i-liforniaj ional lity T 1443d 1872 I UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES LAW LIBRARY liliic^, U^iU'iyyyj DEFECTS CRIMINAL ADMINISTRATION PENAL LEGISLATION GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, WITH REMEDIAL SUGGESTIONS. Issued by The Howard Associatiox, London, /or distribuh'on at the International Prison ('oncress, J^dy, 1S72, and chpirhprf. LONDON: Published by V. K KITTO, r., BTSH01\'^GATK WTTTTorT. E.C. T Tl443t longer than tiro tjears, that at the termination of their course they may be restored to society in a condition of mind, and with intentions and prospects, raslhi more fa Co arable for the eoniniiuiily. and l\>v tlicmsrhes, than can be expected from men inured to vice, bv a sojourn of years in regions of congregated crime.'' He also speaks of the safe and desirable results of such a system as comprising, amongst other ad- vantages, '-a vast retrenchment in ex]ienditnre. a 46 diminution of poors' rates, burdened with the main- tenance of convicts' famihes for a series of years ; and a lessening of the misery endured by the relatives, oftentimes most innocent sufferers." The long experienced Chairman of the Visiting Justices of Reading Gaol, Mr. William Merry, writes : " I have no hesitation in saying that all sentences of imprisonment for longer periods than eighteen months may safely be discontinued." Of course he refers merely to ordinary offences, not of a heinous nature, and to imprisonment with entire separation from criminal association in gaols. Other prison authorities state their conviction that three or four years' coniinement, under proper con- ditions, w i]l effect all the deterrence, and more reformation, than terms of seven, ten, and fifteen years. Englishmen, brave and bold as they undoubtedly are, as a race, are, nevertheless, peculiarly liable to run into extremes, under tlio influence of panics and (pidemic disappointments. Tlicy have, for years past, been realising the mischiel's of foolishly repeated sentences of a few weeks or months passed many limes overon the same individuals; andnowthe tendency, even on tiie ])art of some wise men, seems to be to iiisli into the 0})p()site extreme of excessively l)rolonged sentences. But "Via media, via tuta." It is very i)ainful to observe some of these very I 47 long sentences. For example, in May, 1872, two miserable girls were brought before Judge Bramwell, in London. Their crime was a very heinous one. They had savagely assaulted a poor woman whom they beat so violently that she lost the sight of one eye. It was pleaded, and perhaps with truth, that they did not intend to injure her so seriously. How- ever, these girls were both sentenced to penal servitude for life! And, further, the judge is reported to have remarked that " he felt no incrcij" toward the wretched young creatures. In rebuking him for this, a journalist appropriately remarks, " Girls of twenty-one are not so corrupt and cruel unless they have been born and bred among the basest dregs of the vilest population." True. And, therefore, while their punishment should be proportioned to the heinousness of the crime, it should still be tempered with mercy. J3ut it is very difficult to reconcile with either mercy or ]iractical wisdom, a sentence of possihlij fifdj ijcars' duration, even for that crime, upon these sad young women. The iirandest and sublimest of all Judges has declared ''Blessed arc the merciful."" And in these davs, when, even by some in high places, and by ''respectable"' writers, C'liristian principles are sneered at as " sentimental liumanitarianism,"' it is a real consolation to know that there will, on one Ch-eat Day in the future, be manifested the sovereign and irresistible interposition of that Omnipotent 4« Judge, perfect in mercy, but also boundleBs iu power, before Whom all authorities, however high and absolute on earth, must bow, in the most abject weakness and submission, to receive the righteous retribution of His all paramount decision. Nevertheless, and meanwhile, the sovereign com- mands of merciful justice require to be much more generally studied and obeyed than is at present the case, even in the matter of our judicial sentences. PRISON DIEECT0E8, INSPECTORS, AND OTHER OFFICIALS. It is but fair to admit that in Great Britain (and far more in Ireland) there have been secured the services of some highly qualitied prison Inspectors, Governors and other officials. For example, the late Mr. Perry ^\■as an Inspector admirably adapted to his position, and peculiarly efficient in tlie performance of its duties. Nevertheless, in many instances the persons holding these various important functions of prison supervision have been promiscuously '• pitchforked " into their positions, on men- grounds of private interest, or party influence, and with little or no reference to their training and qualifications for such difficult and responsible engagements. Hence the criminal administration lias suffered grievously in many respects, and does still, from ignorance and incompetence in some of 49 its chief controllers. Great Britain is perhaps not nnich, if at all, behind the United States in this matter, but she is far outstripped by Belgium, Holland, Germany, and some other nations, where special ability and practical adaptation are required as indispensable conditions for the holding of offices in the direction of the prison system. Every prison Director and Inspector should be practically and ^Yidely conversant with the principles of criminal management, and should be, moreover, characterised by Christian and humane dispositions. Such men as Maconochie, Jebb and Crofton have afforded excellent practical models for this class. It is also desirable, at least in many instances, that those who superintend i)rison administration should have graduated, so to speak, by i)revious experience ill the subordinate positions of gaol or police duty. And here it may be remarked that the quahfi- cations of some of the able officers of police are unduly overlooked in selections for the posts of prison inspectorship and governorship, whilst mili- tary men are far too c.cclusivehi appointed to these positions. Whilst it is trur tliat some of the best of criminal administrators in the country have been trained in the army, it is also true that that very training has some serious disadvantages in this direction. Such persons are apt to bring with them, not merely an ignorance of industrial training but E 50 sometimes a positive contempt for it, and an exclusive reliance on a martinet-like excess of precision wliicli regards mechanical obedience and automaton regularity as the alpha and omega of prison duty. Mr. Frederick Hill, for many years one of the ablest of prison Inspectors, has appro- priately exposed the folly of this tendency which, in lieu of reformed criminals and diminished re- convictions, merely produces a wonderful display of snow-white floors, nail-heads and door-knobs polished till each becomes a perfect mirror, knives and spoons ranged with mathematical precision, and so forth. Whilst the military men who have become able prison officials deserve due credit, a much wider selection may be made with advantage. The ranks of the police and of the mercantile world could furnish many admirably qualified persons for the direction of our gaols. For example, Mr. Oakley, of Taunton, and Mr. Edwards, of Devonport, two of the best Governors, were trained in the police service. And in these positions also, and not merely in the subordinate ranks of the warders, a much more general acquaintance with industrial training is needed. The costliness, waste, and non-reformatory results of much of the present prison system, are largely owing to the want of such jiractically intelli- gent officers. It has been stated, for example, by an 01 official at one of the English convict prisons, that in that establishment alone hundreds of pounds' worth of shoe leather are Avasted annually iu consequence of the ignorance or indolence of uninstructed officers. The services of well-qualified trade in- structors should be obtained not merely for a lew prisons, as at present, but for every one. The results would amply compensate for,, and cover, the additional expense at first. PEISON ANL> CPJMINAL KEPOETS AND STATISTICS. In the matter of official reports of prisons and criminal statistics Ireland is, again, far in advance of England. The statistical returns of crime, pre- pared by Dr. W. Neilson Hancock, for the Irish Government, are models of intelligent accuracy and ability ; and the annual reports of Irish county and borough gaols, issued by Mr. John Lentaigne and Mr. C. F. Bourke, arc most interesting documents — complete, suggestive, and faithful. AYhat a contrast to these able volumes is afforded by the poor, bald, dry things, purporting to be the Annual Prison "Eeports" of the Inspectors of English and Scotch county and borough gaols ! Since the death of Mr. Perry these reports have greatly fallen off in their quality. For example, that intelligent Inspector used to return full and interesting particulars from each i)rison, as to E '1 52 tlie nmouiit, nature, and distribution of prison labour. His successors have almost wholly omitted this. Perhaps this has been done purposely, in consequence of the complaints recently raised (and with much justice) of the undue and excessive preponderance of mat making in gaols. But if so, it is a most objectionable policy for Government to attempt to ' ' burke ' ' enquiry and legitimate complaints by a mere dexterous " manipulation " of its statistics. Such a course is both undignified and injurious. At present the reports of the English and Scotch county and borough gaols are of very little value, and it may almost be said that the waste-basket is their deserved destination. In the House of Commons, April 9th, 