misdemeanants awaiting their trial. But if these three cells are all used by persons waiting for trial, there are two iasane prisoners who must be bedded among them, unless, (as is sometimes the case,) these cells are so crowded in hot weather that the two insane prisoners are of necessity removed into the two cells intended for prisoners committed by the Resident Magistrate for petty offences. These last-mentioned two cells measure respectively eight feet eleven inches by nine feet, and ten feet by nine feet, and are severally six feet three inches high. But even thus, if it happens—and it occasionally does happen —that men are brought into the prison in a state of mad drunkenness, they require to be fastened by handcuffs or otherwise secured in one or both of the last-mentioned cells ; and the insane convicts must be reconveyed to share the cells of prisoners waiting for trial. Contiguous to these cells, (viz., Nos. 14 and 15, which are commonly appropriated to men sentenced for petty offences,) there are, on one side, Nos. 12 and 13, used as mess-rooms for men and women respectively, and, on the other side, Nos. 16 and 17, which are dark punishment cells, and measure each of them ten feet by four feet five inches, and are six feet three inches high. The whole of these colls, from 12 to 17, inclusive, are constructed beneath the flooring of the Supreme Court Offices. There remains for notice cell No. 11, opening upon the airing yard. This cell has been variously described, viz. : as a lock-up room for refractory women, and a cell for the reception either of persons committed for want of sureties, or of such debtors as cannot be aiccomodated in the debtor's department, to which I shall presently allude. But cell No. 11 is, in fact, called in aid of any purposes which circumstances may demand. Mr. McElwain informs me that he is compelled to shift and change the inmates of the criminal department as their numbers, health, conduct, or the terms of their committals may require. With the best economy of his space, he informs me that frequently the male prisoners are forced to sleep from four to seven or eight in one cell, and that he has had as many as fourteen sleeping in one cell. It is seldom practicable to appropriate an entire cell to the insane prisoners ; and complaints have been made to myself of the sufferings which the complainants endured through the occasional violence, noise, or filthy acts of these poor creatures, their fellow-prisoners, during the night. Much, however, of the cleanliness which prevails in this department is due to the eccentric industry of one of these unfortunates; for, when he is not rambling upon the mysteries of religion, he indulges his propensity to sweep away or gather up every particle of incumbrance from the ground of the airing yard or the flooring of the rooms; and certainly the madman shewed himself not inferior to other men in this Province in perception when he complained of, what he called, the "infamous carpentering" of the gaol, and could only be pacified by my repeated compliments to himself upon the neatness of his quaint costume and the perfect cleanliness of his cell. I should complain more earnestly of the incarcerating insane prisoners in this scene of wretchedness, but I am assured, (with what truth I know not,) that the Provincial Lunatic Asylum is a confined and melancholy place. I cannot, however, close this part of my Eeport until I have called specific attention to the atmosphere of cell No. 10. No whitewashing of the walls or scouring of the floor suffices to purify the corrupt atmosphere therein. Even when the door remains wide open during the day, the smell is offensive ; but the gaoler and turnkey assure me that when they were called in during the night to relieve a sick prisoner, they were compelled, on opening the door, to fall back from the entrance until the atmosphere had become sufficiently changed to admit of their going in. Debtors' Department. The (so called) Debtor's Yard is separated from the Airing Yard by a palisade ; but the gate of communication is necessarily open all day, not merely for general convenience, but to enable women and others to come to the pump, situate in the airing yard, for water, or to their mess-room for meals; as also for the debtors themselves to resort occasionally to that yard. The building in the debtors' yard, appropriated to male debtors, contains an entrance-room or day-room out of which lead four cells, Nos. 19, 20, 21, and 22, Of these, one cell is necessarily devoted to a warder, and one to stores. The other two cells, measuring respectively about nine feet by nine feet, and eight feet in height, are all that remain for the exclusive use of prisoners for debt. Probably not more than two or three debtors are in general confined in one of these cells, although, I am informed, as many as four have been sometimes sleeping in one of them. Yesterday they were sleeping three in one cell and two in the other. If the number becomes too great to be accommodated, the remainder may be removed to cell No. 11, before mentioned in the Criminal Department: provided that cell be not pre-occupied through a press of criminal committals, or by women already locked therein as disorderly or drunken. Perhaps, indeed, a debtor suffers less inconvenience when crowded by other inmates of his narrow cell than when he chances to be without companions in debt. For, in the latter case, he can only vary the monotony of his incarceration either by