136 REPORT— 1867. 



various localities, and under tlie difi'erent opinions and practices of visiting magis- 

 trates. He showed that the character of tlie law was far less influential than the 

 mode of administration — that the statistics of prisons have no uniform character, 

 no common sj'stem of accountancy — that the returns, when accessible, are fre- 

 quently unintelligible — that the amount of infliction and the mode of punishment 

 depend much more on the practice of the local magistracy than on the award of 

 the judges, and that parliamentary requirements are utterly inoperative where the 

 inefiiciency or resistance of prison ofliciaLs are associated with indiflerence, routine 

 habits, or erroneous notions on the part of the justices. A committee, of which Sir 

 John was chairman, was established by order of the Coui-t of Quarter Sessions in 

 Devon, to ascertain whether, under the conditions of the existing Acts of Parlia- 

 ments, prison labour could be made remuneratory, and at the same time reforming. 

 The Devon County Prison presents one of the most remarkable instances of the 

 utter waste of labour — of the repudiation of labour as a means of instructing and 

 moralizing the convict — of the indiscriminating application of what is called the 

 deten-ent system iu aU its bitterness and severity ; groimded on the theory that the 

 criminal ought never to be the subject of pity, but only of pimishment — that the 

 prison is to be no school where hope is to enter, but a solitude where trades are 

 to be taught — where industry is not to be encouraged — where there is to be nothing 

 but isolation, profitless labour, and suffering. Coimtry justices have not been 

 remarljable for extreme sensitiveness ; but it might be expected that the desire to 

 lessen the county rates, by getting something out of the sweat of the misdemean- 

 ant, would luive some influence upon prison administration. 



The committee circulated two series of questions, one general the other special. 

 The first was intended to elicit the opinions of those who had most attended to 

 questions of prison discipline as to the connexion between labour and reformation — 

 the action of the cellular system — the use of the treadmill, and, generally, the prac- 

 ticability of making labour profitable under present parliamentary reqiuremeuts. 

 The second question was intended to elicit from various independent sources the 

 results exhibited by the different practices of different gaols. 



The various returns attached to the Ileport of the De^on Committee invite com- 

 parisons and present contrasts which would seemimpossible (as they are incredible) 

 in a country subject to the same legislation, to the same inspectoral system, a country 

 of inquiry, and in which the topic of prison discipline lias been frequently discussed. 

 The simple truth is that the amount of independent action allowed to the county 

 magistracy — the inability of the central authority to cope with local influences — 

 the "independence" and "irresponsibility" of justices of the peace — habits of 

 routine — love of power — " esprit de corps "■ — fear of innovation and other sinister 

 influences and interests have resisted reforms and maintained abuses to an extent 

 beyond tlie power of calculation. Take one illustrative fact as regards cost. In 

 the convict prisons of Scotland the annual expenses per head are £7 less than in 

 the convict prisons of England. Another as regards principle. In the sixty prisons 

 in Scotland there is not a single treadmill ; there is a unanimity of opinion uu- 

 friendlj' to its use. In the county of De\"on at this moment a treadmill is being 

 erected at an enormous cost, and with the declaration of the visiting justices, that 

 it is not believed any profit can be made fi-om it. 



The cost of crime in prisons is considerably more than a million sterling per 

 annum ; the cost of crime out of prison is tenfold greater. The number of the 

 crimiual classes at large is thrice as great as that of the criminal classes in confine- 

 ment. In England the yearly net expense of the prisoner is more than double that 

 of France, more than treble that in the United States and in many of the best re- 

 gulated European prisons. 



Prison discipline comes under two special heads, the vindictive and the refor- 

 matory ; in other words, the instruments of pain and pleasure, of fears and hopes to 

 be applied to the eradication or diminution of crime. In some men the desire to 

 punish is stronger than the desire to reform ; in some the desire to reform is 

 stronger than the desire to punish. Sound policy would connect the employment 

 of both with a ^iew to maximiziug good and minimizing evil ; and labour is or 

 ought to be the instrument for accomplishing each of these praiseworthy objects. 

 Now, by the almost unanimous and emphatic consent of the highest authorities. 



