In contrasting her system with that which we
have modelled upon it, I merely seek to show that with all its
drawbacks, ours has some advantages of its own.
The House of Correction which has led to these remarks, is not
walled, like other prisons, but is palisaded round about with tall
rough stakes, something after the manner of an enclosure for
keeping elephants in, as we see it represented in Eastern prints
and pictures. The prisoners wear a parti-coloured dress; and those
who are sentenced to hard labour, work at nail-making, or stone-
cutting. When I was there, the latter class of labourers were
employed upon the stone for a new custom-house in course of
erection at Boston. They appeared to shape it skilfully and with
expedition, though there were very few among them (if any) who had
not acquired the art within the prison gates.
The women, all in one large room, were employed in making light
clothing, for New Orleans and the Southern States. They did their
work in silence like the men; and like them were over-looked by the
person contracting for their labour, or by some agent of his
appointment. In addition to this, they are every moment liable to
be visited by the prison officers appointed for that purpose.
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