The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1886-06-05

noaVy iron par on Jnelr legs. Inc
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 sort of an attempt to
lessen the pressure of the two systems,
if systems they could be called, of indis-
eliminate capital punishment. Transpor-
tation was an alternative to capital
punishment, introduced in Charles IL. s
time and extended to non-capital crimes
in 17l7 by way of relieving prisons at
home and giving cheap labor to the
colonies. at was" says Sir Edmund,
ga kind of slave trade, and offenders
were put to auction and sold for the
period of their sentences by the person
who had contracted to transport them.
The contractor released them on pay
ment of sum of money, and it was
said that some contractors who shipped
their convicts at Bristol, landed some of
them on Luddy Island, a few miles down
the channel " The transport ships re-
produced 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 jailor, saying:
"Sore feet prove very fatal. The NOR
tally we met with in our last ship, if
repeated in this, will so surfeit us THAI
we shall never take another" The
American War of Independence put an
end to transportation to America. The
"hulk" system was invented as "tem-
porary expedient' till the penitentary
could be adopted. This temporary
expedient lasted till 1857. This
was even worse than the prison system.
The mortality of prisoners was at differ
ent times 80 and rs per cent. per an
mum. Hulk fever" took the place OF
"goat fever" The mortality in the
modern penitentiary systems of prisons
is - per 1000.
With the discovery of Australia the
transportation system was renewed.
The Botany Bay settlementwas founded
in 1887, and from first to last 1874, 30S
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 Var
Dieman's Land was about $4,000, the
summary convictions amounted to about
| $1,000, and the number of lashes in.
ficted was about $4,000. From the
formation of the establishment a.
Macquarie Harbor, January 3, 1922, tC
May l6, 1927, there were 116 attempts
at escape. Of these Is were supposed
to have persisted in the woods, 8 art
known to have been murdered and
eaten by their companions; "a escaped
to the settled districts, 10 of whom were
hanged for bush ranging and 2 TO
murder; in all, 101 of the 116 came t.
an untimely end. After 1847, trans
portation ceased to any other colony
than Western Australia, and was theI
conducted more on the penitentiary
system, and in 1868 it ceased altogether
and the present penal servitude con
Wet system was established in its place
This system is absolutely uniform, S,
far as rules can make it so. Durin!
the first nine months the prisoner passe
his whole time-excepting the perio
allotted to prayers and exercises-in hi
cell, apart from all other prisoners
working at some employment of a
industrial or remunerative character
During the second stage he. sleeps an
has his meals in a separate cell, bu
works in association, under close an
strict supervision at employment suite
to him. The third period is that of tn
ticket of leave. The second stage
divided into three classes, and on pre-
motion from one class to another tn
prisoner gains certain privileges, sue
as more frequent communication wit
friends, more freedom for exercise G
Sundays, and earning more money
be paid on discharge. Correspondent
: punishments are inflicted, but corpor
punishment only by the director
prisons, and after full trial with ev
dence taken on oath. It is signifcal
of the Improvement which is takir
place in the convict prisons that, viii
in 1871, of $500 prisoners, nearly ha
received punishments, in l884-5, out
It prisoners numbering nearly 100 NOR
2 under 5000 were punished. 1t is sati
g factory, also, to know that the avera.
h number of prisoners under sentence
. penal servitude is gradually decreasin
u Notwithstanding an increase of popul
: ton of five millions, there were G
8 March 81, 1885, only $3.50 persons
Q penal servitude, instead of H. $50
4 1869. At the same time the averat
number of prisoners in the ordnal
prisons has also fallen from 10000
" 1869 to 1900 in 1884, and the lowe
Is figure known, in February, 1885,
n 1878, while the percentage of ext
e punishments in prison has fallen p
q cent; and the most striking proof of il
q provement is that the death rate b
d fallen per l,000 and the average nui
IS Der of suicides from II a year to IS
n year. 1t is certain, therefore, that t
q adoption of the reformatory, and huma
l. system of prison discipline has not co
n tributed to the increase of the numb
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