lightest of all the corrections invariably
accompanied any other kind of punishment, "sick diet
of the third class" alone excepted, which
consisted of twelve ounces of white bread soaked in
warm water, on the surface of which floated a
few grease-spots; this dish was served up to
the culprit three times a day, and resulted in a
craving greedy hunger which lasted for years,
and often ended in death. Simple arrest—a very
rare punishment—consisted only in isolation
and reduction of rations; close arrest, in placing
the culprit in a narrow cage, which allowed
him only to stand upright; dark arrest added
to all this the complete exclusion of light. The
"lath-room" was a very ingenious contrivance:
the floor as well as the walls of this chamber
were covered with laths of this shape λλλ,
made of a very hard wood. In order further to
aggravate this punishment, the prisoner had to
put on a very thin costume, without leather soles
to his feet, so that, wherever he might stand or
lean, the sharp edges should cut the better into
his flesh. A young and zealous curate, soon
after assuming the chaplaincy of the prison,
made a short trial of this punishment, and
assured Mr. Röckel that he could not have
borne it for a quarter of an hour. Mr. Röckel
asserts that some prisoners were condemned to
ten days in this chamber, and that even women
were not excepted from the punishment. "Short
fetters" obliged the culprit to sit with his right
hand fastened to his left foot in a very low cage,
that allowed him no room whatever to move.
The "log" was a log of wood of various weights,
which was fastened by a long chain to the foot
of the prisoner, who, when he walked, had to
carry it in his arms. The "jumper" consisted
in a short chain fastened to both feet, which
enabled the culprit to take only very short steps.
The various kinds of flogging explain
themselves, and the first-named kind, that with rods,
was even applied to women; as the execution
was, however, entrusted to one of the male
keepers, the order was that the female culprit
should wear a thin pair of trousers: an order
that was frequently overlooked, for "what was
the use of flogging the trousers?" The inordinate
extent to which this punishment was applied
may be estimated if we mention that, whilst
for instance in the year 1857 only two hundred
and thirty-seven men of nineteen thousand one
hundred prisoners in the English prisons were
chastised with flogging—but, since time out of
mind, nobody ever had dreamt of flogging a
woman—in this one single house of correction
in Saxony, with an average number of from
eight hundred to a thousand prisoners, the
number of stripes in one year amounted to
twenty thousand or twenty-five thousand, and
that among from one hundred to one hundred
and fifty women there were always from sixty to
eighty to whom this correction was applied. A
good deal of this brutality was, however, owing
to the punishment laws of King Johann, according
to which every convict brought back to
prison had to be received with sixty stripes. The
governor was absolute judge in regard to these
punishments, which he might distribute according
to his pleasure upon the slightest
misdemeanour. There was no appeal; but when,
later, Governor Heink too greatly abused this
power, an order was issued that he should not
exceed sixty stripes without special application
to the higher authorities. Such an order was,
however, easily eluded by flogging the same man
the oftener. All this was accompanied by the
coarsest and roughest treatment from all the
officials, from the governor downwards, and
the effect of it perfectly corresponded with its
excellence. Wonderful if a prisoner did not
leave the place a much worse man than he had
been on entering it!

As to the influence of religion in such a place,
it was, if anything, a degrading one. The clergyman
considered his chaplaincy merely in the
light of a living, and went through his duties in
the most reluctant manner. He never thought
of obtaining alleviation of punishment. By
being a functionary of the prison, he was in a
manner forced to uphold the authorities in
their iniquitous deeds, the evident injustice and
cruelty of which naturally reflected its ugly
light on him, from whom the wretched culprit
expected protection and comfort. Not finding
this, the latter soon learned to loathe and
despise the "blackcoats," and, through them,
their holy calling.

The governor, Captain Christ, who received
Mr. Röckel so kindly, and continued to treat
him so, was for a long time suspected of
mental derangement, signs of which certainly
showed themselves in the uncontrollable violence
he often used towards his prisoners; to whom,
at other times, he was so considerate, that they
were, on the whole, not dissatisfied under him.
He took a great interest in Mr. Röckel, and
frequently visited him, and chatted with him in
a friendly manner. But he had the misfortune,
one day, to declare his intention of liberating
all the political prisoners, because, he said, he
had come to the conclusion that they were
really very estimable people. One may easily
imagine what consternation such an idea created
among the other functionaries. They immediately
despatched a messenger to Dresden, and
that which had not been obtained by an exposition
of his barbarous abuse of authority, was
immediately effected. Captain Christ was instantly
dismissed, and sought cure at a Silesian spa,
where he was soon after found dead in a wood.

With his successor, Captain von Bünau, a
new spirit entered the place. He severely
reproved the keepers and other officials for
their undue oppression and useless tyranny
towards the prisoners; almost completely banished
all flogging instruments, and the other severer
chastisements; and introduced many little
improvements in the treatment of those confided
to his charge. Towards the political prisoners
he simply conducted himself as a gentleman.
Without in the least compromising his own
position, he recognised honourable antagonists
in them, whose opinion might not be his own,
but he took them to be at least perfectly sincere.