The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-01 00:00:00

CONVICT DISCIPLINE.

The following pstition to the Queen has been :recently
sent by the British Association for procuring an amend,
ment in convict discipline :
To the Queen Most Excellent Majesty.

The humble Petition of your Majesty's faithful subjects,
the Association established in Bristol and the West of
England for obtaining an alteration in convict discipline.

Showeth—That towards the close of last year much
alarm was created throughout the country by the general
increase of crime, and in particular by an increase of crimes
of violence against the person.
That in the month of December last your 'Majesty was
pleased to authorise and appoint certain commissioners to
make diligent and full inquiry into the operation of the tw a
acts of Parliament, passed respectively in the years 18h3
and 1857, commonly e,tllbd " The Ticket-of-Leave Acts.,"

That the said Royal Cotemissioners have lately presented
to your Majesty their report upon the matters into w'aich
they were commando: to inquire.
That the said report contains many suggestions for. int-
proving.the treatment of convicts sentenced to penal servi-
tude, some of which, in the present state of the law, cannot
be carried into elect, hut must await the sanction of the
legislature; others enter tco much into detail to jus.f:lfy us
in occupying your Majesty's attention with them; while in
certain others we do not feel ourselves able to concur.
That, passing over these three classes of suggestions, w
humbly crave your Majesty's leave to invite yo ur royal
consideration of the following most important and valuable
recommendations :
First—That remission of punishment should henceforth
beobtained only bystrenuous industry, combined with good
conduct, and should no longer be the consequence of mere
abstinence from misbehaviour in prison.

On this head the Commissioners remark " That the
gulations now in force in England seem to us to be need.
lessly complicated, and to have the fault that they do
not
hold out to convicts a partial remission of their punishmentot
as.a reward to be earned by good conduct and induatry, but
assume that this remission will be granted unless more or
less of the proffered advantage should be forfeited, in conse-
quence of the convicts having failed to deserve it."
‘4 The distinction between this system and that (adopted
in Ireland) of making whatever remission of punishment is
allowed to a convict something which he must earn, are
consider to be one of great importance."
Second—You: Majesty's Commissioners further recom.
mend that the treatment of the convict should commence
with a period of separate confinement, monotonous lalitur,
and low diet, after which he should be permitted to raise
himself by industry and good conduct from class to class,
each class being kept in complete separation from all the
others, and not exceeding in number two or three hundred.
Third—That having earned his ticket-of-leave and ob-
tained his discharge thereon, he should find himself under
the supervision of proper officers until the expiration of the
sentence passed upon him at his trial.
Fourth—That such supervision while (as in Ireland) it
will furnish a refuge to the well-conducted ticket-of-leave
man against unfounded charges and suspicions, will hold
him to strict responsibility ; and in the event of his break-
ing the condition on whimn his ticket was granted, will be-
come the means whereby he will be again returned to psi-
son, there to undergo, in whole or in part, the remainder of
his sentence.

That your petitioners humbly venture to express their
belief that the changes in the discipline of convicts which
your Majesty's Commissioners have in these four recom-
mendations suggested will materially augment the security
of the public, by stimulating convicts to labevr in the task
of self-reformation, by destroying the impunity with which

unreformed or relapsed convicts when discharged in Eng-
land on tickets-of-leave now fall back into their evil
courses ; and by giving facilities for identifying criminals
who have been already convicted, thus insuring them a
long and severe sentence as the result of a second verdict of
guilty.

We, your 111sjesty's petitioners, do therefore humbly pray
that your Majesty will be graciously pleased to direct mea-
sures to be taken for promptly conferring on your people
the advantages which we confidently expect will flow front
the improvements herein set forth.

And your petitioners will ever pray, &c.
(Signed) DI:ICI; President of the Association. '
M. D. HILL, Chairman of the Committe.
Sir George Grey has written to the secretary of the asso-
ciatioo,acknowledging the receipt of the petition, and stating
that it has been laid before her Majesty, who received it
very graciously.