[Footnote 20: As cleanliness is connected with health, and health with
morals, the prisoner are obliged to wash and clean themselves every
morning before their work, and to bathe in the summer-season, in a large
reservoir of water, which is provided in the court yard of the prison
for this purpose.]
In consequence of these regulations, those who visit the criminals in
Philadelphia in the hours of their labour, have more the idea of a
large manufactory, than of a prison. They see nail-makers, sawyers,
carpenters, joiners, weavers, and others, all busily employed. They see
regularity and order among these. And as no chains are to be seen in the
prison, they seem to forget their situation as criminals, and to look
upon them as the free and honest labourers of a community following
their respective trades.
In consequence of these regulations, great advantages have arisen both
to the criminals, and to the state. The state has experienced a
diminution of crimes to the amount of one half since the change of the
penal system, and the criminals have been restored, in a great
proportion, from the gaol to the community, as reformed persons. For few
have been known to stay the whole term of their confinement. But no
person could have had any of his time remitted him, except he had been
considered both by the inspectors and the executive government as
deserving it.
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