Note 65 — Chapter IV · THE BEGINNINGS OF PRISON REFORM.

In 1823 the society reported that “prisoners for assize at one county gaol are double ironed on first reception, and thus fettered, are at night chained down in bed, the chain being fixed to the floor of the cell, and fastened to the leg fetters of the prisoners. This chain is of sufficient length to enable the prisoners to raise themselves in bed. The cell is then locked, and he continues thus chained down from seven o’clock in the evening till six o’clock next morning. There were but two gaol deliveries in the county for the year, so a prisoner may continue to be thus treated for from six to eight months, and be then acquitted as innocent.” The double irons for the untried varied in weight from ten to fourteen pounds.