ENGLISH EXTRACTS. THE GREAT PRISONS OF LONDON. PENTONVILLE.—ITS RESULTS. (From the Daily News, February 21.)

New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 324, 5 July 1849, Page 2

ENGLISH EXTRACTS. THE GREAT PRISONS OF LONDON. PENTONVILLE.— ITS RESULTS. (From the Daily News, February 21.)

We have described the practical discipline of Pentonyille and the theory on which it it founded. Now let us look at its working, or, in another word, its re* mltr. Confining attention to the prison itself— looking neither backward nor forward, to the right band nor to tht left— it seems to work almirably. Thfre is perfect order, perfect silence. The stillness of the grave reigns in every part. To a person accustomed only to see such gaols as Giltspur-ttreet and Horse-monger-lane—with their noise, filth, and disorder— the change is very striking. The observer feels as if he had come upon a new and different worlds In the cell, he sees the prisoner .calm, subdued, industriously at work upon his lessons or his labours. In the galleries and ia the airing-grounds, he also sees him quiet, downcast* obedient— very obedient. All this looks very pretty. The system which can so tame wild and reckless criminals — and men who commit transportable offences may not unreasonably be placed in this category— must be good ; a very easy inference! Indeed much too easy. The man who looks into it more narrowly will find the secrets of the good behaviour of the prisoner and of the order of the prison, the order comes from the lock and key— the good conduct from the almost entire absence of temptation. Looking only to the prison, the lock and key and the freedom from temptation are decidedly wise provisions ; if Pentonville were a perpetual prison— it its victims were destined to return no more into the bosom of society— if there were no world outside its walls, the order and conduct so produced would lie open to no serious objection. But it is not to. The inmate of Pentonville is destined to a Bpeedy reunion with society : the English burglar of last year is to become a citizen of Australia next. His governors in the model prison may forget the world outside, but he does not ; they may take no heed of his past life— no care for his future; but these tkings will influence him. As Mr. Crawford pointed out in his report, and as every one interested in the experiment has seen, the system of isolation makes very good submissive prisoners ; and, if this were the only end desiderated, separation would unquestionably be the thing. But is it? Surely not. The object is to make good citizens, to restrain the falling, to restore the fallen. Ansi a discipline is efficacious or not as far as it pro i duces these effects— not farther, How, then, does the Pentonville plan act in tbcs3 respects ? la order to teach the untamed criminal to restrain the violence of his passions, it isolates him from his fellowi, and proposes to give him the power of overcoming temptation by removing him out of its reach ! Of all questionable means to effect a given end, this seems to be about the most questionable. In the name of reason, what discipline oan the cell afford to the uneducated ? As a class, criminals have two cardinal defects— the prolific parents of all their sins and crimes— idleness and irregularity of mind. By irregularity of mind, we mean want of strength, order, native virtue, and constancy in the mental constitution j what is commonly termed want of pi in-

