decrease in the number of prisoners retained for the longer terms?'-and he repeats, under various forms, the grounds of his belief to the contrary, as extracted from the Population Returns of the prison. For example, we have "TABLE, showing the Terms of Imprisonment at Pentonville of 3546 Prisoners, being the Total Number admitted to the 31st December, 1850, together with the Mental Cases as reported to that date, distributed under Four Periods of Six Months. Among other just remarks on these comparisons of completed terms, Mr. Burt says: The extent to which separate confinement has been prolonged without producing insanity is ascertained; the extent to which the separation might be safely protracted beyond its actual termination is not ascertained. But when the liability to mental disturbance is found to have decreased continuously as the term of separation has been prolonged, the result would, at least as an experiment, justify the extension of the term beyond the original limit of eighteen months or two years, whenever further punishment or reformation is required, rather than its curtailment.'-p. 136. These views of Mr. Burt are not promulgated for the first time. As they were discussed three years ago in the Medical Journals—and it can scarcely be doubted that these Journals reached Pentonville-why were they not called for and embodied in the reports of the Board, who are or should act as judges and not advocates? Instead of producing Mr. Burt's facts and reasonings on so vital a point, those of Dr. Baly, the Medical Superintendent of Millbank, are prominently set forth-and they are so exactly modelled on the statistics of Mr. Burt, that they appear to be intended to prove the reverse of that gentleman's known, though unproduced, deductions. But we shall do for Dr. Baly what the Surveyor-General has not done for Mr. Burt, and give this medical authority's table beside our chaplain's : 'Periods We give Dr. Baly all credit for industry in the compilation of this table-but we doubt whether the doctor's industry is not displayed at the expense of his perspicacity; for, though his data unquestionably establish an increase of insanity keeping pace with the prolongation of separate confinement, the proof unfortunately applies only to the operation of that system in one particular prison-viz. the horrid place under the worthy doctor's personal superintendence. If, instead of losing himself in his figures, Dr. Baly had consulted his good sense, he would not need reminding that, if you want to disturb the mind, you have only to ruin the health; and how efficaciously the air of Millbank can do that Dr. Baly's own returns of Millbank Mortality will show. This awful pile was disused as a place of confinement for long periods, on account of its extreme insalubrity, and hence became a mere halting-quarter for culprits under summary sentence of transportation. These were retained at Millbank no longer than till they could be got on board shipand yet this is one of the spots that have been selected, under the present Mixed System, for convicts undergoing the first stage of probationary discipline. At Millbank the first year of the new system, 1849, gave an actual mortality of 84 in an average daily population of 869 males, which was at the rate of 93 deaths per 1000. This great mortality was partly owing to cholera, but, allowing 34 deaths from that malady, we still have 59 per 1000 as a measure of the unhealthiness of Milibank in an epidemic year. In 1850 the mortality there was 21 per 1000-in 1851 it was 18.* At Pentonville, during the four years of the original use of the Separate System, it was a fraction above 6, and cholera, we believe, has never appeared in that prison. Dr. Baly's figures, when done into plain language, show that, if you immure a number of wretched creatures in the midst of a foul pestilential marsh, a good many of them will go mad in three months; if you keep them in for six, a larger proportion Vide Report on Millbank for 1819, pp. 9, 10; Report of Directors for 1851, p. 128; also Colonel Jebb's Report for 1851, p. 112. will will lose their wits; and, if you persist for six months longer, you may expect to turn Millbank into Bedlam. The stern common sense of Mr. Crawford and Mr. Russell abjured all tampering with the separate system at this prison, and insisted that, if the experiment were to be made at all, it should not be made in that miserable hole. It was on these grounds that Government sanctioned the building of the Model Prison from the plans of Colonel Jebb. But, besides the objection of insalubrity which vitiates Dr. Baly's conclusions, another militates against them at least as forcibly-viz., the inefficient style of the discipline at Millbank. In fact, of all that really characterises the original System of Pentonville, we recognise no resemblance at Millbank. In that sink the convicts are under a discipline much more allied to Colonel Jebb's than to Mr. Crawford's; the time of separation is short, the aids to the mind are insufficient, the association of offenders is frequent. We find without surprise that the chaplain at Millbank, the Rev. Mr. Penny 'feels considerable diffidence as to the amount of real amendment, bearing in mind the circumstances of the prison, the somewhat brief period of separate confinement, and the danger of good impressions being effaced when the prisoners are associated in large rooms and general wards.'* With such a state of things-an unhealthy atmosphere depressing the body, and a most inconsequent system worrying the mind by subjecting it alternately to the horrors of solitude and the ribaldries of a congregation of felons-did Dr. Baly ever expect that anything but madness could be developed? The separate system, under such arrangements, is a mere name that system cannot be carried on thus-nor should it be intrusted to careless or to unwilling servants. If the harvest is to be great, all the means to produce it must be diligently pursued. The very holiest of aids, the comfort, the solace, the salt of life, if injudiciously used, either as to its terrors or its hopes, will raise the solitary criminal to ecstacy or sink him in despair. The first hours of the cell are hours of great anguish : all the stimulants of crime are gone, there is no voice nor fellowship in its passionless walls, no sympathy, no love, no hate, nothing present but the past; how can the mind resist, and not be subdued? Then arise the cravings of the social instinct: the trade-master's hour of lesson, the visit of the minister of religion, the chapel with its common worship, the school with its common instruction, are privileges not lightly to be forfeited. The heart imperceptibly yields up its impurities and is cleansed * Vide Report of Directors for 1851, p. 185. -kindness -kindness compels belief and gratitude-many a casual word gives issue to feelings long concealed under the lava-crust of vice. Is all this to be thrown away on an ill-considered clamour about madness—which does not exist-or, if it does, it is not in a greater proportion than in half the pursuits and professions of life, which cannot be carried on without many a heartache and struggle, and much wear and tear of mind?