FRENCH PRISON SYSTEM

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 307, 27 December 1924, Page 15

FRENCH PRISON SYSTEM

THE PENAL SETTLEMENTS. REFORM FOUND NECESSARY. EXI'OSI T.l-S 1 ROM (iLTAXA. 111 ■H. I J I ,!^ , |' in e\!i , *thrmoii , * r uT. , U». Pierre Mini , - l,nr . , j ;,Xhed of '■' rt,u,h mpn '" ' r Irance is aliandoning her pi-nal w>ttlpnicnts in Cluiaim. M. Mille »• * mem ' L r of tli" committee ii|i|>ointr-d n year more UM<J hv Minister of Colonies °arraut U>"*t;i."jy prison reforms, followins 'I" , pxposuru "f Hir conditions n Guiana, in "U IVtii Parisien." Ita conclusion* aa-onk-l with the action recently aniioiiiu o>l hy Hie Herriot gov- * M. .Mille says: -The liuiaiia convict prison ami all the colonial civil convict prisons have passed away. At least, they arc to be left to die" of inanition, no more convicts being sent to them. This was i done years ago in Hie case of New Caledonia. It is what M. Harriot and M. Daladier, Minister of Colonies, are "oing to do with Guiana To End "Double Service." "An amendment to the appropriation act'will abolish convict transportation overseas, begun in 1852. Moreover, measures will be taken to end 'double service.' At present all convicts condemned to more than eight years of forced labour are compelled, after their terms run out. to remain in the colony in certain special localities for periods equal to their sentences. Having once paid their debt to society, they were made to pay it over again. They were thus free without being free. They were free only lo die of hanger, for either they could find no work (the development of Guiana is not far advanced I. or. demoralised by prison life, they refused to work, the same as the slaves freed by the Assembly of 1848 could see nothing in their liberation but the right to live in idleness. "In spite of the necessities of our financial situation, the government never would have ended the transportation system if public opinion had not been prepared for it by Albert Londres and tie "Petit it ba«t not been convinced that, the Guiana penal settlements were a school of demoralisation, not only for the convicts- but for a large percentage- of- the guardians" who look after them: This system had for its object the punishment of the criminal, but also,' his amendment. In reality it, made, him- derelict, a vicious and desperate human being." After the publication of the - Londres articles the Sarraut committee was appointed. M. Millo says that it was asked,'only to consider, reforms in the colonial penal system. But in its conclusions it went further, making,, in substance, the- following, recommenda-. tioa:.. "It is our unshakable-, opinion that niere changes in methods are insufficient.' Overseas transportation must be purely- and) simply. That i» to. say;, we must not send in the , future a single convict to Guiana, and hereafter we. must require convicts to. serve:.; their sentences in.. th&- .central prisons of France-, which are now halfempty, and perfectly ready to* receive thern^ . This was the- solution subsequently reached, by Premier Herriot Mi..'Mille wrote further: To Bring Theat.Hbme. "The 'double service' is abolished. I Buppose that the double-time men, now in.. Guiana. vttiU be brought" home, where they will be, assigned to special places-." o£ residenje- (entrance to the large cities- : being denied. them>, and subjected- to police surveillance. Is that sufficient.? Must we not create.-new organisations or encourage those already existing to rehabilitate these men and- find "them honest employment.? "In addition, there are- in> Guiana 1300 'releguesJ What ie to be done with thamf "A 'releguo' is not. sent overseas by i a court of assizes. He is not a criminal in the sense which, the code gives to that term. He is an- old offendercharged with petty or qualified larceny, a lawbreaker with a record of convictions. In short, he is a social- outcast, an inconrigible, a man who is certain to Temain a lawbreaker. Although he may not be a murderer, he is certainly more of a menace to society than a man who has committed murder once in a lifetime. Even-the convicts in' Guiana despise the relegue. He is mire out of which you- can never make a brick. Must Change, Policy. '"We decided to send these incorrigibles, the social scum, to Guiana, merely to relieve the homeland. But we cannot continue to do so. Economy and justice seem to :' forbid it. A thief, a degenerate, a maitwho-cannot; live-honestly, is, after all, less of a criminal , than a murderer. But if you abolish this-expatria-tion t-be homeland's security must suffer. "Belgium is remodelling her penal system by suppressing determinate penal., sentences, and also, prisons, the-- latterbeing- replaced by semirmedical institutions, which may release-the condemned when he has shown signs of 'cure. , "Tnafc means that he may be kept confined 1 indefinitely. Shall: we enter that; path? Before we decided thexemust be .comprehensive . debates- on- -the principle of? human liberty, conducted by oub magistrates, police officials and psychiatrists"