JUDGE JOHNSTON ON GAOL CLASSIFICATION.

Evening Star, Issue 3326, 17 October 1873, Page 3

JUDGE JOHNSTON ON GAOL CLASSIFICATION.

Mr Justice Johnston, in charging the Grand Jury of Wellington, spoke ou the above subject as follows : I believe that I may congratulate the Colony on the passing, during the recently closed sea--sion of the Legislature, of an Act for the regulation of prisons, which I hope will be found to be a step in the right direction, respecting a matter too long neglected and far more vital to the welfare of the community than it is generally acknowledged to be. lam not yet informed of the definite shape in which this measure has come out from the successive processes of legislation; but I trust that besides consolidating the law on the subject, the Act, as passed, will be found to contain sufficient provisions for enabling the Executive Government to adopt practical measures for the speedy introduction of system of clftssificution, iiidiistrial education, and personal amendment of prisoners, without which thc_ Colony must continue, in this respect, to lag in the rear of mo» dem civilisation. The time seems to have arrived when further delay would be culpable. The necessity for large and prompt supplies of population, universally acknowledged, seems to render it necessary to look forward to the probabilities of the future, as regards crimes and punishments ; for it scarcely cun be doubted that with a substantia] and rapid increase of numbers —however admirably the process of selection may be conducted, and whether prosperity may' cheer our onward endeavors or temporary adversity may try our mettle—there must be some increase in crime, and some increased apprehension of the establishment of criminal and dangerous classes among us. I allude to this subject on the present occasion—though some persons in the Colony (from whom I entirely differ) think that it is no business of Judges to speak in their charges to Grand Juries about anything but the particular cases in the calendar —because I cannot help feeling a strong and sincere desire that the Colony should profit by the admirable practical lessons emanating from a most remarkable assemblage which took place last year in London, and which, it has been said—l think almost without exaggeration - inaugurated a new era in the history of civilisation. The scheme for a great International Penitentiary Congress, originally suggested, and in its preparatory stages mainly carried out by the Government and officers of the United States of America, eventually comprised the representatives of twenty-two nationalities (including every European nation except Portugal), together with the United States, Mexico, Brazil, and Chili. These w r ere represented by official delegates, the directors general of the prisons of most European countries, professors of criminal law, members of legislative assemblies, mid other competent persons. Prom the United States alone sixty representatives attended, including two Judges of the Supreme Court. The Eight Honorable Sir Walter Crofton was chairman of the English Committee ; and the Earl of Carnarvon presided at the Congress, which met in the ancient hall of the Middle Temple. A series of questions had been some considerable time previously prepared by the United States Commission, and sent to the different Governments ; and the answers to those questions, with papers contributed relative to the principal subjects, discussions in departments, and reports thereon, are embodied in a volume of “Transactions” of the Congress, which probably contains the amplest and most valuable collection of the experience of the civilised world on a great social question which has ever yet been brought together. The general result of the labors of the Congress, as apparent from the evidence and the reports, may be shortly stated as follows ' (1) The protection of society is admitted to be the object of all prison laws and prison sysPJ (2)' To this end the moral regeneration of the prisoners ought to be a primary object of systems of punishments. „ . (3) Hope is found to be a far more efficient agent than fear. t . , - (4) Hope is to be kept alive by rewards for good conduct and industry, such as diminution of sentence, participation in earnings, and gradual withdrawal of restraint or enlargement of privileges. . (5) A. progressive clftssificfttiou oi prxsoncis swuld be adopted ia all prisons.

