Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/786

Rh 7G2 PRISON DISCIPLINE (5) the amendment prisons or houses of industry established by the empress Catherine. These are all on the associated system, and fall very far short of accepted ideas on prison management. But an entirely new cellular prison has recently been erected in St Peters burg, which is a model of its kind. It is a house of detention for persons awaiting trial, and contains upwards of a hundred cells. All the internal arrangements of this prison are excellent ; but it may be doubted whether the Russian Government will embark upon the expenditure necessary to build others of the class. The eman cipation of the serfs in 1867, followed by the substitution of im prisonment for corporal punishment, added enormously to the prison population of Russia. A great increase of prison accom modation became necessary, and a commission was appointed to frame a new penitentiary system. This, as now adopted, although not entirely carried out, consists of two parts punitive imprison ment for short sentences, and penal probationary detention as a pre liminary to banishment to a colony. For the first, central prisons, associated not cellular, are being constructed at various points, and a regulated system of labour will be introduced following the lines of that in force in other European countries. For the second, at the end of the probationary period banishment, or, as it is styled in official language, enforced colonization, will be the rule. Deportation to Siberia began in 1591. It was principally used for political prisoners, insurgents, religious dissenters, and con spirators. Large numbers of Poles were exiled in 1758 ; others again in 1830, and now, since the Nihilist movement, numbers of these implacable foes to the existing regime are regularly despatched to Siberia. The total number deported varies from 17,000 to 20,000 per annum, but this includes wives and children who may elect to iiccompany the exiles. The sentences are of two kinds (1) the loss of all rights and (2) the loss of particular rights. The first includes degradation, the rupture of the marriage tie, inability to sign legal documents, to hold property, or to give a bond. The exile must wear prison dress, and have his head half-shaved. He may be flogged, and if murdered would not be much missed. After a lengthened period of probation in prison the exile becomes a colonist and may work on his own account. Those sentenced to the loss of particular rights are only compelled to live in Siberia, where they may get their living as they can. Many, however, are condemned to spend a portion of their time in confinement but without hard labour. The exiles are sent from all parts of the empire by rail or river to Ekaterinburg, and thence to Tinmen, whence they are distributed through Siberia. Those deprived of partial rights are generally located in western Siberia. Those deprived of all rights go on to eastern Siberia. The latter go by river generally to Tomsk ; thence they walk to their ultimate rest ing place, which may be Irkutsk or Yakutsk or Tchita, or the island of Saghalien, and the journey may occupy months. Not long ago a party of convicts was despatched by sea to the last-named destina tion, embarking at Odessa and travelling through the Suez Canal and by the Pacific Ocean. There are several hundred prisons in Siberia. They are of three kinds: (1) the etape, which afford temporary lodgings for prisoners on the line of march ; (2) the prisylnie, where the detention is often for several months during the winter or until the ice is broken up ; and (3) the ostrog, the generic Russian name for a prison, which is the place of durance for all exiles not on their own resources. Few of the large prisons in Siberia were built for the purpose. They are converted buildings old factories, distilleries, and so forth. They are all upon the associate principle, containing a number of large rooms to accommodate any number from twenty-five to a hundred. The great central prison near Irkutsk, called the Alexandrefi sky, one of the most important in Siberia, generally holds from 1600 to 2000 prisoners all under sentence of hard labour, and awaiting transfer to the mines. Dr Lansdull, who visited this prison in 1879, found the prisoners very short of work. Some were engaged in making cigarette papers, others in shoemaking and brickmaking. The prison is a huge stone-built building, very different from the ordinary run of Siberian prisons, which are usually built of logs caulked with moss to keep out the cold. They are surrounded by a high wooden palisade. Each prison has its hospital, chapel, generally a schoolroom, and a few workshops. The prisoners themselves are not unkindly treated. At most of the stations there are local committees to watch over the welfare of the prisoners. This is an extension of the Imperial Society of St Petersburg already mentioned. The committees supply books and visit the prisoners. They clothe and educate the prisoners children, and help their wives to employ ment. They also augment the prisoners diet from funds obtained by subscription. The regulation rations of Siberian exiles seem very liberal. The Kussian prisoner has nearly twice the amount of solid food that an English prisoner receives, and he is at liberty to add to his diet out of his own means, which the English prisoner A not. The prisoners are also supplied with ample clothing if they have none of their own, those sentenced to deprivation of all rights being obliged to wear convict dress. The discipline of the prisons is now in accordance with European ideas. Prison offences are punished by relegation to a solitary cell, a certain number of which exist at all the prisons. Diminutions of diet are also inflicted, and an obligation to wear irons if they are not already worn. All exiles wear leg-irons for a certain time. These are riveted on to the ankles, and caught