704 



PRISON DISCIPLINE. 



intercourse with the convict. The Sunday school 

 may communicate the most valuable information on 

 many subjects ; and every improper influence may be, 

 and ought to be, absolutely excluded. It is this 

 system of addressing the intellectual and moral 

 qualities of man, of treating the convict as a being 

 of a compound nature both physical and spiritual 

 that constitutes the peculiar merit of the prison 

 discipline, which is now about to be introduced. 

 No new discovery has been made, unless it be con- 

 sidered on that criminals may sometimes be made 

 susceptible of moral influences. It is only the 

 adaptation of well-known principles to a new class 

 of subjects. It is merely carrying to the lowest, 

 the most ignorant, and the most degraded class, 

 that plan of education which is nearly universal 

 among us, and which should be entirely so every 

 where. The exercise of mere force, which has 

 been so long considered the only means of punish- 

 ment, is at length yielding to the rapidly strength- 

 ening conviction of the superior efficacy of moral 

 influence.* There are yet many to whom this 

 notion appears strange; who are not convinced that 

 the liardened criminal can be persuaded by any 

 thing but stripes or chains ; by physical suffering, 

 in short, in some one of its many hideous forms. 

 To this it may be replied, in the first place, that if 

 nothing else can affect him, corporeal inflictions 

 alone certainly will not. Bodily suffering, imposed 

 by his fellow mortal, has rarely awakened in the 

 criminal any thing but fear, hatred, the obdurate 

 spirit of revenge, or despair, sullen, dark, and terri- 

 ble. In the next place, experience has proved that 

 those who are, apparently, the most hardened in a 

 course of crime, may be operated on, may be posi- 

 tively reclaimed, by the use of moral and intellectual 

 means. For the evidence of this fact, we refer to 

 the Third Report of the Boston Prison Discipline 

 Society, where it is stated in a manner which seems 

 to us conclusive. Again, it may be remarked, that 

 even on the supposition that the experienced villain 

 could not, by any possibility, be reformed, that the 

 crimson dye could not be washed out, it by no 

 means follows that mortal influences may not be 

 usefully applied within the prison walls. The class 

 of incorrigible reprobates is 'small. The great 

 majority have committed their offences, either 

 through deplorable ignorance, which may be re- 

 moved ; through the power of temptation, against 

 which they may be strengthened ; or through the 

 inexperienced rashness of youth, which may be 

 better trained. f 

 It may be imagined by those to whom the subject 



* It may be proper to say, that, by the term moral influence 

 we mean not merely the effects which may be produced by 

 the inculcation of correct moral principles, but the influence 

 of every motive that can be addressed to the understanding 

 or the affections. 



t " After spending much time among- prisoners," says Mr 

 Hopkins, "and seeing much of the desolations of crime, I 

 have not ceased to feel that, bad as these men are, there is 

 much in their condition to call for our pity, even without 

 looking to the realities of a future retribution. Certainly, 

 their very crimes deserve our commiseration. When we see 

 some left without guidance or instruction in youth : others 

 stupid and gullible, or decoyed into vice by lures of which 

 they could not be aware, or, in possible cases, driven into 

 criminality hy pressing want or danger j it is impossible to 

 withhold from them the tear of compassion. 1 have visited 

 those who, in an agony of grief, told the story of their own 

 ruin. Very few of them are without the sympathies of our 

 common nature. Many at Auburn are often melted to tears 

 under the preaching of an eloquent and able minister there; 

 one who has told me, that, of all congregations, he delighted 

 most to preach to prisoners. 1 have aUo heard them sobbing 

 in great numbers, at a few words spoken to them in public, 

 by Mr Powers, in which he alluded to the situation and feel- 

 ings of their friends. We must avoid extremes in judging of 

 them. They are not the innocent victims of unjust laws; but 

 neither are they all demons. They are men, though greatly 

 fallen. They deserve punishment. They ought to receive 

 it. not lesa fcr their own benefit than for that of society." 



is new, that the application cf these means must be 

 expensive. But, in fact, the direct expense of pri- 

 sons, conducted upon the former system, is ten-fold 

 greater; and the indirect cost, or that which arises 

 from the education in crime, given by that plan of 

 mutual instruction in villany, is incalculable. The 

 labour, which is an essential ingredient in the 

 scheme, may, by proper management, be made so 

 productive, that the prison shall support itself, in- 

 cluding the salaries of all the officers; and in many 

 cases, in America, much more has been done, a 

 large revenue accruing to the state from the labour 

 of its convicts. Such effects to the same extent are 

 not to be expected in other countries, where the 

 value of labour does not bear so high a proportion 

 to the necessaries and luxuries of life; still, where- 

 ever the labour of an able bodied man will support 

 him without, it may be made, by judicious manage- 

 ment, to support him within, the walls of the prison. 

 The distinction which is made between the produc- 

 tiveness of voluntary and that of involuntary labour 

 does not hold ; for it is one of the effects of the 

 Auburn discipline, to make the labour voluntary; 

 and we venture to say, that under no circumstances, 

 not even where the stimulus of profit is applied in 

 its greatest extent, is there better evidence of active 

 and willing industry than in well conducted prisons. 

 What is done in one place niay be done in another, 

 by skilfully adapting the labour of the prisoners to 

 the wants of the community, of which they form a 

 part, and to the personal powers and knowledge of 

 the convicts. But it is not upon its economy that 

 we should choose principally to rest the claims of 

 the Auburn system of discipline to general favour. 

 It certainly should not be forgotten or omitted, 

 in the enumeration of its advantages, and it may be 

 an important inducement to its introduction. But 

 of what moment is it, compared with the great 

 object of relieving society from insecurity of life 

 and property? Of what importance is it, compared 

 with the still more glorious purpose of reclaiming 

 the wandering, the lost, the outcast wretch, who 

 may yet be made the source of the joy which is felt 

 over the repenting sinner? It is not a mere fiction 

 of the imagination, that such effects may be pro- 

 duced. They have been produced. It is well 

 known that rogues have a great dread of the pri- 

 sons where this system is introduced ; that they re- 

 sort to other places to commit the offences which 

 would expose them to its restraints; and that many 

 have been restored by it from habits of profligacy, 

 to those of, at least, comparative virtue.* Such 

 results as these are of incalculable value. They 

 cannot well be estimated by the cost of the means 

 of producing them; and were it more expensive 

 than other systems, this would be but a trifling ob- 

 jection to a plan which resulted in the attainment 

 of such beneficent ends. But, as the facts are, no 

 sufficient objection can be made to the endeavour 

 to introduce a system which, after long trial, has 

 produced no evil and much good. The more it is 

 extended, and the more faithfully it is carried into 

 execution, the more will its excellent tendencies be 

 developed ; and it is only from the imperfection of 

 the agents, or the slight degree of attention which 

 is given to the subject, that any doubt can arise as 

 to its utility, or its practicable nature. The most 

 important requisite to its successful execution is, 

 the suitable qualification of the superintendent; and 

 it is no ordinary combination of powers and quali- 

 ties, which will render a man fit to take charge of 

 the refractory subjects of legal punishment. He. 

 must be one whose moral correctness of deportment 



* See Fourth Heport of Boston Prison Discipline Society. 



