150
numerous,
15. The cases of Prisoners assaulting and fighting with each other were much more numerous. In 1884, 270 such offences were reported, in 1885, 204 were reported. Finding these offences very I caused it to be signified to the Prisoners that aggravated assaults on each other would be tried. 13 such cases were accordingly brought to trial before the Superintendent and a visiting Justice. In 9 cases corporal punishment was inflicted; in 3 cases solitary imprisonment; one case broke down for want of evidence. The result was satisfactory in diminishing this class of offence. I append a table (B) showing the number of these offences during each month for the last two years. It will be observed that the monthly average during the first nine months of 1885 was 21 offences, which was reduced in the last quarter to a monthly average of 11.
16. The most serious offence during the year was an assault made on the Superintendent on the 27th June, with a bludgeon by a Prisoner under sentence of 18 months' imprisonment. He was tried and received corporal punishment. A careful and lengthened enquiry into the causes of this assault elicited the fact that it was the result of a conspiracy, in which upwards of 50 of the worst convicts in Gaol (nearly all Members of the Triad Society) were concerned. A considerable sum of money had been collected or promised to reward the man who committed the assault. The cause was stated to be the general discontent of the Prisoners at the somewhat increased severity with which the Prison regu- lations were enforced by the new Superintendent. A special grievance being his enforcing the pre- scribed punishment diet of 1 lb. of rice a day; the practice having previously been to allow Prisoners sentenced to punishment diet to receive the " Penal diet" of 1 b. 8 oz. of rice, a punishment but little felt; 1 lb. 8 oz. of rice when boiled giving a Prisoner somewhat over 3 lbs. of food.
17. The great risk of possible conspiracies is very obvious in a Prison like this, where most of the Prisoners live in association, and where silence has been very imperfectly enforced even at work, under. the immediate eye of the Turnkeys. It was necessary therefore to be well informed of everything going on in the Gaol. After some trouble and through the valuable assistance of Mr. MACHADO, the late Gaol clerk, an able and intelligent official, thoroughly conversant with the Chinese language, several informers were found to give information of what was going on among the Prisoners. Slight remissions of sentences were granted by Government at my recommendation for such services. The advantage of this arrrangement became speedily apparent. A plot was revealed for the escape of a number of convicts, chiefly Pirates, from the Chain-gang. These men had procured (by means never ascertained) a duplicate of the key which opened the padlocks of their chains. A letter was intercepted (and sent to the Police) asking friends outside to have a junk in readiness for them at a named spot; the key was carefully concealed, and the convicts were only waiting for a wet day, when, huddled up in a shed for shelter, they could pass the key along and loosen their chains unobserved by the Warders. After a careful search the key was found sown into one of the Chain-gang men's hats and the persons intending to escape were removed from the Chain-gang. For this service the Prisoner who gave the information was allowed by Government a remission of 18 months of his sentence,
18. The offence of having Tobacco or Opium in Prison has been a very common one. In 1884 there were 719 cases reported, in 1885 there were 709 cases reported. This, in its effects is a very serious matter. With the moderate work and liberal diet of this Gaol, as compared to that of ordinary coolies, and with the comfort of living in association, it only requires easy opportunities for indulgence in narcotics, to render the Gaol quite a pleasant place of residence for criminals. The deprivation of narcotics acts as a deterrent to this class and should be strictly enforced. There have been many difficulties to contend with in Victoria Gaol on this score. The corruption of colored Gaol officials, who dealt with Prisoners in tobacco, has been referred to. Prisoners were allowed to act as cooks and servants to Turnkeys residing in the Gaol and these, coming more or less in contact with the outside public had many opportunities of smuggling in tobacco &c. The Prison walls in parts are low, and when convicts were crowded at work in the yards, tobacco was frequently thrown over the walls from the adjoining Street and falling among the Prisoners was secreted by them before it could be observed by the Turnkeys in charge, even if the latter did not wilfully turn their eyes away. It was introduced in provision baskets and in dry earth baskets. In fact every ingenuity is exercised by Prisoners and their friends outside to have this coveted article secretly introduced into the Gaol. The following steps have been adopted. Every officer proved to have been engaged in traffic with Prisoners has been dismissed; several persons found attempting to pass tobacco into Gaol have been prosecuted. Nets have been suspended over parts where tobacco had been thrown over the walls. The employment of Prisoners as cooks and servants to Turnkeys has been stopped by Government, and constant and vigilant inspec- tions and searches are continually made all over the Gaol premises. These measures have met with some success. It will be seen from the Return of these offences (C) annexed hereto, that in the first six months of the year 534 cases of having tobacco were reported; an average of 88 per month. In the last six months 175 cases were reported; an average of 29 per month; or, if we take the last 4 months, 76 cases or an average of 19 cases per month. A progressively satisfactory result, which will appear still more so when it is added that in the earlier part of the year and summer, the tobacco found in possession of Prisoners often consisted of large sticks or plugs, and the opium of neat and well filled boxes, while during the last 3 or 4 months the quantities found were infinitesimal.
19. Prison discipline, during the year, has therefore been so far satisfactory, that, with the excep- tion of the offences of talking and short oakum picking, there has been a gradual but steady diminution