1872, Mr. J. H. Kennaway very properly complained that " it is a waste of money to employ Inspectors who do no moi-e tlian is done at present ; but it is not the fault of Parliament, because by the 4 and 5 William IV., there is power to appoint five Inspectors ; and if that was necessary some time ago, it is still more necessary now." The only excuse for the short- comings of the present system of inspection and reports is, that whereas in Ireland there are two inspectors to about forty prisons, in Great Britain the same number of inspectors have to visit and report oi) about 180 gaols. If the Home Secretary's object ill thus "starving" this prison service is 53 " economy," it is a peculitirly expensive "economy '' in its results, and somewhat akin to that of a penurious patient, who, to save a doctor's fee, becomes an invalid for life. Objectionable as is the English convict system on several accounts, it is but just to acknowledge that the annual statistics of these ten prisons, prepared mainly by Captain Du Cane, are greatly superior, in completeness and candour, to the county and borough gaol reports. And in particular the reports therein contained, by the Chaplains of these estab- lishments, are most valuable documents. Also the annual volume entitled ^' Judicial Statis- tics '' prepared at the Home Ofiice, and signed " F. S. Leslie," is, at any rate, one thing highly credit- able to that Department. The County and Borough Prison Reports urgently need to be brought up to the same level. THE POLICE. A shrewd and suggestive plan is said to be adopted on some emigrant vessels, for promoting the most efficient medical care of the passengers. The ship's surgeon receives, at the end of the voyage, a certain sum for each person disembarked in good health, and nothing for invalids or the deceased. A some- what similar principle would probably render tlie preventive efficiency of the police much greater than 54 the present mode of practically estimating their ser- vices merely in proportion to the numher of convic- tions they obtain. In other words, their interests, and their prospects of promotion, are now rendered, in some degree at least, dependent upon the amount of crime reported, rather than on that prevented, by them. Hence they are under some temptation to be indifferent as to efforts for arresting the causes of crime, and may possibly be induced to regard some portion of the criminal body in the half-kindly way in which a professional ratcatcher looks upon his vermin, some of which he must permit to escape, or avoid catching, in order that his gains may not be brought to an end. Whilst this comparison is perhaps hardly fair to a large proportion of the police, to whom, as a body, the public are greatly indebted for many valuable services, there is nevertheless a decided disadvantage in the present system. And there can be little doubt l)ut that if the remuneration and promotion of the officers and subordinates of the police force were ren- dered, in some degree, dependent upon the absence of crime and disorder, and the non-occurrence of arrests in their respective districts, a very great improvement would result. Disorderly houses, idle persons, and neglected cliildren, would ])e much more sharply looked after. Of course some system of sujiorvision would have 55 to be devised to prevent the mere neglect of a dis- trict, or the mere forbearing to report offences, being regarded as equivalent to the prevention of evil. A few inspectors in plain clothes, paid in proportion to their discovery of police carelessness, would probably effectually counteract any serious inconvenience in that direction, just as the diurnal accuracy of the type setting in the Timeft newspaper is said to be so admirably secured by the infliction of a fine of one shilling per letter wrongly inserted or omitted — the said fines being paid to the examiner who detects the error. Another needed alteration in existing police arrangement is an increased responsibility of the Commissioners or Superintendents for the bungling arrest of innocent persons. Or, at least, immediate l)ail in such cases should be procurable from the police-office until the first examination of the accused before a magistrate. During two weeks in May, 1872, the Metropolitan papers reported eight in- stances, in and around London, of the arrests, by police detectives, of persons afterwards proved inno- cent. In this manner respectable persons, against whom no fair ground even for suspicion could be alleged, have been repeatedly locked up for a night, or more, until their characters could l)e vindicated — such detention being afterwards exceedingly injurious to them. Of course, in such instances there is a nominal right of redress by means of an action for damages. But what is likely to be the gain to a prosecutor in an action against " a man of straw " — a policeman paid about a pound a week ? The oversight (one does not like the despotic and sneaking associations connected with the French word *' surveillance," so commonly used in this con- nection) — the oversight of criminals discharged with tickets of leave, or placed under police supervision, ought also to be placed under a special department of police iitore distinct from the ordinary consta- bulary than at present. The central Superinten- dent ought not to be overloaded with a number of other duties, sufficient in themselves to claim all his attention and energies. There appears to have been some recent Home Office weakness in this direction also. Notwithstanding the frequent assertion that the incognito of well-behaved discharged convicts is care- fully preserved by the police, cases are known which disprove this assertion — at any rate in the round and general manner in which it is often made. Doubt- less many of the police are thus considerate and reticent, but it is also known, from an unquestionable source, that, in a number of instances, cruel injuries have been inflicted on repentant and reformed dis- charged prisoners by malign or chattering police- men. 57 THE POLICE AND DEALERS IN STOLEN GOODS. The '' Vrci'CHtwn of Crime Act,'' of 1871, has very properly increased the powers of the police, and of the law, in reference to the punishment of the har- bonrers of thieves and traffickers in stolen goods — a class ten times more mischievons than the ordinary run of thieves, and also a class so cunning, and often wealthy, as to evade the meshes of the law. Further legislation is greatly needed to place this class more thoroughly under the power of the police. A high authority on this subject, Mr. Edwin Hill, writing since the Act of 1871, says : — " The inefti- ciency of the law (as it now stands) to put down the receivers — and with them their customers, the thieves — is so signal, that I regard it as all but demonstrable that not one case in five thousand of dealing in stolen goods is ever brought to justice. The existing means of repression are a dead failure, and so far as my knowledge goes, no means short of making (by law) the will, and the effort to carry it out, to constitute the crime, as I have suggested, offers any fair promise of success." There is still needed inorc legal I'ecognition of luunij'est criiiiiiidl inlcniioii, and more police power, to bring cases of such nianiftsi iithiitivii before the Courts. 5R In continuing his arguments for this needful re- form, Mr. Hill refers to a recent statement of Mr. George Attenhorough, of London, who mentions that, heing at a remote place in Wales, he made up five parcels of goods, and so disguised them by striking coronets and other marks on the silver, and by packing them in torn and dirty paper, as to give them every appearance of being the produce of theft. Also his letters to the parties asking them to remit the money were purposely made to look like the pro- ductions of illiterate persons. Notwithstanding these circumstances the goods were accepted in each case, and the price the parties chose to give remitted at once, without comment or inquiry ; the parties being obviously content to pocket the profits, reckless as to the manner in which the goods might have been obtained. Mr. Hill remarks: — "Now, as the law stands, these men could not be made amenable. But I ask what clearer proof is needed that they Ijelong to the pernicious class of receivers, without whom, as the adage tells us, there would be no thieves V " COUNTY AND BOROUGH GAOLS. Many improvements liave taken place in these prisons of late years, and, as a whole, they hold a fair 50 comparative position as regards tlie similar institu- tions of other countries. In particular they are greatly superior in their general principles to tlie convict or Government prisons. This superiority is mainly owing to two causes — the separation of pri- soners from each other as a primary hasis of treat- ment, and their frequent supervision by intelligent local magistrates. The county and borough gaols are thus comparatively open to the influences of local observation and voluntary co-operation, at least on the part of a large and widely distributed body of magistrates, many of whom are excellently qualilied for their responsil)I(> duties ; whereas the convict prisons are, in great degree, closed to the healthy ventilation of public observation and local visitation. It is comparatively difficult to obtain permission to inspect them. They are administered by four or five Directors, who are almost irresponsible, except to the Home Secretary, and it is needless further to describe the very imperfect attention and control w^hich his promiscuous and overwhelmingly multitudinous duties permit him to give to the single department of convict prisons. Hence it is evident that many abuses, even of a very serious nature, may arise and continue in the convict prisons without the know- ledge, and largely beyond any control, on the part of the nation. But the boroua'h and count v r/aols are much more 60 favourably circiimstaiiced than the estabhshments which are more fully confided to the stagnating influences of Home Office centralisation, and of a small Board of Direction (chiefly or wholly mili- tary\ permitted to drag along in its own way from year to year, and too jealous of healthy public opinion or criticism. English county and borough gaols are in a toler- able though still imperfect condition ; the convict prisons are bad, wretchedly defective, and, in fact, require reorganisation root and branch, from the highest to the low^est departments of their manage- ment ; and their fundamental system (that of gang labour during the chief portion of the prisoner's time) being radically corrupt, no effective reform can be secured until this root of the evil be removed. But happily, in the county and l)orough gaols, the salutary and wise principle of separation, so strongly urged by John How'ard, and by all the most experi- enced follow^ers in the same field of observation, has 1)een ado2)ted and carried out with at least a tolerable approach to consistency. The Prison Act of 1865 ('admitted by many gaol ofticials to be a mischievous one as to its unwise restrictions on jxiial bibour) was at any rate a useful one, in so far as it extended and I'lirflier enforced tljis principle of scpdratloii. Nevertheless, there has been manifested some tendency to retroiiression. 