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Major McNair, the Colonial Engineer, were both absent at Penang, but we had the pleasure of meeting them some days afterwards, when the former kindly placed the Government steam-launch at our disposal for a trip round the island, and the latter gave us some useful information regarding the employment of convicts on public works.
Mr. William Boyd, the Acting Superintendent of Convicts, kindly rendered us similar assistance to that which we had received at Hong Kong from Mr. Douglas, repeatedly conducting us through every department of the prison, and explaining to us the details of its management.
The difference between the pilson systems of Hong Kong and Singapore is very great. In the former, now that the large prison on Stone-cutter's Island is no longer used, a single establishment suffices for all the purposes for which incarceration is required, being at once a lock-up, a house of correction, a convict prison, and a debtors' prison, each department being kept distinct in its arrangements and working; the separate system is efficiently carried out; the warders are lawful men; and the prisoners are treated with a rigour which, though far from excessive, must be quite irksome enough to make them wish for release. In Singapore, on the contrary, there are three, or rather four separate places of confinement, namely, the Police Lock-up, the Sheriff's Gaol for debtors and prisoners awaiting trial and execution of sentence, the Local House of Correction, and the Transmarine Convicts' Prison, the two latter being within the same inclosure, but in working kept apart as far as is practicable; the separate system is not even attempted; the warders are promoted convicts, and the Transmarine convicts are treated with an indulgence which, if extended to the local criminals, would amount to a premium upon crime. Recommitments for larceny at Singapore are very numerous, and have been increasing so fast that of late the punishment of flogging has been resorted to for this offence. Besides the promotion of well-behaved convicts to be petty officers in the gaol, there is also an indulgent ticket-of- leave system, and nearly 300 of the older convicts are employed as servants and messen- gers in the various public offices and institutions. The Sheriff's Gaol is by far the best, both as regards construction and management, of the Singapore prisons. The lock-up at the Central Police Station was, when we visited it, filled with a motley crowd of various nationalities and ages, and the stench was overpowering. We inquired why some of them, at least, were not removed to the Sheriff's Gaol which was nearly empty, but we were told that that establishment was about soon to be given up.
We gathered several useful hints and suggestions, especially as regards the employ- ments for convict labour, from our inspection of the Singapore Prison, but in nearly all essential features it was justly deemed by the Commissioners to be inferior to the long Kong Prison as a model for Japan.
A week proved quite sufficient for the completion of our work in Singapore, but we had to wait for ten days more for the arrival of the Mail for Hong Kong. This interval we employed in visiting the public institutions and places of interest in the neighbour- hood, and also in acquiring from various text books, which I had brought with me, a knowledge, necessarily very imperfect, of English criminal procedure.
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After an unusually long and disagreeable passage, we arrived in Yokohama on the 1st instant, after an absence of barely nine weeks.
It would be simply impossible for me to speak in too high terms of the powers of observation, industry, and intelligence displayed throughout by the Commissioners in the fulfilment of their task; and I feel assured that, if the Government turns to proper account the information and experience acquired by them during this short trip, they are competent to effect a vast and much-needed change ir the prison system of Japan.
I have, &c. (Signed) JOHN C. HALL.
F. O. Adains, Esq.,
&c. &c.
&c.
243
STRAITS SETTLEMENTS.
Papers laid before the Legislative Council by command of his Excellency the Governor. June 13, 1872.
;
Memorandum by his Excellency to Governor on the proposed changes in the Management and Discipline of the Prisons of the Colony.
AFTER perusing the papers which have been laid before you I think the Council cannot fail to have come to the conclusion that the time has now arrived when such a change should be made in our system of prison management and discipling as will bring them more into conformity with those which wide experience at home and in other parts of the world has shown to be indispensable to the suppression of crime.
To this conclusion, as the Council is aware, I have been long since brought, and with the assistance which I feel no doubt they will grant me, I am prepared to take immediate steps for introducing the requisite reform.
To carry this cut in its integrity propose to the Council the following arrange-
ments:-
The control and custody of all prisoners of every kiud and class shall be withdrawn from the Public Works Department and the Sheriffs, and shall be vested in a superior officer, to be called the " Superintendent of Prisons," assisted by as many gaolers as may
be necessary.
A difficulty which it may be supposed would be thus created in respect to debtor may be got over, as in Ceylon, by giving to the gaolers certain fees, in return for which they would he answerable for the safe custody of the debtors. The abolition of imprison- ment for debt would also reduce this difficulty to a minimum.
At Singapore there should be established a general prison, in which the system of penal discipline enforced should be, so far as local circumstances will admit, analogous to that which prevails at home. To this prison, when there is space available (which it may be expected will, after a short time, be usually the case), there shall be sent all long. sentenced prisoners from the other Settlements to undergo their term of punishment. The Colonial Gaol would also have to be retained as a place of confinement for debtors and prisoners awaiting trial, and it would probably be found convenient to make use of it for the incarceration of women and a certain class of European criminals.
The same system of penal discipline would be introduced into the gaols at Penang and at Malacen. It is doubtful whether at the former place there is space in either of the prison establishments to accommodate all classes of prisoners. If this be found imprae- ticable, both existing establishments must be maintained. At Malacca there will be no difficulty in adapting either of the present prisons for the confinement of all classes of criminals.
The Report of the Acting Colonial Engineer shows how and at what cost a com- mencement may be made in the introduction of real “penal discipline" by effecting certain alterations in the convict lines at Singapore, which would enable it to be applied to the whole class of "lower stage prisoners," and would at the same time provide for working one-half that number in separation. More than this I do not think it would be prudent to undertake at present; but this, and the provision of such a number of free warders and guards as are necessary for the security of the prisons and the efficient working of the new system of discipline, I submit should be at once sanctioned, leaving provision to be made in the next and succeeding years for the completion of the necessary works at Singapore and the other Settlements.
Relying on your concurrence in these suggestions, I propose that a vote shall be taken for the cost of the necessary structural alterations, say 8,000 dollars, and that the following revised scale of establishment be approved for the Singapore Gaol:-
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