418 



I'll! SONS 



employed on useful labour. Chap. 74 of the 19th 

 Geo. III., after reciting that 'the punishment of 

 felons and other offenders by transportation to His 

 Majesty's Colonies ami Plantations in Ameiic.i i- 

 attended with many Hitl'milties,' mnl enacting that 

 such offenders might be transported elsewhere, and 

 that offenders who might he sentenced to ! Imrned 

 in the hand might instead be fined or whip|>cd, 

 proceeds to say that 'whereas, if many offenders 

 convicted of crimes for which Transportation hath 

 usually been inflicted were ordered to solitary im- 

 prisonment accompanied by weU-raenlctod labour 

 and religious instruction, it might be the means 

 under Providence not only of debarring others from 

 the commission of the like crimes, l>ut aUo of re- 

 forming the individuals and inviting them to habits 

 of industry, it shall be lawful to appoint supervisors 

 who shall erect penitentiaries where such persons 

 may be ordered to imprisonment and hard labour.' 

 The first hulks were established in 1778; and this 

 fatal temporary expedient serves to illustrate the 

 sarcasm as to the superior permanency of tem- 

 porary expedients, for the last hulk was not closed 

 until a fire destroyed it in I s.">7 ; and in fact they 

 hod a perfect representative in Gibraltar prison, 

 which was constructed on the model of a hulk and 

 developed all the iniquities of these establishments, 

 and which was only closet) in 1875 after strenuous 

 opposition to its abolition by the local naval and 

 military authorities. Many years were destined 

 to pass before the permanent penitentiary system 

 became a fact. Great efforts were mode to revive 

 the transportation system, and in 1787 a new penal 

 colony was founded in Australia. This with the 

 hulks continued to form the punishment next in 

 gravity to capital execution until the last hulk 

 was closed in 1S.">7 and the lost batch of convicts 

 was sent to Western Australia in 1867. It is 

 not necessary to describe the hulk system, if 

 system that can be called in which the inmates 

 were herded together in unchecked association, 

 where 'vice, profaneness, and demoralisation' 

 developed, as might be expected, among persons of 

 the basest character, of whom the worst and the 

 most demoralised were likely soon to take the lead, 

 and reduce all down to their own level. They 

 were described by a committee of the House of 

 Commons in 1832 as ' well fed, well clothed, indulg- 

 ing in riotous enjoyment by night, with moderate 

 labour by day, so that life in tliem is considered "a 

 pretty jolly fife."' But the hulks nourished in full 

 vigour for many years after this date ; and in fact no 

 attempt was then made to abolish them, which was 

 the only way to put an end to the evils so forcibly 

 commented on. 



The history of the phases through which the con- 

 trol and supervision of the hulks passed is, how- 

 ever, of consequence, as it explains the present 

 administration of the convict prisons and shows 

 what methods failed, and furnishes warnings against 

 adopting certain suggestions that are mode from 

 timn to time. The bulks were at first, like all 

 other prisons, placed under the management of the 

 local justices, who appointed the overseer, and 

 the overseer appointed the officers ; the justices 

 also made the over r contractor for the main- 

 tenance of the prisoners, and as it was obviously 

 his interest as contractor to cut short the supplies 

 of food and clothing for the prisoners, they therefore 

 by this measure contrived that his interest should 



li.i trieally opposed to his duty and to the 



welfare of the prisoner- in his charge. The super- 

 vision of the hulks resided in the Court of King's 

 Bench, who steadrlv neglected their duty, and the 

 inspector provided for by parliament was not 

 appointed. In course of tune and by degrees the 

 Home SiN-retary usur|>ed power over these estab- 

 lishment*, and his action was endorsed by parlia- 



ment in 1815; and their connection with the King's 

 Itcnch was severed in 1825. An inspector was 

 appointed, and after that a superintendent ; and 

 after some other changes the control and adminis- 

 tration of the hulks was in 1850 vested in the 

 Board of Directors ot Convict Prisons, with whom it 

 now rests. Thecontrol ol 'Millliank Prison. IVnton- 

 ville I'rison, and 1'arkhurst Reformatory was con- 

 fided to the same body. 



Transportation to Australia, which was com- 

 menced in 1787, for many years provided for only a 

 small part of the persons subjected to that sentence 

 or whose capital sentences were commuted for 

 transportation. I'm II ISIli an average of only 474 

 prisoners was transported annually to Australia, 

 after that the average rose to 3000, and in 1834 

 amounted to 4920. Transportation in its most 

 flourishing da\s was characterised by evils which 

 rivalled if they did not sometimes surpass tho-e of 

 the hulks. 



\\hilst, however, it was in full vigour a step 

 was taken, feebly and slowly indeed, towards the 

 creation of the penitentiaries intended in 1770 

 to form a permanent substitute for transpor- 

 tation to America. Millliank Prison (q.v. ) provided 

 means for the confinement of every prisoner in 

 absolute separation, according to the modern 

 doctrine, and it was intended that his treatment 

 should be on the most advanced reformatory s\>t em : 

 but this experiment mnt no further at this time. 

 In 1838 the existence of the terrible evils which 

 attended the transportation system were formally 

 established by the report of a commission, who said 

 that the system was unequal, without tenor- to 

 the criminal class, corrupting to both convict and 

 colonist, and very expensive, and they recommended 

 punishment in penitentiaries instead. 



Various improvements in the Millliank system 

 were introduced after this, and finally in isrj it 

 took the form of passing the convicts through two 

 stages of discipline in certain prisons at home 

 before sending them to complete their sentences in 

 one of the colonies. The first of these stages was 

 passed in a prison in which each inmate was kept 

 in complete separation ami liroiight under influences 

 by which it was hoped to lay the foundation of a 

 reform in his character ; the second in a prison in 

 which he was employed in useful public works in 

 regulated association, but confined in a cell by him- 

 self by night and at all times when not at work or 

 in chapel. The complete efficiency of this stage 

 was at first marred by a certain number of convicts 

 being placed in association at night, but for some 

 time past the separation has been thoroughly 

 carried out, the only exception being in the cases 

 of prisoners who on medical grounds cannot pro- 

 peny 1> left alone. The first stage was regulated 

 according to the system adopted, first experiment 

 ally, at the new model prison at Pentonville which 

 had been erected in 184'J. When the experiment 

 had been proved to be successful, convicts wen- 

 sent to undergo it at Millliank I'rison and at other 

 prisons of which the construction was suitable. 



In those early days of the formation of the con- 

 vict system the confinement of prisoners in complete 

 separation was regarded with great prejudice. 

 This arose from the reiKirts of its results in certain 

 prisons in America, where it had been some years 

 before carried out with the accompaniments of 

 darkness, absolute solitude, absence of uy employ- 

 ment, ami unwholesome sanitary conditions. It 

 was therefore decided after some experiments, and 

 as a sort of compromi.se with the prejudices aliove 

 referred to, that the period of separation should be 

 limited to nine months. Since the date when this 

 decision was arrived at much greater experience 

 has been gained, and the unsoundnessof the grounds 

 on which this limitation was founded has been fully 



