Alexander Maconochie (penal reformer)

Alexander Maconochie(11 February 1787 – 25 October 1860) was aScottishnaval officer, geographer andpenal reformer.
In 1840, Maconochie became theGovernor of Norfolk Island, a prison island in which convicts were treated with severe brutality and were seen as lost causes. Upon reaching the island, Maconochie immediately instituted policies that restored dignity to prisoners and achieved remarkable success inprisoner rehabilitation. Those policies were well in advance of their time, but Maconochie was politically undermined.
His ideas would be largely ignored and forgotten, only to be readopted as the basis of modernpenal systemsover a century later, during the mid-to-late 20th century. He was also the first professor ofGeographyat theUniversity College London.
Maconochie was born inEdinburghon 11 February 1787. At the age of 9, his father died and he was raised byAllan Maconochie, later Lord Meadowbank.
He joined theRoyal Navyin 1803 and as amidshipmansaw active service in theNapoleonic Wars, rising to the rank oflieutenant.In 1811 he was serving on theBrigHMS Grasshopper, which shipwrecked Christmas Eve off the coast of the Dutch coast. He, together with all those on board, were taken as aprisoner of warand extradited to the French. The forced march in the bitter cold winter of Holland to Verdun and more than two years of miserable imprisonment gave him an experience that he used later in his penal reform. He was released uponNapoleon's abdication in 1814.
He returned to active service in theBritish-American Warin which he commandedHMS Calliope. In 1815, he was promoted to the rank of Commander.
In the peace following the final defeat of Napoleon, Maconochie spent 13 years in Edinburgh studyinggeographyandgeopolitics. At that time, he wrote extensively on steam navigation and the colonisation of the Pacific. He married in 1822.
In 1828 he moved toLondon,England, where he was the first secretary of theRoyal Geographical Societyin 1830.In 1833, he became the first professor ofGeographyat theUniversity College London,and was a knight of theRoyal Guelphic Order.
In 1836, he sailed to theconvict settlementatHobartinVan Diemen's Land(nowTasmania) as private secretary to theLieutenant-GovernorSir John Franklin.There, he wrote a report strongly critical of the state of prison discipline. The convict system, being fixated onpunishmentalone, released into society crushed, resentful and bitter expirees in whom the spark of enterprise and hope was dead. Maconochie's report "can be said to mark the peak and incipient decline oftransportation to Australia" when it was given toLord Russell, theHome Secretaryand ardent critic of transportation, according toRobert Hughes.
Although the report was used by theMolesworth Committeeon transportation in 1837–1838, the criticism of that work forced Franklin to dismiss him.
According to his biographerJohn Barry, Maconochie "was a deeply religious man, of generous and compassionate temperament, and convinced of the dignity of man".  His two basic principles ofpenologywere the following:
Following the Molesworth Committee's report, transportation to New South Wales was abolished in 1840 although it continued to other colonies.  Disturbed at reports of conditions onNorfolk Island,Lord Normanby,Secretary of State for the Colonies, suggested that a new system should be used, and the superintendence given to an officer deeply concerned with the moral welfare of the convicts.  Maconochie was recommended to put the new system in place.
In March 1840 he took up duties as commandant of the penal settlement at Norfolk Island and applied his penal principles, known today as the “Mark System.Convicts were awarded 'marks' to encourage effort and thrift.  Sentences were served in stages, each increasing in responsibility.  Cruel punishments and degrading conditions were reduced, and convicts' sense of dignity was respected. Perhaps the fact that he had experienced the life of a prisoner himself played a part in his approach to his task. He was the only commandant with such an experience.
Those views contrasted greatly with the cruel conditions that had existed on Norfolk Island prior to Maconochie's arrival. He was not permitted to apply his principles to the 1,200 hardened twice-sentenced convicts but only to the 600 newcomers sent directly from the United Kingdom and who were separated from the 'Old Hands'. His Mark System was not permitted to reduce a convict's sentence, and it was difficult to find other incentives. His reforms were resisted by military guards, supervisors and constables (many of whom were ex-convicts) under his command.
In particular, his deputy held views opposite to his own. In an exclusively male environment, he found he was unable to reduce the prevalent 'unnatural offence' ofsodomy, and he continued to punish it byflogging. Criticism of his methods in Sydney and England led Governor SirGeorge Gippsto visit the island in 1843.  He was favourably impressed with the condition of the convicts and the effectiveness of the 'marks' system and reported that Maconochie's System of Moral Reform could work if carried through to its conclusion.
However, the order had already been given in the United Kingdom for Maconochie to be replaced.Under the commandants who followed him, Norfolk Island reverted to being an object of terror under brutal masters.
Almost 1,400 convicts had been discharged during Maconochie's term, and he always claimed that a high percentage did not offend again. He is known as the "Father ofParole".
Maconochie returned to the United Kingdom in 1844 and two years later published a book outlining his system.It had an immense influence on the development of penology.
In 1849, he was appointed governor of the newprison at Birminghambut was dismissed and criticised for his actions although was praised for his humanity and benevolence.
He died on 25 October 1860 atMorden,Surrey. He had been still campaigning for penal reform in spite of ill health. He was buried at St Lawrence Church, London Road, Morden, Surrey. His grave can still be seen in the churchyard.
John Barry states that "Maconochie was a pioneer in penal reform, and suffered the fate of men in advance of their times.  His concepts and many of his practical measures are now the basis of Western penal systems".
TheAlexander Maconochie Centre, a prison inCanberra, is named in his honour.
SirWalter Frederick Crofton(1815–1897) introduced a variant of the 'progressive stages' system of penal discipline into the Irish convict prisons.