Rules and Regulations for Penitentiaries

RULES and REGULATIONS made by the inspectors of the Provincial Penitentiary respecting its Discipline and Policy, under authority of the Statute 4 Wm. IV., ch. 37. [...]

SECTION VIII

DUTY OF CONVICTS.

The statute directs “that all convicts in the Penitentiary, other than such as are confined in solitude [illegible] conduct in the Penitentiary, shall be kept constantly employed at hard labor during the day time, except when incapable of laboring by reason of sickness or bodily infirmity, and except on Sundays, Christmas-day, and Good Friday; and that it shall be the duty of the Warden to keep each prisoner singly in a cell at night, and also during the day time when unemployed.”

[...] They are to labor diligently and preserve unbroken silence. They must not exchange a word with one another under any pretence whatever, nor communicate with one another, nor with any one else, by writing. [...] They are not on any occasion, nor under any pretence, to speak to any person who does not belong to the Prison, nor receive from such person any paper, letter, tobacco, or any other articles whatever. [...] They are not to gaze at visitors when passing through the prison, nor sing, dance, whistle, run, jump, nor do any thing which may have the slightest tendency to disturb the harmony or to contravene the rules and regulations of the prison.

[...] For the wilful violation of any of these duties, corporeal punishment will be instantly inflicted. [...]

GENERAL RULES AND REGULATIONS OF THE PRISON

1st, from the 1st day of April until the 30th day of September, inclusive, the Prison shall be opened as a quarter past five in the morning and closed for the day as half past six in the evening. During the remainder of the year, the hours for continuing the Prison open, shall embrace all the day light.

[...] The convicts shall come out of their cells in regular order, and march with their faces inclined towards the Inspection Avenue (each Gallery Company) successively, to the Docks, where they shall empty the contents of their night tubs, cleanse them well by rinsing them, then partly filling them with water, they shall march to the place where they shall deposite their tubs, in rows for the day [...].

About one hour after the opening of the prison, or at such time as shall be found most proper, a bell shall be rung by the direction of the Keeper in the kitchen, as a signal for the breakfast, on which the convicts shall break off from work, form again in line, and march under the eye of their respective Keepers, with their faces inclined towards the Avenues, to the Mess Room; each one as he arrives at his place, taking his seat with his face towards the table opposite his plate. When all shall have gotten their places, the Steward shall ring a small bell, and the convicts shall commence eating their meals [...].

The Mess Tables shall be narrow, and the convicts shall be seated at one side only; so that never being placed face to face, they may have no opportunity of exchanging looks or signs. [...]

III. – Closing the Prison at Night. – Supper.

The bell for dinner shall always be rung at twelve o’clock, and the mode of proceeding be the same as at breakfast. [...]

XIII. – Convicts’ Rations.

All convicts, as the law enjoins, shall be supplied with a sufficient quantity of rations, but wholesome food. Rations, both as it respects quantity and quality, to be regulated, from time to time by the Inspectors. The rations shall be all weighed or measured each day [...].

XV. – Furniture of the Cells.

[...] Each cell shall be furnished with a stretcher or hammock, as wide as the cell, and six feet three inches in length, raised eighteen inches from the floor, and two blankets and two coarse cotton sheets of suitable size, and a strong comb. During cold weather there shall be added a straw mattrass for each cell, with an extra blanket or rug. [...] A bible shall also be furnished [...].