This is an improvement on the old system, because the fresh air comes in straight, and you can regulate the inflow.

But in both cases the fresh air has to _ascend_, and unless there is a wind blowing you get very little of it on a hot summer day.

The ventilation depending entirely on temperature, without being assisted by a draught, if the outside temperature, as is often the case in the summer, happens to be higher than that of your cell, your atmosphere is stagnant, and you live in a tank of foul air.
This defect might be partially remedied by leaving the cell doors open when the prisoners are out at exercise or chapel, and, as it were, refilling the tank.

But keys are a fetish in prison, and the officials think it quite as necessary to lock up an empty cell as an occupied one.
The cell floor, I have said, was blackleaded and polished.

A small fibre brush was supplied for sweeping up the dust, and a tight roll of black cloth for polishing.