[20] Insane.

The punishment for prison offences now became more severe under the new
governor, and the following may be taken as fair examples of the manner
in which this class of offenders were dealt with. A convict just about
due for his liberation had half-an-inch of tobacco given him by another
prisoner. The officer happened to notice the gift, went to the
prisoner, found the contraband article upon him, and took him before
the governor. That gentleman sentenced him to ten days in the
refractory cells, and recommended him to the prison director for the
loss of his gratuity and three months' remission. The unfortunate
prisoner was by-and-bye called up and informed that in addition to the
governor's sentence he was condemned to lose all his gratuity money,
which amounted to about 3_l._, and three months of his remission.
Two sentences for one offence were getting very common, but this
prisoner happened to be one of those who cared very little about
liberty, and received the information very coolly. As soon as he was
out of the cells he had his "snout" again as usual, but he was
"chaffed" a good deal by his "pals" for neglecting to swallow the quid
when he saw the officer coming to him. One of the hospital nurses (a
convict) got punished, though not quite so severely, for appropriating
to his own use a mutton chop that he was ordered to carry to the pigs.
At that time the authorities kept swine, who got all the food the
patients could not eat, but now it is sold. The prisoner thought, I
presume, that the chop would do a hungry man more good than it would an
over-fed pig. Another prisoner was sentenced twice for having an onion
on his person. One of his fellow-prisoners who was working among these
luxuries gave him one, and as the officer in charge had a grudge
against him, he was taken before the governor, who gave him ten days'
punishment, to which the director afterwards considerately added three
months! Such offences as these were of daily occurrence, but the
punishments for them when detected were very unequal.

It is not often a convict is flogged, but it does happen occasionally.
I remember a young rollicking Irishman being flogged for attempting to
strike an officer, who, as often happens, was far more to blame than
the prisoner, who in this case was goaded and tempted to strike. The
majority of the officers--who are civil and sensible men, considering
their position in society--would have acted very differe