157
7. On the 30th March last, I made a pressing representation to Government on the overcrowded state of the Gaol and the subject was fully enquired into by a Commission of which the Honourable E. J. ACKROYD was Chairman. Their Report, dated 1st June, 1886, submitted several recommendations, which have in part been carried out, and are, I understand, in part still under the consideration of Government, but no material relief to the congested state of the Gaol has as yet been experienced, and the danger to discipline, the danger of moral contamination, and the provocation and temptation to Prison offences which I pointed out as due to the overcrowding in associated wards, now exists in as full force as ever.
8. Notwithstanding the limited and inconvenient space, an extra loom for grass-mat making and an extra loom for coir-mat making have been put up for work during the year. This not only increases the number of prisoners instructed in industrial work, but adds to the profits of the Gaol.
PRISONERS AND THEIR DISCIPLINE.
9. In the previous year's Report, I expressed an opinion that Chinese convicts were as amenable to discipline and disposed to be as well conducted as those of most other races. The experience of another year has confirmed me in this opinion. The number of Prison offences reported during the year has indeed been great, compared with those of English Prisons, but this, as formerly reported, is in a great measure due to the enforced association of prisoners, by day and night, at meals, at labour and in sleeping, and also, though in a less degree than formerly, to want of training and experience in Prison Officers. Yet the present year shows a slow but marked and steady improvement, as to the number and nature of Prison offences. In 1885, with an average number of 530 prisoners, 6,473 Prison offences were reported, giving an average number of something over 12 Prison offences a year for each prisoner. In 1886, with a daily average of 674 prisoners, 7,198 offences were reported giving an average number of a little over 10.4 offences a year for each prisoner. This modest though satisfactory improvement is not owing to any slackness in reporting Prison offences. For increasing strictness in this respect has been the steady rule during the year. But it is not only satisfactory to observe a reduction in the average number of Prison offences, but still more satisfactory to observe that the general experience of the results of a judicious Prison discipline have been verified in this Gaol, in so far as a much larger proportion of the offences during the past year have been committed by a smaller number of habitual offenders. On the last day of 1885 there were only 78 Chinese prisoners in Gaol who had been free of punishment for three months, while on the last day of 1886, there were 144 prisoners who had been free of Prison punishment for three months and, among these, 44 had been free of punishment for a whole year.
10. While there is a proportionate reduction, as compared with last year, of every kind of Prison offence, this reduction is most appreciable in the graver Prison offences.
11. The inveterate temptation of prisoners, in constant association, to talk is difficult to overcome. The offences under this head in 1885, were 2,132 to a daily average of 530 prisoners amounted to a small fraction above 4 offences per man per annum. In 1886 these offences were 2,659 to a daily average of 674 prisoners and amounted to a small fraction under 4 offences per man per annum.
12. The other graver offences, such as assaults, acts of violence or insubordination, obtaining tobacco or opium, show a marked diminution.
13. During the year 7 cases of insubordination towards and assaults on Officers of the Gaol were tried as against 11 cases in 1885. Of these cases 6 offenders were awarded corporal punishment and one was awarded additional imprisonment by the Police Magistrate. The cases of prisoners assaulting and fighting with each other show a fair actual and considerable proportional reduction. Nine of these cases were tried by the Superintendent and a Visiting Justice; eight of these offenders were awarded corporal punishment, and one solitary confinement. Another case, an aggravated assault with a hammer, was tried in the Supreme Court. The remaining cases of assaulting and fighting were not serious and were in fact mostly squabbles over food or work.
14. The reduction in the number of offences of having tobacco or opium is a most marked feature during the past year. This is chiefly due to the great attention and vigilance of the Prison Officers. The ingenuity of prisoners and their friends, as exercised in the efforts to pass in these narcotics, is very great, and constant vigilance is necessary.
15. In my Report for 1885, I detailed the steps adopted with this view. The tobacco introduced during the year has chiefly been brought in by the chain-gang, and by far the greater number of these offences are for secreting stumps of cigars or cigarettes picked up on the road or at work.
