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C.O.885

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APPENDIX (C).

C. Owen, Esq., to the Colonial Secretary.

Sir,

Court of Requests, Singapore, June 15, 1871. I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your circular letter of the 12th instant requesting that I will favour you at once with my views upon the matters mentioned in it,

The only matter referred to in your letter as to which I feel qualified to give an opinion is that connected with the duty of a Visiting Justice to hear charges against prisoners for breaches of discipline. These charges are for the most part of a very triffing nature, such for instance, as breaking cups, refusing to work, smoking opium, and so forth, and might, in my opinion, be very well disposed of, as in England, by the Keeper of the Prison. At present this officer has no power in such cases, and, as a consequence, his moral hold over the prisoners is slight. When I visited the Gaol last month, the K eper, Mr. Boyd, com- plained to me that under the present system the prisoners did not " care for him at all." For more serious offences, such for instance, as striking prison officers, I think a severe punishment should be awarded, and that these cases should, as at present, be inquired into by the Visiting Justices.

An alteration such as I have pointed out, besides increasing the authority of the Gaoler, would enable the Justices to devote adequate time to their more legitimate work, such as a thorough examination of the gaols, inquiry into the conduct of the prison officers, and satisfying themselves, from time to time, as to the manner in which the prison system is working.

Sir,

I have, &c. (Signed)

C. C. OWEN, Senior Magistrate.

Report by Captain Innes, R.E.

Office of Colonial Engineer and Comptroller of Convicts, Straits Settlements, Singapore, May 14, 1872.

With a view to carrying out the recommendations of the Committee on Prison Disci- pline who reported in the beginning of the present year, I beg to submit the following sug- gestions for the approval of his Excellency the Governor; they are naturally divided into modifications of rules and discipline, and the alterations in the existing staff and structures required to carry them out.

I see that the Committee hint at the probability of the present Sheriff's Gaol being abolished. I find, however, that the present criminal prison will barely admit of sufficient expansion, so far as structural alterations are concerned, to accommodate the probable number of convicted criminals, and I have therefore proceeded on the assumption that I have only to provide for men undergoing a sentence of imprisonment with hard labour, and that those who are simply detained in safe-keeping will remain with the Sheriff.

As regards the Transmarine convicts, I am given to understand that the Government do not see their way to removing those of them who require to be kept in any kind of custody until they are finally sent away next year; it is, however, a question whether second and third class men of good character might not be granted tickets-of-leave somewhat in advance of the regular time. The fourth and fifth class men would be placed in the lower stage, provided for under the new rules, the former for three or four, and the latter for six months; any third class men left in would be considered, as now, a class apart, and be treated under the existing Transmarine rules.

The bringing up of the long sentence local prisoners from Penang and Malacca must, I think, be deferred for the present until the Transmarines go, and the new arrangements are in working order.

Although not strictly speaking within my province, I may, perhaps, be permitted to suggest that an Ordinance, somewhat similar to the “Habitual Criminals' Act" recently passed in England, will be found a necesssary corollary of the proposed prison reform.

As regards discipline, I have thought it best to submit a complete revised set of rules,* certain portions of these will require an amendment to the Prisons Ordinance of 1568 before they can be lawfully put in action, and a memorandum of the amendment required is also given Appendix D). I have not included in these anything bearing on the constitution of the Board of Visiting Justices, although the L'ommittee mention this as a point needing amendment, because I do not quite gather what their intentions are concerning it. The

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rules now submitted have been compiled principally from the Ceylon Prison Code (the diet classification are principally from this source), and from the model set in the Colonial Office Digest and Summary of 1867, with the modifications required by local circumstances. The chief exception, viz., the power of ordering corporal punishment given to the Chief Officer in certain cases is in accordance with the views of the Committee, and is believed to be really With the restrictions provided it will no doubt work safely, indeed, a much greater power of this kind has been and now is exercised over the Transmarine convicts without there ever, as far as I can learn, having been any complaint of its abuse.

necessary.

Ilaving in view the increased stringency of the proposed discipline and the approaching removal of the present convict petty officers with other Transmarine prisoners, it is necessary to commence the formation of a sufficient paid prison staff. (Appendix E), showing the numbers and description which seem to me to be necessary. I annex a tabular statement This is somewhat in excess of that recommended by the Committee, but I do not see my way to reduce it lower at present, and it is much smaller than the present staff, a list of which is also given. I beg to suggest that the engagement of warders on probation be com- menced so soon as His Excellency approves provisionally of a fixed establishment. I shall be prepared to submit about twenty names of men who have been employed and done well as convict petty officers. We might get a few recommended by the Inspector-General of Police, but I am particularly anxious to get some trustworthy Chinese, it might be possible to get some men trom the Hongkong police if his Excellency authorised inquiry to be made. All warders should be uniformed and armed, as recommended by the Committee, save that I should prefer to give them a pistol in place of the rifle carried by the police.

I do not see my way to carrying out the Committee's proposal for having the greater part of the prison staff consist of police constables changed at short intervals, and have only proposed adopting it for mere sentries; it might, perhaps, be carried farther, so as to include all those (to the number of twenty) described as guards, whose principal duty, would be night-watching, without disadvantage, but it would be impossible ever to create an efficient staff if the warders proper were not permanent and looking for advancement within the prison.

As regards the more urgent structural alterations, I have prepared a schedule and approximate estimate, amounting to 7,677 dols. (see Appendix F) of those which I should propose to carry out at once. They are only what is necessary for commencing the really penal discipline so far as shot-drill for all, and separate working cells for one-half of the lower stage prisoners, and for increased security and the provision of accommodation on the premises for additional European warders. The last item might, perhaps, have been post- poned till next year, but it falls in naturally with certain alterations required for better security at the main entrance, which should not, I think, be put off. They consist in the provision of an inner gate and the removal of the office, Justices' and gatekeepers' rooms to the space between the inner and outer gates, so as to avoid introducing everyone that calls at once into the body of the prison.

As regards permanent arrangements, and provisions for the introduction of the separate system, I should point out that the present site and buildings will not admit of the provision of separate accommodation for the full number of prisoners named by the Committee, viz., 600, including about 300 in the lower, 150 in the middle, and 150 in the upper stages, without making a clean sweep and commencing de novo, în which case it is a great question whether it would not be better to go to some other site where there would be more elbow- room available.

I understand, however, that the Government are not prepared to start a new establishment at present, and have therefore only considered what can best be done with that now in our hands. I find that by dividing and adding a storey to cach of the long transmarine wards, pulling down and rebuilding the refractory ward, and building two large new wards, one on the site of that now occupied by the Europeans, which might, perhaps, be incorporated in it, the other (marked F on the pian) on a site now partly without the Goal, which it is proposed to inclose within the walls, separate accommodation could be provided for upwards of half the whole number of prisoners, whilst suflicient associated accommodation would still be left for the remainder. By this course, prisoners in the lower or penal stage, and all the Europeans, might be separated in the first instance, and, if the number of convictions were largely diminished by the increased severity of punishment, the division of the remaining wards might eventually provide sufficient separate accommodation for all, if not, prisoners who had reached the upper stage, would hereafter have to be provided for elsewhere before the separate system could be fully carried out. annex a Statement (Appendix G) showing both the number of separate cells which would be provided, as above, supposing the total number of prisoners to be 600, and the greatest number of separate cells attainable by the conversion of the whole of the existing buildings;

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