Page:EB1911 - Volume 08.djvu/230

 sixteen years of age) get, in addition, pint of milk. Dinner, 8 oz. of bread daily, with 1 pint of porridge on three days of the week, 8 oz. of potatoes (representing the vegetable element) on two other days, and 8 oz. of suet pudding (representing the fatty element) on the other two days. Supper, the breakfast fare repeated.

Class B diet, which is also given to (1) prisoners on remand or awaiting trial, (2) offenders of the 1st division who do not maintain themselves, (3) offenders of the 2nd division and (4) debtors, is as shown in Table I.

Class C diet is class B amplified, and is given to those prisoners serving sentences of three months and over.

The dietary of convict prisons, in which prisoners are all under long sentence, is divided into a diet for convicts employed at hard labour and a diet for convicts employed at sedentary, indoor and light labour. It will be found set forth in the Blue-book mentioned above. The sparest of all prison diets is called “punishment diet,” and is administered for offences against the internal discipline of the prison. It is limited to a period of three days. It consists of 1 ℔ of bread and as much water as the prisoner chooses to drink.

In French prisons the dietary is nearly two pounds weight of bread, with two meals of thin soup (breakfast and dinner) made from potatoes, beans or other vegetables, and on two days a week made from meat. In France the canteen system is in vogue, additional food, such as sausages, cheese, fruit, &c., may be obtained by the prisoner, according to the wages he receives for his labours. The dietary of Austrian prisons is 1 ℔ of bread daily, a dinner of soup on four days of the week, and of meat on the other three days, with a supper of soup or vegetable stew. Additional food can be purchased by the prisoner out of his earnings.

These dietaries may be taken as more or less typical of the ordinary prison fare in most civilized countries, though in some countries it may err on the side of severity, as in Sweden, prisoners being given only two meals a day, one at mid-day and one at seven p.m., porridge or gruel being the principal element in both meals. On the other hand, the prison dietaries of many of the United States prisons go to the other extreme, fresh fish, green vegetables, even coffee and fruit, figuring in the dietary.

Another class of dietary is that given to paupers. In England, until 1900, almost every individual workhouse had its own special dietary, with the consequence that many erred on the side of scantiness and unsuitability, while others were too lavish. By an order of the Local Government Board of that year, acting on a report of a committee, all inmates of workhouses, with the exception of the sick, children under three years of age, and certain other special cases, are dieted in accordance with certain dietary tables as framed and settled by the board. The order contained a great number of different rations, it being left to the discretion of the guardians as to the final settlement of the tables. For adult inmates the dietary tables are for each sex respectively, two in number, one termed “plain diet” and the other “infirm diet.” All male inmates certified as healthy able-bodied persons receive plain diet only. All inmates, however, in workhouses are kept employed according to their capacity and ability, and this is taken into consideration in giving allowances of food. For instance, for work with sustained exertion, such as stone-breaking, digging, &c., more food is given than for work without sustained exertion, such as wood-chopping, weeding or sewing. Table II. shows an example of a workhouse dietary.

In the casual wards of workhouses the dietary is plainer, consisting of 8 oz. of bread, or 6 oz. of bread and one pint of gruel or broth for breakfast; the same for supper; for dinner 8 oz. of bread and 1 oz. of cheese or 6 oz. of bread and one pint of soup. The American poor law system is based broadly on that of England, and the methods of relief are much the same. Each state, however, makes its own regulations, and there is considerable diversity in workhouse dietaries in consequence. The German system of poor relief is more methodical than those of England and America. The really deserving are treated