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 PRISONS

433

PRISONS

of sixteen and thirty who give hope of being cor- rected; the indeterminate sentence is the basis and the paroling of prisoners the completion of tliis sys- tem. The model establishment is the Reformatory at Elmira (Aschrott, " Aus dem Strafon u. Gefangniss- wesen Nordamerikas", 1889; Winter, "Die New- Yorker staatliche Besserungsanstalten zu Elmira", 1890; Yoon, "Rapport sur I'organisation peniten- tiare aux Etats-Unis" in "Revue p^nitentiare", 1895; Barrows, "The Reformatory System in the United States", Washington, Govt. Printing Office, 1900; Sanborn, "Rapport sur le Reformatory d'Elmira"; Cuche, op. cit., 358 sqq.). The com- mittee of directors release, before the end of then- term, those who deserve this favour. The convicts are isolated at night; and in the daytime receive a professional, physical, and intellectual training. Every opportunity is taken to provide for the moral and religious improvement of the culprits. It is not the object of the system to train the prisoners only at specified hours but rather to do so continually, by bringing them into constant contact with an in- telligent and devoted staff of instructors, and thus gradually inspire better resolutions. A last charac- teristic of the system is the multiplication of classi- fications and gradations. The reward consists in being promoted from grade to grade, which results in an increase of comfort and a greater remuneration for manual work; the punishment in a corresponding descent. When he has been promoted to the first class or category, the convict, if his conduct during the preceding six months has been satisfactory, may be let out on parole. Generally a situation is found for him, and his employer sends in regularly an account of his conduct to the administration of the reformatory; certain officers are, moreover, appointed to watch over the paroled convicts and are authorized to arrest them and bring them back to the reforma- tory if their conduct is not satisfactory. This last stage of freedom on parole lasts six months, after which the prisoners are discharged from prison for good. (For treatment of juvenile offenders see ijuvENiLE Courts.)

Great Britain. — Captain Maconochie introduced about 1840 a special system called the progressive into the convict settlement of Norfolk Island. This system consisted in proportioning the duration of the punishment to the work done and the good conduct of the convict. The duration was represented by a certain figure or number of good marks settled ac- cording to the gravity of the crime. The culprit had to merit these good marks before being liberated; each day he was awarded one or more, according to his work; if his conduct was unsatisfactory a slight penalty was imposed. Maconochie thus gave the convict the control of his own lot. The results were marvellous. When transportation was abolished, England remained faithful to the idea of making im- prisonment in a cell only a small part of the penalty, and of gradually preparing the convict to return to society when he had gained his complete freedom. This system comprises the following stages: (1) The pri-soner is at first confined to the cells for nine months. (2) He is then sent to one of the central public works prisons, Chatham, Dover, or Plymouth, where the Auburn regime is in force — separation at night, work in common during the day. The culprits are divided into four classes, according to their work and conduct, by means of a system of marks, enabling them to reach a higher grade. Violation of discipline rele- gates them to a lower grade and even to the cells.

(3) The third period is one of conditional liberty, the prisoner being liberated on a ticket -of-Ieave. In Ireland Walter Crofton devised an intermediate stage between the public gaol and conditional liberty. To test the moral character of the convict and to see if he was fit for liberty, he was compelled XII.— 28

to reside six months in the prison at Lusk, a prison without walls, bars, or bolts, where the culprits were employed as free workmen in agriculture or a trade. This intermediate stage was abolished when Crofton's connexion with the Irish prisons ceased.

The progressive system has been adopted in Hun- gary; during the intermediate stage the prisoners are employed on farms. What characterizes the regime of penal servitude, in addition to its progres- sive organization, is the nature of the work imposed on the prisoners. In the second stage the prisoners are engaged only in public works. The gaol at Worm- wood-Scrubs was built entirely by convicts, as were the breakwater at Portsmouth and part of the docks at Chatham etc. Prins (Science penale et droit positif, p. 445 sq.) believes that the progressive regime, while not perfect, offers perhaps more scope than the purely cellular system, as it approaches more closely the normal conditions of life. The successive stages bring the convict nearer to liberty, and enable him to appreciate the advantages, the dangers, the meaning, and significance of freedom. The shops, where groups of prisoners work under the control of the authorities, accustom them to the conditions of free work. Riviere and Cuche, viewing the ques- tion from another standpoint, hold that if the com- mon prison is only a preparatory school for recidivists, it still retains that character when it is imposed on a criminal who has just completed his stay in the cells. Persons who have caught a cold are not placed in a draught to fortify them against the draughts they must be exposed to later. At all events, what may have succeeded in one country or in the case of a particular race might produce evil results if applied elsewhere (Cuche, op. cit., 325).

Belgium. — Wlien a discussion arises among prison experts as to the merits and demerits of the cell, the typical example is always the Belgian cell says Cuche (cf. "Notice sur I'organisation des prisons en Belgique", Brussels, 1910). It is necessary, there- fore, to study it in detail. The cellular regime is due to Ducpetiaux, Inspector-General of Prisons, who, in 1830, determined to put an end to the abuses of the penitentiary system in vogue in Belgium, and to place the criminal in a cell, compensating for the severity of the punishment by curtailing its duration. Although he soon had the satisfaction of seeing his plan succeed so far as to have cellular gaols erected, it was only on 4 March, 1870, that cellular imprLson- ment was adopted by law. All penalties of dep- rivation of liberty are undergone under the regime of cellular isolation by day and night. The rule, however, admits of exceptions. The physical or mental condition of some prisoners will not allow the application or continuance of cellular discipline. Again the crowding of the cellular gaols sometimes makes it necessary to allow the prisoners to be put together. Finally, those who are condemned to hard labour or perpetual imprisonment are isolated only during the first ten years in prison. At the expira- tion of that time, those condemned to a life sentence are allowed to choose either to continue their form of imprisonment or to be placed under ordinary discipline. From 1870 to 1909, 170 (76 per cent) selected to continue their cellular life, and 55 (24 per cent) choose the ordinary discipline.

The cellular system as it exists in Belgium is con- sidered at present the most practical, though criminol- ogists and practical experts are far from agreeing on the advantages and inconveniences of the cell, except in the cases of short terras, when there is unanimity. "The real value of a penitential in- stitution is in no way absolute", says Cuche (op. cit., p. 331); "we have merely to see if its advantages are considerably greater than its inconveniences; it must be remembered, too, that its merit is greatly increased when intelligent and devoted men are in