508 REMARKS ON 



convicted of the most flagrant outrages upon society, 

 exerts upon the former. The experience of our 

 prisons testifies to the fact. Can it he expected, 

 then, that the same aofalomeration of bad characters 

 in Tasmania should be harmless ? I foretell that 

 this part of the new system will be shortly aban- 

 doned, and that at any rate the men will be provided 

 with separate cabins for sleeping berths. The 

 granting the prisoners occasional holidays of a week, 

 would have a o^reat effect in whettino: their desire 

 to finally obtain their liberty ; and a change or im- 

 provement in their apparel, in proportion to their 

 good conduct, would also be very beneficial. 



In my opinion, however, the system of concen- 

 tration is radically defective. It supposes the 

 existence in the breasts of criminals of a principle 

 of action, and a desire of improvement and of a 

 change in their condition sufficiently powerful to 

 enable them to resist the temptations to vice held 

 out by habitual intercourse with the depraved. 

 No doubt there are individuals to be found, even 

 among those who have incurred the penalty of 

 banishment from their native country, of firm cha- 

 racter and strong sympathy for virtue ; but the 

 majority must of course consist of men almost inca- 

 pable of resisting momentary impulses, of weak or 

 perverted understandings, of strong animal pas- 

 sions, naturally or from habit averse to what is 

 good, and prone to that which is bad. In such 

 cases association must inevitably be pernicious ; 



