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Rules and regulations for the management of the several prisons and classification of the prisoners.
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109. The following rules and regulations shall be strictly observed and carried into force and effect in every gaol, house of correction, marshalsea, bridewell, sheriff’s prison, and other prisons throughout Ireland, so far as the same shall be practicable therein; that is to say,
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First:—It shall not be lawful for any woman to be keeper of any prison.
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Second:—The keeper of each prison shall reside therein; he shall not be an under sheriff or bailiff, nor shall he be concerned in any occupation or trade whatsoever; no keeper or officer of a prison shall sell, nor shall any person in trust for him or employed by or under him sell, or have any benefit or advantage from the sale of, any article to any prisoner, nor have directly or indirectly any interest in any contract or agreement for the supply of the prison.
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Third:—A matron shall be appointed in every prison in which female prisoners shall be confined, who shall reside in the prison, and it shall be the duty of the matron constantly to superintend the female prisoners.
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Fourth:—The keeper shall, as far as may be practicable, visit every ward, and see every prisoner, and inspect every cell, once at least in every twenty-four hours; and when the keeper or any other officer shall visit the female prisoners, he shall be accompanied by the matron, or in case of her unavoidable absence, by some female officer of the prison.
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Fifth:—No tap shall be kept in any prison, nor shall spirituous liquors of any kind be admitted for the use of any of the prisoners therein, under any pretence whatever, unless by a written order of the physician or surgeon, specifying the quantity, and for whose use; no wine, beer, cyder, or other fermented liquors, shall be admitted for the use of any prisoners, except in such quantities, in such manner, and at such times, as shall be allowed by the rules hereafter to be made in pursuance of this Act.
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Sixth:—The person or persons whose duty it shall be to deliver out bread or other provisions, or one of the said persons, and the keeper of the prison, shall attend for that purpose every day, and shall take care that the same is properly distributed, according to the wants of the prisoners respectively, and that it is not more than twenty-four hours since any bread which may be so distributed had been baked; and such person or persons shall not suffer any prisoner to commute the said allowance, by receiving the value thereof in money, or in any other manner whatsoever.
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Seventh:—The walls and ceilings of the wards, cells, rooms, and passages, used by the prisoners, throughout every prison, shall be scraped and limewashed at least twice in the year; and the day rooms, passages, and sleeping cells, shall be washed or cleansed once a week, or oftener, if requisite; the straw shall be changed once in every two months; convenient places for the prisoners to wash themselves shall be provided, with an adequate allowance of soap, towels, and combs; a fire shall be lighted in the day rooms, for ten hours in the day, from the first day of October to the first day of April in every year, and at such other times as the board of superintendence of the gaol shall deem necessary.
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Eighth:—The classification herein-before directed and required by this Act shall be invariably carried into effect, and the debtors shall be separated into two divisions, those who are maintained by the public being placed in every respect on the same footing as untried poor prisoners of any other class.
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Ninth:—That all prisoners shall have free access to the bath and necessary, in their respective parts of the prison, at all reasonable hours; and shall also be admitted at proper times, in succession, to air themselves in the yard or yards, for at least two hours in every day, except prisoners under sentence of death, and such persons as shall be riotous or disorderly, or where there may be sufficient cause to apprehend that an escape may be attempted.
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Tenth:—No horses, cows, hogs, pigs, cattle, or poultry of any kind, shall be kept within the boundary walls of any prison.
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Eleventh:—No prisoner, even when condemned to death, shall be put into a dungeon or room under ground.
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Twelfth:—No smoking, gambling, swearing, indecent language, or unreasonable noise, shall be allowed in any prison.
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Fifteenth:—The keeper of every prison shall have power to hear all complaints touching any of the following offences; (that is to say,) disobedience to any of the rules of the prison; assaults by one person confined in such prison upon another, when no dangerous wound or bruise is given; profane cursing and swearing; any indecent behaviour, and any irreverent behaviour at chapel; all of which are declared to be offences by this Act, if committed by any description of prisoners; breaking windows or otherwise injuring the prison or any part of the furniture thereof; absence from chapel without leave; idleness or negligence in work, or wilful mismanagement of it, and the said keeper may examine any person touching such offences, and may determine thereupon, and may punish all such offences, by ordering the offender or offenders to close confinement in the refractory or solitary cells, and by keeping such offenders respectively upon bread and water only, for any term or terms respectively, not exceeding in any instance three days.
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Sixteenth:—In case any prisoner shall be guilty of repeatedly offending against the rules of the prison which shall be then existing, or shall be guilty of any greater offence against the said rules than the gaoler or keeper is by this Act empowered to punish, the said gaoler or keeper shall forthwith report the same to any justice of the peace acting in and for the county, county of a city, or county of a town, to which such prison belongs, being a member of the board of superintendence of such prison, and in their default any other justice acting in and for the said county, county of a city, or county of a town, to which such prison belongs; and any one justice shall have power to inquire upon oath and to determine concerning any such offence so reported to him or them, and to order such offender to be punished by solitary confinement on bread and water, for any term not exceeding one calendar month.
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Seventeenth:—No prisoner shall be put in irons by the keeper of any prison, except in case of urgent and absolute necessity, and the particulars of every such case shall be forthwith entered in the keeper’s journal, and notice forthwith given thereof to one of the board of superintendence appointed under this Act, or in the county of the city of Dublin to any justice of the peace or magistrate for the county of the said city, and the keeper shall not continue the use of irons on any prisoner longer than four days, without an order in writing from a member of the said board of superintendence, being a justice of the peace (or in the county of the city of Dublin from any justice of the peace or magistrate there,) specifying the cause thereof, which order shall be preserved by the keeper as his warrant for the same.
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Eighteenth:—Female prisoners shall in all cases be attended by female officers.
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Nineteenth:—Due provision shall be made for the admission at proper times and under proper restrictions, of persons with whom prisoners committed for trial may desire to communicate, and such rules and regulations shall be made by the board of superintendence, or in the county of the city of Dublin by the grand jury, with the approbation of the Court of King’s Bench for the admission of the friends of prisoners, as to such board or grand jury may seem expedient; and the board or grand jury shall also impose such restrictions upon the communication and correspondence of all prisoners with their friends, either within or without the walls of the prison, as they shall judge necessary for the maintenance of good order and discipline in such prison.
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Twenty:—The physician or surgeon shall examine every prisoner who shall be brought into the prison, before he or she shall be passed into the proper ward; and no prisoner shall be discharged from prison, if labouring under any acute or dangerous distemper, nor until, in the opinion of the surgeon or physician, such discharge is safe, unless such prisoner shall require to be discharged; the wearing apparel of every prisoner shall be fumigated and purified, if requisite, after which the same shall be returned to him or her, or other sufficient clothing shall be furnished to him or her, or other sufficient clothing shall be furnished according to the rules and regulations of the prison.
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Twenty-first:—Every prisoner shall be provided with suitable bedding, and every male prisoner with a separate bed, hammock, or cot, either in a separate cell, or in a cell with not less than two other male prisoners.
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Twenty-second:—Upon the death of a prisoner, notice thereof shall be given by the keeper forthwith to some member of the board of superintendence, being a justice of the peace, or in the county of the city of Dublin to any justice of the peace or magistrate, as well as to the coroner of the district, and to the nearest relative of the deceased, where practicable; and in case the coroner shall hold an inquest on the body of any prisoner, none of the prisoners confined in that prison shall be a juror on such inquest.
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Twenty-third:—The keeper of every prison shall be provided with a copy of this Act.
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