16. In my Report of 1885, I adverted to the risk of possible conspiracies, with so many convicts living in association. This year has not been without its experience in this respect. A conspiracy was made to set fire to the Gaol, in hopes of effecting an escape in the confusion. The attempt was frustrated, ample information having been received in time, and I am in hopes of shortly obtaining sufficient evidence to prosecute the intending incendiaries. As a full report on this subject was submitted to Government at the time, it seems unnecessary to enter into details here. The desperadoes concerned in such attempts are generally members of the Triad Society. It is very difficult to get any information from members of this society, although it has been done before now. But Chinese prisoners who are not Triads are often not unwilling to give information, provided they are not called upon to give evidence in a Court which would expose them to the vengeance of the illegal societies.
17. Prison discipline during the year 1886 has, in my opinion, made steady and satisfactory progress. I annex Returns as to Prison offences similar to those submitted last year, adding for the sake of comparison the statistics of 1884 and 1885. In the Return showing prisoners previously convicted, it will be observed that in 1886, 32 per cent. of prisoners confined on the last day of the year were old offenders as against 35 per cent. in 1885.
LABOUR ON PUBLIC WORKS AND INDUSTRIAL LABOUR.
18. A chain-gang of prisoners has been working during the year under the orders of the Surveyor General on Public Works. It has generally consisted of about 60 men. During the year 1885 and in previous years the work of the chain-gang had not given satisfaction. The men had been allowed extra food, and had not apparently been kept to much hard work by the officers in charge. In consequence of the recommendation of a Committee, Government directed the issue of extra food to be discontinued on the 26th June last. The system hitherto in force, of changing the officers in charge of the chain-gang monthly, appeared to me unsuitable and tending to careless supervision. I therefore directed the Head Turnkey in charge and his first assistant, to be kept on this duty for six months at a time and made them responsible for a proper amount of work being done. The result has been satisfactory. The Surveyor General has assured me that during the past year the work done by the chain-gang has been satisfactory and valuable.
19. The other industrial work carried on in the Gaol has, on the whole, been as satisfactory as the limited space for work-shops would allow. Considering the great advantage of teaching trades to the criminal class, it is very desirable that facilities should be afforded for the extension of industrial labour.
20. I append an abstract showing the actual profits or savings to Government in ten different industries carried on in the Gaol. The total profit during the year amounts to $3,849.66.
21. I have also recently commenced a new industry. Instead of purchasing the tin plates and mugs for the prisoners' food and tea, I procured old kerosine oil tins and commenced making the plates and mugs in Gaol. In next Annual Report this will be shown as a profitable industry.
22. I will only offer a few short remarks on prison industry.
23. OAKUM has, like in the previous year, been the most profitable industry, but it has the drawback, that in doing this work the prisoners cannot be said to be learning a trade. The demand is also limited and the storage of picked oakum is dangerous. The surplus now on hand will therefore shortly be sold by auction.
24. COIR YARN. -- Another loom has been started during the year and the work has gone on well; the output has been more than doubled and the profit nearly doubled.
25. RATTAN WORK. - This work has been steadily progressing, but the sale has as yet been limited.
26. NET-MAKING. - This work is only carried on when orders are received. The amount of work done has been less than in the previous year.
27. GRASS-MAT MAKING. - Another loom has been added and the work done during the year was more than triple that of the previous year.
28. WASHING. - A strict account of this industry has been kept this year, for the first time, and it appears that, charging for washing at only half the usual rate in Hongkong (one cent per piece) a very profitable saving has been realised.
29. CARPENTERING is almost entirely confined to work done for the Gaol.
30. TAILORS' SHOP. - The work in this shop has been considerably extended. The summer clothing of the Gaol Officers was, this year, made up in the Gaol, but under considerable difficulties, and a certain amount of free labour from outside had to be hired to complete the work. I do not think this should be tried again, unless the officer in charge understood the business of tailoring.
31. SHOE-MAKING. This trade has been very successfully enlarged. All the boots and shoes for Prison Officers have been made and very well made in this shop at a saving of about half a dollar on each pair.
32. PRINTING has been done for Public Offices and some money has been realised for book-binding.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.
33. The most important suggestion I have to offer is one which I repeatedly made, viz.: that immediate steps should be taken to introduce the separate system at least as regards long sentence prisoners, and to increase the space for work-shops and industrial labour. Unless this is done, no really ...
