INTRODUCTORY TITLE.

CHAPTER I.

Design of the code of reform and prison discipline.

Art. 1. The Code of Reform and Prison Discipline will regulate the manner in which prisoners of different descriptions are to be confined and treated, as well before as after judgment.

Art. 2. This Code is intended not only to direct the structure and police, of the prison for the confinement of convicts, but also of those which are rendered necessary for the detention of the accused before trial, for the education of juvenile offenders, and of a House of Refuge and employment for those who have undergone the sentence of the law. All these objects are necessarily connected.: no one part can be abstracted without materially injuring the effect of the others.

Art. 3. Safe custody is an object common to the prisons; but reform is the intent of all the institutions. Punishment also enters into the design of the Penitentiary, the School of Reform, and that department of the House of Detention destined to receive those convicted of misdemeanors; but forms no part of the system, so far as it applies to the custody of the accused before trial, and to their relief and employment after having suffered the sentence of the law.

Art. 4. In all these establishments the means by which reformation is expected, are, reflection, instruction, habits of industry, and religion. To promote these is one of the first duties of the men who are charged with the important and honourable task of superintending the different departments of these institutions.

Art. 5. Reformation cannot be expected while the vicious are permitted to associate with each other or with the innocent. This kind of seclusion, therefore, is a protection not a punishment; and is consequently necessary in the House of Detention and Refuge, as well as in the Penitentiary and School of Reform.

Art. 6. All the officers appointed under this Code, from the inspector to the under-keeper, have a moral as well as a legal duty to perform. In no department of the government is there a greater call for the best qualities of the mind-a strong moral sense and unfeigned belief in religion (for they must be teachers of both,) firmness in preserving order, moderation and temper in enforcing it, close attention to discover the evil propensities that have led to the crimes of the convicts, and a knowledge of human nature to apply the proper correctives. The officers of a prison are no longer jailors and turnkeys charged with the custody of the body only; they must minister to the diseased minds and correct the depraved habits of their patients. The law raises them

to their true station. They have higher functions, and on the manner in which they shall perform them depends the success of the whole system to which this Code is intended to give vigour and effect.

Art. 7. This view of the intent of the law and of what it expects from the ministers who are to execute it, are placed at the introduction of the Code to impress them with a true view of the spirit which dictated it, and direct them, in those points in which the law may be made more efficacious, by a zealous and enlightened performance of their several duties.

Art. 8. From the magistrates and others, who are constituted visiters, much also is expected; the right given by this Code is not intended as a complimentary privilege, conferred only to satisfy curiosity. Publicity and the superintending care of upright magistrates and intelligent men, is the best incentive to a zealous performance of duty. Faithful and active officers will court their investigation; those who are negligent or corrupt, will fear it.

Art. 9. The progress of reform in the female department will depend chiefly on those of their own sex, who may accept the invitation given by the law, to carry their example and precept, and persuasive exhortation to the place of punishment, and convert it into a school for religion, industry, and virtue.

CHAPTER II.

Division of the work.

Art. 10. This Code is divided into three books. The first treats of the different places of confinement, their construction, and officers; the second directs the treatment of the persons confined; and the third contains the regulations for the House of Refuge.

BOOK I.

PLACES OF CONFINEMENT-OF THEIR CONSTRUCTION AND OFFICERS.

TITLE I.

OF PLACES OF CONFINEMENT.

CHAPTER I.

Of the different denominations of places of confinement.

Art. 11. There shall be provided at the expense of the state, in such place in the first judicial district as the general assembly shall direct, three separate and distinct places of confinement.

Art. 12. One of them shall be called the House of Detention. In this shall be confined:

1. Persons who, in the cases allowed by law, are detained in order to secure their attendance as witnesses on criminal trials in the first district.

2. Those who are committed for trial on an accusation of MISDEMEANOR in the first district.

3. Persons sentenced to simple imprisonment (whether in close custody or not) for any period, whether in the first district, or in any other district, for more than sixty days.

4. Those who may be committed for a disturbance in court, for any such disobedience to the orders of a court or a magistrate as may be punished by imprisonment, for the non-payment of a fine, or for the breach of a recognizance, or any other engagement entered into in the course of a prosecution for an offence, in the first district, in the cases where such confinement is authorized.

5. All those who may, in the first district, be committed for trial on an accusation of CRIME.

Art. 13. Another of the said places of confinement shall be called the Penitentiary. In which shall be confined all those convicted of crime in any part of the state, who, at the time of conviction, had attained the age of eighteen years.

