Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/24

 16 PRISONS AND PRISON DISCIPLINE police. More than half of the male convicts discharged in 1873 applied to prisoners' aid societies, and more than three fourths of the females went to such societies or refuges. In the United States the organizations for aiding liberated prisoners are few. Massachusetts has an official agency. The other most efficient or- ganizations are the New York prison associa- tion, the Philadelphia prison society, the Mary- land prisoners' aid society, and the California prison commission. The prison association of New York was incorporated by the legislature in 1844 ; it is authorized to visit and inspect all the prisons of the state, and makes annual reports to the legislature. It has agents in all parts of the state to look after the interests of prisoners in confinement, and to aid them after discharge with money, board, clothing, tools, transportation, employment, &c. About 1,500 discharged convicts were aided by this associa- tion in 1874. The marked lack of uniformi- ty in the returns made by different countries renders their criminal statistics only approxi- matively useful for purposes of comparison. A computation made by Beltrani Scalia, on returns from Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Italy, Saxony, and Sweden, shows about one half of the entire prison population of those countries to bo illiterate. According to recent returns, the percentage of those who could not read on entering prison was 56 in Austria, 49 in Belgium, 57 in France, 4 in Baden, 12 in Ba- varia, 17 in Prussia, 60 to 92 in Italy, about 40 in the Netherlands, and 30 in Switzerland. In Ireland 22 per cent, both of males and females were illiterate. In Austria 8 per cent, of the male and 24 per cent, of the female convicts had no trade on entering prison ; in Belgium the percentage for both sexes was 60 to 70 ; in Franco, 5 per cent, among males and 12 per cent, among females ; Baden, 40 per cent. ; Bavaria, 3 ; Prussia, 5 ; the Netherlands, 25 ; Sweden, 90 ; Switzerland, 50 ; Ireland, 35. In Belgium and England, about 12 per cent, of the prison population are females ; in Baden, 15 ; in Bavaria, 20; in France, 19 ; in the Nether- lands, Prussia, and Sweden, about 18 ; in Nor- way, 24 ; in Russia, 10 ; in Switzerland, 20. The proportion of recidivists, or those who after imprisonment relapse into crime and are returned to prison, is reported at about 59 per cent, among men and 54 per cent, among wo- men in Austria, 78 per cent, in Belgium, 20 in Baden, 30 in Bavaria, 42i in France, 18 to 28 in Italy, 25 to 28 in the Netherlands, 60 to 70 in Prussia, 19 to 45 in Sweden, and 86 in Wur- temberg. More than 18 per cent, of the sen- tences to penal servitude in England, "Wales, and Scotland during the four years ending Jan. 1, 1874, were reconvictions. It is stated that nearly 70 per cent, of the recidivists in Bel- gium were those who had been confined in the congregate prisons. Of those committed to convict prisons in the United States in 1873, 21 per cent, were minors and 67 per cent, under 80 years of age ; 75 per cent, were of native and 25 of foreign birth. Thus, while about 17 per cent, of the total population of the United States are foreigners, not less than a fourth of the criminal population are foreigners. In the northern and especially the eastern states, whore there is a larger foreign element in the popula- tion, the percentage of foreign convicts is much larger than that given above. Thus in Massa- chusetts it was 55 per cent., Minnesota 42, New York 39'5, California 39, New Jersey 37, Indiana (males) 32, and Michigan 30. About one sixth of the prison population are women. In the southern states a large proportion of the convicts are colored ; 48 per cent, were illit- erate, and 70 per cent, had not learned a trade ; 40 per cent, admitted intemperate habits, and 39 per cent, more claimed to be moderate drink- ers, but acknowledged occasional intoxication, leaving only 21 per cent, claiming to be strictly temperate. The most satisfactory information on the penal systems of Europe and the United States may be found in the volume of transac- tions of the London congress (London, 1878), and in the three reports of proceedings of the three congresses held by the national prison association of the United States. Annual re- ports have been issued by the prison associa- tion of New York since 1844, and valuable in- formation and statistics relating to crime and the treatment of criminals are contained in the " American Journal of Social Science," of which seven numbers had been issued in 1874; in the reports of state boards of charities, which are organized in several of the states ; and in the reports published by the various penal and reformatory institutions of the Uni- ted States. The general principles of penal treatment and legislation are expounded in the works of Howard, Beccaria, Bentham, Edward Livingston, Francis Lieber, and others. Among more recent publications are : " Crime, its Amount, Causes, and Remedies," by Frederic Hill (London, 1855); "Suggestions for the Repression of Crime," by M. D. Hill (Lon- don, 1857); "On Cellular Separation," by W. Parker Foulke (Philadelphia, 1861) ; " Our Convicts," by Mary Carpenter (2 vols., Lon- don, 1864) ; De V amelioration de la loi crimi- nelle, by Bonneville de Marsangy (2 vols., Paris, 1864); Kritische Untersuchungen fiber die Orundsatze und Ergebnisse dcr irisfhen Gefangnisskunde, by Baron von Holtzendorff (Berlin, 1865) ; De* progrh et de Tetat actuel de la refonne penitentiare, et des institutions pre- ventives aux Stats- Unis, en France, en Suisse, en Angleterre et en Belgique, by Ducp6tiaux (8 vols. 18mo, with plates, Paris and Brus- sels, 1867); "History of the Albany Peniten- tiary," by David Dyer (Albany, 1867); Sul governo e sulla riforma delle careeri in Ita- lia, by Martino Beltrani Scalia (Turin, 1867); "Brief Sketch of the Origin and History of the State Penitentiary for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia," by Richard Vaux (Philadelphia, 1872); "The Crofton Prison System," by Mary Carpenter (Lon-