It is
always interesting to see how the other half lives or lived, and in today’s
post I want to show you how nineenth century French prisoners fared. The story
comes from Statistics of France
(London, 1832) by Lewis Goldsmith.
The English
author had been living eight years in France, and was asked by his friend M. de
Villèlle, to write a “work which would give a faithful account of the resources
and industry of France.”
One of
the faithful reports is on prison conditions, including the diets provided. As
far as my brief reading on the topic suggests, it seems that French prisoners (in
the general prisons, not the prison hulks or galleys) fared better than English
in the matter of vegetables, which were the basis of the diet in the former,
and almost non-existent in the latter.
The
author notes the diet (and gives recipes of sorts) in the prison at Bicêtre:
Regulations and Discipline.
Prisoners
who work at a trade, either in the departmental prisons or in the maisans centrales, receive twice a day
during five days in the week, soupe
maigre, made from haricots, lentilles,
green peas, potatoes, or from rice, with a portion of butter or grease, and
vegetables.
The
rations are as follows :—For 100 prisoners:
30
lbs. of haricots, lentilles or peas (légumes secs).
30lbs.
of carrots, leeks, turnips, parsnips, celery, onions, cabbage or sorrel (these
are called legumes verts).
4
lbs. of butter or lard.
1
½ lb. of salt.
Ration of rice
soup for 100 prisoners.
24
lbs. of rice.
10
lbs. of dried vegetables.
30
lbs. of green vegetables.
4
lbs. of butter or lard.
1
½ lb. of salt.
Ration of
potatoe-soup for 100 persons.
80
lbs. of potatoes.
10
lbs. of dried vegetables.
30
lbs. of green vegetables.
4
lbs. of butter or lard.
1
½ lb. of salt.
These
different rations are delivered alternately.
Three
days dried vegetables.
One
day rice.
One
day potatoes.
OnThursdays
and Sundays the working prisoners
receive four ounces of boiled beef of good quality, and without bone; the meat
used for one hundred rations is fifty pounds of raw meat, ten pounds of green
vegetables, and a sufficient quantity of salt and water to furnish a pint of soup
for each person. The prisoners who do not work receive two-thirds of a quart of
soup maigre, prepared for one hundred
persons from fourteen pounds of dried vegetables, thirty pounds of green
vegetables, three pounds of butter or grease, and one pound and a half of salt.
Convalescents
receive for the time prescribed the same ration as that distributed to the
working prisoners on Thursdays and Sundays. The sick are divided into the
following classes: those on diet, those on the quarter of a ration, those on
half a ration, those on three-quarters of a ration, and those on full ration.
For the sick the ration of meat is fixed at six ounces without bone. The sick
placed on the régime maigre, instead
of meat, receive other food of the kind and quantity prescribed by the medical
attendants, such as rice, prunes, vermicelli, eggs, or milk. Convalescents
placed on the three-quarters or the half ration receive, if the doctor orders
it, two-tenths of a quart of wine per day.
Women
who suckle or are in the eighth month of their pregnancy receive daily one pint
of bouillon gras, eight ounces of
boiled meat without bone, and two-tenths of a quart of wine.
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