12 AUGUST 1865, Page 2

They are so exposed, even now. A "gaol chaplain" writes

to the Times to say that in his prison three accused men are now detained, and will be detained until the assizes, eight months hence. They are kept in solitary cells, with nothing to do or to read, and no one to speak to, suffering in fact one of the heaviest sentences known to, the law while still untried. No form of oppression can be worse than this, or more calculated to destroy the public con- fidence in the equity of our system. It is no doubt an extreme instance, but all through Great Britain prisoners are kept too long. With our modern organization, no man accused ought to wait for sentence or acquittal more than a month.