64 BULLETIN 414, U. S. DEPAETMEISTT OF AGRICULTURE. 



of character among convicts and toward the substitution of rewards 

 for penalties as far as possible can best be furthered by the adoption 

 of a graded system of discipline in which both the guard system and 

 the honor system have a place. The method of classification must 

 necessarily be determined with respect to particular local condi- 

 tions, and the following suggested system is presented as an example 

 to indicate the proper bases of classification rather than as a recom- 

 mendation for general adoption. 



Class I. — This class should be quartered at the State penitentiary 

 or the county workhouse or concentration camp. All recruits should 

 be received into this class to remain a sufficient length of time to 

 permit a determination of their character to be made. While they 

 remain, they should be employed in the prison shops or at such 

 indoor industries as may be provided where there is no elaborate 

 prison estabhshment. As soon as they are classified they should be 

 distributed among the other grades, and only those who are appar- 

 ently best fitted for shop or indoor work should remain permanently 

 in this class. 



Class II. — To this class should be assigned all convicts who are 

 evidently best fitted for hard outdoor work, but who are of such des- 

 perate and untrustworthy character as to require constant guarding, 

 and whom it would be impossible to employ outside of an inclosure 

 without shackhng and clothing in striped uniforms. This class may 

 very properly be employed within an inclosed stone quarry, a brick 

 plant, or on a large farm, where the convicts can be entirely with- 

 drawn from all contact with the public. They should be clothed in 

 such distinctive clothing as stripes, which will attract immediate 

 attention in case of escape owing to the fact that under this system 

 convicts regularly employed in pubhc will not be so clothed. 



Class III. — ^This class should include convicts of a less dangerous 

 nature than those assigned to Class II, and of such kind as to permit 

 of their employment on the pubfic roads without shackles or striped 

 clothing and under a relatively fight guard. They should be employed 

 on works of heavy grading or in exposed quarries or at other work 

 which is weU adapted to the employment of gangs of not less than 

 10 men each. Convicts of this class may be clad in blue uniforms. 



Class IV. — To this class should be assigned all convicts well fitted 

 for outdoor work who can be trusted to work under the honor sys- 

 tem. Clad in suitable uniforms they may be employed to advantage 

 on all classes of road work. As an incentive to labor and good con- 

 duct, a small daily compensation should be provided for convicts of 

 this class, and such compensation could be paid readily from the 

 amount saved by the elimination of guards. 



Class V. — This class should consist of convicts paroled from Class 

 IV, who should be given an opportunity to serve their paroles as 