'The separation of pri- 61 soners from each otln'r, morally iudis])ensal)le as it Is, peremptorily requires to be accompanied by a con- siderable substitution of good com]3any for bad, and by a large amount of religious and secular instruction and profitable industrial occupation. Nevertheless, the increased adoption of separation in British prisons has not been followed by a due measure of these indispensable accompaniments. On the contrary, there has been a considerable retrogression. The chief defects of the county and borough p-aols are— o-reatly insufficient moral and secular instruction, and a prominent neglect of such remunerative occupation as is needful to develop habits of willing industry in the prisoner, and to enable him to earn an honest livelihood on dis- charge. It must be acknowledged that there are several honourable exceptions to these shortcomings in the case of certain gaols where instruction is attended to in a praiseworthy manner, and in others where really rational occupation is carefully fostered or enforced. But, generally speaking, English gaols are still very defective in these particulars. And even as regards separation there is still a large amount of congregate labour uiominally on the sikait system;, by day, in gaols where complete cellular separation is enforced at night. On this point the experienced Chairman of Berkshire Magistrates (already (juoted), ^Ir. Merry, vcnnarks :— 62 '' The law of silence, under such circumstances, it has been found impossible to enforce, so as to prevent communication and contamination, though accumu- lated punishment, even to an extreme, has been tried, and also the opposite extreme of relaxation. Prisoners congregated at ^YOrk together in silence, represent a great day school in which cunning — how to outwit the watchers — is the only lesson learnt hy heart. Besides the frequency of punishment, and duplicity fostered in evading it, a third objection is, the expense of super- intendence. More warders are required than under any other system, fruitless as their surveillance is after all ; and this is a fifth objection, that the end is not accom- plished. Prisoners do communicate, to their mutual and serious disadvantage. Again, there is the evil of universal recognition among the prisoners. Those who have seen each other in prison have established a tie, always strongest on the side of the hardened character, and most fatal to the weaker : if the former wants help in any after exploit of robbery, he has a hold on the feelings and fears of the reluctant prison companion, which principle only can resist. And this Inings me to the most serious objection of all — Where is this principle of resistance to evil to be learnt ? It is good to know that ' Piesist the devil, and ho will flee from you.' But how is he to know this ? In the Silent and Congregated Labour System, the hands only are employed — the head is left too empty, and 63 the heart too hard. After a long day's work, a prisoner is tliiiikiiig of his supper and bed, not of Schoolmaster or Chaplain : and I confess that I grieve above all things, that the hours of imprison- ment should be alIo^vcd to slip away, leaving the prisoner the same ignorant and unimproved animal he was, instead of employing those hours — precious because of the uses to which they may be turned — in applying the remedy at once to the root of the evil —Moral Ignorance." The need for making education a much more pro- minent portion of gaol occupation is proved by one single fact, confirmed by the annual judicial statistics ■ — only five in every hundred of British prisoners can read and write well. For want of knowledge, reli- gious and secular (not the latter apart from the former), the people perish morally, and often phy- sically too. The Prison Act, it is true, provides for instruction, but unduly subordinates it to penal labour (such as the treadwheel), and only permits its communication at sucli timc!^ as tnaij itut interfere icitli the luanii Jiours prescrihed for the said penal labour. Further, even this provision for education is largely evaded. An observant and excellent Chaplain (liev. W. C. Osborne, late of Bath Gaol) remarks on this point : — " In most of our gaols there are oflicers called schoolmasters and schoolmistresses. Frobablv tliev Oi have been a[)poiiitecl as sucli, and have received their salaries under such designations, but in reahty many have been porters, warders, or clerks, giving only a small ])ortion of their time to the work of instruction. This is one of the evils very apt to creep into gaols, and requires the watchfulness of the magistracy to })revent it. Persons are in such places sometimes appointed and paid for one purpose, while they are employed for another. As high walls and barred gates help to hide from the public this wrong, com- mitted against the neglected, ignorant, and helpless portion of our people, the protection of the prisoner's ])rivileges must be sought from their official guar- dians — the Visiting Justices, and the Magistracy of the country. In some gaols the schoolmaster's services are applied in such a manner as to induce the suspicion that he is considered useless and in the way. His instruction seems to be merely tolerated and ])ermitted in compliance with the Prison Act. Not only is his attention frequently directed from the duties of his office, but he is often compelled to in- struct the prisoners at unseasonable times, and in a most inefiicient way. Portions of the ordinary meal hours are in some gaols assigned for the instruction of prisoners, which method naturally tends to make it unpalatable to them, if not to the schoolmaster. In some gaols it is imparted in the cells to individuals one at a time. 05 Aiiotlier mode is that of giving the instruction during the short intervals when the prisoners rest from their work on the tread^^'heel ; and another that of stopping all labour in the prison during one hour in the day, and permitting the schoolmaster to do his best, during that short period, among prisoners of dilierent educational condition. " This condition of things has been occasioned by the spirit, if not by the letter, of recent legislation, which seems to regard merely penal labour as the chief object, the summum bonum of imprisonment. The moralising and civilising influences brought to bear upon prisoners while undergoing punishment, (dthoiKjh never sufficiently exerted, have been greatly lessened since the operation of the Prison Act of i865. The opportunities and means for mental improve- ment have been greatly restricted. The use of pen and paper, and even of a slate, is sometimes denied them, so that they are prevented on Sundays, during the hours allowed for meals and after their day's work is done, from improving themselves by such aids. This is even the case in many places in the treatment of prisoners awaiting their trial, upon whom no penal work can be imi)osed." To this important subject then — the need fornnich more instruction of the ignorant in gaols — and to a repeal of the injurious portions of the Prison Act, the practical attention of magistrates and of the F 66 CTOvenimeiit should be given in mucli greater degree than hitherto. To increase the separation of prisoners from evil, without at the same time sub- stituting the frequent companionship of moral instructors and improving visitors, is both cruel and mischievous. Penal Labour. — Secondly, as to penal labour. The experience of all other countries (and of one im- portant portion of the United Kingdom — Scotland) shows that such prison occupation as the treadwheel, shot-drill, and crank, may be advantageously dis- pensed with. Indeed, these costly blunders are laughed at by intelligent foreigners as amongst the sundry ''eccentricities" which accompany the sterling features of John Bull's character. And with the adoption of more cumulative sentences, there will not be the shadow of an excuse on the ground of alleged "deterrence" for such forms of occupation. Many of the most competent prison authorities deny that they really exert any deterrence, but that they are failures in every way. And facts appear to confirm this For example, the Liverpool Justices re})ort of their gaol (April 25th, 1872), that out of 480 adults sentenced to hard labour, 105 had previously under- gone the treadwheel in that prison. There are also other objections to