PRISONS, POLICE, AND PUNISHMENT.

White Ribbon, Volume 12, Issue 139, 15 December 1906, Page 1

PRISONS, POLICE, AND PUNISHMENT.

•* I wa* in prison, and ye chiiu* unto Me.” One < ! tin* gravest problems confronting society to-day is that concerning its dealings with those brought before our so-called (Vmrts of Justice and found guilty <>f offence. And every contribution to the literature bearing on the subject may be welcomed as at least affording evidence of another mind awakened to tin* need of reform. The hook at present under notice, however, should, for its own sake, command attention. Its author does not hesitate to probe deeply and to lay bare the Absurd and Unenlightened Ideas which at present prevail concerning crime and criminals. The first chapter treats of Penal Systems, Past and Present, and in its opening paragraph the author remarks that “ The penal systems of all countries probably pass through much the same stages of evolution. They begin with Revenge —an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth ; they pass on to the idea of ‘unishment—a semi-theological conception a sort of sacrifice to the goddess of Justice ; then they adopt the method

of I deterrence or Terrorism —society, itsell stricken with fear, trying to stamp <»iit criminality by fear; and only at the last, if at all, do they become human. t >nlv at the last d'tes

the majesty of s<K’iety, forgetting its own little fears, descend to tin* work of Reclamation, and to make the criminal once more into a fellow-citizen and a brother. Our public opinion, happily, is rapidly passing into this last stage, but our penal system itself lingers in

the stages ol Terrorism and Punish meat. As to punishment, no legal ilisti tulion can possibly fairly judge ol moral guilt or determine what b pro|>cr punishment for, say, murder m forgery. For apparently similai crimes one judge inflicts one sentence and another one either more or less severe, and in reality there is nc system —nor can there be. In many respeets, America, Japan and even Russia, are shown to be in advance of England. The Elmira (New York) reformatory, with its splendid achievmeiits, is referred to, and also the fact that Japan gives to each prisoner the Highest Class of Industrial Work of which he is capable. In the IsLnd of Saghaiien, the Russian convict is, after a short term of imprisonment, settled out in a cottage with land attached. The consensus of opinion among those best fitted to sj»eak is, “ Make your prison horrible with soulcrushing severities, and your prisoners will re-visit it year after year. Make it decent and home-like, and full of help and instruction, .and they will take care never to come near it again.’ The chapter on Law and P niishment. deals with the inhumanities and absurdities of law, both in the past

ami to-day, and its [H*n»sal incline* one to tin* belief that s<)ciety generally is tit only for con tine merit in either v;aol or mental hospital. “All conceivable actions have fallen under tin* disfavour of the law and found their place in penal codes —from insanity and manner of worship to forma of dress and manner of de|M>rtiiieiit “On tin* other hand, murder, robbery, pillage and rapine, have often Im*cii commended by the ruling |hovers and deemed worthy of tin* greatest praise. And the punishment has been as varied as the crimes." Death ha-» always been a favourite visitation, hut the means of death have varied from boiling oil to tlie modern electrocution and hanging Would-be suicides are fished from the canals to receive legal sentence. ’ In HMD u young man was arrested on a charge of cutting his sweethearts throat and then his own. He was condemned to death, hut owing to the state of his throat the execution was delayed, however, two doctors from the Home Office certified that the neck was sujfiiitnt/y htaled and that he could safely la* hanged. Referring to the license to sin so often accorded to the |x>ssessor of wealth, Mr (Virpenter says : "... it is only by an excess of hy|>ocrisy and wilful shutting of our eyes that we can at the same time reconcile ourselves to the wholesale conviction and imprisonment of the wretched waifs and strays who. absolutely pinned by necessity and our social conditions, j>erpetrate in tiny miniature the thefts and frauds for which Their Brothers in High Places arc greatly glorified. Incidentally, the immoralities arising out of the association of marriage and property arc touched upon, and also the wrong done to illegitimate offspring, and the inequity of not holding the father responsible in cases of desertion, ami infanticide. A few pages deal with the Sources of Crime, and the tirst of these in influence and iin|H>riance, Mr ( ar|»enter insists, is projoerty. Drink and projierty, In* says, account for the greatest part, |**rhaps nine-tenths of present day crime. “ Here again (in the matter of drink), “just as in the cast* of property, we have an immense and central Wrong, huge financial interests sustained out of the degradation and

death of the jieople and this Wrong honoured and enthroned in high places, while the victims of it are the daily bill of fare served up in police courts and prisons.”

What tlnui we have to do in the face of law and crime, is tirst of all lo elean up our social system. . One of the very tirst and most practical things to do is to turn flu* prisons into industrial asylums, for cure merely. . .

The only two thoughts which can be allowed must be (1) society's right, for its own self defence, to seclude the criminal for a time, and (_) it" duty to give him a healthy industrial life with a view to hi* reform and future fitness a> a citizen. The maximum jmssihle Ireedom must be given, Mr (’arpenter says, and the sense of responsibility encouraged.

The generally low mental and physical standaid obtaining among criminals is commented on and mention is made of the gratifying fact that at Holloway Prison improvement has been made in the n nditions of life of the women prisoners, and lectures are given to them on such subjects as health, sanitation, nursing, etc.

Space forbids the fuller quotation from, or comment on, a most interesting and suggestive bonk, but it must just be noted in closing that among tin* reforms insisted on are abolition of capital punishment, the adoption of the indeterminate sentence and the probation system, the conversion of the prisons into industrial reformatories with associated labour, and the cultivation of farm lands in connection with such reformatories.

I know not whether Laws t** right, Or whether Laws tie wrong: All that we know- who lie in gaol Is that the wall is strong. And that each day is like a year, A year whose days are long. Hut this I know, that every Uw hat men have made for Man, Since tirst man took his brother's life, And the sail world l»egan, Hut straws the wheat and saves the chaff With a most eril fan. This, too, 1 know, and wise it were If each could know the same— That every prison that men huild U built with bricks of shame. And bound with bars lest Christ should see How men their brothers maim Hallail of Heading Gaol.

• By Edward Carpenter. A. C. Fifield, 44 Ft et Street, E.C.