157
7. On the 30th March last, I made a pressing representation to Government on the overcrowded state of the Gaol and the subject was fully enquired into by a Commission of which the Honourable E. J. ACKROYD was Chairman. Their Report, dated 1st June, 1886, submitted several recommendations, which have in part been carried out, and are, I understand, in part still under the consideration of Government, but no material relief to the congested state of the Gaol has as yet been experienced, and the danger to discipline, the danger of moral contamination, and the provocation and temptation to Prison offences which I pointed out as due to the overcrowding in associated wards, now exists in as full force as ever.
8. Notwithstanding the limited and inconvenient space, an extra loom for grass-mat making and an extra loom for coir-mat making have been put up for work during the
This not only year. increases the number of prisoners instructed in industrial work, but adds to the profits of the Gaol.
PRISONERS AND THEIR DISCIPLINE.
9. In the previous year's Report, I expressed an opinion that Chinese convicts were as amenable to discipline and disposed to be as well conducted as those of most other races. The experience of another year has confirmed me in this opinion. The number of Prison offences reported during the year has indeed been great, compared with those of English Prisons, but this, as formerly reported, is in a great measure due to the enforced association of prisoners, by day and night, at meals, at labour and in sleeping, and also, though in a less degree than formerly, to want of training and experience in Prison Officers. Yet the present year shows a slow but marked and steady improvement, as to the number and nature of Prison offences. In 1885, with an average number of 530 prisoners, 6,473 Prison offences were reported, giving au average number of something over 12 Prison offences a year for each prisoner. In 1886, with a daily average of 674 prisoners, 7,198 offences were reported giving an average number of a little over 104 offences a year for each prisoner. This modest though satisfactory improvement is not owing to any slackness in reporting Prison offences.
For increasing strictness in this respect has been the steady rule during the year. But it is not only satisfactory to observe a reduction in the average number of Prison offences, but still more satisfactory to observe that the general experience of the results of a judicious Prison discipline have been verified in this Gaol, in so far as a much larger proportion of the offences during the past year have been committed by a smaller number of habitual offenders. On the last day of 1885 there were only 78 Chinese prisoners in Gaol who had been free of punishment for three months, while on the last day of 1886, there were 144 prisoners who had been free of Prison punishment for three months and, among these, 44 had been free of punishment for a whole year.
10. While there is a proportionate reduction, as compared with last year, of every kind of Prison offence, this reduction is most appreciable in the graver Prison offences.
11. The inveterate temptation of prisoners, in constant association, to talk is difficult to overcome. The offences under this head in 1885, were 2,132 to a daily average of 530 prisoners amounted to a small fraction above 4 offences per man per annum. In 1886 these offences were 2,659 to a daily average of 674 prisoners and amounted to a small fraction under 4 offences per man per annum.
12. The other graver offences, such as assaults, acts of violence or insubordination, obtaining tobacco or opium, show a marked diminution.
13. During the year 7 cases of insubordination towards and assaults on Officers of the Gaol were tried as against 11 cases in 1885. Of these cases 6 offenders were awarded corporal punishment and one was awarded additional imprisonment by the Police Magistrate. The cases of prisoners assaulting and fighting with each other show a fair actual and considerable proportional reduction. Nine of these cases were tried by the Superintendent and a Visiting Justice; eight of these offenders were awarded corporal punishment, and one solitary confinement. Another case, an aggravated assault with a hammer, was tried in the Supreme Court. The remaining cases of assaulting and fighting were not serious and were in fact mostly squabbles over food or work.
14. The reduction in the number of offences of having tobacco or opium is a most marked feature during the past year. This is chiefly due to the great attention and vigilance of the Prison Officers. The ingenuity of prisoners and their friends, as exercised in the efforts to pass in these narcotics, is very great, and constant vigilance is necessary.
15. In my Report for 1885, I detailed the steps adopted with this view. The tobacco introduced during the year has chiefly been brought in by the chain-gang, and by far the greater number of these offences are for secreting stumps of cigars or cigarettes picked up on the road or at work.
