PRISONS 



423 



some amelioration of his treatment. Commencing 

 with penal or first-class hard labour with sleeping 

 on a wooden bed on which there is no mattress, 

 and with great restrictions as to books, letters, and 

 visits he gradually gains animprovementin each of 

 these matters, and in each stage accumulates a small 

 sum, larger in the higher stages than in the lower, 

 which is either given him or laid out for his benefit 

 on lib discharge. If in spite of these encourage- 

 ments he still fails to conduct himself in conformity 

 with the regulations, he may be subjected to 

 punishment by deprivation of diet, confinement in 

 a cell which is nearly dark, and in case of violence 

 corporal punishment with a birch or a cat-of-nine- 

 taifs. Tne necessity for these punishments has, 

 however, very largely diminished a result of the 

 system of progressive stages; for if ill-conducted or 

 idle his progress into the higher stages is delayed, 

 or he may be degraded into a lower stage after 

 attaining to a higher. Comparing the number of 

 dietary punishments in 1877 (the last year before the 

 prisons were brought under the government) with 

 the number in 1890, it is found that while the prison 

 population has diminished by one-third, this form 

 of punishment is less by one-naif. Certain powers 

 for the infliction of punishment reside with the 

 governor, but corporal punishment or heavier 

 sentences than he is empowered to award can 

 only be inflicted by order of the magistrates who 

 form the visiting committee of each prison, or by 

 a commissioner. 



The visiting committee are appointed every year 

 hy quarter sessions, about twelve to each prison. 

 Their duty is to visit the prison periodically, to 

 hear any complaints of the prisoners, to deal with 

 reports made of the misconduct of any prisoners, 

 and to fulfil certain other functions more particu- 

 larly laid down in the rules made by the Secretary 

 of State ; but they have no authority over the 

 officers. In fact, whereas up till 1878 the local 

 authorities managed the prison, and the govern- 

 ment inspected it, the position is now reversed, the 

 government manages and the local justices inspect. 

 A cardinal principle of the prison system is that 

 every prisoner under sentence should be fully 

 employed, but the description of employment varies 

 in the different stages of the sentence. On first 

 reception, and for a month at least, hard penal 

 labour is exacted from everybody sentenced to hard 

 labour, according to their strength and capacity. 

 The tread-wheel or crank is the typical form of this 

 ' first-class hard labour," as it is called ; stone-break- 

 ing, oakum-picking, and some other forms of labour 

 are enforced in the case of prisoners who are unfit 

 for the tread-wheel. After this industrial labour is 

 allowed, according to the capabilities of the 

 prisoner, and forms a relief from the dull monotony 

 of the first-class hard labour. A large proportion 

 of the prisoners supply the wants of the prison 

 population by weaving, tailoring, &c. , and the 

 list of trades followed or articles maxle in the 

 prisons enumerated in the annual reports reaches 

 to about 150 ; but, as may be imagined, there is a 

 large numl>er of prisoners who know of no industry 

 which can lie followed in a prison cell, and great 

 difficulty is found in providing them with work, for 

 they do not generally stop long enough to learn a 

 trade to any good purpose. Mat-making and 

 matting-weaving, which was, it is believed, intro- 

 duced many years ago as a prison industry, is a 

 trade which Is very easily learned ; but the same 

 reason which recommends it for prison purposes 

 makes it appropriate for many charitable institu- 

 tiimH, such as blind schools, &c., and enables free 

 persons who are incapacitated for other work to 

 find employment at it. These latter are naturally 

 anxious to diminish the competition of prison 

 labour in their trade, though it forms now an 



exceedingly small part of that which they have to 

 contend with, for the product of machinery and 

 foreign and colonial labour, besides the introduc- 

 tion of rival materials to serve the same object, 

 far exceeds the output from the labour of prisoners 

 in this country. The number of prisoners employed 

 in this industry has, however, by the efforts of the 

 prison authorities, been diminished from nearly 3200 

 to 747, whose work is, for the reasons given above 

 and because of the necessary conditions of prison 

 labour, probably not more than that of one-fourth 

 or one-fifth the same number of free labourers. 



Every prison has its medical officer, and a well- 

 regulated and well-constructed infirmary. The 

 death-rate has decreased from 10'8 per 1000 to 8'2 

 per 1000 in prisons in England and Wales. The 

 absence of all diseases due to insanitary conditions 

 is the main reason of the healthy condition of the 

 prisoners ; and no doubt the strict temperance for 

 no alcoholic liquors form part of the dietary 

 and the regular life contribute to this result. 



In order that the standard of efficiency may be 

 maintained in all ths prisons, and that opportunities 

 may be given to both officers and prisoners to com- 

 municate any complaints they may have to make, 

 inspectors are appointed to visit each prison at 

 least monthly, and to report to the commissioners 

 on any point which may require their intervention. 

 From the time when the prisons were taken over 

 by the government in 1878 there has been a very 

 large and almost uninterrupted diminution in the 

 number of prisoners, who form the prison popu- 

 lation. In June 1878 there were 21, 030 prisoners, 

 and the average number during that year was 

 19,818 ; in the prisons in England and Wales in 

 June 1890 there were 14,122, and the average 

 number of prisoners during the year 1890 was 

 13,495. It would be absurd to claim this result as 

 all due to any change of prison management, but 

 there can be no doubt that this has had its share 

 in the result, just as in former years bad prison 

 management was a potent cause of the increase of 

 crime. 



The indication of the diminution of crime 

 which is afforded by these prison statistics is 

 fully corroborated by those which are derived 

 from other sources. It is found that during the 

 fifteen years 1875-90, while the population has 

 increased by about 25 per cent., the number of 

 convictions for what is in ordinary language con- 

 sidered a crime i.e. offences involving dishonesty, 

 violence, &c. instead of increasing in proportion 

 with the population, has progressively diminished 

 by about 12J per cent. ; there were 238,680 con- 

 victions, summary and on indictment, for such 

 crimes in 1873-74, and only 203,808 in 1887-88. 

 Convictions for drunkenness are also much fewer 

 185,730 in 1873-74 and 166,366 in 1887-88; 

 and if it were not for the increase in the number 

 of commitments for offences against the educa- 

 tion acts for breach of bylaws and the like, 

 which are rather offences against social discipline 

 than crimes the total number of commitments 

 would have very largely diminished. The police 

 returns show too that the number of the criminal 

 classes has decreased by about 22 per cent., and 

 the number of disorderly houses has shown a corre- 

 sponding diminution. 



The design and construction of a prison is, as 

 may be supposed, a feature of the very first import- 

 ance. Security is of course one of the essentials, 

 but there are others almost as important. In look- 

 ing over old prisons one cannot but be struck with 

 the massiveness of construction of many of them 

 the huge bars and bolts, the large clumsy 

 locks, the ponderous grated doors, and, some- 

 times chained to the wall, the heavy fetters with 

 which the prisoners were loaded. In the old 