Art. 14. The third shall be called the School of Reform. In it shall be placed :

1. All those convicted of crime (not punishable by imprisonment for

life) who have not attained the age of eighteen years, in whatever part of the state the conviction may have been had.

2. All persons under the age of eighteen years who shall be sentenced to be placed in the said prison, on conviction, for misdemeanor, in cases where power for that purpose is specially given by law.

3. All young vagrants whose commitment shall, under that denomination, be permitted by law.

Art. 15. Prisoners committed before trial, and offenders sentenced to simple imprisonment for a term less than sixty days, in any of the other judicial districts, except the first, shall be confined in the jail of the parish in which they shall be committed, or in which they shall be sentenced.

Art. 16. Offenders sentenced to simple imprisonment in any part of the state, for any term exceeding sixty days, shall be confined in the House of Detention.

Art. 17. While imprisonment for debt continues to be authorized by the laws of the state, it must be regulated by the CIVIL LAW, and this Code contains no other provision in relation to it than that contained in the following article.

Art. 18. No person shall be imprisoned in any of the three places of confinement directed to be provided by this chapter, in pursuance of a final judgment, or for want of bail, in a civil suit.

CHAPTER II.

Of the construction of the different places of confinement.

Art. 19. The House of Detention shall be so constructed as to keep in four divisions, entirely separate the one division from the other, the prisoners comprehended in the following classes:

1. The first class shall consist of the male persons described in the first, second, third, and fourth numbers of the enumeration contained in the second article of the preceding section.

2. The second class shall consist of female prisoners of the above description.

3. The third class shall consist of male persons committed for trial on an accusation of CRIME.

4. And the fourth class shall consist of female prisoners confined for trial on an accusation of CRIME.

Art. 20. This building must also contain separate accommodations for each individual of the third and fourth classes, and for each of the persons who shall be sentenced to simple imprisonment in close custody; and two enclosed yards-the one for the male and the other for the female prisoners of the other classes, in which they may take exercise and pursue such employment as is hereby permitted.

Art. 21. The Penitentiary shall be so constructed as to contain: 1. Cells for those sentenced to solitary confinement for murder. 2. Ranges of separate cells, one for each convict, with an enclosed court for each cell.

3. A hydraulic or other machine to be put in operation by manual labour, so disposed that a convenient number of prisoners may work at it, separated from each other by a wall.

4. School-rooms sufficient for the instruction of a class of persons. 5. An infirmary.

6. All other necessary buildings for the safe-keeping and support of the prisoners, and for the preservation of their health.

Art. 22. The Penitentiary shall also have a separate enclosure, containing similar cells for female convicts, so disposed as to prevent all means of communication with the male convicts.

Art. 23. The School of Reform shall contain:

1. Separate divisions for the sexes.

2. A separate dormitory for each prisoner.

3. Proper courts or shops for the employment of the prisoners. 4. A school-room for each division.

5. An infirmary.

Art. 24. Each of the three places of confinement described in this section shall be so constructed as to be separate from the others; and if for the convenience of building they should be contained in the same outer wall or enclosure, they must be so arranged as to give the prisoners in the one no means of communication with those in any other. Art. 25. All the prisons must be so constructed as to be at all times completely ventilated, and in winter warmed by flues communicating with the different cells.

TITLE II.

OF THE OFFICERS AND ATTENDANTS OF THE SEVERAL PLACES OF CONFINEMENT AND THEIR SEVERAL DUTIES.

CHAPTER I.

Of the appointment of the officers.

Art. 26. There shall be appointed by the governor, for the several places of confinement above mentioned, the following officers and attendants:

Art. 27. For the House of Detention, a warden and a matron. The warden, with the approbation of the inspectors hereinafter mentioned, shall name so many under-keepers, and the matron, with the like approbation, so many assistants as by the inspectors shall be deemed necessary for the safe-keeping of the persons committed to their charge, and for the necessary attendance on them.

Art. 28. For the Penitentiary, a warden, a matron, a teacher, a physician, two chaplains, and a clerk.

Art. 29. The warden and matron shall respectively appoint so many assistants as the inspectors shall deem necessary.

Art. 30. For the School of Reform, a warden, a matron, and a female teacher; and the keeper and matron shall respectively appoint so many assistants as the inspectors shall deem necessary.

Art. 31. The physician and the chaplains appointed for the Peniten