PRISONS IN CANADA.

Colonist, Volume LVI, Issue 13510, 2 July 1914, Page 2

PRISONS IN CANADA.

The- Borden Government recently appointed a Royal Commission to investigate grav-j charges made- against the penal system of Canada, particularly in regard to the administration of the prison at Kingston. The Commission have now reported that, although the whole indictment against the prison management at Kingston was not sustained, the conditions that have been revealed, especially in legard to the treatment of criminal lunatics, have fully justified the setting up of the Commission. It was amply proved, for example, that lunatics had been punished by "rubbing"—i.e., th§y were forcibly placed in a bath filled with cold water and held there at the discretion of the operator. It transpired, however, that this cruel procedure was not authorised by the superior officers of the institution, the warders having acted on their own responsibility. Several reforms have been recommended.—Exchange.