the treadwheel. The large number of nnin exempted by prison sur- creons from the wheel ])r()ves its danger and unfair 67 application. For example, at Liverpool Gaol, out of 2,565 males during the year 18G9, the surgeon re- ported 399 as unable to undergo the treadwhcel, iu addition to 542 youths exempted by reason of their age. Again, at Coldbath Fields Prison, London, the magistrates recently reported that " more than 25 per cent, of the prisoners are excused the wheel by order of the surgeon." So large a proportion of exceptions proves a very dangerous rule. JVo surgeon whatever can administer such a rule with safety to hundreds of prisoners. It is satisfactory to observe that the experienced and humane chaplain of the Liverpool Gaol, Rev. T. Carter, opposes the treadwheel as a useless failure, and as a dangerous punishment to the weaker and more unfortunate class of prisoners. He is supported in this conclusion by many facts* and observations elsewhere. For instance, at Cold- bath Fields Prison, London (in April, 1872), a prisoner had both his leys broken on the treadwheel. This poor fello^^', sentenced for some misdemeanour to i4 daijs confinement, was thus disabled for hfe. Nor is this a mere isolated case. The wheel is often, if not generally, unfair to the least eriniinal and weaker men. The stronger and liabituatcd '' gaol- birds " are least aftected by it. Again, in Cardiff Gaol, about a year ago, a prisoner (conlhied for neglecting to support his family) was 68 taken off a treachvlieel, ill, but being supposed to be counterfeiting, was punished by a drenching douche bath, and again put on the wheel for about six hours. Before the morning he teas dead. These serious accompaniments of treadwheel labour are not merely exceptional. They are at least so frequent, in one form or another, as to be regular features of the punishment — and very bad features — in addition to its pecuniary wastefulness. Even the shorter terms of imprisonment might be turned to far better account than " grinding the wind," by devoting the few weeks exclusively to education and labour of at least some practical use afterwards. A few weeks ago, a youth of about seventeen was leaving Holloway Prison, London (in which he had already been six times), " Well, and what are you going to do now, my lad ?" asked tha (rovernor. The boy paused awhile, and then burst into tears, saying, ''What am I to do, sir? I have never been taught anythiny hut pichpocketing ." In such cases as this (and they are very numerous) it is not merely arrant folly to rely upon the tread- wlicel, but positively unchristian and sinful. Those well-to-do, well fed, and educated people who talk so glibly of " the necessity of deter- ring " the wretched victims of poverty, ignorance, R)id temptation, and who sneer at all persons who lake IIkmv stand on Christian juinciples as ''Utopian 69 philanthropists," would do well to ponder a certain ancient dictum of unquestionable authority, "As ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." Let them reflect on their own probable condition, if abandoned from infancy to the tempta- tions and privations which have been the lot of, at any rate, 75 per cent, of the ordinary class of offenders. Would they have been l)etter ? Is it possible that treadwheels and such like contrivances can either deter or reform the wretched beings who are turned out of gaol no better fitted for earning an honest living than when they entered it ! Mr. Frederick Hill, in his excellent work on " Crime," remarks : — " The basis of all good systems of prison discipline must, in my opinion, be work ; steady, active, honourable work. Unless a p'isoner acquire the knowledge of some handicraft and habits of steady industry — unless, in a word, he obtain the power as well as the wish to live honestly — it is all in vain, and. sooner or later, to crime he will retu7ii." But at present thousands of our prisoners are virtually punished for their poverty, and even made the subjects of cruelty by shot-drill, plank-beds, cranks, and the treadmill, punishments calculated to render the previous dislike to labour permanent. Thus a popular writer represents a pickpocket saying, on leaving a treadmill prison, " Well, I always 70 thought working for one's hving was hy no means pleasant, and after the dose I have just had, I'm hlest if I ain't convinced of it." Another writer observes : — " Behold the human squirrels ! round and round Tramping the never-ending cylinder ; The ' incorrigible rogues,' that wise men send The houses of correction, there to learn That kihour is, in very deed, a curse /" The Chairman of the Visiting Justices of Reading Gaol remarks : — " Berkshire was the first county, in old days, to try the treadwheel, and the first to abandon it as a miserable blunder." The late Mr. J. G. Perry, Prison Inspector, in the twenty-seventh official report to the Home Secretary (1863), remarked: — "The advance which has been progressively taking place in the substitution of pro- ductive labour for that which was merely punitive, has been attended with all the beneficial results anticipated by those who had the best means of forming an opinion on the subject. Besides the general amelioration of character observable in prisoners trained to habits of productive industry to which they had been previously unaccustomed, subordina- tion has been so much better maintained, that corporal punishment for prison offences has almost entirely ceased in prisons on the separate system ; c.rcept in those in which liard labour and crank-mills, 71 oTinding nothing, continue to take tlic ])lace of employment of a useful character." But in spite of this important testimonji and many others of similar weight, the retrogressive Prison Act of 1865 was subsequently passed. Such legis- lative hlindness is a striking illustration of the ])roverb, "With how little wisdom the world is governed !" PROFITABLE PRISON LABOUR. Both in the interests of the prisoner and of the honest ratepayer the labour in British gaols should be rendered more remunerative than at present. Miss Florence Nightingale writes in a recent paper : " It always appears the greatest non seqiritur to give, for instance, to a forger, five years' penal servitude — that is, provision and lodging in prison. What has that to do with his crime ? But if you sentence him to repaij, say twice the amount he had stolen, his sustenance to be repaid meanwhile to the State, out of his earnings, and let him go whenever he had done so, that would be something like a reformatory. But," adds Miss Nightingale, " hitherto the object of our law seems to have been to teach that it is dearer to irork than to steal." Our criminals now fjain by their crimes in many instances, and in all cases tliev secure free board and 72 lodging, without restitution, at the expense of the honest, hardworking taxpayers outside. Even this would he endurable if reformation was secured. But in nine cases out of ten the prisoner leaves gaol no better, if not worse, than he entered, or, at best, not more able to get an honest living than before his arrest. Hence he renews his depredations and mis- deeds, and costs the pubhc hundreds of pounds in cash, to say nothing of outrages on life and limb. In 1868, Rev. David Dyer, Chaplain of Albany Prison, New York (self-supporting), visited the chief prisons of the United Kingdom. He has recently, 1869, pubhshed a report of his observations. After remarking, "I wasrircathj surprised in my visits to learn how veni little the prisons in Great Britain generally yield to their own support ;" he states that he was told that the present system was considered more " deterrent." " I asked if this was the practical residt of this course, and w^as assured it was not, for that the number of recommittals was very large, not less than 39 per cent." It is true that progress is being made in many prisons. At Durham, Leeds, Salford, Swansea, Wakefield, Bedford, Petworth, Holloway, Coldbath Fields, Winchester, York, Newcastle, and other gaols, the amount of prison earnings obtained is exceed- ingly creditable to the Governors and Visiting Jus- tices, especially under the difficulties imposed by the restrictive Prison Act of 1865, and the system of 73 repeated short sentences on inveterate misdemean- ants. The earnings of the inmates of some of these prisons average from M5 to .£10 per annum. Never- theless, the average of all our prisoners is under one shilling a week ; whereas most of them could readily he made to earn a pound a week under a right system. In some of the American prisons the labour of the inmates covers all expenses, including salaries, and actually produces a considerable clear revenue to the State. Thus the criminals are punished doubly, by their hard work (allotted by task) and by being compelled to feel their folly in placing themselves in a position where they must both support themselves by their toil and also pay and support their gaolers for punishing them. Such useful labour becomes not merely reformatory, but also abundantly penal and deterrent. The quality of the dietary, and other conditions of the prisoner's life, being made strictly de]iendent upon the tasks of useful labour he per- forms — any kind of work may be rendered at least as deterrent as treadwheels, and with other advan- tages impossible with the latter. Competition. — The objection sometimes urged, that ])rotitable prison labour competes with honest labour outside, will disappearthe more the matter is examined. The utmost number of prisoners (20,000 daily average in England and Wales amongst more than twenty inillioji persons at liberty), even in full occupation. 