Insanity Among the Convicts at Pentonville, Milbanlv, and Dartmoor Prisons
AYk extract flic following interesting particulars from the last Parliamentary lleport of the Directors of Convict Prisons. With respect to Pentonville, Mr. C. L. Bradley, the highly intelligent and active medical officer, reports as follows :? Two cases of insanity have been removed to Bethlehem Hospital; the fol- lowing are the particulars thereof:?II. G., 5900, attracted notice on admission by a peculiarity of manner, and in a short time afterwards his conduct and conversation were sufficiently strange to lead to doubts being entertained of his sanity, lie was placed under observation and treatment in the infirmary, and eventually it became apparent that lie was the subject of insane delusions. ‘Hie result of inquiries into the previous history of the prisoner were at first obscure and contradictory; at length the following reliable account was obtained from the clergyman of his parish :?the prisoner, lie stated, had been formerly an industrious and respectable man, a regular attendant at his church, but after sustaining heavy pecuniary losses, became dejected and “perplexed himself by an over-curious reading of the Bible,” and finally, without any assignable motive, fired a neighbour’s haystack. Connecting this history with the delusions exhibited by the prisoner in Pentonville, there is much reason to believe that the crime of arson, with which he was charged, was committed under the influence of mental disease, but which required long-continued and closc observation for its detection.
G. W., GO 11, was received into Pentonville to undergo a second probationary period of separate confinement for extreme idleness and insubordination at the public works. Prom the first he refused to work, and obstinately persisted in that determination. He was at times violent and generally abusive; occasion- ally his conversation was such as to lead one to hesitate whether to refer it to audacity and impudence, or to actual incoherence. The character given him by those who had had chargc of him in other prisons was to the effect that he was idle, ill-conducted, and an impostor, lie was placcd in the infirmary under close surveillance for some months without any marked change, except that his conversation became more incoherent; but there were still many features, both in the history and general aspect of the case, which for a time justified a grave suspicion that the incoherence was simulated. At length, however, more decided indications of mental disease were developed, and the prisoner was removed from the prison as a lunatic. In the above cases, two of the most difficult to pronounce an opinion upon of any 1 recollect to have occurred during a medical experience of thirteen years at this prison, I had the adan- tagc of obtaining the able assistance of Dr Forbes Winslow, whose name as a psychologist is so well known.
P. M., 5095, a prisoner sent here to undergo a second period of separate confinement, exhibited soon after his admission an irritable state of mind, and entertained groundless suspicions as regards treatment by the officers. At one time lie maintained that suffocating vapours were introduced at night into his cell through the air-flues. Under the treatment employed the delusion disappeared, and his mind was restored to a healthy condition.
Four eases of ” mental irritability” arc noticed in the tables (p. 30). In two cases the prisoners suffered from dyspepsia, and imagined that their illness was caused by detclcrious substances clandestinely mixed by the officers with the food supplied to them. The third fancied lie was in the possession of an important secret connected with religious subjects, which he refused to dis- close. The fourth asserted that lie was made unhappy by being suspected and pointed out by the officers as guilty of vicious practices. Alt hough it would appear from the above statement that delusions were observed in these cases, yet they were not sufficiently “fixed” or absurd to be regarded as insane delu- sions, but, nevertheless, were indications of a mental condition, which, under adverse circumstances, would probably have terminated in actual mental dis- ease. liy suspending the discipline of separation, and using suitable moral and medical treatment, recovery to health was obtained, and the mind regained its equilibrium.
W. G., 5971, hanged himself in his cell in the fourteenth month of his imprisonment here. lie had never exhibited any indication of mental affec- tion, and his health during the whole period of his confinement was perfect. He was industrious at his trade, and had made considerable progress under the schoolmaster. lie had never been punished for a prison offence. After his death, it was discovered that he had indulged the hope of soon regaining his liberty, which was annihilated by the notices recently issued to prisoners sen- tenced to penal servitude. The unexpected prospect of a protracted imprison- ment may with great probability be regarded as having in the above instance led to the commission of an act of suicide.
Two Chinamen attempted to hang themselves in the cells shortly after their admission, but were saved from harm by the timely interference of an olficcr. They were removed from the prison as unfit subjects for separate confinement. Two prisoners attempted suicide by strangulation while under punishment in the dark cells. The prisoners stated that they were tried of life, and one was ascertained to have attempted suicide in other prisons twice before. There were also three cases in which the attendant circumstances rendered it morally ccrtain that the attempts were feigned, with a view to excite sym- pathy or create alarm.
AVhenevcr the medical officer had reason to believe that “separation” was likely to act injuriously upon the mental or bodily health, the discipline was suspended, and the prisoner permitted to work in association with others. The total number requiring the medical officer’s interposition in this respect was 23 ; 10 on account of ill health, and 13 on mental grounds. The above mea- sure in some cases no doubt averted positive injury, but was in all cases attended with benefit.
