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SECTION XIII.: CELL-GALLERIES. - Jeremy Bentham, The Works of Jeremy Bentham, vol. 4 [1843]

Edition used:

The Works of Jeremy Bentham, published under the Superintendence of his Executor, John Bowring (Edinburgh: William Tait, 1838-1843). 11 vols. Vol. 4.

Part of: The Works of Jeremy Bentham, 11 vols.

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SECTION XIII.

CELL-GALLERIES.

Under the name of galleries have been mentioned—1. The prisoners’, or cell-galleries; 2. The inspection-galleries; 3. The chapel-galleries. It is only the first that come under the head of communications. The two others have been spoken of already.

Of the cell-galleries little need be said. Attached to the several stories of cells, they hang over one another, and over the grated passage, which but for its grating would form a part of the intermediate area. I give them four feet in width, with balustrades of about 3½ feet high. These fences should in height be of more than half that of a man, not only to prevent his falling over unawares, but lest a desperate prisoner should, by a mere push, have it in his power to throw over a keeper or fellow-prisoner: more than the height necessary to afford that security is superfluous, and it tends to reduce the size of the packages capable of being hoisted up from the intermediate area into the cells.

I make them of bars rather than solid work, for the sake of ventilation, and of iron rather than wood, for the sake of strength and durability.

Underneath the galleries runs the passage called the grated passage, of the same width with those galleries, but on a level with the intermediate area below, from which it is separated by a grating also of iron, and reaching from within the thickness of a man (or rather of a boy) of the floor of that area, to within the same thickness of the under surface of the lowermost cell-gallery under which it runs. Into this the prisoners are received upon their landing from the lowest staircase, instead of being turned loose into the intermediate area, where they would have unlimited access to the under-warehouses, and by introducing themselves immediately under the inspection-galleries, station themselves out of the reach of the inspector’s eye.

Through this grated passage there must be doors, which may be of the same materials, to give access to servants, or prisoners employed as servants, to the fireplaces, and other offices under the cells. On each side of the diametrical passage there must be at least one pair of such doors, and there may be any greater number that convenience may require.

The form of the balustrades is not altogether a matter of indifference. On account of cheapness and transparency, the upright bars should be as few and as slender as the regard due to strength will allow. On account of safe custody, the form should be such, in every part, as to preclude a prisoner from taking a spring from them, so as to jump upon the roof of any of the inspection-galleries which, in a horizontal line, will in the nearest part be at not more than eight feet distance. On this account, the upright bars, instead of finding separate horizontal bars at bottom to meet them and afford them support in a line exactly under them, are inflected towards the bottom; and the perpendicular part and the horizontal being both in one piece, the former receives sufficient support from the latter, and the first transverse piece that presents itself capable of affording a man a treading place to spring form, runs two or three inches within a perpendicular let fall from the rail. Prevented in this way from rising to an upright posture by the overhanging rail, it would be impossible for the most active jumper to take the smallest spring; he would tumble directly down like a dead-weight. Such a configuration may often be seen in balconies, though given without any such view. On the same account, the rail, instead of being flat, should be brought to an edge, in such manner that the section of it shall exhibit a triangle, either equal-legged or right-angled; and if right-angled, with the right angle within side, so that the side opposite the right angle may form a slope too steep to spring from.

These precautions, which would neither of them cost any thing, seem abundantly sufficient: if not, there are a variety of ways in which the deficiency might be effectually made up; though perhaps not without some little inconvenience or expense.*

[* ]For instance, to crown the rail with spikes, which should be sharp and slender; or to let fall, from the bottom of the balcony above, a row of bars projecting in such a manner as to render it impossible for man or boy to stand upon the rail, in a posture sufficiently near to an upright one to enable him to take a spring.