74 would probably not affect the large aggregate of free labour to the extent of 6d. per head per annum. And, on the other hand, prisoners, if discharged un- taught and untrained, soon relapse, and cost the public some ^150 per annum, at a low estimate, by their robberies. Besides, every man, whether criminal or honest, has an inalienable right to compete with others by his labour — whether in or out of gaol. And an offender will and imist compete, either by honest labour or dishonest. He has also as much right to compete by a skilled trade as by an unskilled one. Indeed, it is found that teaching criminals skilled trades is one of the surest means of reformation. For in the case of many of the habitual thieves, they neither can nor will, on their discharge, become ordinary unskilled labourers. If they can earn £5 or £10 a week readily by theft (and many can do this), they are not likely to work hard at the lowest drudgery for as many shillings. A skilled trade, or a costly career of depredations, is the only (dternative in many such cases. There is no danger whatever of any injury by prison labour to free labour, provided only that the former does not greatly undersell the latter, and also provided that a tolerable variety of occupations are practised in due proportion in the gaols. Even under the present disadvantages of British 75 prison labour, their inmates are exercised on many useful trades. Tims at Durham Gaol the variety includes the manufacture of rough cloth, flannel, tailoring, cap making, hosiery, ships' " fenders," rugs, shirts, towels, boots and shoes, the cutting of firewood, joinery work, oakum picking, painting, and mat making; at Coldbath Fields Prison, printing, bookbinding, masonry, carpentry, and blacksmith work, also form part of the occupation of the in- mates; in other prisons, basket work, saddlery, brush making, furniture making, and the cultivation of vegetables, are carried on to a considerable extent. A very useful mode of stimulating prison labour is to allow a percentage of the profit both to the oflticers and the prisoners. This plan has, in part, been lately resumed at Preston Gaol by the Justices, with the approval of Lord Derby — the Governor being allowed, in addition to his salary, 2^ per cent, on gaol profits above i;'l,500 per annum. If prisoners can thus be induced to w^ork out a sum of money for their help on discharge, such self-help is much better than the charitable assistance (good as it is) of Discharged Prisoners' Aid Societies. But at present one class of workmen — the honest mat makers — are complaining of undue competition, with a real basis of justice for their complaint. Here is a trade which employs few men (only about 4,000 in the Kingdom), and the chief ])ropor- /D tion of prison labour is concentrated on that one trade. This is certainly unfair. In the House of Commons recently, Mr. Samuel Morley (who has found time, amid his almost universal philanthropy, to study prison questions) asserted, and with reason, that the prison-made mats were sold at a great reduction below their real value. An ordinary 10s. mat was bought at one gaol for 5s. The materials alone would also cost 4s. lOd. An eloquent M.P. fa J.P. of Wakefield Gaol) dex- terously tried to parry this and other charges by stating that the officials of his prison regularly com- pare price lists with the ordinary manufacturers and charge the public similarly. By this plausible statement he "took the wind out of the sails" of the M.P.'s who defended the honest mat makers. And no M.P. in the House appeared, at the moment, to detect the fallacy. No one remarked that equal "price lists" may be practically and completely modified by unequal "discounts." For example, a prison mat agent and a free trader wait upon a customer with " price hsts " identical. But suppose the latter says, " This is my real price," and the former whispers, " Fifteen per cent, dis- count," who is likely to get the order ? The honest mat makers assert that the " discounts " on prison mats vary from 2^ to 15 per cent., as com- pared with the nominally equal " price lists." 77 Bui apart IVuiii this coiiyideratioii, mat making is one of the very poorest of trades — one of the occu- pations least likely to find a man bread when set at liberty. Aiid prisoners require to be taught the best and most generally available trades, because after leaving gaol it is far harder for them to get employment at anii occupation than previously unconvicted men of unspotted reputation.* Mat making, therefore, is on every account objectionable as a general prison occupation such as it has now become — thanks to repeated short sentences and the Prison Act of 1865. And, by the way, that same debate on Prison Labour (April 9th, 1872) afforded a caution iu regard to a too implicit reliance upon official and Parlia- mentary wisdom, in other matters than that of the unnoticed " discounts." Mr. J. H. Kennaway (the intelligent and practical M.P. for East Devon, him- * It has somiitimes l)ce)i uLjected tlmt priscn-tiuight tradesmen are, at best, indifferent craftsmen ; but this is only the case with short-term men or under negligent officials. Under good officers prisoners totall}' ignorant of a trade on entry become hrst-rate artificers on discharge. Tliis is specially the case at Portland Con- vict Prison. For example, out of 62 smiths and moulders working there in one ward, 57 were ignorant of any such work on entry. They are now nearly all able artisans, who coidd, if set at liberty, at once earn 35s. to £2 per week. The more difficult work, requir- ing the greatest skill, also excites the greatest zeal and effort on the part of the convicts there. 78 self a Visiting Justice) demanded a revision of our present system of criminal treatment and prison discipline. He denied that things were so rose- coloured in this respect as the Home Office authorities think, and, in proof of his view, showed that, in the last live years, the number of committals to prison (156,330) has considerably exceeded the number of the previous five years (138,441) before the Prison Act of 1865. The Home Secretary attempted to refute this by stating that in one of the last five years, there were fewer committals than in one year of the preceding five ! Apart from the poor arithmetical logic of this mode of statistical selection, both of the years chosen were exceptional years — the one being exceptionally favourable, and the other as much the contrary. Such amodeof" refutation "maybe "smart," l)ut is by no means dignified in a Home Secretary. Needless Gaols. — Amongst further defects which may be noticed in the British prison system, is that of an irregular multiplicity of establishments ; need- less expense is incurred by the maintenance of too many local gaols, some of which are continued as such with an extremely small luimber of inmates. For example, last year, Oakham prison, Kutland, was maintained with six officers and a daily average of six prisoners, the latter costing the county £/ 30 each per annum! I'hesc small })risons should be promptly merged in larger ones. 97 Audits. — Another source of increased economic prison management would be found in the general adoption of a more jiuhlic and independent system of county audits. In Lancashire this plan is stated to have effected a saving of £4,000 per annum, in addition to other advantages. GAOL REFORMS NEEDED. The needed reforms in the British county and l;orough gaols are, then, mainly the following :— 1. The repeal, or modification, of the Prison Act of 1865 ; followed by— 2. A further extension of the separation of pri- soners fostered by that Act ; 3. Much more, and more careful, instruction of prisoners, both secular and religious ; 4. Much more profitable and reformatory labour ; and of a more varied description as a whole ; 5. More cumulative sentences ; but without run- ning into the opposite extreme of too long ones. 6. More facilities for voluntary visitation by judi- cious unofiicial persons, as an aid to the moral elevation of the prisoner, and as a nccessari/ countcrhaliturc to the rigour of his entire separation from cril companionship. 7. Some jtrovision in the \va\- of adult rclbr- 80 niatories, or other " intermediate " establish- ments, for more effectually preparing prisoners for the self-control necessary on discharge, and as a means of facilitating their intro- duction to situations. 8. More consolidation of the unnecessarily nu- merous, and costly smaller gaols. THE CONVICT PRISONS. Allusion has already been made to the very grave defects of the English convict system and its absurdly inconsistent method of treatment (nine months' total solitude at first, followed by years of gang labour, exposed to oaths, vile corruptions and obscenities). These establishments, although making much pro- o-ress, so far as an increase of useful labour is con- cerned, require great alterations, and a Ijetter system of inspection. Their management is, to a large extent, unknown to, and independent of, public notice. Unlike the county gaols, they have no body of respectaljle Visiting Magistrates to exercise an in- dependevt oversight, and, unlike the management of mjiiiy foreign prisons, their system is largely charac- t(;ris(Ml l)y crushing harshness and unintelligent go- vt'i-nment by mere routine. 