Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/18

 10 PRISONS AND PRISON DISCIPLINE ceived on release. The chief punishments are loss of marks, forfeiture of gratuities, with- drawal of privileges, and remanding to a lower class or to the cellular prison at Mountjoy. The most remarkable feature of the (Jrofton system is the third or " intermediate " stage, passed at Lusk. Here are no walls, or burs, or police, or armed watchmen. There is no physical restraint, no check on conversation, no prison garb. The prisoner is here in a con- dition of semi-freedom, a state of probation before liberation. The convicts are employed in groups upon the farm under the supervision of a half dozen unarmed warders, who gener- ally work with them. There is nothing to prevent escape by day or night ; but the de- sire to escape has been manifested very rare- ly. The mark system is discontinued. There are no punishments, but the convict may be remanded back to separate and solitary con- finement at Mountjoy. The convicts hear fre- quent lectures, and attend the parish church in a body. The period of detention here varies with the length of the sentence; it is 6 months on a sentence of 5 years, 1 1 months on one of 10 years, and 16 months on one of 15 years. The object of the treatment is threefold : 1, by exposing the criminal to the ordinary temp- tations and trials of the world, to test his re- form ; 2, to afford a guarantee to the public that the reform is real, and that the convict may be trusted ; 3, to supplement the previous discipline with a more natural training, and so by partial freedom to prepare the prisoner gradually for full liberty. The same princi- ples of progressive classification are applied to females, for whom there is a separate prison during the first stage at Mountjoy, and pro- vision for the associated labor of the second stage in the same prison; while the interme- diate or final stage is passed in " refuges." The amount of reduction which a convict may effect in the duration of his imprison- ment is determined by his conduct and in- dustry at Spike island. Suppose he is sen- tenced for five years: what is the maximum reduction within his reach ? He must pass 8 months at Mountjoy, 33 months at Spike island (2 months in the 3d class, 6 in the 2d, 12 in the 1st, and 13 in the advanced) and 6 months at Lusk, making 41 months, in ordinary im- prisonment, and 6 in semi-confinement. His period of detention therefore is 3 years and 1 1 months, and he i restored to liberty on a ticket of license IS months before the expira- tion of his sentenced term. In like manner he may reduce a sentence of 10 years to 7 years and 8 months, and one of 15 years to 11 years and 5 months. When the convict has passed through the system of penal treatment above described, and secured an abbreviation of his term of imprisonment, he is not restored to unconditional freedom, but is liberated upon a ticket of license. He is subject to the super- vision of the constabulary, to whom he must report at regular intervals for registration; PRISONS. Avmge number of A1IMUAL rui-. COST PER M-.I:. conrirti. Gnu. Hit, Mountjoy, male. . 151 54 8. M. 46 19 Id. ' female. . . 295 82 6 8 26 15 5 Sntke Island. . . i.U 80 5 8 14 7 11 Lusk 40 68 1 9 89 8 Total 1,180 86 6 11 22 17 4 and if he fails to perform the conditions of the license, he may be remanded to prison for the remainder of his term of sentence. The nearest approach to the Crofton system out- side of Ireland is found in England, but with- out its crowning feature in the intermediate stage. It is regarded with favor in Switzer- land, where some of its features have already been adopted. Its introduction into the Uni- ted States, with certain modifications, is rec- ommended by high authorities, but is opposed by others as not being adapted to a govern- ment composed of separate states. The num- ber of inmates in the Irish convict prisons du- ring the year ending March 31, 1874, with the average cost of their support, was as follows : In the United States there are as many sys- tems of prison management as there are states. There is no national institution for the confine- ment of offenders against the national laws, who are consequently sentenced to the prisons of the several states. All places of confine- ment in the United States may be divided, ac- cording to their management, into municipal (town and city), county, and state prisons,; and according to the grade of offence, into juvenile reformatories, houses of correction, and state prisons. In general each county has one, and some of them two or three jails. These as well as the city prisons are generally houses of detention, though in some of the county prisons a system of industrial labor, instruction, &c., is established. The county prisons are generally considered unsatisfactory either for detention before trial or for the im- prisonment of offenders after conviction, and it is earnestly sought to provide something better in place of them. This want has given rise to the class of prisons called houses of correction, workhouses, and sometimes peni- tentiaries. Each of the 37 states has a state prison, except Delaware, which uses the coun- ty jails for the confinement of convicted fel- ons. New York and Indiana (including that for women) have three each, and Pennsylvania and Iowa two cadi, making 43 state prisons in the United States, exclusive of the convict pris- ons in the territories. The chief prison offi- cers are usually appointed by the governor to hold office during good behavior ; in New York they are appointed by the elective board of three prison inspectors. Most of the states have such boards, generally appointed by the governor. The New York prison association is also authorized to inspect all the prisons of