The Monmouth inquirer., 1907-01-31
PENAL SETTLEMENTS.
where Prisoners Who Are Deported
Go For Life.

where Prisoners Who Are Dep0rted
Co For Life.
France, Spain, Portugal. Russia and
Turkey are today the only European
countries which transport their crimi-
nails, and there are signs that this form
of punishment will not be contin ed
much longer by civilized nations.
STA has already diminished the nuD
Of offenses for which Siberia is -
penalty -
France has two penal settleme
one the island of New Caledonia, W n
lies northeast of Australia, the oth@
French Guiana Caledonia, or lie =
has often been described as a son : q
inferno. AS matter of fact, it is ~
best managed convict island in the
world. The climate is not bad, anasthe
convicts can gain by good CONDUCT
pleasures and privileges unheard al. in
British prisons. tsur
Convicts form the working classes of
the island. They stroll about unshac-
killed. and unguarded. They can smoke
cigarettes and buy little wine. The
better class act as BARRIERS, walters, en-
gineers and stokers and can earn about
fiyepence day.
The birch and the cat-o'-nine-tails are
unknown in the island, the punishment
being the '.cachot," or black cell. A
few hours or days in this living tomb
is usually enough for any of them,
however refractory. They come out
like lambs. Bad as is the lash. it Isl
nothing compared with sentence Of
five years in the "cachot" with only
one hour of light in each thirty days ].
Cayenne is very different The,Gll-
mate is about as bad as bad cand,e.
The work is principally masonry WIND
clearing land. In case of mutiny hoses
are ready charged with scalding water.
The least, infringement of the rigid dis
cipIine is visited with cruel punish
ment. One Of the commonest is to re-
duce a man to one meal a day, and
that nothing but bread and Water.
Death follows any attack on v'ltrder,
whether injury is inflicted or noiS The
food, all except the bread, is wr,sschedl
The most horrible of the penal col
onies in existence at present are uni
doubtedly those of Spain at Ceuta and
Fernando Pc. The latter placeyis ar
island in the blight of Biafia The aver
age temperature all the year rouRd /
nearly so degrees, and the heaf is 2
damp kind, most trying to Euro eanS
The horrors which Cuban patriots u1
derwent in Fernando Pc are not to b
matched in Siberia itself. Three OF
of five died before they had been Their
two years.
Oddly enough, Portugal manage
these matters much better than doe
Spain. She sends most of her cor
victs to Goa, on the coast of India, o
to her East African possessions. HA
system resembles that of New Cali
donia, but is less strict. In fact Pa
tuguese convicts do very little hard y
Dor. They are allowed almost coi
plete liberty so long as they do M
leave the limits of the settlement
which they are assigned. At MoZaH
bique you may see government offfcia
playing billiards with convicts of gol
birth.
When a Turkish political prisoner
sentenced to be deported to Tripoli
to the Euphrates, his friends bid hi
farewell They know that they W
never see him again alive and in
probability never hear of him agt
unless enormous sums are forthcoi
ing to bride scores of different officia
In fact, the only difference between
death sentence in Turkey and one
transportation is that the former
more rapid and merciful. The govei
ment prefers the latter, because it
less public Now and then, howev
news leaks through-of poor Midi
Pasha, for instance. it is known Il
near Bagdad his brutal guards b.
out his brains with the butt ends
their rifes.-London Answers.