'I'hc results prove a great failure— abiiiidaiit recommittals ensue, aiid most of I he luiigvr-tciiu prisoners are ruined for life by being 81 rendered (even accuidiiig to the Directors' admission) permanently bedridden invalids. Terrible accidents, broken limbs, and ruptures, are frequent at these convict public works. At one English prison of this class, visited recently, an officer casually remarked, " Nine out of every ten of the men here [many hun- dreds] are ruptured." Another official made a similar statement. Allowing even for considerable exaggera- tion, this shows a very wrong state of things. The pampering of prisoners is not to be pleaded for in any way. On the contrary, tliese should every- where be disciplined into useful self-supporting hard work and honest industry ; but it is quite certain that great abuses do exist in the practically secret wards of the convict prisons. And one of the services of a body like the Howai'd Association, very appropriately consists in maintaining and promoting a continued vigilance in this direction : the more so as it is a frequent, not to say a uniform, practice, on the part of the convict authorities, to ignore complaints, deny al)uses, and represent themselves as exemplarily efficient. That abuses do exist in these prisons, abuii(hiiit illustrations prove — illustrations, however, which, it is needless to say, do not usually come to light in the form of official reports, but mainly by the (*li;ince revelations of infrequent and sjx'cial visitors, or of coroners' in([uests. Thus, a few months ago, a convict at (J 82 Chatham committed suicide by drowning himself, after effectually resisting the attempt made to save him by another convict, who jumped into the water after him. About the same time several convicts in the same prison wilfully mutilated themselves to secure some hospital rest — one purposely crushing his leg under an engine. One of the delegates accredited to the Prison Congress in London, July, 1872, by the Governor of Indiana, Hon. Charles F. Coffin, (but unexpectedly prevented from attending it) a gentleman of the highest respectability, has recently (in 1872) visited the chief prisons throughout Europe. He has recorded his impressions in a series of letters to an American newspaper ; and those impressions, so far as the English convict prisons are concerned, appear to be very un- favourable. Thus, even of Pentonville, which (with Woking) is greatly superior to the gang establishments of Chatham, Portsmouth and Portland, he records : — " We could see but little to soften and reform the men, but rather an apparent Avant of sympathy and kindness." Remarking also on the exclusion of volun- tary phikinthropic visitation, he adds : — " The regular attendance of some kind Christians would do much to soften the rigour of the prison." At Chatham convict prison the same gentleman mentions the (comparatively) small amount of time devoted to the education of the prisoners, and gives 83 instances of self-mutilation. Thus, in the hospital, "one convict had just had an arm amputated, and two others a leg each, who had intentionally thrust them under passing trucks ; one had inserted a piece of copper wire into his leg, which caused it to swell, until amputation was almost necessary before the cause was discovered." It is but due to the physician and some of the officers to add, that Mr. Coffin praises their humanity and courtesy.. But how bad must be the system which produces such results. Mr. Coffin was privileged, as a foreigner, in being permitted to inspect the infirmary. The Secretary of the Howard Association, and other occasional visitors, have found great difficulty in ob- taining a full insight into some of the English convict prisons, even when furnished with a Secretary of State's permit. Again, at Woking prison for invalids (where also Mr. Coffin was much pleased with some excellent officials), he noticed the "considerable number of convicts who have been injured, some of them perma- nently, from overwork in the other prisons." Ruptures, fractures, and other life-long injuries, are painfully frequent in English convict prisons, even by the pub- lished admissions of some of the medical and clerical authorities. Convict labour should be hard, of course, but it should not be so absolutely crushing, as it now is, in many cases, especially considering the G 2 84 considerable proportion of weak-minded and semi- imbecile convicts — who become such rather from here- tlitary misfortune and disease than from deliberate Avickedness, A great variety of testimony cc)ncurs in declaring that the convict prisons are cruelly severe, in spite of many good and humane officials. Thus a discharged conA'it't informed the Howard Association, a few weeks ago, that at one of the English prisons he liad gladly eaten raw herring-heads thrown on a rubliish heap. A writer in the Morning Advertiser, February 6th, 1869, said of convict life : " I proclaim it to be a life of starvation and misery. Are the public aware that at Chatham hundreds of prisoners have been driven, by extreme hunger, to eat such quantities of candles and Russian talloW' that the authorities have had some substance mixed with the tallow of a taste so nauseous that the prisoners cannot keep it on their stomachs V' A Yorkshire magistrate also states that a few years ago he visited another convict prison in this country (at Portland),'"" where a respectable person (not a prisoner) expressed to him his deep pain at liaving had to attend several in- * All improveiiiciit has recently taken place at I'ortland as to the liicLiiry. This jnuson under Mr. Ct. Cliftnu (Governor), and the two Deimty-Governors (Captain Salter and ( 'a[)laiii (,'ook\vort]iy) — three WfU-tpialitied oflicials — is now ronductcd as well, ])rol)ably, as any coiKjrvijiilf prison can Ix- managed under Ihe cxislin*; ivgulations. «rj quests on prisoners whose corpses exhibited extreme emaciation. Some of these statements may have related to exceptional cases, but they plainly indicate a danger of excessive harshness. An indisputable, but very sug- gestive, acknowledgment was made by the C'hairman of Convict Prisons in England in his Annual Keport for 1806, where it is stated that of the life-prisoners " nearly 63 jjer cent, are confirmed invalids, many of them paralysed and bedridden." In a very interesting work, entitled " Six years in the {Convict) Prisons of England" published in 1869 (by Bentley, London), the author (a Glasgow merchant just released from penal servitude) records in a graphic manner many of the abuses of the gang sys- tem, and the almost irresponsible Directorate. It is a painful picture of scenes little knn\^■ll to, and little cared for, by the English people. Keen the ''religions 'pnhlic" seem to jyay scanty heed to these establishments, or to prisons in general. An occa- sional and isolated visitor now^ and then succeeds in penetrating these secluded homes of crime and misery. The writer just referred to thus describes the deaths of convicts in hospital : " Some prisoners expired on the very day for their liberation. Some died screaming aloud that they were poisoned. Maii\- die(l like the brutes, and a very few departed in peace with a ])rayer on tlieir lips. The great majority died as tliey had lived, and were forgotten liv the spectators almost before their bodies had been laid in the iirave.'' 86 The same writer bears abundant testimony to the need for cellular separation, and the double cruelty and corruption of the present gang system. " To the man who belongs to a class of society, with whom loss of society is utter ruin, a convict j)'^^ison is a Hell." As an illustration, he mentions that the convicts take special pleasure in trying to goad into sin any of their comrades who appear to have been influenced for good by the Chaplain — "parson's men " or " Sacrament blokes," as they are termed. " It was a great victory if they could be got to swear on the evening of the Communion day." He also confirms the complaints so often made from various sources as to an unduly pinched diet (consider- ing the hard work exacted). "One convict died lately at Chatham, who had twenty or thirty candle wicks in his stomach when the post mortem took place. There are many men there who eat all the snails and frogs they can get hold of." It is, however, so far very satisfactory to find that the committals to convict prisons are considerably decreasing. But, inasmuch as during the past five years the committals to county and borough gaols have increased considerably, and as a recent Act has put an end to sentences of penal servitude for less than five years, the source of this diminution is to be looked for in an increase of sentences of two years' imprison- iiiciit, iiiid in the still more important preventive lueans uli'orded by the ]lal)irual Criminals Act, and 87 the extension of agencies for the assistance of dis- charged prisoners. The system of congregate labour is radically bad, and despite all the official denials that evil communications take place, there is abundant evidence that great mutual corruption constantly goes on. Indeed, its necessity is self-evident under the circumstances. Then, again, a great increase of useful and profit- able labour must be conceded — owing mainly to the praiseworthy efforts of Captain Du Cane and the encouragement of Mr. Bruce, the Home Secretary (who has not altogether been distracted from remem- bering that there are convict prisons). At Pentonville, Dartmoor, and Woking, great quantities of boots, shoes, tailoring, and other useful occupations, are carried on. And at the public Avorks at Chatham, Portland, and Portsmouth, an immense amount of excavation, quarrying, and masonry, is every year achieved. The estimated value also is immense. But in reality there is reason to doubt whether many, at least, of these so- called "public works " are more profitable to the nation than if the same labour were devoted to Ijuildiim' a huo;e pyramid on Salisbury plain, or transferring Scawfell to the top of Helvellyn.'"' * Sonic of the works at Portland arc more usel'ul than those at some of tlio other convict prisons. The new chnrch there, wholly erected by convicts, is a gem in regard to its style of architectni'e and masonry. It reflects great credit on the designer, Captain Pii Cane, and uj'ou the Portland ofllcials, and the highly .skilled convict artificers. 