Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/21

 PRISONS AXD PRISON DISCIPLINE 13 are divided into four classes, the higher class- es having privileges not found in the lower. Promotion is determined by marks, which are given not for good conduct, but for industry alone. In addition to the privileges acquired by promotion to a higher class, the prisoner may gain a remission of about one fourth of his sentence, or if a female, about one third. The chief advantages offered by the higher classes are more frequent communications by visit or letter with friends, more freedom for exercise on Sundays, and higher gratuities of money to be paid on the prisoner's discharge. Convicts receive no share of their earnings, but each is allowed sufficient money on dis- charge to maintain himself while seeking em- ployment. There is no extra reward for good conduct ; but bad conduct is punished by deg- radation to a lower class and the loss of priv- ileges gained by industry, as well as by solitary confinement, reduction in diet, and corporal punishment. Only the governor and director have the power to punish, under limits defined by the secretary of state. Unusual punish- ishments are prohibited ; but whipping is prac- tised, and chains, handcuffs, or means of spe- cial restraint may be used in certain defined circumstances and under strict regulations. The privilege of petitioning the secretary of state is given to every convict. When the prisoner has secured a remission of a portion of his sentence, he is liberated on a ticket of license. He is now subject to police surveil- lance, and will be remanded to prison for a violation of the conditions of the license. For- merly it was the custom to transport convicts thus conditionally liberated .on a ticket of leave ; but since 1867 this practice has been discontinued. The same course of treatment is applied to females ; but they may earn a larger proportion of remission, viz., one third ; while those whose reform appears to be com- plete may pass the last six months of their im- prisonment in " refuges " established and man- aged by private effort, assisted by contribu- tions from the government. Of these there are three : the Carlisle memorial at Winches- ter, the Eagle house at Hammersmith for Ro- man Catholics, and the Westminster memorial at Streatham. The number of inmates of the English convict prisons during the year 1873 was as follows : Brixton, 504 ; Chatham, 1,682 ; Dartmoor, 939 ; Fulham (females), 277 ; Mill- bank, 1,122 (908 males, 214 females); Park- hurst, 552; Pentonville, 911; Portland, 1,586; Portsmouth, 1,282; Woking, 1,390 (718 males, 672 females) ; total, 10,245. The gross annual expenses were 342,158, and the net earnings of the convicts 220,490 ; balance, 121,668, making the net cost of supporting each con- vict during the year 11 14s. Qd. The earn- ings of the convicts exceeded the expenditures at Chatham and Portsmouth, and very nearly equalled them at Portland. The extensive gov- ernment works at these points, the sea walls, docks, &c., including both the skilled and un- skilled labor, have been constructed by con- victs. France has six classes of prisons : 1, the penal colonies of Cayenne (Guiana) and New Caledonia ; 2, central prisons (maisons de force et de correction), of which there are 16 for men and 7 for women, corresponding to the state prisons in the United States ; 3, de- partmental prisons, about 400 in number, des- ignated also as houses of arrest, of justice, and of correction; 4, establishments for the cor- rectional education of juvenile delinquents; 5, chambers and depots of safe keeping ; and 6, prisons for the army and navy. The chief sentences, besides death, are hard labor for life or for a term of 5 to 20 years, reclusion for 5 to 10 years, and simple imprisonment for from 6 days to 10 years. Sentence to hard labor is attended with civil degradation and civil death, the property of the culprit being under the control of a guardian. After the expiration of a sentence to a limited term of hard labor, the criminal during the remainder of his life is under the supervision of the po- lice. Except women and men 60 years of age and over, who undergo imprisonment in the central prisons, persons sentenced to hard labor are transported to one of the penal col- onies. If the sentence is for less than eight years, the convict must remain in the colony after the expiration of his punishment during a period equal to the length of his sentence ; if the sentence is eight years or more, such residence is made perpetual. The transporta- tion of women is authorized by law in view of marriages to be contracted with the con- victs in the colony after liberation ; some women have been thus sent to Cayenne, but a majority undergo imprisonment in the cen- tral prisons of France. A sentence to the punishment of reclnsion deprives the criminal of civil rights. Every person so sentenced is confined in a central prison and employed in labor, which may be in part applied to his own benefit. Simple imprisonment is a cor- rectional punishment, which however may work partial or entire loss of civil rights. In case of relapse, the duration of the punish- ment may be doubled. If the sentence is for more than a year, the culprit is sent to a cen- tral prison ; if a year or less, to a departmental prison. The product of the prisoner's labor goes partly to the prison and partly to secure for himself, if deserving, certain privileges, or to form a fund to be used when discharged. Houses of arrest, of justice, and of correction are usually three departments of the same prison. Besides the punishments here de- scribed, the penal code recognizes that of de- portation, or transportation for life to a place without the continental territory of the repub- lic, upon pain of sentence to hard labor if the offender return ; and detention for from 5 to 20 years in one of the French continental for- tresses. The cellular system does not prevail in any of the central prisons ; the convicts are here employed together in workshops during