by a chain which is carried suspended to a belt round the waist. The irons are worn for various periods from eighteen months to four and even eight years. Very heinous offenders or those who have escaped frequently are chained to a wheelbarrow, which they are obliged to pull about with them wherever they go. A more severe punishment when confinement and irons fail is birching with a rod, for the knout is now abolished. The rod consists of switches so small that three may be passed together into the muzzle of a musket. The punishment is described as not more severe than that inflicted at English public schools. There is another flagellator, however, called the plcte, a whip of twisted hide, which is still retained at a few of the most distant Siberian prisons and only for the most incorrigible, on whom iron&quot;, the birch, and other punishments have had no effect. The costli ness of deportation is enormous and the results it obtains doubtful. The slow colonization of this vast territory may follow eventually, but there are already great difficulties in finding employment for the mass of labour in the Government s hands. The mines of gold, silver, and coal are passing into private hands, and there are no other public works. Hence part of the Kussian criminals who would have gone to Siberia are detained in the large prisons in Russia, where they are employed in manufactories or in the labours of ordinary mechanics, or any outdoor work such as making bricks, mending roads, and manufacturing salt. Nevertheless recent visit ors to Russian prisons, whether in Russia proper or in the heart of Siberia, describe the prisoners as generally idle. The principle of progressive stages by which a prisoner can gain a remission of sen tence or milder treatment prevails throughout. The well-conducted persons can earn wages, and may spend the money in buying an increase to their diet. The bulk of the worst convicts gravitate to the island of Saghalien, where the number in 1879 was about 2600. Half of those were kept in prison, half remained comparatively free. The discipline here is very severe. The diet is said to be scanty, and as the island is barren everything has to be imported. Fish, how ever, is found in large quantities. There are four large prisons at Dui, the principal post on the island, which are insufficiently heated in winter and generally overcrowded. The convicts are chiefly employed in raising coal from mines which are let to a company. Very conflicting evidence is current as regards the Siberian prisons. Prince Kropotkine, an exile, speaking with some authority, de nounces them as hotbeds of vice and cruelty. Dr Lansdell on the other hand, a reputable eyewitness, docs not on the whole speak unfavourably of them. He describes them as rough, perhaps ; but so are Siberian dwellings. He thinks that as compared with the English convict the Siberian is not badly off. The labour is lighter ; he has more privileges ; friends may see him oftener and bring him food ; and he passes his time neither in the seclusion of a cell nor in unbroken silence, but among his fellows with whom he may lounge, talk, and speak. The Russian convict, however, misses those intellectual, moral, and religious influences which are abun dantly showered upon the English. There are no prisoners aid societies in Siberia, and the convict, after release, when suffered to begin life again on his own account, carries with him always the convict stain and is hindered rather than helped to begin life afresh. Dr Lansdell sums up his opinion in these words : &quot;Taken at the worst, condemnation to the minis is not so bad as it seems; and, in the case of peasant exiles willing to work, I cannot but think that many of them have a better chance of doing well in seveial parts of Siberia than at home in some parts of Russia. There is reason to suppose that reports of the ill-treatment of Kussian prisoners have been greatly exaggerated by careless, ill-informed, or malicious wiiters. Xo doubt some years ago there were good grounds for serious. complaint. It is very evident that now the political prisoner, beyond exile, and temporary confinement in the jail, is not ill-used. He is not always subjected to the ordinary discipline of the criminal convict, nor is he obliged to associate with them. A fabulous story has long been current that the worst criminals were buried alive in quicksilver mines, where they were speedily killed by the unhealthy fumes. There are no quicksilver mines in Siberia, and the principal mines, those of Nertchinsk, are now passing out of Government hands. These are mostly of silver, although other minerals and gems are found in the neighbourhood. The hours of labour in the Nertchinsk mines were thirteen, and it was the same at the Kara gold mines. The convicts arrange their hours of work themselves. Xo definite amount of mineral was required, so they might work hard or not as they pleased. Xo doubt the lot of convicts in these mines was hard. Besides the laxity of discipline, the herding together of the worst characters and the deprivation of social, intellectual, and religious privileges must have made life a burden to many.&quot; Spain, like Portugal, still lags behind. It is not to the credit of a country in which prison discipline was discussed three centuries ago that now at the close of the 19th its prison system is about the worst in Europe. Till very recently the posts of governors in the jails were sold to the highest bidder, and pur chasers were suffered to recoup themselves out of the unfortunate wretches committed to their charge. The principal prison in the capital of the kingdom was nothing more than a converted slaughter house where pigs were killed and salted, as its name, the Saladeio, implied. This dark, dirty, noisome den, although generally con demned, continues to serve even now. Numerous efforts to provide a more suitable prison have been made from time to time. The