-If the authority of thoughtful men have weight, it is all but unanimous in favour of the discipline of the cell. In England among its advocates are Bishop Butler, Howard, Hanway, Blackstone, Lord Mansfield, Paley, Sir Samuel Romilly, Wilberforce, Archbishop Whately, Lord John Russell, Lord Grey, Sir James Graham; in France, M. de Beaumont, De Tocqueville, and all the best of their inspectors of prisons; in Belgium, M. Ducpeteaux; in Germany, M. Julius; in Sweden, the King. In fact, the system is becoming universal in Europe, and its revival in the old world is attributable to its extensive and successful adoption in the new. 'It is, therefore, the opponent, not the advocate, of rigorous and uninterrupted separation that is in reality the theorist. The recent changes have been introduced upon purely theoretical grounds. It has been assumed that twelve months of separation was the utmost that could be borne without excessive injury to the mental and bodily health; that it would effect all the reformation required to render the congregation of the convicts at public works harmless; that the association of the prisoners after that period would confirm reformation; and that a great saving of money would be effected. These assumptions are not only based upon theoretical grounds, but upon theory opposed to experience; every theory involved in them had already been tested by actual experiment, had been proved erroneous, and had been abandoned. The most important of the recent changes has been the dividing of the convict's period of imprisonment into two portions; the first portion consisting of separate confinement, the second of associated employment. This system of a first and second stage of discipline was tried long before at Gloucester, and found most injurious. It was again tried on a large scale at Millbank, again proved to be most mischievous in its effects, and abandoned. Another very important principle of the present system is, that the duration of the convict's imprisonment at the public works is made to depend upon his conduct in prison, to the extent of several years. This theory was acted upon at Millbank, but it was found to be most injurious; it was condemned by the Committee of the Lords in 1837, and an Act of Parliament was passed to abolish the practice. Another change is, that convicts are now allowed a gratuity for their labour. This was tried at Millbank, was condemned by the Committee of the Lords in 1835, and was abolished by the Act of 7 Will. IV. But the grand error of the present system lies in the 2 L 2 necessity necessity for prolonging the period of imprisonment at the public works to compensate for the less severe character of the punishment. This error is the more important, inasmuch as it is proposed to make such associated employment the basis of a universal system of prison discipline. This change offends against the first principles of penal science. It is a retrograde movement, by which both the country and the criminal will be deprived of the greatest boon resulting, both morally and financially, from the whole movement in favour of prison reformnamely, the condensation of punishment within the shortest limits. In reference to this important principle, the Second Report of the Committee of the House of Lords, in 1835, contains the following weighty words: "If the adoption of a more strict discipline should add to the actual weight of punishment, its duration may be proportionably diminished; and the Committee look with confidence to a diminution of the period of confinement as one of the greatest improvements that, under any change of system, can be introduced into the management of our prisons." The introduction of associated employment at the public works is a reversal of the policy so clearly and so confidently recommended by the Lords.'-Results, &c., pp. 242-244. We are glad to understand that the existing Government has, at all events, declined to give any pledge as to the abolition of what every experienced Judge pronounces to be a most salutary system of discipline. If any of the ministers really feel at all doubtful, the satisfactory course surely would be, not to try for the tenth time a Parliamentary Committee, but to appoint a Commission of independent persons, apart from the turmoils and temptations of active party-politics-men with capacity and leisure for deliberately sifting the whole matter. Let these have the power of examining the various officers and of calling for any documents calculated to elucidate the recent changes. We ask no more. If the separation of the cell is to be retained, the selection of those who are to carry on the system in future should not be lightly made. Surely, if the education of the young and innocent is no light task, the education of the hardened heart and perverted mind of the criminal requires something more than the capacities which go to form the ordinary staff of our common gaols. Some experience, much temper, constant watchfulness, the absence of crochety theories and rash generalisations are essential. The power is great, extending over mind and body. That power should not be confided to the half-educated and the half-willing. There is no lack of men who are competent to fulfil all these duties-but there is a marvellous inaptitude and carelessness in seeking for such. If a board of such men were constituted, it should collect, compare, and digest information derived from our gaols and other sources, |