Three prisoners were removed from the prison on mental grounds shortly after admission?namely, the two Chinamen before noticed as having attempted suicide, and 1’. M., an excitable Irishman, who had formerly been a hard drinker, and had severely injured his skull.
OfMilbank, Dr lialy reports :?The account of mental diseases amongst the irisoners during the past year is a favourable one. Six men were removed to Jcthlelicm ; and two other men who were insane for :i short period, recovered in the prison. Three of those removed were insane in 1851 (one of them received insane), and they were included in last year’s return. Of the other three, M. I. was insane when lie was received; another, T. H., was believed to be an impostor, but, 011 account ot his extraordinary conduct, it was deemed right to submit his ease io the judgment of the physician practising in the department of lunacy, who gave a certificate of his insanity, and he was removed to Bethlehem Hospital; but he exhibited 110 symptom of insanity in that establishment, and has been returned to the prison. * The third, J. S., was suddenly attacked with mania three months after his reception, without any apparent cause.
Hie two men who became insane in the prison but recovered under treat- ment there, were both of very weak intellect when they were received. One of them, J. H., while recovering from cholera, was seized with epilepsy, from which lie had suffered previously, and was left by the epileptic attack in a state of dementia, which continued about seven weeks. The other, F. 13., was attacked with epilepsy, according to his statement for the first time in his life, on the day of his reception from Perth, where lie had been ten months in separate confinement, and five days afterwards he was seized with acute mania; he recovered in little more than a fortnight. The cases of J. S.and F. B. are therefore the only ones occurring during the past year that can with any pro- bability be referred to the influence of imprisonment.
Dr J. Campbell, the medical officer of the Dartmoor Prison, reports as follows, respecting the mental condition of those under his kind care:? Chronic diarrhoea has been the cause of removal to this place in several instances, and as the complaint has commonly been of long standing or compli- cated with disease of the lungs, it has proved very intractable. Two of the invalids received during the year lor this disease have died of pulmonary consumption, and a third is now in a precarious state from the disease itself. Scrofula.?Considering the great number of prisoners Labouring under scro- fulous diseases, the cases admitted into the infirmary have not been numerous. The most common form has been suppurating glands of the neck, but there were also several cases of diseased bones and joints, also large abscesses about the chest and lower extremities. Some of these cases proved tedious from impair- ment of the constitution; but when unattended by any marked disease of the internal organs, the change to this place soon exerted a beneficial inllucnee ; and most of the cases arc either progressing favourably or have terminated in a satisfactory manner.
From there being upwards of SO prisoners in this establishment, of weak or doubtful mind, such cases arc frequently brought to my notice. Although few appear 011 the sick list for mental affections, we have commonly about half-a- dozen in the infirmary for the treatment ot other diseases, particularly catarrh, diarrhoea, and epilepsy, those being the complaints to which this class ot invalids appear peculiarly liable. When suffering from bodily disease, those men arc generally more troublesome, and subject to fits of excitement which render the greatest vigilance necessary, lwo eases have been lecommcnded for removal during the year:?1st, No. 2,6G5,11. D., was received from Portland Prison, September Gtlf, 1S54, for “imbecility of mind, violent, and intractable.” lie maintained the same character here, and as lie was several times in the hospital for the treatment of slight bodily ailments, as well as for observation, I had frequent opportunities of watching him, which confirmed my opinion of his insanity. As he was guilty of repeated acts of violence and assaults upon officers, tlie last being an attempt to knock an officer down with a spade, I deemed it necessary to recommend his removal to a lunatic asylum. ^ 2nd, No. 3,11:5, J. J., was received from Northampton Gaol in August, 1S53, the cause of removal being weak mind, and unfit for separationand his whole conduct was so ccccntric and violent as to leave 110 doubt in my mind of ins insanity. His manner was very peculiar, and lie was guilty of Yanousscnoiis and dangerous acts; such as burning bis Bible, prayer, and other booksj 111 ?> cell, stating as his reason, ” he could not derive any benefit from tucm, breaking articles of furniture in the cell, as well as the window, without the slightest provocation, and frequently threatening the lives of the officers. It was considered unsafe to allow him to associate with other prisoners, and an inquiry into the state of his mind resulted in an order for his removal to Bethlehem.
A great, many of the weak-minded prisoners are, however, harmless, and even industrious, which reflects great credit on the careful management of the officers; but, as I have before observed, there appears to me a necessity for a more complete separation between the weak-minded and healthy prisoners, as their eccentricities give rise to remarks which irritate and excite them. It would also bring them more prominently under the notice of the officers in charge of the working parties.
Mental affections have been rather on the increase during the year, the number of admissions being forty, which, added to those remaining at the close of 1854, give a total of 103. Such cases must, at all times, be a source of anxiety to those in charge, as even when the malady is in its mildest form, such as eccentricity or incoherency, they are liable to become excited and violent when least expected, and necessarily require the most careful super-
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