CO885-(2-3) — Page 583

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference

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Prisoners.

On the 31st December, 1873, there were in confinement in the Royal Gaol and the

Convict Depôts :

Male prisoners

Female ditto

·

Total ..

These prisoners were thus classified :—

Felons

Misdemeanants

Waiting trial

Debtors..

Remanded cases

Total

:::::

:::

:::::

:::::

:::::

329

21

360

135

190

14

5

6

350

The total number of prisoners committed during the year was 2,649, Table 4. shows the classification of the prisoners, as well as the countries to which they belong, their age, sex, trade, and religious denomination.

The daily average of prisoners throughout the year was: males 331; females 25

=356.

Escapes.

During the year 17 prisoners effected their escape, of whom 11 were recaptured. These escapes were almost invariably made from the working parties in the woods at Chaguanas, or in the quarries, and can scarcely be wondered at when itis remembered that frequently parties of 40 or more convicts are under the charge of only two or three unarmed Turnkeys, who dare not risk leaving the main body unprotected to look after a runaway.

I cannot but express an opinion that were the Turnkeys armed there would be fewer escapes, for the convict would remember that it is not easy to get out of reach of a rifle bullet.

Employment of Prisoners.

The employment of convicts whilst under sentence is a grave question every where, and it loses none of its gravity here.

It is one, the importance of which cannot be over-rated, for the way in which a convict's time is spent whilst undergoing his punishment must inevitably have a good or a bad effect upon him after his release.

In previous reports I have stated that in my opinion the gaol has no terrors for our criminal classes, and another twelve months' experience has in no way altered our belief.

A reference to Table B. will show that in spite of the increased severity of the punishments inflicted (especially by the Magistrates) the number of commitments for 1873 largely exceeds that for 1872, and it will also be noticed that the offences are chiefly sucli as in my Report for the year ending 31st December, 1871, I described as "Offences certainly not light, as they are the consequence of so low a standard of morality and education, that they cannot but indicate a tendency to, or at all events an aptness for, the graver crimes—drunkenness, disturbing the peace, exposing the person, indecent behaviour, obscene and profane language, &c."

If I am right in the inference I draw from these returns, then our system of gaol discipline is not fulfilling so thoroughly as could be wished the object for which it exists, for it should be the means of diminishing crime, either by the deterrent effect produced by its severity, or by the moral influences which it may bring to bear upon those subjected to it.

I greatly fear that our gaol system falls short of what is expected front it in both these important particulars.

In support of this opinion I attach copies of letters received by me from the Anglican and Roman Catholic Chaplains of the Royal Gaol, who, although they do not express identical views (on the subject of gaol discipline) either with each other or with myself, still, I think, bear out my general proposition that the discipline of the gaol is neither deterrent nor reformatory.

The only prisoners who seem to entertain anything like dread of returning to the gaol are the French refugees from Cayenne. Having some knowledge of the severe discipline of the French gaols, this at first appeared to me strange, but I soon learned the reason after some conversation with them.

2;

From what they told me it appears that in the French prisons the work is much harder and the discipline far more severe, but that the prisoners are fed in accordance with their usual habits, ie., they receive ratíons of soup, bread (in larger quantities than here), and on certain occasions of wine.

It is therefore evident that the gaol of Trinidad proves irksome to the French prisoners, not because the work is hard, for they are made to work far harder in the prisons of their own country, but simply because the food is distasteful to them, not being that to which they are accustomed.

If this be so, and from my continual intercourse with this class of prisoners I feel convinced that it is, then it is not difficult to account for the very great indifference with which imprisonment in the gaol is regarded by those who for brevity's sake I will designate our native criminals.

The labourer in these Colonies whether African, Creole, or Asiatic, works as little, and sleeps or idles as much as he can, and his ordinary food consists of plantains, corn- meal, salt fish and riec, washed down with rum when he can get it.

Ile lives on or near an estate in a hut, for which, in most cases, he has to pay rent in some shape or other, and neither his employer nor any one else cares much if he lives or dies, unless indeed he be an indentured immigrant.

If such a man commits a crime and is sent to gaol for twelve months, can it be contended that physically he is worse off than when working on the estate?

In the gaol he is well lodged, and fed at the public expense, with food identical with that which he consumes when at liberty, and clothed (also at the public expense) in a way which to a labourer in the old country would be a mark of disgrace, but which to him conveys no such feeling. He has medical attendance when ill, and, what to the Creole and the Asiatic is an immense enjoyment, he can sleep from 6 P.M. to 5.20 next morning.

The labour to which he is put is not more severe than that to which he has been accustomed on the estates or roads of the island, and certainly can in no case be con- sidered penal or even in the light of a punishment.

What then does such a prisoner really suffer by imprisonment?

The loss of his tobacco, of his rum, and of the means of indulging in the grosser sensual pleasures.

I cannot think that this alone acts as a deterrent from crime.

It is an easy matter to point out defects, but a much more difficult one to suggest their remedy. This, however, I will endeavour to do.

I have in previous Reports stated my firm conviction (and I now reiterate that expression) that the real remedy lies in the separation of the gaol into two distinct departments, viz.: A House of Correction and a Prison or Penitentiary.

It appears to me that the greatest possible difference exists between the case of a prisoner committed to gaol for perhaps the first time in his life for a grave offence, which has entailed upon him a sentence of, say, seven years' imprisonment, and that of a pickpocket or street brawler who comes before the Magistrate for the twentieth time for a short sentence of six months.

In the first case there is every reason to hope that at the expiration of the long term of imprisonment the convict will leave the prison a wiser and a better man than when he entered it, and the discipline of the gaol should be such as to assist in bringing about this most desirable end.

In the second case, reformation cannot be expected; prisoners of this class return to the gaol periodically, and the only means of making their visits "few and far between" is by subjecting them when within the walls of the prison, to a discipline so severe as to make them feel every hour of their sentence to be one which for their own personal comforts they will not desire to repeat.

To quote the words of Sir Joshua Jebb (an admitted authority in matters of prison discipline): "The deterring elements of punishment are hard labour, hard fare, and a hard bed; and for the lowest class of prisoners these clements should be applied as far as they can consistently with a view to deter men from crime;" and again, to quote from him: "Hard labour should be made compulsory in all short sentences," meaning by "hard labour" not industrial occupations or employment, but labour at the tread- wheel or the crank, or shot-drill, or stone breaking, or some such work.

I would here mention that I think the dressing of stone might be introduced with great advantage into the labour yard of the gaol.

It is hard work, casily tasked, and there is a great demand for it. attach much importance to the remunerative nature of prison labour, to ensure which I do not the far more important question of its penal nature is too often neglected, but I may

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