88 There are about 10,000 prisoners in the ten convict prisons of England and Wales : thus averaging about 1,000 to each establishment. The value of their labour is estimated, hij measure ment, at £185,000 for the last year, or nearly £19 per head per annum. This, if real gain to the nation, would be so far ex- ceedingly satisfactory. But by the infallil)le test of the actual expenditure of taxation upon these prisons, they are almost a dead weight upon the country. For, in spite of all the credited gain, they actually draw from the Exchequer about £300,000 per annum, or £30 per convict. Where, then, is the gain 1 If the Ijulk of their labour met with a good profit by the test of market value — sales to the public for cash actually received from hond fide purchasers, and causing the taxpayer to pay so much less out of his own pocket, then, and not otherwise, it would be reasonable to talk of the " profit " of convict labour. But even in this case, much profit might be " dear at any price," if gained in such a manner, by gang labour, as to corrupt the prisoners instead of reforming them, and to prevent them from being fit for discharge until a needlessly prolonged period. But congregate convict labour must always have this doubly pernicious tendency. Then again, the "mark system" is practically ad- ministered, in the English convict prisons at least, in ^ very irrop-nlnr and ;ir1)itrnrv mnnnor, and in a way 89 which greatly fails to afford a real test of the amount of labour or of the conduct of the convicts. The authorities, of course, assert that the "marks" work admirably, and are well and correctly apportioned. But a number of independent testimonies, and from the convicts themselves, show that in reality the system is very fallacious. Letters from an ex-Convict. — The following extracts from letters to Mr. Tallaek, Secretary of the Howard Association, written in 1872, by an intelligent ex-convict'"' (recently discharged, and now doing well) are quite in accord with other similar accounts, both as to the mark system, the labour, and other features of the English convict system : — "Mmj 11, 1S72. "Sir, — I notice in the newspaper what you say respecting the 'debasing, foolish, and cruel plan of gang labour,' and fully endorse your ideas on that point, and main- tain that, if a prisoner is open to reformation at all, that reformation will be more surely obtained by one or two years of sqmratc confinement in a model prison, than five, seven, or ten years in a convict })rison ; in the former he has no oppor- tunity of speech witli liis fellow-prisoners, in the latter it is quite the reverse ; for instance, the men in the working-gangs (or 'jiarties' as they are now called), good and bad, are all mixed together; boys from sixteen years of age and upwards are put to work witli what are called 'old hands." nu'u who * This convict had not been at Portland. His remarks refer chiefly to Portsmonth and Chatham — eitlier or hotli. 90 have previously done perhaps two or three sentences of penal servitude ; the result is, that they copy (and in some cases even go beyond) the men in their language (and no one but those who have had experience of it, would believe that there was such language), and hear all the men talk about, what they intend to do when they get their liberty, as to the ways of housebreaking, robberies, &c., so that by the time the younger ones get their discharge, they are pretty well posted up in all the rascalities that can well be imagined. I consider the system infamously bad, in not classifying the prisoners according to their character, sentences, &c. " There are plenty of other instances which I could mention wherein a man is unnecessarily and severely punished, and which are totally unknown to our legislators. Here is another evil: the prison rules and regulations are read out to the prisoners the first day in every quarter, and they state that a bad character will be more severely dealt with than a man with a good character ; but this is a fallacy, at least so far as the warders of the working parties are concerned, for they are afraid of getting a knock on the head (which is often done) from a bad man, and consequently do not drive him so much at his work as they do a quiet man, who never gives them aback answer. I have seen many cases of this kind, and very often they will give the former his full number of marks (eight) for his day's work, and only give the latter seven marks, when perhaps the latter has done twice as much M'ork. I suppose, sir, you are aware that, under the Act of 1864, a prisoner earns his remission according to the number of marks he earns per day; of course this is at the discretion of the warder in charge of the party ; and this I also consider a bad state of things, that it should be left in the power of these men to award the prisoners their marks, because they have all their favourites, to whom they give the full complement of marks, and to others 91 wlio are not favourites, and who perhaps work harder, they will occasionally give only seven marks, just according to the humour they are in. Now these warders are nearly all dis- charged soldiers, man-of-warsmen, and policemen, and not at all particular as to cursing the prisoners, which, according to the rules, is not allowed. I do not, sir, pretend to say how this state of things could be altered or remedied ; I am only stating the plain facts of a portion, and a venj small portion, of things which have come under my own observation. Here is another plain fact, and then I think, sir, I have done. If a man Ircaks a limb and the doctor is convinced it was an accident and not done intentionally {and it is done intentionally sometimes), all the time he is in the infirmary he gets eight marks and full diet, and also afterwards, when he is put to what they call light labour, until he is able to do the hard labour, he gets the same marks and rations ; but if a man talxs cold at loork (as in my own case, and which turned to pleurisy) he onUj gets seven marks. After I came out of the infirmary, I was put into a light labour party, and was in it several months and only got seven marks and light labour diet, which on some days of the week is only about half the full diet ; in consequence of only getting seven marks per day for all those months, I lost three months of my remission, that is to say, I had to stay to work up the marks I had lost (throvgh Icing ill and through no faidt of my ovm), and which it took me three months to do. I cannot think that that was fair play, and I had a good character during the whole period of my incarceration, never lost a mark by reports — and that is a very hard thing to steer clear of, a look almost to some of the warders will do it. " I shall now, sir, conclude, hoping you will pardon the liberty I have taken in addressing such a long letter to you, but when I saw the name of the philanthropic institution 92 Avith which you were associated, I could not resist the temp- tation to communicate two or three, out of a score or more, of the abuses which obtain in a convict prison, and Avhich have come under my own observation." In a subsequent letter, May 17, 1872, the same writer (whose language, by the way, is temperate and evidently truthful) mentions further particulars of English convict life : — " The food is not nearly sufficient. In fact some men could eat three times as much. A man goes to bed hungry and gets up hungry, in fact he is always hungry ; and this lasts for, not weeks, nor months, but for years, although the feeling is not so bad after a while, and after you get a little used to it, but still there is always a craving for something to eat. Nine ounces of bread and three quarters of a pint of weak cocoa for breakfast, is a very poor foundation for a man doing ' navvy's ' work ; in summer time he gets it at a quarter to six (in tlie winter about half past six), then the warders go to their breakfast and return about twenty minutes to seven, then to prayers for ten 7mnutes, and out to work at seven. Tlie breakfast is all worked out of him before nine o'clock ; he is then working on his system; it is really surjuising how tlie men do get through so much heavy work on so little food, and it is all hurry and drive (the same inside the prison), not allowed to straighten your back one minute, with a solitary exception now and then. " T have met with two or three good men as warders, more especially when they are new; Init some of them soon become as great tyrants as the old ones, and others who are not to be contaminated leave, I suppose in disgust, for they are driven in tlieir turn liv the officers above them 93 again, sueli as liie principal warders, and chief warder, nearly as much as the prisoners, and they get reported too and fined, nut in marks but money, and are further from promotion every time they are reported. I have heard some of the ' old hands ' say that, at Portsmouth, previous to the 1864 Act, they had a very easy time of it and more to eat, but since this Act came into force, and since they commenced the I )ocks and Harbour Extension, both at Chatham and Ports- mouth, the work is horribly severe, and I do not wonder at some oi' the men, especially long-sentenced men, trying to get away, or attacking the officers. " Tlie convicts talk excessively too on the works — it is not allowed, Init they cannot stop it ; besides an officer is some- times twenty or thirty yards from some of his men. The men sometimes get reported for it, and get a day or two's l)read and water in a half-dark cell, and lose a week's remis- sion, but M-licn they get out they are at it again ; in fact there are plenty of them who would do all their time rather than not talk, especially those London thieves, they are most inveterate talkers, and every other word is an oath or some most abominal)le expression. "As to i'drnuigs, the most a man can earn is £3; whether iiis term is five, ten, or twenty years, it is all the same, ami thai is ixdcl in four or Jive