Litchfield enquirer., 1876-03-09
Foreign PenltentIary systems
BY E. c. WINES, SECRETARY OF THE NA- TIoNALl PRISON ASSOCIATION OF
 THE UNITED STATES.

a The following letter descriptive of the system of discipline established in the convict prisons of Ireland. will be found of special interest at this time, when so many of our philanthropic citizens are be- stirring themselves in the matter of re- form. ~ Being desirous of revisiting the con- vict prisons of Ireland, which, from the peculiar system of prison discipline estab- lished in them by Sir Walter Crofton in 1853, have gained such wide and honora- ble celebrity, landed at Queenstown on the evening of Tuesday, the 9th ult.. after a passage of ten days from New York on board the. noble ship England, of the Ma tional line, during the whole of which the navigation of the Atlantic much resembled that of the Hudson on one of the maRnif- cent steamers of the Peoples line. .,..
 The Crofton prison system is now we'll known by all who interest themselves in the penitentiary question, not only in the United States, but throughout the .civiliz- ed world. It may be shortly defined as an adult reformatory, in which the will of the prison inmates IS brought into accord with the will of the prison keeper, and held NASAS SO ASdS5 sA0u VII OCCO1C6 Q 1oO1U Its fundamental principle is that of pro- gressive classification, whereby hope is implanted in the breast of the convict in the first hour of his imprisonment, and kept there through the whole term of his detention as an ever-present, ever-living force. It consists of three stages 1. A penal stage. of cellular separation, con- tinuing eight months, which are passed in prison at Montjoy, one of the surburbs of Dublin. 2. A reformatory stage, pass ed at Spike Island, in the harbOr of Queenstown, one hundred and sixty miles from Dublin. It is here that the system of progressive classification has play, as will be more fully explained further on in this letter. 3. A testing stage, passed at Lusk:: large farm thirteen miles from Dublin. In this stage which is intended to verify the reformatory action of the preceding discipline. the imprisonment is little more than moral.
 With thls preliminary statement, I pro- ceed to give the result of my present visi tation of the Irish prisons, after an inter- val of four years since the first Though, landing at Queenstown. could not exam inc the several parts of the system in their natural succession, l shall nevertheless pursue in my narrative the chronological order. as being more convenient, and per haps, upon the whole, no less satisfacto- ry. .~ a..
 Early on Wednesday morning-the day after our arrival-I sent note to Captain Peter Hay, who has been for twenty years the'governor and successful administrator of the prison at Spike Island. where, as already stated, the second stage of the Crofton system is passed. At II A.. M, Captain Hay called upon me at my hotel, whence we immediately proceeded, in a prison rowboat, to Haulbowline Island, a naval station connected with Spike Island by bridge for foot passengers only. Here more than half the prisoners l4l9 out of some 7O0) were engaged at labor upon public works, quarrying and dressing stone, and building government docks of f6e men, W wearing gs badges H tliat shoWed at glance to which of the several classes they belonged, were not only industrious, but apparently ,contented and cheerful at their work. During our walk over the Is- land, and while observing the men thus busy at their daily occupations, held substantially the following conversation with Governor Hay
 W. You have, I think, five classes at Spike Island, arranged upon the progress i've principle-viz: probationary, third, second, and first class, together with an advanced class, made up of prisoners who have worked their way up through all the others
 H. Yes, that is the system of classifica- tion adopted here, except that very few, on coming from Mountjoy, arc now re- ceived into the probation class, although occasionally convict sent on from that prison on medical grounds, in advance of the customary time, is still placed Tn it. As rule, however, the. convicts received at Spike Island from Mountioy are placed on their arrival, in the third class.
 W. Under what classification, if any, do the prisoners come from MountjoY
 H. They arrive under the following des- ignations: Very satisfactory; very good; good ordinary indifferent; bad /; very bad.
 W. Their progression from class to class depends, think, on the number of marks severally earned by them.
 H. Yes. that is so Each prisoner can earn nine marks per month-three for gen. eral good conduct, three for industry and three for dilligent attention to learning As matter of course the number earned by prisoner monthly may vary from the maximum C9) to zero. ......
 w. Do all the prisoners on their arri- val from Mountjoy stand upon the same footing, when placed in the third class that Is, can all earn their promotion to the second class within the same time?
 H. By no means. Those coming from Mountjoy classed as very satisfactory are promoted when they have earned eighteen marks, and, of course, may win thelr advance within two months. The very good'' are required to earn twenty seven; the "good" thirty-six: the s'ordin- ary', forty-fve; the. indifferent" fifty four; so that these last, even though they may earn always the maximum of marks, must pass six months in the third class before they can gain their promotion to the second Those coming from Mount joy under the designation of 'bad" and livery bad" have their cases severally, re- ferred to the Director of Convict Prisons for Ireland, who determines, after inquir- ing into the prison antecedents of-each. one, how many marks he must earn as a. condition precedent to promotion.
 w.. Is this arrangement found to act upon the prisoners, while yet in the cellu lar separation of Mountjoy, as stimulus to good conduct !?
 H. Yes. very powerfully; insomiuch that the great majority come to us from that prison classed as ''very satisfactory and thus can earn their first advance in two monthsAthat is to say, only eighteen marks are required of them. 's's- 5'-14s ? }; w. What are the conditions of promo ton to the subsequent classes aza.a.. ,a H. To advance from the second class to the first prisoner must. earn. fifty-four marks, and. of course. the shortest time in which this can be done is six months. To pass from the fist to the advanced class one hundred and eight marks must be gained, and a whole year is spent in gaining them.
 W. Are the several classes physically separated from each other in the prison
 H.. No. The classification is moral rath- CT than physical, the several classes being lntermingled while at work:
 w. Is there any mode by which they can be distinguished from each other
 H. Yes. Each class has distinctive badge, except the third, the members of which are simply known by their suit of 0rny friaZa fpho oooaDd OlSaa bovo h1s1a