Page:A letter on pauperism and crime.djvu/15

Rh and comfort of prisoners should be laid aside as utterly unbecoming. It is entirely a man's own fault if he finds himself within the four walls of a prison, and in place of making a martyr of him, as though society were in the wrong in placing him there, he should be made to regret the course of conduct which rendered it necessary for the authorities to deprive him of his liberty, and resolve that, if he lives to get free, he will never again so conduct himself as to render a second incarceration necessary.

In place of faring better, working less, and enjoying an amount of protection from the weather unknown to the honest of his class, he should be made to work in all weathers, much harder, and to fare worse. The comfort enjoyed by prisoners is a shame and a disgrace to the nation that allows it, while tens of thousands of its honest poor never know any thing approaching it.

There should be distinct prisons and systems of discipline, for the different classes of criminals; thus, juveniles, vagrants, and those detained pending inquiry, those guilty of misdemeanors, felonies, political offences, &c., &c., should not be kept under the same roof.

Transportation should be re-established.

Tickets of leave should be abolished. Whatever sentence is passed on an adult, ought to be fully worked out.

Every prisoner, on release, to be provided, if necessary, with a situation wherein an honest livelihood could be gained.

A third conviction, for felony, to stamp the