64 BULLETIN 414, U. S. DEPARTMENT 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 establishment. 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 shackling 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 public 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 public roads without shackles or striped 
clothing and under a relatively light guard. They should be employed 
on works of heavy grading or in exposed quarries or at other work 
which is well 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 
