This reward,

may send this, before release, to their families. also, I think judicious; for, in the one case, it provides the prisoner with means of support for a time after release, and enables him to look about for honest means of livelihood, if he be so disposed; in the other, it prevents his family-who, perhaps, may be entirely dependent on him for support from coming to utter want, and so being forced into crime. This is not an imaginary evil. It not unfrequently has happened that the wife of a man in prison. has, from sheer want, been forced to go off with some other men ; and such a state of things is more than likely to produce bloodshed on the prisoner's release.

The health of the prisoners has not been neglected. Not only are there, in every province, rules strictly dealing with the matter, but the most minute attention is paid to it, and a careful watch maintained over it by the various local governments and the supreme government. In each province there is a code of rules relating to the various points connected with the management of prisoners, and in these codes are full instructions for the guidance of officers in charge of prisons, concerning the clothing, dieting, housing, medical supervision, conservancy, and all matters in any way affecting the sanitary condition of the various jails; in fact, it would not be too much to say that, of late, in no country has there been more attention paid to the maintaining of convicts in a healthy condition than in India. If epidemic disease be excluded, I do not think that much sickness will be found in the jails; and, within the last few years these epidemics have not made such frequent inroads as was formerly the case. A collection of the health statistics of the different prisons for the last five or six years would show that the results which have attended the exertions of the different governments are satisfactory.

Having now given an outline of the system of prison management in India, it may fairly be asked, What is the result of this system? Is it deterrent? To answer this inquiry with certainty is almost impossible. We have not the statistics which would enable us to give a clear answer, and it is extremely difficult to identify previously convicted prisoners. The committee of 1836 drew attention to the increasing number of prisoners. Again, in 1864, the committee which then sat did the same. The inspector-general of jails in Bengal does not consider the system deterrent; while the government of the Punjab considered it more deterrent than that in force in the jails in England, judging from the number of re-convictions. Be the answer what it may, there are measures which my own experience convinces me would tend to increase the deterring effect, whatever

that might amount to, and I shall proceed to point these out, and offer a few remarks upon each.

The great majority of Indian prisoners are confined at night in barracks, and sleep in association. Now, putting aside the moral evil of this plan, it is one which does much to mitigate the severity of the punishment of imprisonment. A prisoner looks forward to the chat and gossip at night to repay him for the toil and labor of the day, and any one who has had practically to deal with the working of a prison, will tell you that it is a time of enjoyment to the prisoner. I have, when going round a jail at night when all were locked up, found the men collected into circles, listening to the stories and jokes of the wit of the barrack, and laughing at and thoroughly enjoying them. As soon as any one is heard approaching, the place is of course perfectly still, and complete silence prevails; but as soon as they think they are again safe, they recommence their fun and gossip; and I have been told by prisoners that it is this to which they look forward all through the day. On the other hand, there is nothing more repugnant to them than being locked up in a separate cell at night. This, too, I have heard from prisoners. I think, then, it is clear that if we could introduce separate imprisonment it would be a great gain. This, it is evident, would be a matter of great expense, and could not at once be carried out in every jail; but the principle might be recognized, and gradually it might be introduced. It has been said that separate confinement would be detrimental to the health of the prisoners. My own opinion is directly opposed to this; but because of the expense which must attend the measure, and the great advisability of avoiding failure after incurring a heavy outlay, I think it might be experimentally tried in some one jail for a time sufficiently long to enable the government to form a correct judgment; and I may add that I think something of the kind has been sanctioned as an experiment, although I have no certain information on the subject. Dr. Mouat, the inspector of jails in Bengal, is most strongly in favor of this system of a separate sleeping cell for each prisoner, and the Punjab government also urges its adoption. I myself am sure that it is one of the most needed improvements, and I firmly believe it would prove a wise and successful measure. It would, though, as I have already said, involve a very heavy outlay, and the other calls on the revenue of India are many and urgent.

Reformatories for juvenile prisoners, according to what is understood by the term in England, are not in force in India. As regards reformation of Indian convicts, there is one great difficulty in the way. It is not permitted to interfere with the religion of a prisoner in any way. Now, it seems to me, that no reformation can be whole

