INSIDE NEWGATE.

Otago Witness, Issue 918, 3 July 1869, Page 8

INSIDE NEWGATE.

(Daily JNtm.)

Our present business is with tho exercise yards, and the interviews hold between thoir bars. Thoro is a ghastly rtinomblance between thorn and tho playground of some strict Bchool. Pacing regularly round, a fixed npaco being maintained between each man or boy, And the rate of walking in eaoh caoe tho same, proooed the prisoners. It is thoir wiokod; callous faces which mako the school simile

moving, ■reßile&ly^to^and., frojin, a .vast cageL ;Beems r mucli tt t nea l re» JJ l ,tfieliMJ!k,,/nb^qthat iwi^atje ;among'.tlbeSi. 7^ jj&^rraju^^ riltoriy,^ tKeft^forgeiy,SaS^^, cutting and ,woun^mg,;;;and >, pawing .bad money, make the bulk 01 ■. the j( offences, with -which 'the men before usL stand; charged. A~Btout-florid-faced man, 5%). looks Jftke a, country farmer, and who* is gesticulating violently 'through the bars to the, - ibowed; and crying little Jwoman, beyond them, is in on< a. charge ob horsestealihg;' He, has ' been id prison jbef ore, and indeed w,is bnty oiit of it, ten dayswhen he was again apprehended., , A, muscular powerful man he looks, as if he could carry off ,' a horse, bodily, if necessary: :' arid one' 'wonders Vtat the messages are he is 4l Wpressrag'/iip; earnestly pn.his wife. A/warde* is ; standing ?aear Enough to the twain to, overhear their talk, but, we area'sßurednb; effort is made to eaves-, drop j the 'presence; < of a prison* official being 'insisted' on simply ; as a. precautionary 1 measure. 'Neafr, to the . horsey dealer is a well-dressed youngi cleric, 1 whose alleged offeree , is ; embezzlement. * The elderly Wmaii whose ''sobs', reach, us 'across the yard 1 is his , mother;, She' Ree'ms to be pleading earnestly, and he to be half sullen,! half ashamed, but finally to yield, to her entreaties whatever their purpbrt may have been. The third prisoner being visited ia an older man, and the girl talking to him looUa like his daughter. Their interview is far calmer than the other two, and seems indeed of a business character ; for some clean linen haa been brought, and the man is actually talking of the weather as we pasß by — a proceeding whioh we thought a feint, but which, as we were reminded, was natural enough. 1 The three-quarters of an hour alloted to each interview ia doubtless a very precious time. Itfcan only be had on particular days, and the strongest wish of those concerned must be to compress as many questions and answers into it as possible. I Fancy the painful excitement with which a man' about to be tried for some serious crime must look forward to his "promised talk with those whom he can trust to aot for him outside. The anxious thoughts, the doubts, thefearo, thehopas which agitate him in the 'solitude of hia cell are all to bear fruits in the momentous conversation he is permitted to hold. The chances of the impending trial, his fate if convicted, the means to be raised for his defence, and the effect upon those dependent on him of his present state, have to be eagerly canvassed ; and it is all important that not a moment should be lost. But this very eagerness defeats itself. Just as it often happens, that when people meet after a long absence* and for a limited time, they fail to recall half the topics in which they are vitally interested, anc| on which they are anxious to compare notes — so with the imprisoned men before us and their friends. In the other yards we visited men and women were absolutely Btaring at each other through the bats, in Bilence ; though the latter had come on purpose to talk, and the former would be shut up again in a quarter of an hour. In some cases it may have been the dumbness of despair which made them tongue-tied ; but many seemed so, nervously anxious to express all they had to say that they were unable to arrange their ideas sufficiently to give them articulate shape. Some of the women treated the whole affair lightly, Bmirked at. the warders, and looked boldly round ; but these were the exceptions. The rule both in those waiting and those in communication with their male friends was absolute dejection. Two other kinds of accommodation are provided for special visitors, both similar in character. The first is an enclosed closet in the centre of the principal corridor, and is for the ' attorneys ; the second is for the prisoners who are Roman Catholics, and who are visited by their priest. Both have glnas sides and roof, and realise " the light oloBets," upon which Olorosa laid uuch stresa when describing the lodgings she had been entrapped into by Lovelace. The advice to little children, "to be seen but not heard," is rigidly enforced upon all people inside these 'two places. They live for the time being literally in a glass house, and every movement can be seen from almost any portion of the chamber or corridor in which they stand. Both places aro empty during our stay, the only visitors being tho women praising against tho iron bars. It is easy to fill up their vacancy, however; and all but impossible not to realise the scones which take place in tho attorneys 1 box, as well as the priests'. There are seats here and » reating-pUoa for papers. It is, indeed. * «»|U office under a glass cane, and ■weiKrod garnished for the next tenant*. The futile attempts at deceit, t the half oonfesaions, the miierable equivocations at to the extent and oircumstancos of guilt on the on© hand ; the calm business tone, the romowtrtooo* on tho suicidal folly of oonoealment, the penetrating queitiona. the praotiied art with which

yi o^t, «^tJe,'Mt«#e, , assurances ,of 'ihelp ., from (fen©, jJMJof ess aonal adywer/on%eV»tne^^^ >If glass walls" [have^ears, like (their neighbours fo£ stone" and • tyiok; what strange stories could this little cramped 'cage re-

.There, are more , women > in thei porters Jo.dge.as we leaye,, tearful yand miserable fas the rest, and ,w,aitjng(their t turn for interviews. .They, too, .will be/conducted to ,the ironbarriers, and uttertheir broken conversation across the ;dismal^-yard of ! intervening , spaco. The : prison ,of Newgate is so obviously well managed, and the comforts-Vwe had, almost, written the luxuries— of its , inmates are, so carefully secured, that its authorities have doubtless sufficient ; reasons, \i or. the r rules under which the visits of 'prisoners' friends maybe paid and' received. Still, ia,.vast majority of the inmates are, .^f remand cases ;" and as they are all sent elsewhere as. soon as possible after conviction, it is .difficult to repress a wish that some less restricted mode of communication could be allowed. Although many l of, the evil fapes we saw marching round were old prison Hands, we presume that, the law .holds theto innocent of the particular offences they are charged with until it finds them guilty. Again, it must occasionally happen that guiltless persons who have been committed for trial are detained here, and there is something repulsive in the absolutely penal character of the reception they have in each case to give their friends.