:206 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN' INSTITUTE. 



PRISON TiEFORM. 



By a. M. Rosebrugh, M. D. 



[Abstract of a papier read before the Canadian Institute, ISSU]. 



The claim that prison reform had its origin in the bosom of the 

 chui-ch is not an idle claim. Pope Clement XI., in 1703, wrote 

 over the door of the Roman prison of St. Michele : Parum est imjjro- 

 bos coercere fiend, nisi lii'obos efficias disciplind. * But prison reform 

 has been a plant of slow growth, and it was not until long after the 

 death of John Howard, the prison philanthi'opist, that prison reform 

 took practical shape. Howard was the means of inaugurating a more 

 humane treatment of prisoners, but the pi-inciple enunciated by 

 Clement XI., is not even yet fully recognized. Penologists believe 

 that while incorrigible criminals sliould be permanently incarcerated, 

 the corrigible ones should be reformed by discipline, by labour, secular 

 and religious instiuction, etc., and that short of this our penal insti- 

 tutions are a failure — ^crime is not diminished, and society is not 

 protected. 



Among the means that have been found to be of most service in 

 effecting the reformation of pi-isoners, the following ai-e considei'ed 

 the most important, namely — Classification, Industrial Employment, 

 Indeterminate Sentences, Clonditional Liberation, Secular and Reli- 

 gious Education, and Prisoners' Aid Societies. 



1. Classification. — The most important requirement in the refor- 

 mation of prisoners is classification. Very little can be accomplished 

 in the reformation of prisoners while old offenders are allowed to 

 associate with other prisonei-s. There is but one remedy and that is 

 the absolute separation of the prisonei"s, so that no prisoner shall 

 come in contact with any other prisoner. No half measures will 

 suffice ; no gi'ouping into classes is of any avail ; the choice must be 

 between separation and contamination. 



As about ^ of all prisoners, on an average, are kei)t in county jails, 



* It is useless to imprison criminals unless you reform them by discipline. 



