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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

TUTTI I

Reference :-

C.O.8

885

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO

3 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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17. These numbers considerably vary at times, and at the present moment the numbers are by the latest returns:—

Singapore Penang

Malacca

598 352

107

18. We find that during the year 1870, no less than 1334 prisoners were admitted into Singapore Gaol with a daily average of 406, but out of this 1,334, no less than 941 had been convicted once before, 185 twice before, and 137 over three times.

Similar returns from Penang give 1,119 prisoners admitted with a daily average of 295, of these, 57 had been previously convicted once, 33 twice, and 17 over three times.

We are not prepared, however, owing to the very careless way in which the books at that gaol are kept, and the absence of proper supervision on the part of the Assistant Engineer, to place much reliance on these returns.

At Malacca, 209 prisoners were admitted with an average of 48, of whom, 9 had been there once before, 2 twice, and 2 over three titaes.

19. Our prison system is at present regulated by Ordinance No. 11 of 1868, which vests in the Governor in Council the power to frame rules and regulations for the internal discipline of the prisons, for their mangement, for diet and classification of prisoners, the kind of labour to be exacted, with the manner and place of exacting the same, remission of sentences, and conditions on which such remissions are to be made.

20. It limits the punishments which a gaoler may award, for breaches of orders and discipline, to imprisonment in a solitary cell for not more than twenty-four hours at a time, on a diet of bread and water, or rice and water; and it vests all other punish- ment, and all inquiries into complaint, and breaches of discipline, in a Board of Visiting Justices.

21. Rules have also been framed under this Ordinance for the general management of the prisons, the scale of diet, and regulating the punishments which may be accorded by Visiting Justices for breaches of discipline, viz. :-

(1.) Imprisonment in a solitary cell for any time not exceeding fourteen days, on a diet of bread and water, or rice and water.

(2.) Placing in handcuffs, or irons, for any period not exceeding seven days.

(3.) For a second offence, or in case of prisoners under sentence of hard labour, corporal punishment not exceeding thirty stripes with a rattan.

22. In Ceylon, the prison discipline is regulated by an Ordinance, No. 18 of 1844, and certain powers are accorded there to any officer who holds a document, giving them to him by the Governor, to inquire into and punish all breaches of rules,— powers which practically are always given to the European officer who has charge of the prison.

23. We are of opinion that one of the first steps to improvement here is to put more power into the hands of the Chief Officer of the prison, and to revise the present powers of the Board of Visiting Justices, leaving, however, to the Chief Officer to report to some Visiting Justice, whenever he considers it necessary, or whenever a prisoner commits an offence beyond the jurisdiction which may be accorded to him as Chief Officer.

We are of opinion that it should always be competent to any Visiting Justice to inspect the gaol, and hear complaints, and that it is essential they should do so.

We are also of opinion that the Prisons Act should be so amended as to give two or more of the Justices power to increase the punishment of "habitual offenders," by which we mean offenders who have been convicted more than three times.

We are of opinion that the power of inflicting the punishment of whipping, which we are convinced is a really deterrent punishment with the native offender, should be accorded to the Visiting Justices, and that all Chinese long-sentenced prisoners, and all habitual offenders on short sentences, should be deprived of their tails, as was the practice heretofore, though of late fallen into disuse.

24. On the removal of the transmarine establishments, we presume some changes will be made in the control of the gaols, and we would venture to suggest that it will then be practicable to place an officer in charge of the gaol at this place, who shall be quite competent to punish a prisoner, and we believe it will be found most economical to have all long term prisoners sent to the Singapore Gael, both from Penang and Malacca, which will enable the gaols at those places to be left under a mere gaoler, with some local European officer in immediate control.

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The whole of the gaols should be periodically inspected by an officer practically acquainted with gaol discipline, and with the system pursued in Singapore.

25. We have very inuch pleasure in reporting that nothing can exceed the good order in which the gaols of the Settlements are kept, and if the transmarine system were responsible only for this, it would deserve the greatest credit. Nowhere, we believe, in the United Kingdom, or elsewhere, could gaols possibly be kept neater or cleaner, or altogether better in sanitary requirements.

26. The space in the gaol here, and at Penang, allotted to local prisoners, is wholly insufficient for their number, and the only mode we are able to propose for finding sufficient room for the number we have at present, and for their efficient discipline, is the removal of the whole of the transmarine convicts from these lines, except the 4th and 5th classes, which we have proposed to deal with as local prisoners.

This will give abundance of room at Singapore for housing and working inside the prison walls, all our own short term, as well as long term prisoners, and for bringing from Penang and Malacca all long term prisoners.

27. A great deal of the present space in the gaols is taken up by the cooking-houses, and, as we believe the system of allowing prisoners to cook inside the gaols is detrimental to all discipline, we beg to recommend the immediate cessation of this system. We have ascertained that the food can be cooked outside at a very moderate rate, and that the present rations contractors are willing to undertake it.

It

28. It seems quite unnecessary for us to enter into any discussion on the principles which ought to guide us in fixing the system which should properly regulate the discipline of a prison, when those principles have been so ably laid down in the papers before us. appears sufficient that we beg leave to record our entire concurrence with the special objects of prison discipline, as laid down in the Secretary of State's Circular, and with the general features of the very able Report on Prison Discipline in Ceylon by Sir Edward Creasy's Committee of 1866.

29. In considering the question of whether a convicted prisoner sentenced to imprisonment with hard labour is receiving such punishment in penal labour and general treatment as is calculated to deter from crime, we are bound to say that our whole system is utterly defective.

The only severe and deterrent labour in our local gaols is the refractory ward, where men are placed for punishment, and even this is defective, as they work in association by day, and sleep together in one ward at night.

30. The classification of the prisoners as regards labour is most defective, and here we would quote the words of the Ceylon Report, and remark that, "it is no slight fault in the present state of things that it is left to the authorities of the gaol to determine the kind of work which each prisoner is set to. If it is wished to spite a man, he may be kept constantly at loathsone drudgery; if he has by any means obtained favour, he may be put to such a trifling occupation as to give him no labour at all.

"The same remark applies to the present selection of the trade or industrial occupa tion for which a prisoner is told off. It may be stone-breaking or picking coir, or it may be a similarly objectionable latitude of discretion given to the gaol authorities as to what prisoners they will select as hospital orderlies, and for similar employments in the gaol, and so relieve from haid labour altogether.

"We fear that there is too much reason for the general belief that a criminal who is wealthy, or who has wealthy and influential friends, never does a day's hard work, what- ever be the term for which he is sentenced."

It is perfectly true that the worst prisoners sentenced to transportation or to long terms of imprisonment are kept inside the gaol, but they are subjected, as a rule, to no hard labour. Some break stones, it is true, but principally Europeans, and the others are engaged at rattan-work, coir-weaving, carpentry, and smiths' work, and at all the menial offices of the guol, which latter simply amount to play. But the great majority- Police Court cases in particular-go outside, and the labour exacted from them is most insufficient.

31. We cannot but believe with the Lords Committee that, in this branch in particular, and, in fact, in all prison discipline, the separate system is an essential basis which to act.

upon

With us at present, association both by day and night is not only prevalent, but universal. Its existence can only be justified by the difficulties of reconstruction, and the almost impossibility hitherto to incur a heavy expenditure.

We believe that it reformation is possible at all, it is possible only with separation, but that even separation will procure reformation in an Oriental people, we take great leave to doubt. We believe principally in the deterrent influence, and this influence, we think, will

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