instalments, extending aver dbuiit two months after you get home ; I forget exactly how I got mine, but that is something about it. 1 have heard many of the men say, ' now, if I could get my gratuity all in a " lump " when I get home it might do me some good ; I could get a hawker's licence and a few things and travel al)out the country for an honest living, Imt as it is, there is nothing for it Vnit to thieve again.' "' The liiiste uiid insuilicicncv of the reh'dous and 94 moral *' instruction" of the convicts are thus glanced at : — " At Portsmouth the Catholic chaplain is easily come-at-abk. A prisoner lias nothing to do but drop a slip of paper into a box at chapel any morning, with his name and the number of his cell on it, and the chaplain visits him in the dinner hour ; but the Protestant chaplain is very difficult to get at. The rules state that if you want to see the chaplain, you must give your name and number to the warder the night before. I did so once and was laughed at, and told tliat I could see him on the school nights. They have school in each hall alternately, one and sometimes two nights in the week ; the chaplain makes a flying visit round the desks, and there are generally so many apphcants for an interview, that there is scarcely time to get more than a word with him, particularly on a summer's night, when there is only about liaK an hour for school. I don't wish, sir, to write down the Chaplain, for he is a very nice man, and I believe a very good man, but that is just how the case stands. The Catholic convicts get their ten minutes prayers every morning at chapel, but our ten minutes (at the same time) we used to get in the hall, the men ranged round the landings and in the body of the hall, the chaplain, or one of the schoolmasters, on the bridge ; part of a chapter in the Bible was read, and a few collects, so as not to exceed the ten minutes allowed ; this is just a perfect farce, and very often there was a slight skirmish between two of the men in moving out of the hall." " 3rd Jum, 1872. " Sir, — I notice (in a paper you sent me) what the Ports- mouth chaplain says in his rejjort, finishing with — ' But I 95 must say tliis, that the men here are impressed witli the solemnities of godliness.' Now, sir, this is not all — but nearly all — moonshine. There are of course some exceptions. He does not hear some of the men say, in an undertone, in repeating the responses after him at the commencement of the Litany, 'Have mercy upon our miserable dinners!' instead of ' us miserable sinners.' " A very intelligent man who went with me to Chatham told the chaplain that he could not expect much religion out of men Avith hungry bellies. Then the services on a Sunday morning, what are they? The service— (and as everything- is done in a hurry, as I have said before, and by rule) — commences about a quarter to eleven, and the chaplain (at Portsmouth) has until twelve o'clock, or five minutes past, to finish. Sometimes he will finish reading the prayers by twelve, then he addresses a few loords to the men for the other five minutes. At other times, if the Lessons happen to be long, there are no feio words. " You may depend upon it, there will be no real religion among the men imtil they do give them more to eat, and adopt a different mode of reaching the hearts of prisoners in religious matters, and exercise less tyranny. The majority of the men would be satisfied with a larger allowance even of bread, if it was coarser — anything, so as to take away that incessant craving for sometliing to eat. There are others again, the dissatisfied portion, who would never be satisfied whatever they got, but this is only a small portion. They get a great deal of work, and hard work too, out of the men as it is ; but they would get far more if they were to give them more to eat. There would, of course, be less grumbling and insolence to the of&cers, consequently less reporting: and a man would get his liberty sooner. 90 " The last two years 1 was at Purtsiuuuth there was a great improvement in the meat. "When I first went it w^as more like gutta percha than meat ; the cheese is also better. Of course the men groiol a great deal about the quality still of everything ; in fact, if it was the best meat in the world they would do that. But, for my part, I do not see anything to find fault with in the quality (only the quantity), as it is not supposed to be the first quality of meat ; and for the bread, I would not wish for better under present circumstances. " I notice what you say (in your pamphlet ' Humanity and Humanitarianism ') about eating candles, &c. — that is a fact ; but now they cannot do it (at least at Portsmouth) as formerly, for the officer of each landing (or ^^'ard), say of thirty cells, just receives from the storekeeper that number of candles each night, and distributes a candle to each cell ; formerly they got them frum the store ad libitum. I remember a man at Chatham, working with me in the light labour party, who would eat anything he could get hold of, when we were sieving ashes that had come from the foundry in the Dockyard, and there was refuse from the artisans' diiniers, &c. ; if the men could fall in with any Kussian tallow it was a perfect luxury. " As I told you before, the men's health at Portsmouth is good, and in summer time, owing to the sun, they look well in the face, although very, very thin. AVhen it rains heavily the men don't go out to work ; and one afternoon, when we were kept in owing to the rain, we were all weighed, stripped perfectly naked. 1 think if Mr. Bruce, or some other of our legislators, had been present they would have made some inquiries into such a state of tilings. We were just perfect skeletons. I must not forget to state that the majority, and a very large majority, of the men are rwptnTcd. I don't mean to say that all these were ru])tured by the work, but I should 97 think, it' ilie doctor's hooks nould he seen, tliat most of them were. " I am stating all these facts, sir, in no grumbling spirit, Ijecause I got on myself pretty well ; for I saw from the first that the hest way to get along was to l)ear in mind the old adage about a ' still tongue,' and to adhere to the rules, as well as to give as little trouble as possil)le. And as I wanted to get home again as quickly as I could, I did so, and never lost any time Ijy reports, although I had a solitary one which I will state. All the cell doors are left open when the men go to their work, and there are no prisoners in the hall, except a party of cleaners, accompanied by an officer. One afternoon when we came in from work I missed a comb ; I accpiaiuted the warder of my loss. He said, 'Well, I shall have to report you, as I cannot get another from the store unless I do.' I was brought before the Governor. He did not line me any marks, but reduced my class for a month ; and, as 1 was in my first class, I went from tea to gruel, and IVom l)aked to Itoiled meat, again for the month. .\nd as I Mas nearly due for my special class, I asked the Governor if the report would prevent me from getting it. 'Well,' he said, ' when you become due for it you can see me and 1 -will see about it.' Of course I fully expected to get it, as it was such a trifling report. 1 did see him about it and told him Mhat he said, but he very sunnnarily dismissed me by saying, ' Couldn't think of such a thing ; you have had a report.' However, I saw the Director when he came do^-n, and he granted me my class. "Now, this is another piece of inconsistency in the rules. A man may have a dozen reports the first part of his time, but if he keeps good, and without a report for twelve months previous to his being entitled to his special class, he can get it ; Imt if a man has no report against him until H 98 within that twelve luunths he euiinot have it. This is bad. AVlieii a man is brought before the Governor he asks him what he has got to say, after the warder has made his state- ment. The man tells him. He then says, ' Well, my man, I am bound to believe the officer,' and punishes him accord- ingly. The Governor tries only the lighter cases, and the most punishment he can give is three days' bread and water, wdth, of course, fines in ' marks.' All heavy cases, such as trying to escape, or assaulting an officer, are put back for the Director, who comes dow^n once a month. But this is another farce. They scarcely give you time to state your case when the ofticer at the door calls out, ' Next man,' and you are hustled out. I was so hustled out, when I asked the Director for my special class, before I could get half a dozen words out, with ' cannot grant it,' very gruftly — indeed somewhat lather rougher than that ; but after I had got outside the chief warder, who also stands at the door, called me back, and the Director said, ' As you have had a good character all along you can have your special class.' The soup and gruel were ahvays thicker the day the Director came down. As regards the humanity of convict prison officers, no one can form any idea of what they are but a prisoner who has lieen under them for a length of time ; neither can any one else have any idea how the convicts are driven and overworked. It is a cruel piece of busi- ness to see the men wheeling clay to the brick machines, and to see the officers driving them and making them put such heavy loads in the 1)arrows. No one would believe it unless they saw it. And another thing, a man scarcely knows how to answer them. If he does not give them plenty uf ' Sir ' they threaten to report him for being disrespectful to his officer; on the other hand, if lie is very cidl, they say tlu'V (luii't want any '.so/'/ fioap'; and so the thing goes on. 99 You may be suve, sir, tliey will 1)0 very diftereiit to you or any other visitors wlio give tlu'Ui a call for the i)ur])()S(' of Iookiii