ciple, and what in rerlity it want of stamina, logical [ sequence, and « governing element of character. j Both these defects wist from weakness ; but one it physical, the other moral. Both may be cured partially or entirely ; but then tbe cure must be adapted to the form and nature of the disease. Penal science admiti of.no universal pills, warranted to cure any ailment, from ft cold to a consumption. How can a man learn to restrain his passions in the cdl ? He it subject to no temptation there. He hat neither pretext nor opportunity to do wrong— to commit any fault. He overcomes no evil promp in? 5 he gains no strength, for he has no trial ; hit discipline ii a mere negation. The advocates of the isolation system point to the comparative freedom from prison punishments as a proof of the excellence of their scheme. It is no proof of excellence at all. We have seen lunatics in strait jackets, very quiet and very harmless, who if out, would have been very violent. But is this a good argument for putting all lunatics in straitjackets ? It is true they can do very little harm then, perhaps little more than a prisoner can in his cell ; the cell is, in fact, the criminal's strai- -jacket. It keeps him very quiet, makes him very obedient, but the question, neverthel'sa, remains open— does it make him a better man ? What we want are sound minds, not quiet men in strt.it jackets ; good citizens, not submissive criminals in s lent cells. A penal system that excludes temptation, because it may necessitate punishment, is radically unsound. The aim should be to obtain conditions, surrounding the offender in his state of expiation, as near as is possible, consistent with- strict discipline, to those in which the new made man will be placed on liberation. No convict will have to inbab t a cell on his liberation ; the austere discipline of the cell is therefore lost to him, with all its lessons, when he quits it : but many will have to exist in workshops, and all will have to mix with their fellow-men again in one way or another. It is here that the social — or as an i Americn writer proposes to call it— the Howardian system, for it is really his, has the great advantage over its rival. Its punishments are more numerous— but then its punishments, wisely administered, are highly useful and cortectire. It offers temptations similar to those which surround men in the world and in the workshop ; «nd though the ill-trained offender often breaks through rules which do not bind him at with iron band*, hit fault, always followed by an Infliction of pain or dtprintioo of au indulgence pro1 portioned to tbe enormity committed* it itself a lesson and a discipline. Where there is no liberty of action, there is no merit in restraint. Where temptation is excluded, there is no discipline worthy of the name. It is a trial of nothing— a probation which admits of no proofs. It k a mere negation— and criminals are not a race which ought to lie fallow, H6w far the discipline of Pentonville affects the mind* it would be presumptuous to assert. Opinion is greatlf divided upon that point. There can be no doubt, however, that it gives a low, listless, melancholy expression to the face. Its subject* rertainly look subdued; Whether they all, after a time, psh into the earlier stages of idiocy, as some asser', we know not ; but the fn quent changes and modifications introduced into the system indicate strong fears on the part ot those wbo profess the largest confidence in their work. The system it far less rigorously enforced now than it was at first — and the tendency is continually towards the associate and kbour sy»tem. In fact, it U even now little more " separate " than Coldbath-fields. For instance, in one place you may ■ed eight or ten men in the garden working ; if you ask the meaning of this departure from the rule of the cell, you will learn that this " gardening list '• is a new regulation, by which the tedium and silence of the cell is diminished— in cases where the inmate could bear them no longer safi ly ; and if you refer to the last report of the commissioners for the government of Pentonville, just out, you will find that body declaring that " the further extension oi" this singular innovation upon the original plan " may become a salutary safeguard to our system." But what nrc we to think of tlie system, model and costly though it be, whose most earnest advocates admit that, as a safeguard, it requires such, an alien element? Again, in anoiher part of the grounds, you come upon a large tent, from which proceeds a strange sound of revelry. Well, what can this saturnalia, for Pentonville mean 1 Here are fifty of the prisoners laughing, shouting, talking, with out let or hindrance, Tory jolly, and in high spirits. But what is it about ? You may wonder, and think it all a ludicrous farce ; but the cause of it is very •erious Indeed. The first batch or two of man who were lent from Pentonville, w ert literally unable to take care of themselvet on the voyage. A day or two after the deadweight was taken off, a great numoer of them became half idiotic— that is, light-headed, low-spirited, silly, and a few (the worst) subject to sudden fainting This strange (act led to many modification* of the system — and, amongst others, to this one. For som weoks before being sent away, the men are thus pu into association, made acquainted again with the hu. man face, and encouraged to chat and make merry. Since tbis change iwas introduced, the cases of hysterical convu'sions haye 1 decreased in number •• but they still take place. The more, however, you depart from the normal principle of isolation, the more they diminish : a fact very significant, and not to be overlooked. Pentonville is healthy ; but, in connexion with this assertion, it is to be remembered that the fact ssy» nothing for the discipline — because, in the first place, the site is healthier than that of any other London gaol— the building, drainage, conveniences, are more perfect, and it has the advantage of better medical supervision. In addition to these circumstances the inmates are rigorously selected on account of health and strength, as well as from the least sickly period of life; and add again to all this the fact that persons who become so unwell as to appear incurable or unfit to bear the rigour of the discipline are sent back to Millbank and the hulks to die, or receive pardons on medical grounds. The sickness and mortality returns are therefore not to be taken ia thoir unqualified expression as indices of the effect of isolation upon the bodily health. Sta. tistics founded on a stato of things so perfectly abnor* i mal are of no value in solving the problem of these prisons* In fact, to be good as an experiment, Pentonville should be a mrdium, and not a model prison ; its appliances might be as perfect as science could suggest, or skill administer— but its trial shauld have been made upon the ordinary run of criminals. And, now, what is the final result ? What is the condition of the Pentonville exiles when they pass away from its jurisdiction ? Are they really reformed ? Be it remembered, that no man is suffered to go until he is believed by the chaplain and authorities to be quite reformed. As yet, alt the data for answering this important question is not collected. What is collected is chiefly from the government agents who have charge of the exiles during the voyage to Australia. Accounts from such source* are naturally expected to be favourable, for two reasons— namely ; first, the exile, being still under the rigid authority which crushed his spirit out of him in England, and still holds him at its mercy, is really likely to strive to bohave well while he remains under his superior's eye on board ; and, secondly, the officer in charge of the men, and responsi-

ble for their goodconduct, without stating what is falie, if Hkely to make matters more coleur de rote thsin thty irci for hit own take and credit— especially ps the report is given only in the most vague and general terms. Still there if enough to make -one pauts and suipend judgment in the master of PentonviUe'g curative powei — even when tested with all the appliances and conditions— appliances and conditions in their very nature impossible to introduce generally— which we have named. In their lait report the commissioners, after citing a letter of favourable impressions from Mr. Andrews, surgeon-superintendent of the Marion, in which vessel the last batch of prisoner* were sent out, go on to say •— " It is fair, however, to add, that in a subsequent letter to our secretary, dated 24th September, 1847, Mr. Andrew*, while he continues to expreit hit own latiifaction with the conduct of the Pentonville exiles, admits his belief that Mr. Simmoni, the instructor on board, does not view the moral conduct of the Pea« tonville exiles in as favourable a light as he" does." Well, this is not very encouraging at best. Of the two authorities, we think the instructor on board more likely to be right. Why ii he not asked to nanke a report ? Why should the opinions of io competent a witness be filtered into court by the reluctant sur-geon-superintendent f