some or real which is not based on religious teaching. To attempt to establish an abstract morality would, I believe, even if the attempt succeeded, prove useless as a basis for reformation. It might, possibly, be of use among a civilized and highly educated people, but not among such as fill our Indian jails. Still, I think that it would be a fair experiment to establish a proper juvenile reformatory, to which young criminals might be sent for long terms-short terms of imprisonment would be of little avail—and where they would be subjected to a proper discipline, be educated, and be taught trades. It would be necessary to deal with this class of prisoners for some time after their release-to aid them in obtaining employment, and to watch them, so as to prevent their falling back into crime. And here would arise at once a marked distinction between the state of things in Europe and India. In Europe, private individuals very largely contribute to the aid of the juveniles discharged from these reformatories, either by finding employment for them or by direct pecuniary assistance, or in both ways. In India, the whole of this duty would devolve on the state, at any rate for the present; and in the parts of the country distant from the chief cities-Calcutta, Madras and Bombay-a zealous and judicious officer in charge of a juvenile reformatory, if directly countenanced by the government, might, however, I am of opinion, do much to meet and overcome this difficulty. At present, the treatment of juvenile prisoners is not on so satisfactory a footing as could be desired.

One of the chief difficulties an officer in charge of a prison has to deal with is, the subordinate agency at his disposal for the internal management of the institution. The scarcity of Europeans fitted for this employment was noticed by the prison committee which sat in 1836. This scarcity has not much diminished. We are consequently thrown back very considerably, if not entirely, on natives to fill the subordinate posts in our prisons. Nor do I think it would be advantageous to do away entirely with native subordinates. I would rather seek to secure the services of a better class of natives than we now have, and make their situations of such value to them that they would be disposed to do all in their power to avoid the loss of them. This, of course, could only be done by increased expenditure of money, and must be gradual.

I have mentioned the classification of prisoners according to their crimes, ordered to be carried out in prisons. I myself am not sure that this is the best we could adopt. It has been suggested that we should classify prisoners as casuals and habituals. If a casual is to be distinguished from an habitual simply by the length of his sentence, this classification would hardly answer. If, however, it be meant that [Senate No. 21.]

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the antecedents of each man and his general character are to be considered, and that upon these his classification is to be based, then I think there is some value in the suggestion. It has also been recommended that the classification should be decided by the prisoner's conduct, and what is learned of his character subsequent to his coming into prison. The objection to this is, that the matter then rests simply on the judgment of the head of the prison; but otherwise there are, I think, advantages in this mode. It is a difficult subject, and one which, I think, India must work out for itself, as indeed it must the whole problem of prison administration, assisted, no doubt, by the experience gained in other countries, but still seriously considering and allowing for the numerous social peculiarities of its own people.

The above are the steps which appear to me the ones we most need to take forward at present, and, in mentioning them, it must not be supposed I would infer that their importance is unrecognized by the various governments in India. Attention has been given to them, and in due course we may hope to see them all carried into effect, for there is constant progress being made in prison administration in British India, and hardly a year passes by without some measure, calculated to improve the prison system, being introduced.

XXV. MEMORANDUM ON PRISON DISCIPLINE IN

CANADA.

BY TERENCE J. O'NEILL, INSPECTOR OF PRISONS IN CANADA.

HALIFAX, N. S., January 28, 1870.

Reverend and DEAR SIR-I arrived here last evening any thing but well, or I would have written you sooner; that is, I would have penned something on the voyage hither, the weather being delightfully fine, but I felt too poorly for any effort.

Now for a few lines on that subject which we both have earnestly at heart, the proper treatment of the convict. I believe we Canadians are getting on a track which is as likely to lead to happy results as any institution on this continent has yet entered upon.

The number of really incorrigibles in our penal institutions is, in my opinion, very small, if the proper mode of influencing them be put in action. Encouragement and rewards are not less incentive to the criminal than to the pure, and perhaps not much less to the old than to the young, if you could once get the prisoner to comprehend your motives for dealing with him.

In

Our experience in the penitentiary at Kingston in the reward experiment has been signally successful. After long debating the subject with the last warden, and years of procrastination, we succeeded in having half of one of the wings lighted up brightly, so that the prisoners could read at night. That portion of the prison embraced about one hundred and thirty cells. We have since extended that advantage so far that about two hundred and seventy-five cells are lighted up. The prisoners thus read from about five to nine in winter, and from dusk to half-past nine in summer. And what has been the result? Out of the number I mention, not a dozen have forfeited the boon thus conferred on them. addition, we indulge them with a walk in our large prison square for an hour on Sabbath afternoon. We have done away with the silent system in our chapels. The convicts give the responses, and we have further introduced singing and music. You should have seen the service previously, though ever decorous, and see it now, to appreciate the difference this change has made in the feeling, interior and exterior, among our unhappy ones. The class thus indulged, you will be aware, is that long under probation, who have won their badges; the three stripes on the arm you may recollect to have seen.

Regarding the penal prison we contemplate commencing this coming summer, I hope we shall succeed in constructing one not inferior to that at Philadelphia. I disapprove of the system of separation as a permanent