(6) Moral forces and motives must be relied on. Unnecessary pain and humiliation should be abolished, except in extreme cases; breaches of discipline should be punished by diminution of comforts or forfeiture of privileges. But undue indulgence is as pernicious as undue severity. . (7) “ The true principle,” says the general reports, “is to place the prisoner—who must be taught that he has sinned against society, and owes reparation —in a position of stern adversity, from which he must work his own way out by Ids own exertions. To impel a prisoner to this self exertion should be the aim of a system of prison discipline which can novel be truly reformatory unless it succeeds in gaining the will of the convicts.” _ (8) Work, education, and religion are the great forces to be employed—steady, active, and useful labor being the basis of discipline. (9) Individualisation is necessary to work out these principles. Each prisoner must be individually treated with a view to his peculiar cu cunistances and mental organisation. (10) Prison officers must be obtained who believe in the system and have their heart in their work. They should have special training and much encouragement in respect of promotion, emolument, and leave. (11) Prisoners ought to be systematically assisted to obtain employment on their discharge ; and police surveillance should not be made a burden, but an encouragement to discharged men anxious to earn their living honestly. , (12) the report of course acknowledges the paramount importance of the great preventive agency of general education, and especially of industrial and ragged schools. The “ Transactions” contain a vast amount of detailed experience with regard to such questions as the construction of gaols, the cellular system (with and without association of laboi), forfeitures, and other cognate subjects. All these combined to prove that such a system as hitherto lias (perhaps almost of necessity) existed in this Colony, is utterly inadequate for the universally recognised purposes of criminal prisons. At the risk of being thought tedious, I should like, before concluding, to give you a short summary of a paper contributed to the Congress by Sir Walter Crofton, probably the most eminent practical authority on the subject, whose experiments in Ireland seem to have been crowned by remarkable success, and whose system has met with universal commendation and general acceptance. After the panic which was created some twenty years since by the ticket-of-leave system, Sir Walter set himself to consider how he could make prison tests and training as natural as possible, keeping in view the twofold objects of amendment and example. He has found from experience at Pentonville that a strictly artificial system did not duly prepare the prisoners for the battle of life in which they had to take part after their discharge ; and at the same time he saw' that a_ more natural system, such as he afterwards introduced for the final and intermediate stages in Ireland, if adopted at the commencement of the sentences, would prevent the punishments from being exemplary. He therefore resolved to combine the two systems, so that one should lead up to the other. Tn order to achieve the great objects of amendment, Sir Walter saw that it was indispensable to gain the co-operation of the criminals themselves, and that in order to do this, it is necessary to make them understand that it is not merely retributive, but has an aim of advantage to Long experience enables him to state without hesita tion, that if tills point be only made clear enough to the mind of a criminal at the beginning of his term, he will not be hostile to those who are over him, even during the necessary penal and severe stages of his punishment, for he will look forward to the end, and have hope ever present with him. “The solution of this problem,says Sir Walter, “to my mind rested in the institution of a classification which should lead, by different stages, from very great strictness and severe discipline to a state of serai-freedom, in which the good and industrious conduct of the criminal could be satisfactorily tested, through the absence of the artificial restraints necessary in the earlier stages of detention.” He said that self-control and self-reliance must be developed in this process, so that idle and ill-disciplined should become industrious and orderly. To this end, he introduced the “mark” system for numerically recording diligence at labor (not skill). This system, at first much misunderstood, was introduced by him in Ireland in 1854, and was afterwards adopted in English convict prisons in 18(54; and has had great success in both countries. Industry was made a privilege to be earned, cn account of its absence in the earliest stages of seclusion, and its gradual introduction ; and it was found that —slowly at first, but surely it supplanted idleness in the breasts of the majority of criminals. Sir Walter says : —“ lam not a mere theorist upon this point, I have watched the treatment of the same individuals under different systems. I have been told by criminals, on entering gaols, that they preferred being in their cells without employment, but I have invariably found the same persons begging for it before the expiration of a month. ’ The system introduced in Ireland, founded on the principles to which I have been alluding, has three stages — (1) The stage of penal and stringent discipline with seclusion.

(2) The stage of associated labor, with separate dormitories, in which there is a progressive classification governed by marks. In this stage the criminal discovers that he is to a great extent the arbiter of his own fate. This deprives the punishment of the aspect of vengeance, and ensures co-operation. (3) The third (called intermediate) stage commences when the other two have been satisfactorily passed, the criminals having obtained the required number of marks, and is a state of semi-freedom, a stage of probation in a mure natural state, precedent to liberation. The system thus introduced has stood the test of sixteen years’ experience, and has a very great success. It applies equally well to females as to males, except that “refuges” are adopted for the final stage for the former. There are two points to which Sir Walter draws attention, which would seem specially deserving the notice of the Government of the Colony. Alluding to the inauspicious circumstances in respect of buildings for the second stage with which he had to deal in Ireland, he says that the results under great disadvantages, “teach us how much a well-considered classification, based on sound and intelligible principles, may do, independently of expensive prison construction.” He further states: — “ There is a feeling in which, I believe, Count Sollohub (the representative of the Russian Empire at the Congress) shares, and I certainly do, that your prison construction should in a great measure be governed by the classification which, upon consideration, you think it best to adopt. It is, I believe, quite obvious that a very groat saving could bo effected by taking this course.” In concluding my observations at present on this important subject, I would respectfully recommend to the consideration of the Government, the Legislature, and the people of the Colony the extremely valuable body of matter, both theoretical and practical, to be found in the “ Transactions” which have suggested these remarks. At a temperance meeting held in London recently, Mr Cbarrington, the great brewer, announced that he had abjured his vocation because he had come to see the mischief which the trade inflicted upon the morals of the people. According to “Vanity Fair,” a quaint story has lately been circulated of a Baptist grocer, who called about a month ago on Monsignor Capel to complain that his daughter, having surreptitiously attended a service at the pro-cathedra), had renounced her faith. The monsignor listened with demure urbanity, and ended by inquiring wherein he could assist his visitor. “ Well, the fact is,” exclaimed the grocer, “my daughter used to help me in the shop, and I want to know whether she will be obliged to inform her confessor, who has long been a customer of mine, of the little tricks we are sometimes obliged to use in our trade ?” The monsignor replied that if tne Baptist’s daughter were a good girl, she would be bound to disclose all that lay on her conscience. “ Ab, well, if that’s the case,” cried the grocer, “ I’ll just join your church too, for I should like to give i him my own account of the matter.”