16. In my Report of 1885, I adverted to the risk of possible conspiracies, with so many convicts living in association. This year has not been without its experience in this respect. A conspiracy was made to set fire to the Gaol, in hopes of effecting an escape in the confusion. The attempt was frustrated, ample information having been received in time, and I am in hopes of shortly obtaining sufficient evidence to prosecute the intending incendiaries. As a full report on this subject was sub- mitted to Government at the time, it seems unnecessary to enter into details here. The desperadoes concerned in such attempts are generally members of the Triad Society. It is very difficult to get any
information from members of this society, although it has been done before now. But Chinese prisoners who are not Triads are often not unwilling to give information, provided they are not called Con to give evidence in a Court which would expose them to the vengeance of the illegal societies.
(
17. Prison discipline during the year 1886 has, in my opinion, made steady and satisfactory progress. I annex Returns as to Prison offences similar to those submitted last year, adding for the sake of comparison the statistics of 1884 and 1885. In the Return showing prisoners previously con- victed, it will be observed that in 1886, 32 per cent. of prisoners confined on the last day of the year were old offenders as against 35 per cent. in 1885.
LABOUR ON PUBLIC WORKS AND INDUSTRIAL LABOUR.
18. A chain-gang of prisoners has been working during the year under the orders of the Surveyor General on Public Works. It has generally consisted of about 60 men. During the year 1885 and in previous years the work of the chain-gang had not given satisfaction. The men had been allowed extra food, and had not apparently been kept to much hard work by the officers in charge. In con- sequence of the recommendation of a Committee, Government directed the issue of extra food to be discontinued on the 26th June last. The system hitherto in force, of changing the officers in charge of the chain-gang monthly, appeared to me unsuitable and tending to careless supervision. I therefore directed the Head Turnkey in charge and his first assistant, to be kept on this duty for six months at a time and made them responsible for a proper amount of work being done. The result has been satisfactory. The Surveyor General has assured me that during the past year the work done by the chain-gang has been satisfactory and valuable.
19. The other industrial work carried on in the Gaol has, on the whole, been as satisfactory as the limited space for work-shops would allow. Considering the great advantage of teaching trades to the criminal class, it is very desirable that facilities should be afforded for the extension of industrial labour. 20. I append an abstract showing the actual profits or savings to Government in ten different industries carried on in the Gaol. The total profit during the year amounts to $3,849.66.
21. I have also recently commenced a new industry. Instead of purchasing the tin plates and mugs for the prisoners' food and tea, I procured old kerosine oil tins and commenced making the plates and
mugs in Gaol. In next Annual Report this will be shown as a profitable industry.
22. I will only offer a few short remarks on prison industry.
23. OAKUM-has, like in the previous year, been the most profitable industry, but it has the draw- back, that in doing this work the prisoners cannot be said to be learning a trade. The demand is also limited and the storage of picked oakum is dangerous. The surplus now on hand will therefore shortly be sold by auction.
24. COIR YARN. --Another loom has been started during the year and the work has gone on well; the output has been more than doubled and the profit nearly doubled.
25. RATTAN WORK.-This work has been steadily progressing, but the sale has as yet been limited. 26. NET-MAKING.This work is only carried on when orders are received. The amount of work done has been less than in the previous year.
27. GRASS-MAT MAKING.-Another loom has been added and the work done during the year was more than triple that of the previous year.
28. WASHING.-A strict account of this industry has been kept this year, for the first time, and it appears that, charging for washing at only half the usual rate in Hongkong (one cent per piece) a very profitable saving has been realised.
29. CARPENTERING-is almost entirely confined to work done for the Gaol.
30. TAILORS' SHOP.-The work in this shop has been considerably extended. The summer clothing of the Gaol Officers was, this year, made up in the Gaol, but under considerable difficulties, and a cer- tain amount of free labour from outside had to be hired to complete the work. I do not think this should be tried again, unless the officer in charge understood the business of tailoring,
31. SHOE-MAKING. This trade has been very successfully enlarged. All the boots and shoes for Prison Officers have been made and very well made in this shop at a saving of about half a dollar on each pair.
32. PRINTING-has been done for Public Offices and some money has been realised for book- binding.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.
33. The most important suggestion I have to offer is one which I repeatedly made, viz.: that immediate steps should be taken to introduce the separate system at least as regards long sentence prisoners, and to increase the space for work-shops and industrial labour. Unless this is done, no really
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