A RUSSIAN CONVICT PRISON.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11253, 11 May 1904, Page 3

A RUSSIAN CONVICT PRISON.

A well-known Russian jotirnalist, W. M. Doroshewitch, recently published a book on Saghalien, a gloomy place of confinement for Russian convicts sentenced to hard labor. Doroshewitch, says a writer in the 'Saturday Review,' visited Saghalien some years ago, studied with the greatest care the life°of the prisoners, the conditions of their wretched existence, made also very interesting psychological studies during his frequent and long talks with the criminals, and notes down his impressions in his highly suggestive and clever book. The first impression of W. M. Doroshewitch on his landing on the Isle of Saghalien — and he preserved it during all the time he stayed there — is that it is a place not made to be inhabited by men; no towns can be built on the marshland covered by thick woods, no agriculture is possible where the strongest winter reigns nearly the whole year, and no increase of population is to be hoped for in such a killing climate. At the present'time the island is inhabited by half-savage aborigines — and the convicts, ruled by a strong body of officials. - The fact of sending them to such an uninhabitable place seems monstrous to Doroshewitch, who eloquently proves it by his descriptions of the island. The most impressive chapters in the book are those relating to the cruelty of the officials. Judging by the awe they inspire in the convicts, one may imagine oneself thrown back to the age of serfdom — and, in fact, the convicts are no better than serfs, who 'entirely depend on the mercy of the authorities; no laws protect them,' ajid any official who is. at the head of a prison, has the right to inflict whatever punishment he likes on the convicts — very often without their having deserved it. How atrocious these punishments are may be judged by the reports of beatings and whippings in the. book of Doroshewitch, as .well as.by hi? descriptions, of tne cells where the punished prisoners are kept in manacles, ' and some of them chained to a heavy caft, ' If they run away, and are taken, ' new beatings await them and more years of inippsonment are added to their previous penalty — criminals "sentenced to a few years of transportation becolne often convicts for.'life in'conseqtfencer of theirTrepefl.ted.Attem^s.^to .escape.- The warders — convicts themselves— are brutes,' capable of killing with their whip the men delivered into their hands; the prisoners have to pay them a certain sum to mitigate the strength of the lashes — their skill being such that, with the same number of lashes, they can kill a man, or else inflict on him the least pain possible. The system of utter cruelty applied to the convicts, far from improving their, morals, totally- degrades them ; Doroshewitch shows clearly .what a demoralisation is brought into their life by the constant fear of corporal: punishment. Some get used- to it, lose all self-respect, become hopeless brutes — others, the better ones, are clriven into madness by the impossibility of escaping the most ignominious punishments. The aiithoritios of the island of Saghalien are mostly cruel, rancorous men, who shamefully misuse their limitless power. Doroshewitch describes them in all their abjection, and insists upon the need of having more considerate and clement men in their place. As to the convicts themselves, Doroshewitch is far from 'representing them as innocent victims who -do not deserve -their hard lot.- Quite the contrary, he calls them "the refuse of mankind," and there are in his books' most tbtfiftini*- stories about convicts boasting of their crimes, relating to him with all sorts of details how they murdered so and so many men. But the greatmerit of W. M. Dqroshewitch iB to have looked with kindness and comprehension .into the' spuls^bf ' >tlib'ssC outcasts, and to have discovered there strange psychological problems, , a curious mixture of good and evil. The life they lead on the Isle of Saghalien, with' all its peculiarities, its sufferings and poor pleasures, its code of morality, which considers tlje betraying of a comrade worse than murder, etc — all thiß is masterly described in this highly-inter-esting book.