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command of Government for carrying on those extensive public works which have hitherto been made by labour of prisoners for crime.
It may be advisable to make prisoners at the commencement of their terms work at such repulsive works as tread-wheel or shot-drill, but this may perhaps be combined with productive labour, using the unproductive labour as a more direct punishment, and lessen- ing the amount of this latter by degrees according to the length of sentence and behaviour of the prisoner.
We think a very considerable expense must be incurred to make the cattle-shed and native barracks available as places of confinement for 3rd class transmarine convicts.
Sir,
APPENDIX (A).
(Signed)
Major J. F. A. McNair to the Colonial Secretary.
T. BRADDELL.
W. H. READ.
Office of Colonial Engineer and Controller of Convicts Straits Settlements, Singapore January 1, 1871.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of his Excellency the Governor's minutes, as noted in the margin,* having reference to certain proposed alterations in the employment and control of local prisoners in the Straits Settlements.
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His Excellency the Governor, in his minute of the 8th October, calls for a scheme which shall deal with the different classes of convicts, providing punishment by hard labour, according to length of sentence, and on the principle, as far as practicable, adopted at home with short sentenced men, and also for a statement of the staff that may be con- sidered absolutely necessary to carry out any proposed changes, having due regard to the security of the criminal, and the enforcement of his sentence in a proper manner, without subjecting the Colony to unnecessary expense."
His Excellency, while admitting the necessity for a more serious notice of the question, further states that any scheme for the employment of local prisoners that may be recom- mended must be, in the meantime, such as can be carried out with the means of confine. ment at present at the disposal of the Colony.
Upon receipt of these instructions I was at first disposed to enter no further into the examination of this question, than what would appear to have satisfied the present desire of the Government; which would have consisted in the recommendation, merely, of a pro- portionate number of free in lieu of prison warders, say 1 to every 20 men, and the reten- tion in future, within the prison walls, at rigorous hard labour for two-thirds of their sentence of all prisoners sentenced to the House of Correction by the inferior courts ; with the privilege to well-behaved prisoners, and as an incentive to exertion aud industry, of carning a small gratuity in their last stage of employment on the Public
Works.
In continuing my inquiries, however, and having had long experience with convicts, it occurred to me that my views on the whole question of penal discipline in regard to our local criminals, might not le unacceptable to the Government, even though the opportunity for their consideration, and possible adoption, might yet be far distant.
Taking the question up, therefore, in its fullest sense, I find that the Government has
to deal with two distinct bodies of prisoners.
1. Those under confinement previous to trial.
2. Those sentenced by the Courts to
(1) Transportation or penal servitude for life or term of years.
(2.) Imprisonment with hard labour.
(3.) Simple imprisonment.
There are, however, practically four classes of punishments with which we have to deal under the second head.
(1) Those who are actually transported out of the Settlements.
2.) Those sentenced to transportation or penal servitude, but who cannot be sent out
of the country, and have actually to perform sentences of imprisonment with hard labour
in the Settlements, for periods which may amount to seven years.
(3.) Those sentenced to periods of imprisonment with hard labour, which may be taken as not exceeding three years.
• Minutes dated 8th October, 1870.
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(4.) Those sentenced to simple imprisonment for terms which practically do not exceed two years.
There is also a class sentenced to imprisonment as not being able to provide security to keep the peace.
These are now coufined in convict jails, but as it would be in many points desirable to classify the jails as those for hard labour and those without, I would suggest that this class should be confined in the Colonial jails, by which arrangements the convict jails, now often overcrowded, would be also freed from a certain number of prisoners, while by a suitable division of the Colonial jails, the sentences of this class would be properly carried out under the direct control of the Executive, apart from those prisoners awaiting trial, who would still remain under the Sheriff.
The prisoners under the 1st head.
Those under confinement previous to trial are now confined, as stated above, in the Colonial jails, and neither in their system of management and control, nor in their diet, have I any change to recommend. Rules and regulations for those prisoners have been carefully prepared since the transfer of the Straits to the Crown,
The great mass of our prisoners, of course, come under the 2nd head, viz: Those sentenced by the Courts.
1. Those who are actually transported out of the settlement.
This class will have to be retained as at present in the convict gaols until opportunities occur for their transport to Labuan, which is eventually to become the penal settlement of the Colony. Temporary arrangements at present exist in the gaols of Penang and Singapore for their accommodation, while those sentenced at Malacca to transportation are forwarded at once to Singapore,
In regard to the 4th class, viz., those sentenced to simple imprisonment, it is recom- mended to place them, as above stated, in a portion of the Colonial Gaol, together with those sentenced to imprisonment in default of security to keep the peace.
The classes, however, which require particular attention in the Colony are the 2nd and 3rd, viz:-
2. Those sentenced to transportation or penal servitude, but who cannot be sent out of the country, and have actually to perform sentences of imprisonment with hard labour in the settlements for periods which may amount to seven years.
3. Those sentenced to periods of imprisonment with hard labour, which may be tuken as not exceeding three years.
For these important classes, it is necessary to provide, not merely safe custody, but for their careful classification; and for the carrying out of a well-organized system of penal discipline, which, by its extreme severity in the earlier stage, shall, consistently with the maintenance of health, endeavour to convince the prisoner, by suffering, of the inevitable punishment and positive pain which crime brings with it, which shall only relax this severity, to inculcate habits of industrial hard labour, and when the foundations of these are laid, shall then meet his efforts to reform, by holding out such marks of confidence and encouragement as shall induce hope, and establish self-reliance, the better to fit him on his release for fresh contact with his fellow men. In other words, there should be, in the system of punishment enforced, the full recognition of the two universally acknowledged principles for which punishment is awarded.
There have been different systems pursued in the treatment of prisoners, which are severally known as—
(1) The separate system complete, which prevailed in America, where the prisoners never left their cells, never heard a voice, and were kept without employment.
(2) The separate system partial, which prevails in the House of Correction and gaols at home, where the prisoners are only in the early stage of imprisonment confined in cells, and kept apart from other prisoners working at the crank or tread- wheel.
(3) The solitary system, which consists of individual separation beth by day and night, with labour in the cells throughout the whole term of confinement in the prisons as at Milbank and Pentonville.
(4) The silent system, which consists of individual separation by night, with labour in association by day, but under a strict condition of silence as at Portland, Chathum, &c.
(5) The association system as at present in force in the Straits' prisons, where they both work together, and sleep in open wards in aggregation.
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