uld not interfere in his case. (Whether he did so or not I am unable
to say, as I was removed before the director's visit was due.) This
prisoner was a big stout man, above thirteen stone weight, and there
was nothing the matter with him except a diseased leg. This leg was
rather a convenience to him than otherwise. If he disliked any work he
was put to, he could always get rid of it by making his leg sore, and
this could not be prevented, nor brought directly home to him. When he
was at Dartmoor prison he was always in hospital; but now, as his work
pleased him better he seldom troubled the doctor. On the contrary, when
about due to go home, that is when he arrived at his last stage, and
became entitled to beer and other privileges, he wanted to get out of
the invalid prison, where these privileges are not allowed unless the
state of the invalid requires them, and to be sent to the public works
where they would be granted.

Many convicts are so afflicted that they can almost compel the doctor
to admit them into the hospital. So whenever they are put into some
billet they like they are well, and whenever they are put into one they
dislike they send in a sick report, and the medical officer in general
must admit them. This was the case with the prisoner I have referred
to. Moreover, I question if he was ever a single day in the prison
without doing something that was considered wrong, and yet he was very
seldom detected or punished. Every day he was trafficking, frequently
he was stealing, and he told lies as a rule. Speaking the truth was
quite an exceptional matter with him. Thieves generally consider it to
be a virtue rather than a sin to tell a lie to save a 'pal' from
punishment, but in cases where their own interests are not specially at
stake, they can speak the truth as well as other men. But this prisoner
seemed utterly incapable of speaking the truth, even when falsehood
brought no advantage to him.

CHAPTER IX.

ANOTHER PRISONER--"HAPPY AS A KING"--CURE OF A DOCTOR--THE TOBACCO
AND FOOD EXCHANGE--ANOTHER JAIL-BIRD--CIVIL AND LAZY--UNDESERVED
REMISSION--PRISON DIRECTORS, AND HOW THEY DISCHARGE THEIR
DUTIES--I PETITION TO GO ABROAD ON "INSUFFICIENT GROUNDS."

Another prisoner I knew had been about thirty-two years in prison--he
was paralyzed, and if he had been allowed a little tobacco daily, would
have been as happy as a king, and never sought to leave the prison. He
generally sold most of his food