COLONIAL PENAL SYSTEMS.

Otago Witness, Issue 832, 8 November 1867, Page 1

COLONIAL PENAL SYSTEMS.

(From the Daily Times, Nov. 5.) The Australasian, one cf the best of the Melbourne papers, has recently published an autobiography, entitled, " D.iys of Crime and Years of Suffering." It has been extended to fifty-six chapters, and having been written by one who, in suming up his qualifications, states himself able to correspond in French and German, and to have sufficient knowledge of Latin, and Mathematics to qualify him for an ordinary tutorship, it is not without interest. It is very seldom that one so well qualified to form an opinion, and to record the abounds of it, is placed in a position in which the effects of prison rules and discipline can be so accui'ately observed. The chances of correct observation by gaolers, turnkeys, and gaol chaplains, are always more or less superficial. . While under their eyes, t prisoners w.ear voils : some simulate repentance, some put on good behaviour. They ar« all under restraint, and as they usually have much to gain by

Fomefly submission, and' much to suffer shxnildthey be refractory, their prison probation passes without the true effect of it r.pon their minds land . habits of thought being ascertained. But while the autobiography deals principally with the experiences and emotions of the writer, there is appended to it, ' ' Thoughts on Penal Discipline. ' r Amid much that is discursive and descriptive, there are certain conclusions arrived at that form valuable hiixts, not only for Victoria, but for the whole Australasian group of Colonies. The experience of the author lends him 'to some conclusions that every humane person would wish to be incorrect, but which are held by ' many who have had great experience in. prison management. ' Amongst the most melancholy of these 'is his conviction that penal discipline, whether mild' or severe, is impotent either to deter from, future crime or to reclaim. He say 3, "From " the Cocoa of Pentonvill*, to the Cat of " Norfolk Island, from Wakefield Model " to the Port Arthur Mines— take, I say, "all the degrees that are to be found " between these extremes, and still "to no one description of treatment "can you point as positively lead- " ing to reformation by its influences, "or as deterrent by its severity." He divides criminals into three classes, those who are suddenly hurried into crime,, those who have relapsed into it, and those with whom crime is chronic. The most startling crimes are generally committed by the first. In that diiß3 are comprised' those who, having previously led reputable lives and stood well with society, are led to commit some murder, or perpetrate a fraud. In the second class are those who, " after their release " from a first imprisonment, have, " with their morals deteriorated by con- ' " tact with prison companions, launched " themselves upon a career of guilt; and " the crime which, perhaps, in the first " instance, they committed under the " pressure of circumstances, they, on " their return to the world, pursued by " choice in preference to an honest calling." Those comprehended in the chronic class, are hopelessly lost. " They " have lost the power of self-control, •'' and cling to evil with the fatal know- " ledge that it will work evil unto them- " selves. With no remorse for the past,. " no hope for the future, they only leav® " the prison to war upon the world. " When for fresh crime they are again " consigned to gaol, they accept their fato "asa thing of course, and return to th°.ir " dungeon, or ascend the gallows, in utter " recklessness of spirit ; and yet if all were " known of their trials and their struggles, " some compassion would be found to " mingle with the world's abhorrence of " these terrible pariahs. Cast early " upon the stream of crime, at an age " when they know not the current's " strength and tendency — now clutching- " wildly at some chance of salvation, and. " now, in desp-.ra.tion, abandoning them- " selves to their fate — onward and onward " they are borne to the fatal vortex, whose " circling eddies forbid return."

Such are the writer's descriptions, drawn from personal observation and interc Airse with thovse who now inhabit our prisons — sickening pictures, truly. Gazing upon them, and esteeming them faithful, societymay well ask what they are to hope for in return for the vast outlay in prisons and reformatories in all parts of the civilised world. There are, no doubt, many hindrances to a return to honestand reputable courses of life when once the right path is forsaken. It is onlyright that employers, especially in offices of trust, should give f? ference to those who have proved, l-j tli ir consistent uprightness, that they are to be depended upon. It is not only natural, but wise, to be doubtful of the trustworthiness of men who have allowed theihselves to be drawn into the commission of crime. Were it otherwise, societywould part with its strongest safeguard,, and place the criminal and the honest, citizen upon a level with each other. But if nearly the sole benefit to be derived from the construction of prisons; is prevention of crime by depriving crimirials of liberty to commit it, what check can be placed upon the proportionate increase of the criminal classes with the increase of population ? The writer points to the remedy. He shews that those ' whom, he terms " the old lairs '" are dying out in gaol. The exotic element

m rapidly disappearing, and the cars of awciety must be directed to the prevention «£ indigenous crime. ' ' Tracing effects to "their remote* causes," he says, "I see *< clearly enough that the great mass of *' the crime around me Has its origin in ** parental neglect, and what the vagaof street life initiated, the *' teachings of tho prison carried forward * c to a climax. Child life in tho city's •* lanes and alleys, untutored andunxc trained — or if trained at all,' trained €( only, to cvil — is not so very far removed "from the vestibule of thieves' colcc leges as some -suppose. *' Legislators might take a lesson from *' the city, firemen, who when they find it ■*' utterly impossible to save the house ** already fiercely burning, concentrate ** all their- efforts and exercise all their <c skill to save the surrounding buildings * r from ignition.*'