The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-02 00:00:00

OUR CONVICTS.

"S. G. 0.," in a letter to the Times, writes :
There is one truth as to the treatment of oft-con-
victed felons which no one seems to me to like to
speak out—viz., that they are systematically dealt
with as men on whom obedience is not to be too
much enforced; they are kept by force in cap-
tivity; they are more coaxed than forced to submit
to the discipline of the prison. It would be amus-
ing, if it were not very irritating, to read in the
Blue-books on convict prisons how the officials con-
gratulate themselves on the amount of submission
they secure by indulgence. We are told how cheer-
fully tF e prisoners endure the sentences when they
find that a certain amount of prison goodness will
shorten their term of confinement. The advantages
of prison life are so naively set forth ; all the little
social sugar plums are so paraded,—the lectures on
a model of the Tabernacle, from diagrams of tele-
scopic and microscopic discoveries,—the beautiful
quiet of the schools, showing to visitors such a
lovely picture of contented pursuit of knowledge—
all go to prove that the great object is to enable
each prisoner to get through his sentence in the
most cheerful, contented spirit. Excellent diet, light
work with little exposure to bad weather, a so-
called cell—in fact, an exceedingly convenient,
well-lighted, warmed, and ventilated cabin, full
of contrivances to secure comfort, with literature
sacred and profane, free of cost ; most respectable
attendance, all work to the one end—the inducing
the villain, like a good fellow, just to be quiet and
good, that he may not only shorted his sentence,
but make his days those of pleasantness to himself
and his warders.
We wonder it don't answer; the felon class would.
very much wonder if it did. The great mistake
has been the confusion of the two things—pun-
ishment and reformation. We go through the
farce of passing a sentence of penal servitude for
so many years, or for life. It is only a blow
from the fist of justice with the padded glove ;
it is a hard blow so far as regards the penal
hitting power, but then we have mulled the
penal hand. That sentence neither really bruises
nor draws blood; the felon at the bar is neither
punished severely nor frightened; it is the bark
of the judge, not the real bite of the gaol. He
knows what it means at the very worst,--that
the Government will be glad to get rid of him out
of prison at a date far short of the sentence if he
will only be—a good prisoner.
It is clear to me that at Portland, Dartmoor, and
Chatham the warders are more to be pitied than
the prisoners. They have harder work, they never
know a moment free of anxiety, their pay is low for
the nature of their service, their numerical force not
stifficient to secure their own safety and the safe
custody of the convicts, except by the system of
making things as pleasant to those gentlemen in
difficulties as possible. It never would surprise me
to hear of convict mutinies far more serious than
any we have ever yet known. lam convinced, if
the diet were changed for the worse, if the sentences
were worked out to the full, and real work en-
forced, it would be madness to keep the staff of
warders at its present weakness_ You may keep
up a species of separation which shall defy conspir-
acies extending to large numbers of the prisoners,
but the knowledge of their united strength, if
brought to bear upon any one common object, is in
itself a fearful element of danger.
Let me now give my idea in this matter of convict
treatment, only dealing with it generally, avoiding
close detail I would never have large masses of"
these dangerous men assembled in any one locality-.
I intend only to speak of the oft-convicted, hard-
ened class. The buildings for their reception should
be strong in material, but fitted within and without
upon the principle that only safe, healthy custody
was the object. The present gaols are really
beautiful penal toys, the perfection of lodging-
house-for-single-men architecture, achieved with
no respect to cost. In a better situation Penton-
ville would sell well as " chambers"for Bank clerks
and M.P.'s of limited income. I would never have
more than 300 convicts in one prison for firm,
severe, penal treatment ; always relying far more
on a strong, well-armed force of well-paid warders
than upon locks and keys, chapel and school, lecture-
room and kitchen, to preserve discipline and enforce
labour. Separation should be the rule at night,
association in small parties by day ; but no party
ever left without the presence of at least
two warders. The actual prison building should
be constructed on a principle affording easy com-
plete supervision ; as I have said strong, but I
would have it in all its details rough-4 e., with
as little of the comfortable ornamental dwelling as
Possible. It should aim simply at this end—the
sheltering in health and keeping in safety men who
are under a sentence of punishment, not under a
compulsory system of reformation.
These buildings should, with all necessary acces-
sories, be in the centre of a large space of ground,
walled in with very high walls, with but one or,
at the most, two entrances. To the outside world I
would show nothing but these walls and the strong
entrance gates; all else should be matter of con-
jecture, not sight. No free labourer should ever go
within the gates; repairs I would have done by a
staff kept by the Government for this sole purpose.
I would call these prisons, "Prisons for Severe
Penal Servitude ;" in these should be worked out to
the last hour the sentence passed by the judge. I
would offer religious teaching and schooling, not
to give the character to shorten the sentence, but
to fit the criminal for a better life when his sentence
is over. I would have the sentences never to ex-
ceed seven years; as the rule, to be short of this,
except, of course, in those cases of capital crimes
where life servitudes saves from execution. I am
satisfied short severe sentences are better than long
ones. There are arguments which will not bear
public discussion against a too long separation from
all the outer world of male convicts. It is my firm
belief that solitary confinement for any length of
time is altogether unjustifiable; insanity is, to me,
the least of the evils it produces. In every case in
which the prisoner, on a second committal for
felony, has been proved to have used personal vio-
lence I would invariably have him flogged at the
very commencement of his sentence. As to the
nature of the work on which these men are to be
employed, it is a matter of detail. I will only say
it should not be the learning of a trade, but simply
hard, tedious work enforced.

I do not advocate some such system as this in-
stead of transportation, but as a matter of experi-
ment to diminish the number of those whom we
must at last thus get rid of. I know it will be
called inhuman, unchristian. I am too old to
care for misconstruction of motive. lam satis-
fied that humanity to the peaceable and well-
behaved and Christian feeling for crimi-
n3.ls lead me to wish the number dimi-
nished. I claim for all men, garotters included,
fair play. I want to make them better; the present
petting system makes them worse. One of the chap-
lains of a convict establishment in a British settle-
ment I see wants to stop
the prisoners' grog, but he
clearly sees why he fails—it might cause a mutiny.
As to tickets-of-leave, not ooe of these men should
quit the gaol but under licence for one year; this
should be part of every sentence. Under that
licence he should be under police supervision, and
obliged to report himself from time to time. I am.
quite satisfied many an employer would give a man
from prison a chance of getting a character for in-
dustry when he knew the police would watch him
who would never take one who had been a convict.
un watched.

I am wedded to my own small penal gaol plan, or
I should admit myself wholly a convert to the Irish
system. I will only add, I would have the diet full,
but coarse—all that is necessary for health, but
nothing more. I have faith that a few such prisons,
of small cost, would work a penal revolution.

FRENCH REFORIIS.--The Temps of yesterday, in
commenting upon the reforms in the proceedings of
the prefectoral councils just decreed, says :--" We think it
excellent that those councils should be public, and that
suitors should be heard in them; but we should d ein it not
less rational if the minister judged journals and journalists
in public after hearing them. In a word we should like
the Minister of the Interior to generalise a little the ex-
cellent doctrine upon which his report is based, and we are
certain he would very quickly recognise that what is good
for prefectoral councils could not be bad for councils of a
higher Wad."