Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 November 1874 — Prison Discipline In Great Britain. [ARTICLE]

Prison Discipline In Great Britain.

The least term of penal servitude to which a contfict is sentenced in England is jive years, and, according to the offense committed, six, 9even, eight, ten, and so op to twenty-five, the limit terminating ! with the man’s life; and it would be well to bear in mind that the word “conyict,” in England, is only applied to persons sentenced to terms of penal servitude, i There are in Great Britain ten convict- ! prisons for men and three for women, j The malg convict-prisons provide ac- ! commodation for 9,891 persons; the female for 1,391; and the grand total of persons who can be received in these convict-prisons is 11,282. All these are Government convict establishments, managed under the. Secretary of State for the Home Department by a board of four i Directors, of which Col. Du Cane, C. 8., is the Chairman, who visit every con-vict-prison once monthly, at least, to see that the orders given are carried out, that no irregularities are permitted, to hear appeals or requests from tfie prisoners, and to act magisterially in trying charges brought against them by the wardens and prison officials. In England a sentence of penal servison subjected to it. After sentence the convict is sent either to Millbank or Pentonville, which are what are termed “close prisons,” and where he must remain, under any circumstances, tor nine months, passing the whole of this time —except, of course, that allotted to chapel and exercise—in his cell. This term of probationary isolation is intended to work upon the mind of the prisoner and to-make him feel the serious penalties —only now beginning to be enforced —attaching to wrong-doing. The hard labor exacted from him is oakum-pick-ing and crank-turning in Millbank, which tude is, in its main features, and so far as concerns the punishment carried out, on exactly the same system to every perdiffers in this respect from Pentonville, where more remunerative labor is most in vogue, in the shape of matmaking, weaving, tailoring, and shoemaking. Each cell iin these prisons contains a rough wooden bed on the floor, a tin and basin, a couple of blankets and pair of sheets, a crank machine, and little else. A slit in the cell wall or an opening in the door enables the warder to look in unawares upon the prisoner, and see that he is safe and wellbehaved. Here the convicts work twelve hours a day, exclusive of meals—three pounds of oakum being required to be picked, or 14,500 revolutions of the crank, with a pressure of fourteen pounds, to be made, at full labor, any interval of spare time being spent in the neverfailing and wearying work of oakumpicking. The dress of all convicts in the “ close prisons,” except those-sent up from other prisons for good conduct at the expiration of sentence, is a rough,, brown-fustian shirt and breeches, stamped all over with the Government mark of the “ broad arrow," blue wooleu stockings with red stripes, shoes, and a brownfustian Scotch cap. This uniform is only changed as a man advances in work and is promoted to another Class. At Pentonville or Millbank, then—both of which are built on the same general plan—paying dearly for the one false step, or previous course of crime, by the dull monotony of their every-day life, the hard work, scanty fare, unceasing supervision, and wretched feeling of despair which must be the lot of some, the convicts in England work out their terms of probation. On a given day, before the expiration of this first year, handcuffed and linked together by chains, the convicts who have served out their probationary terms are sent off to one of the “ public-works prisons” at Chatham, Portland, or Portsmouth; or, if in indifferent health, and incapable of hard labor, to one of the light-labor prisons at Dartmouth, Parkhurst, Brixton, or Woking. From this time, it may be said, the convict really commences his term of penal servitude, by working at hard labor on Government works, and by falling into that system of “ marks” which we shall now explain, and which will be seen to have a material effect both on the man’s condition in prison and his future prospects at leaving oh the expiration of his sentence.

Every convict in England during the term of his imprisonment is required to pass through the following classes, viz.; Probation class, one year, during M'hich lie must earn on public works 720 marks. Third class, one year, during which he Tnust eam onpuble- works 2 ; 920. Second class, one year, during which he must earn 2,920 marks, alter which he is eligible for promotion to the first class. Every convict is thus required to remain in tlm probation class for a minimum period of oncyciu-reckoiied from the date of conviction, nine months of which are passed in separate confinement. Prisoners in this class can earn no gratuity, a 9 in the other classes; are not permitted to receive visits, nor to write or receive letters from friends, except one letter on release from separate confinement; and are only allowed one period of exercise on Sundays. Good conduct and industry having, in the governor’s opinion, qualified the convict for advancement to the third class, he lias black facings, as a distinctive badge, added to his * convict-dress, and obtains the follou-ing privileges: Permission to earn a gratuity of twelve shillings, being at the rate of one shilling per month for tM*elve months, by marks; to receive a visit of twenty minutes’ duration once in six months; and both to receive and M'rite a letter once in six months; and to be allowed one period of exercise on Sundays ; all this.supposing that his conduct has been good. Promotion to the second class is followed by the substitution of yellow for black facings in the convict’s uniform, and by the following privileges: Permission to receive a visit ol twenty minutes’ duration, and both to receive and wifte a letter once in four months; j to earn a gratuity of eighteen shillings, being at the rate of one shilling and sixpence per month for twelve months, by marks: to be allowed choice of tea and two ounces of additional bread instead of gruel, a privilege, let it be told, most highly prized' by convicts in the English prisons; and to have two periods of e*r ercise on Sundays. The convict still going on well, advances, in the next year, to the first class, when he changes Ms yellow for more i honorable blue facings, and obtains ad- ! ditional privileges, as follows: Permission I to receive a visit of half an hour and J both to receive and write a letter once in j three months; to earn a gratuity of thirty shillings, being at the rate of ttfo shil lings and sixpence per month for twelve months, by marks, until three pounds have been"earned altogether; to be eligible. if his conduct and industry are good, and it special circumstances should render it desirable, to be recommended on discharge from prison for a further gratuity not exceeding three pounds; to be

allowed the choice of tea and bread instead of gruel, and baked instead of boiled meat, and three periods of exercise on Sundays. After this again comes a special class, in which the convict his brown convict suit for a blue and where he is eligible for an extra remission of sentence, and for employment in the general service of the prison—in the bakery, kitchen, etc. By the lhw of England every convict has it in his power, by good conduct and industry in prison, to earn a remission of one-fourth of his sentence calculated from the day he leaves separate confinement. This ticket-of-leave system was introduced when the Australian colonies protested against any further transportation of convicts; and, although it operates as an inducement to good conduct and due performance of hard labor in prison, it yet operates as a part of the penal-servitude system outside by retaining a hold on the convict until the whole period of his sentence has expired.— Appleton's Journal.