St. Landry democrat., 1890-08-23
SOME PRISON SYSTEMS.

If clothed in Jesus righteousness,
Will open Heavens gate'''
SOME PRISON SYSTEMS.
VARIETIES OF TREATMENT IN EUROPEAN
COUNTRIES.
The British penal system, is, though in
some respects the most equal, unquestion-
ably the most severe. The misdemeanani
sentenced to two years Imprisonment with
hard labor cannot obtain a single days re-
mission by good conduct. and he is not
allowed to spend in prison tbs smallest
fraction of the money which he earns.
His choice of work is also limited mostly
to matmaking, tailoring and shoemaking.
he may be skilled mechanic or artist, or
matchmaker, turner, carver, engraver,
miniature painter, or draughtsman-he
will find no employment of his talents
within Jail, and may, in fact, be set to
work which will spoil his hands. and for
time cripple his power of earning his
living after his discharge The felon
condemned to penal servitude stands in the
same case with respect to work He may
earn promotion to second and first class
with small Improvements in his diet and
eventually ticket of leave by good marks:
! SoS uhhpACGo AoA t1C tdSh diiOtLGu To III IN
or i'll health may render him incapable of
earning the daily maximum of eight marks
and thus place him at disadvantage be-
sides old and cunning prison "hands" In
all foreign countries the discretionary
powers allowed to prison governors for the
treatment of their captives are much great
or than in England.
CHAOS IN FRANCE.
IN Eroroo
duced SO much haphazard legislation that
the whole penal system has been reduced
to chaos In 1872 it was resolved that
convicts of the worst kind should be trans
ported to New Caledonia. There they
were to be employed in public works or
agriculture, and after a probationary
period they were to receive allotments of
lands, with permission to marry female
convicts or sweethearts at home who cared
to go out and join them. Ii already mar
ried, their wives and children, and sup
posing the wives to be willing, were to be
sent out to them at the State expense
This phllanthropical scheme, which
made the lot of the murderer, the incen-
diary and thrice convicted felon much
preferable to that of the recius onnistie
sentenced TO five or ten years solitary con-
6nenent (reclusion) for felonies of the
secoi,d degree, proved the incentive to
nun ter Of murders in and out of prison
convict III me French penitentiaries be-
gan TO cumusit murderous assaults upon
their warGars in order to be sent cover
the wafer, while burglars, when caught,
deliberately attacked their captors with
knife or revolver, so as to aggravate their
crimes and qualify themselves for trans
portation.
The legislature had at last to interfere
by enacting that no convict should be tran
sported for any offense committed within
prison walls, and subsequently an act was
passed compelling convicts sentenced to
lengthy terms of penal servitude (travaux
forces) for murder to undergo the first five
years of their punishment in reclusion.
But, as consequence OF all this, the
French penal system has got completely
out of orcer, and additional confusion has
been thrown into it by the arbitrary man
ner in which mitigation. remissions and
pardons are now granted.
These irregularities are made much
worse by the fact tina. French prison gov
errors are themselves in these days gener-
ally the nominees of members of parlia-
nent, and either out of gratitude or in ex-
pectation of future benefits they curry
A0NoA "4SA shCli po1LOAS Wy pCGtluR LILO
prisoners whom the latter recommend. II
follows that the convicts who have no po-
litical friends to care for them spend a
very bad time indeed. The governor, by
his rigor toward them, makes up for his
leniency toward his proteges. If sen
fenced to reclusion they are like men in
tombed.
BELG UM's PERFECT SYSTEM
In Belgium the system of solitary con-
fnement has been brought almost to per
lection by keeping up the constant stimu-
lus OF hope in the prisoner. If he have
trade he works at it if he wishes to learn
trade he is taught by a skilled Instructor;
if he have no special aptitude for handi-
craft he is employed in work that can be
easily learned in few lessons
This plan is also followed in the prison
of Switzerland, Germany aud Austria and
Hungary In these countries, as in Eng
land, there have been occasional outcries
about the competition between prison
labor and free labor, bu. when it is con-
sidered how small proportion the popula |
ton OF prisoners bears to that of free men
the latter cannot be said to have griev-
ance. The Austrian system is, however, |
much less humane than the Belgian, in |
that it leaves q convict's liberation to the |
mercy of the prison authorities. There |
are no marks, but once year the gov |
ernor, chaplain, Doctor and chief warder
meet to draw up list of deserving con-
victs, whose names are submitted to the |
emperor.
According to all reports these lists are
drawn up fairly still the fact remains that |
a prisoner must occasionally owe more to
favor than to his own deserts. Again, the
code of prison d ssipline Is much harsber
in Austria than in Belgium, where the
dark padded cell is Blu: rarely used, and
where deprivation of work and pay for one
day or more is generally found an all suf-
fcient punishment. To begin with, in
Austria every convict's sentence bears thst
his punishment shall be 'sharpened" by
a certain number of fast days The ami
Of the crime for which he was
is always spent in dark cell,
with not morsel of food, but only water.
for twenty four hours. In some cases
prisoner has to undergo one of these fast
days per month, and they are frequently
inflicted by the governor for insu bordina-
tion.-7enepie Bar.
Swimmers Are Like Poets.
Boys, as rule, should begin to learn
how to swim when seven years old. No
one is too old to learn how to swim If he