Printed for the use of the Colonial Office.
Further Papers relating to the Improvement of Prison Discipline in the Colonies.
JAMAICA.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference --
ILTIC.
885
No. 1.
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Governor Sir W.. Grey, K.C.S.I., to the Earl of Carnarvon.—(Received October 4.)
(No. 113.) My Lord,
King's House, September 9, 1875. I RECEIVED a few days back the telegraphic message entered on the margin.* 2. Until the receipt of this message I had not understood that your Lordship was expecting to receive a special Report from me on the result of the inquiry by the Commission of which the appointment was directed in Lord Kimberley's despatch of the 6th of March, 1872.
3. In reply to Sir John Grant's despatch of the 3rd of January, 1872, in which he had reported on the question whether he saw any prospect of being able to establish an improved system of prison discipline, including separation and penal labour, generally throughout the island, Lord Kimberley remarked that the prison system of Jamaica was still defective, inasmuch as the separate system had not yet been invariably and uniformly applied; and, after referring to the special evil which that system was calculated to prevent, Lord Kimberley suggested the propriety of appointing a Commission" to investigate the internal condition of the Jamaica prisons, with special reference to the question whether the associated system engenders depravity and tends to the permanent degradation of youthful and casual offenders."
4. Sir John Grant reported the appointment of this Commission in March 1873, and the Commissioners submitted their Report some little time after my arrival here last year.
5. The report is very discursive, and does not, I regret to say, deal at all fully or satisfactorily with the particular matter in connection with which its appointment was specially suggested. A complete copy of the Report and of its enclosures shall be forwarded for your Lordship's information by the next mail, but it may be convenient if I at once report on the subject of the separate system and on the question whether the associated system here "engenders deparavity and tends to the permanent degradation of youthful and casual offenders.'
6. As regards the latter point, there is not a word in the Commissioners' Report beyond the following very brief notice in paragraph 117" We are glad, however, to record that, although separation is so imperfectly carried out, the result of our inquiries has shown that there is no reason to believe that unnatural offences are at all prevalent." This may perhaps be accepted as satisfactory in so far as it may seem to negative the conclusion that the evil referred to prevails to any great extent, for had this been the case, the Commissioners would probably have been able to obtain some positive evidence of the evil. But it is impossible to feel satisfied that the evil does not exist at all, and there can be no doubt that the only sure and perfectly effectual means of preventing it is to put a stop to all association of prisoners during the night. 7. The following extracts from the report of the Commissioners will inform your Lordship how far the separate system has hitherto been established in this Colony :---
Paragraph 16.—" With regard to the site and general arrangement of the prison buildings, we may observe, that throughout the island we found them with a few exceptions in fair repairs; but before the separate system can be carried out in its integrity, nearly every prison in the island will have to be greatly enlarged or entirely rebuilt.'
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"Anxious to receive the Report of the Prison Commission, with your comments and recommendations. Papers preparing for Parliament."
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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