BRITISH PRISON SYSTEM.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1091, 1 April 1911, Page 7

BRITISH PRISON SYSTEM.

» REMARKS BY MR. JUSTICE .GRANTHAM. Mr ; Justice Grantham attended the meeting, of the Liverpool Discharged Insoners Aid Society recently, ami in some comments on the treatment of prisoners advanced the theory that they should be self-supporting. The great question of the day, he said, was what would be the result of the alteration proposed by the Homo Secretary for dealing with prisoners at the end of their sentence? Discharged prisoners -required just as much assistance as convicts. lie welcomed the removal of.the necessity for ex-prisoners to report themselves; ho had protested against this requirement for the last 35 years. "I do not think," he proceeded, "that our present prison system is a good one for acting as a deterront. I can assure you I look upon myself as the greatest fraud possible. Every day I pass sentence of hard labour. To my mind it is not hard labour. It is all nonsense. It is just the happiest state of. their lnjts,Thero is just enough to do to keep themselves occupied. They know that they havo got their food, clean bedding, clean washing, clean water, and plenty of the best food that can possibly be given them, and only just enough work to keep them' in health. It is no punishment at nil. The proper way is to get them to work on land, and make some arrangements whereby we can have farms for the sake of giving work to the prisoners. I would make every prison self-supporting, growing its own wheat and doing everything." Ho remembered when at Arrnley Gaol, Leeds they ground on their treadmill tho whole of the ilour for all the prisons round about. At Walton Liverpool they used to.pump all the water. It was very hard work, and tho prisoners did not like it, but that was what they wanted.