The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1873-06-05

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Should Alaska be Made a Penal
Colony?
In place Of building new prisons, why
should We not try e1ile-penal trans
portatiou? We have in Alaska an i'm.
mense territory, in almost every respect
well suited 10 be the scene Of a penal
colony. It is isolated, and escapes
could be easily prevented it is almost
uuinhabitcd il has q chain Of islands
suitable for separate colonies its eli
mate on the coasts is sufficiently mild,
and yet not tropical, but brac!ng and
healthful it offers few or no tempta-
tions TO vagrancy +; and yet it is o IA
try in which couyicts who had served
out their time, or earned their dis
charge, could live comfortably, and
build up y new and prosperous society.
At present Alaska is a useless and eI-
pensive possession. Two Federal artil-
lcry companies hold possession but it
lies too far out Of the way TO tempt
settlers. Used as n penal colony, to
which the most hardened OF our c~onyicts
might at first be sent, il would offer a
clear field for interesting and valuable
experiments in the management and ref
ormation Of criminals. II is not sickly,
like the French penal settlement Of
Cayenne; nor has it, like Australia, n
climate so mild as 10 enable runaway
convicts to live a yagraIt life in the
bush. II is n country in which indus
try and foresight are necessary to en-
able a white mar to exist and thus the
natural conditions Of life would help in
disciplining the criminals sent thither.
Being controlled by the Federal gov
eminent, it is probable that, if Alaska
became a penal colony, West Point
officers would be its rulers and guard
ians and these, who are, above all,
strict disciplinarians, are admirably cal
culated to manage rightly a convict
population, which needs, above all
things, to learn obedience TO authority,
and to be subjected to rigid discipline
Of mind and body. Moreover, the
graduate Of West Point is, AS a rule, a
man Of honor and a gentleman. He
knows nothing about contracts he per
forms his duty he is honest and re-
spectacle and under his rule, at least,
the convict would not commonly have
before him a pernicious example OF
greed, and other low forms Of vice.
There would be no lack Of work in
Alaska for a penal colony, however
numerous. The country has no roads
it has no public buildings it has no
mechanic arts it would need, if it had
a population, artisans Of all kinds; and
for half Il century to com a penal
colony in Alaska rightly managed ought
to be self-supporting, with abundance
OF useful labor for every convict.
The question Of penal transportation
has not come very prominently before
the public in recent wears. 1t was not
even discussed at the recent Prison Con
gress IN London, though a report was
read upon it by Count iii Forcsta, Pro
cureur- General Of Anconna, who said
Transportation with compulsory labor
in a colony | approve as the best punish
ment for great criminals. It seems to
me 10 answer perfectly the double OBJ
iect of all punishment-the protection oi
society, within the limits Of justice, and
the reformation OF the convict. II full
slls the first Of these objects-the pro-
lection Of society-fOr the most danger
GUS criminals are thus cast out from the
bosom of society the grave %inconyeni-
ences Of relapse are avoided, and would
be criminals are deferred by the pros
pect Of Punishment from their country
and family. The second object is equal
~ met, that OF moralizing these indi-
yiduals, and giving them hope and the
means Of becoming again useful 10 them
selves and society in another country,
where, after undergoing part OF their
punishment, they can send for their
families or found new ones, thus begin
ing another existence in an entirely diff
ferent atmosphere, which will not seduce
them into their former errors"
This is the true point-to so manage
the criminal that when he has suffer
ed his punishment he may have,
at : least, the chance to begin a new
and better life, andTo make even his
period Of punishment as natural and
healthful as il consists with his seclusiOn
general society. And this can be
best done by exile or penal transporta-
ton. II is not done at all under the
system.
Two companies of artillery and two
reyenue-cutters now hold Alaska This
force need be put very slightly increased
10 be sufficiently strong, with proper
management, to control and keep under
Imscipline a thousand cenvicts. The
al W isies, the island OF Kodiak,
tban.lon long Alaska peninsula offer
HnH.ises Tor isolated stations: and I
90 not that our engineer, oa;cs,
could elaborate aplan OF Operation %,
a convict colony which voulS $500 :
a colony self-supporting and heinfnII e u
the reformation Of the convic,s, besr;no
in mind always these words Of that most
successful manager Of a penal colony.
Captain Maconochie, under whose CON-
mand that most terrible of English
prisons, Norfolk Island, IA the scene
Of so much genuine reform, "tbe true