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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
3 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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arches in thirty-seven days, showing average earnings, including eight labourers attending, of 3s. 7d. per day. Five carpenters, two of whom were learning the business, one having been engaged upon it but for a short time, were employed upon the job, and one a fair tradesmen, but rather old; they trimmed floors, prepared and laid the flooring, skirting, ceiling, joists, roof, battened walls, made angle stairs, doors, sashes, frames, and fixed them, besides other things necessary for the house (three stories high and containing nine rooms) in fifty-six days, showing average earnings of 3x. per day." These facts speak for themselves.
This is a subject which at this moment is greatly agitated in England. The London" Times" of the 20th December, 1874, has an article on the question; it is so The attention of applicable to ourselves that I venture to give an extract from it. those interested in the efficiency of our means of repressing crime has, of course, been attracted to the obstacle presented by the existing condition and distribution of our prison establishments, and has been the subject of frequent discussion by the Social Science Association, followed by representations to the Secretary of State, in which the inefficiency of very many of the County and Borough Prisons for their main purpose, has been strongly and unanimously condemned, and the great waste of publie money involved in their maintenance clearly pointed out. Reference to the Judicial Statistics and to the It appears reports of the Inspectors of Prisons entirely corroborates the latter assertion. that there are in Englaud and Wales, exclusive of the 11 Government Prisons devoted to carrying out of sentences of penal servitude, no less than 110 prisons, of which 76 belong to the counties, and 40 to smaller jurisdictions, as cities, boroughs, liberties, &c., &c. Twelve counties in England and 11 in Wales have been so enlightened, and the smaller corporate bodies in these have so entirely sacrified their minor feelings to the interest of the ratepayers and the public, as to have abolished all but one prison, which serves for the whole of each county. Thirteen other counties have gone so far as to maintain only two prisons, of which, in most cases, one is for the county and one for its chief city or borough; but the example of the 23 above referred, among which is Staffordshire (one of the most populous of all our counties and containing many large towns), indicates beyond question that it is perfectly feasible, as a general rule, with few exceptions, to reduce our 116 prisons to one for each county, or say, roughly, by one-half. The effect which such a measure would have on the rates may be imagined, if it is remembered that every prison has its Governor, Matron, Chaplain, Doctor, Clerk, and that, therefore, the highest paid staff of half the prisons would cease to be a charge on the public if the number of prisons was reduced in that proportion, besides saving in all those items the cost of which must increase with the number of establishments."
Opinion on Prison Discipline, &c., &c.
In my former reports I have frequently shown that the association of prisoners is an unmitigated evil, and also pointed out the advantages that would be derived if a com- prehensive system of industrial training were adopted. Shot drill has never met my approbation, and in this opinion I am supported by Mr. Spencer, the late Governor of Glendairy, and by Mr. Mapp, the keeper of the Town Hall Prison. These and other matters have recently had the especial attention of a very distinguished prison officer in England, Captain Wilson, Governor of Maidstone Gaol, County of Kent, who has had much experience as Governor of Gloucester County Gaol. He has issued "Some Notes on Prison Discipline," a short review of which has fallen into my hands; he makes some suggestions regarding the treatment of the criminal classes which are well worthy of our consideration. With regard to the question of punishments he holds that shot drill is wholly valueless as a deterrent, while the tread wheel is not looked upon by him with favour, as, even where it is used for grinding corn or pumping water, it is comparatively unproductive. Of all the systems he says he has seen-"None can work in greater harmony and with more success than that adopted in the silent and separate prisons. The advantages are manifold. 1. Prisoners are unable, as by association, to be made worse by their fellow prisoners-this is most important, for, strange as it may appear, it is well known that instances have been recorded where prisoners have, in gaol, plotted a burglary or some deep plan of future thieving expeditions-merely through the facilities they have had of talking or communication. 2. By separation the prisoner, if at all a handy man, may be made available for any kind of industrial work, and in his cell can contribute towards his maintenance by his own industry. 3. The few cases of reports for breaches of prison discipline compared with prisons where criminals are associated or partly so, are a strong argument in favour of the separate gaols. In the latter it is unnecessary to keep so large a staff as where prisoners have to be constantly
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watched to prevent talking and irregularities." In cases of repeated assaults and habitual drunkenness he recommends that cumulative sentences should be awarded, and light sentences in first offences for larceny are mistakes. Such sentences should only be given in very exceptional cases, and should not be repeated after one or two convictions. To show how this short sentence system operated he states:-"That during last year in one of our county prisons, 772 persons were in custody for periods not exceeding 7 days, 598 not exceeding 14 days, and 837 not exceeding one month; a total of 2,207 short sentences out of 3,168 commitments, or about 70 per cent., the 7 days averaging 24 per cent.; under 14 days 19 per cent.; and under a month about 27 per cent. The per- centage of long sentenced prisoners-viz., over 3 months, was only about 10 per cent., and that was the general averago throughout the country.'" Ile gives the instances of the effect of this short sentence system upon re-committals in the cases of 8 prisoners who were re-committed 223 times, 118 for 14 days, 65 times to periods up to a month, 28 times in periods up to 3 months, 6 times in periods up to 6 months, and 6 times in periods up to a year. He says:-"Industrial labour, now so largely adopted in the majority of our best prisons, should consist of all trades that can possibly be introduced, and a Governor should endeavour in carrying out the sentence to make the punishment as severe as possible, but at the same time should not place the labour before the prisoner in a light that would make it distasteful to him hereafter." Ile urges that labour in a prison should not be made widely different to what it is outside, and better results would be obtained by enforcing recognised labour of a remunerative character. Moreover, the prisoner should not, by going to gaol, be incapacitated on his discharge from performing any skilled work that he may have followed in prison. He says:-"The ends of justice would be satisfactorily met by enabling the prisoner by his labour to defray the expenses incurred in supporting him while in gaol." As to the outcry respecting the competition of prison labour with the outside trades, he says:-" The State payers have as good a right to grumble at the idleness of the criminals, if they are not employed, as the pople whose trades might be affected by prison labour." Regarding the class of men who should be chosen for Warders, he urges the necessity of care in this matter; he adds:- Some warders have a mistaken idea that the highest merit can only be gained by extreme severity. This should be checked-one of the surest ways to thin our gaols is, not by brutalizing the prisoner, but by exercising over him the sure control of firmness, patience, and justice, and by reforming his character by means of industrial employment, by education, and by the spiritual labours of a wise chaplain."
It will be for the Legislature to consider how far the improvements I have suggested, so obviously desirable, can be carried out. It is abundantly clear that the prison service of the island can be effected at a considerably less cost than it is now, and with increased efficiency; it only requires a beginning, when doubtless the same success would attend our efforts as has been achieved in the prisons of the mother country, and in our sister island of Jamaica.
(Signed)
FREDK, WATTS, Inspector of Prisons.
Inclosure 2 in No. 23.
Criminal Statistics, 1874.
I. OFFENCES.
TABLE showing the Number of Offences reported to the Police or the Magistrates
during 187-4.
Total
Number of Offences reported.
Offences against the. P'erson.
Offencest against Prædial Larceny.*Property (other than
Pra-dial Larceny).*
Other Offences.
5,190
713
1,360
1,097
2,020
ByPrædial Larceny" is meant the offence prevalent in the sugar-growing and coolie-importing Colonies, of robbing provision grounds and homesteads. It need not be filled up in Colonies where surb crime is not prevalent; and, it being struck out, any other prevalent crime may be substituted-as cattle stealing,
Include both offi nces against rights of property and injury to the subjects of property.
arson, &c.