Hulk "President"

Full description

In the early 1850s there was an increase in the general population and a dramatic increase in prisoner population. To cope with this increase, as well as the stockades at Richmond, Williamstown and Collingwood, the hulk President was fitted out as a floating prison in 1852. The following year the hulks Deborah, Success and Sacramento were also converted to floating prisons. Occupied on 15 December 1852, the hulk President was intended for the coercion of prisoners of "the longest sentence and most desparate character".

Inspector General of Penal Establishments Samuel Barrow wrote the regulations for the hulk President which were accepted by the Colonial Secretary William Lonsdale and the Lieutenant Governor Joseph La Trobe. The regulations enabled prisoners to be kept in irons for their entire stay on board, in close confinement and in strict silence. No visits were allowed. No employment was permitted. Dark cells and half rations were prescribed for misconduct. Such was the effect of the President regime that Barrow urged the Colonial Surgeon to visit the hulk "at least three times weekly because of these confinements and its effect on their [prisoner] health". Barrow wanted neither mitigation of solitude nor employment for prisoners, despite the fact that the cells gave each prisoner only 32 square feet (2.97 square metres) of space. The cells of both the Eastern Penitentiary and Pentonville were three times larger.

Prisoners on board the President had an influential ally in William Stawell, Attorney-General (1851-1857). Stawell wanted employment for prisoners on the President but he was fiercely opposed by Barrow. The Assistant Superintendent in Charge of the the President, Mr Horne, argued that if prisoners were permitted to work they would earn credit which would in effect shorten their sentence. Both Barrow and Horne sought government approval for visiting justices to be empowered to inflict whippings on prisoners. Stawell was defeated, Barrow victorious, and prisoners on the President remained idle. Visiting Justice Commander Crawford Pasco R.N. was also defeated by Barrow when he urged that at least books should be provided for President prisoners.

The harshness of the regime is obvious immediately from the statistics for 1853. On the President, with a prisoner capacity of eighty-four, there were fifty-two instances where solitary confinement had been imposed on prisoners already chained and isolated. These sentences were served in the punishment cells below water mark on the hulk.