OUR PRISON SYSTEM.

Observer, Volume XVIII, Issue 1023, 6 August 1898, Page 17

OUR PRISON SYSTEM.

Responsible for Much Crime.

By C..F. Spooneb.

It ia really remarkable the amount of ignorance that prevails with refereaca to our treatment of the criminal clasa. The usually well-informed men on most subjects will display a total ignorance of the methods which are employed for the reformation of men who have strayed from the straight path. The cause of this ia not far to seek. Oar philanthropists have never given any attention to our gaol system in their efforts at aocial reform, but have rather contented themselves with dealing with the individual who has suffered after being brought in contact with thia pernicious system.

had ito face the world again, and it would be the means of them getting a good start. The discipline of the gaol is not by any means as strict as it ought to be. Either they are nndermaned with warders, pr the warders that are there are too easy, and at times familiar, with piisonera. The gaol library ia capable of very conaiderable improvement. The books most Bought after are the magazines, the latest of which waß about 1893. Aa the priaoners are only allowed one book per week, that should be a good book. I hope the result of my cogitations will reach the eye of the proper authorities, and the suggested improvements given effect to before I again visit the establishment.

Oar politicians appear to spend a lot of time in useless discussion in Parliament, which results in giving us an excess of legislation, but it never occurs to them to investigate this department of the Civil Service and ascertain what percentage of men are reformed while undergoing enforced confinement within the prison walla. So long aa the men are fairly civil to tjbe warders and are willing to do a little work, the authorities do not take any further trouble with the priaoners, hence it remains for an ex-prisoner to point out the evils of the system. There ia absolutely no attempt made to bring the men under influence that would tend to their moral or spiritual welfare, with the exception of the Sunday church services. It would be impossible in one Bhort article to more than mention one or two of the moat glaring evils, and suggest improvements.

The indiscriminate herding of criminals ia responsible for many evil results. Thie was brought painfully nnder my own notice by personal experience. I was fined £120 for a technical breach of an obsolete Act, and being unable to pay the fine, was given two months with hard labour in default. I was placed in a building and sent to work in the quarry in company with some of the roughest men it would be possible to gather together — men who could not frame a single sentence without swearing or using obscene, filthy language In fact, the sorest part of my punishment was that I was unwillingly compelled to hear their evil conversation. Judge of the influence of Buch an association aB thiß upon boya of tender years and young men who, perhaps through yielding to some severe temptation in a moment of weakness, have been brought within the clutches of the law. They would Boon know the truth of the old adage, ' Evil communications corrupt good manners,' and leave the priaon (which should be a reformatory) very much more confirmed in am than when they entered.

In the aame labour gang were greyheaded old sinners, real ' hard cases,' and small boys of about fourteen or sixteen yeara of age, and on one occasion I saw one of these old gaol-birds teaching the young idea how to fight, which, by-the-way, might be the leaat harmful of the many lessons he wonld receive. The boys should be separated from the men, and an effort made to elevate their moral natures, and in some way make up for their lack of proper training in their earlier years. The first offenders should be claaaed separately, and as far as possible opportunities for conversation among the older and more hardened men should be atrictly guarded againet, and men who have been several times convicted should be placed under much stricter discipline ; they shonld be made to feel the punishment more severe each time, instead of metfcig out to all alike.

The ticket system ia another wrong which ahould be righted. Over every cell door is placed a ticket which gives the following information to other prisoners: — Name, crime, date of conviction, term, religion. The result of thiß pernicious system is that whenever a new prisoner comes in they know all about him, and his name is passed all round the gaol. In the case of a first offender, who has all his native self-respect, he would prefer to retain hia identity from hia fellow-prisoners. I am informed that in the gaols of the United States and in England they have long ago abolished this system, and there every man is known by an official number. This method ahonld be in force here. The advantagea of the new over the old aystem must be apparent to all.

The boys and young men whose education has been negleoted ahonld be given an opportunity to make up for lost time, and some part of the day should be set apart for this purpose. Many prisoners have no trade and no particular business training. Their time should also be improved by learning some useful handicraft, which would be a means of livelihood when the_p