Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1886-07-01
TILE ENGLISH PRISON.
system that Has Been Greatly Improved
During The Present Century.
I.ondoa Spectator.

g.. l. an old saving. though probably not
.ilsr than the era of Howard and as ac-
,--etely true one, that the worst use you
-,, mt a man to is to hang him. 1t is
i..,uinr more and more evident that
IN worst way to crush crime Is TO crush
.Es criminal Yet exactly a hundred years
.,, 249 persons were sentenced to death
Ia lO3 we're actually executed IN single
-sar out of a population of 100000, and
t,r, centuries before that 500 persons We're
BANGED in a single year out of a popula
.;.r of less than 100000. Since the
sbolition of capital punishment except
f1r fine crime of murde", which was one
~ +be effects of the reform bill of 1882.
+ba number of executions has averaged
t,relye year, and has once fallen as low
,. four. Yet we do not hear that crimes
sgainst person or property have increased.
INT in old days capital punishment was
inflicted only by execution in due course
oflaw. In those days the phrase 'rotting
i'm iai" was no empty form of words, but
was merely terrible expression of terri
tle truth. Every town which has bought
mn its right of lordship has its own Jail,
end every jail was hot-bed of disease
and crime. The state of things tolerated
b, the great lords is illustrated by the
dnke of Portlaud's prison, reported on by
Howard. II was farmed out 10 the iailer
for Il, ruineas year; it consisted of one
room. with cellar under it, which at the
time of Towards visit had not been
cleaned for months, nor had the door been
omen for weeks, The bishop of Ely kept
q prison in which the prisoners were
chained down on their backs to the floor,
across which were several iron bars, with
an iron collar with spikes about their
necks and heavy iron bar on their legs.
The prisoners were more than half starved,
half clothed, unshod. unwashed, and they
lived perforce in poisonous air and
drank poisonous water.
The system of transportation, with all
its horrors, was some sort of an attempt
to lessen the pressure of the two systems,
If systems they could be called. of indis-
cuminate capital punishment. Trans
uortation was an alternative to capital
1uni-hment introduced in Charles lis
timp and extended to non-capital crimes
I'M ISL, by way of relieving prisons at
home and giving cheap labor to the col
ouies. IT was says Sir Edmond, "a
sind of slave trade, and offenders were
put UP to auction and sold for the period
of their sentences by the person who had
contracted to transport them. The con
tractor released them on payment of a
sum uf money, and il was said that some
contractors who shipped their conyicts
at Bristol landed some of them on Luddy
island. q few miles down the channel
The transport ships reproduced all the
horrors of the middle passage of the
slave trade Literal rotting of the feet
was common, and extracts are given
from some Bristol convict contractor to
Tailor, saying; "Sore feet prove very
fatal. The mortality we met with in our
last ship, if repeated in this will SO sur
felt as Lhat we shall nevea take another
The American Warof independence put
am end to transportation to America. The
hulk" system was invented as a tenn.
purary expedient till the penitentiary
system could be adopted. This temper
ary expedient" lasted till 1857. This was
even worse than the prison system. The
mortality of prisoners was at diifenent
times 30 and % per cent per annum.
Hulk fever took the place of Jail few
err The mortality in the modern peni-
tertiary systems of prisons is ID per
1000.
With the discovery of Australia the
transportation system was renewed. The
Botany bay settlement was founded in
1881, and from first to last 1874, 3OS persons
were transported TO Australia. The state
of things which existed then is fairly
shown by two quotations. In 1884 the
number of convicts in Van Dieman's land
was about $4,000, the summary convictions
amounted to about $4,000. and the num-
ber of lashes inflicted was about 10000.
From the formation of the establishment
at Alacquarie harbor, Ian. 3, 1922, to May
rs. 1o21. there were 116 attempts at es-
cape, OF these 10 were supposed TO have
persisted in the woods. s are known to
have been murdered. and eaten by their
compartments - escaped to the settled
districts. II of whom have been hanged
for bush ranging and for murder: in all,
lul of the llG. came TO aa ntimely end.
After 1877. transportation ceased TO any
other colony than western Australia, and
was then conducted more on the peniten-
Iary system, and in 1868 il ceased alto
Ettaer, and the present penal servitude
convict system was established in its
place. The systnn is absolutely uniform
~u far as rgles can make il so. During
the first nine months the prisoner passes
1. whole time exception the period al
Iatted TO prayers and exercises in his
eeI apart from all other prisoners, work
In- az some employment of an industrial
ar remuneratiye character During the
second stage he sleeps and has his meals
20 operative cell, but works in associa-
n0u, under a close and strict supervision,
20 Employment suited 20 him. The third
period is that of the ticket of leave. The
second stage is divided into three classes,
and on promotion from one class to an
other the prisoner gains certain privileges
SUCH as more frequent communication
with friends, more freedom for exercise
IN Sundays, and earning more money to
be paid on discharge Corresponding
punlShments are inflicted but corporal
punishment only by the directors of pri-
sons and after full trial with evidence
taken on Gather. 1t Is significant of the
improvement which is taking place in the
convict prisons that, while in 1871, of 49,
a.N prisoners, nearly half received pun
l'ameuts, in ls64-5, out of prisoners num-
heuug nearly one hundred more. under
afe thousand were punished. 1t is
satisfactory, also TO know that the average
ugrl her Of rr5souars rv1ar seDtartra az