THE PRISON GATE BRIGADE.
This has already been in operation for two years in the cities of Bombay
and Colombo and a branch has been recently established in Madras. Now
that it will be connected with other branches of our Social Reform, we
may look for a rapid increase of this useful though difficult work.
The establishment of our Labor Yards will greatly help us in finding
work for this class, without branding them with the perpetual stigma of
their crime. The chief difficulty in the working of these Homes consists
in the almost insuperable objection of the men to be _known as
criminals_ after their release from jail. This is of course perfectly
natural. Besides, it is important that we should hold out before them
hopes of bettering themselves by their good conduct, and earning an
independent and honest livelihood at no distant date. When once our
Labor Yards and Farm Colonies are in active operation, we shall be able
to do this for our rescued criminals, continuing at the same time the
fatherly supervision and help which they so very much need.
The following quotations from our last annual report will serve to
explain this branch of our work, and to give a glimpse of the
encouraging success with which we have already met in our efforts to
reach and reform the criminal classes.
COLOMBO PRISON GATE HOME.
Picturesquely situated among palm trees in one of the most beautiful
suburbs of Colombo, within easy reach of the principal city jail, is our
Sinhalese Prisoners' Home. Cinnamon Gardens, as the district is called,
forms one of the attractions of Colombo, which every passing visitor is
bound to go and see. The beauty of the surroundings must be a pleasant
contrast to those dull prison walls from which the inmates have just
escaped. Still more blessed and cheering must be the change from the
Warder's stern commands to the affectionate welcome and kindly
attentions of the red-jacketed Salvationists, who have the management of
the Home.
A bright lad who is on duty in the guard-room opens the gates and
introduces you to the grounds in which the quarters are situated. There
are groups of huts with mud walls and palm-leaf thatching, which have a
thoroughly Indian and yet home like appearance. The first few of these
are occupied as workshops or carpentry for the manufacture of tea boxes,
and here from early to late the men may be seen busily employed, sawing,
planing, measuring, bevelling, hammering and working with such a will
that you might imagine their very lives depended on it, or at least that
they must be making their fortunes out of it, whereas they are not being
paid at all, and all the profits of the manufactory go towards the
support of the Home!
"What I admire about your work," observed Sir Athur Gordon, the late
Governor of Ceylon, "is the way in which your Officers identify
themselves with these convicts, and live among them on terms of perfect
equality."
But I was describing the little colony. On the left of this group of
workshops is a neat little hut where Captain Dev Kumar and his young
bride, Captain Deva Priti, reside. What a change for them form the
English Homes to which they have been accustomed, to this little jungle
hut, surrounded as they are continually by a band of ex-convicts, and
criminals. Yet it would be hard to find a happier couple in the
island,--in fact, quite impossible outside the Salvation Army.
"It is all our own work," explains the Captain. "Our men built the hut,
and the materials only cost about Rs. 25!" Certainly this is the
perfection of cheapness in the way of house building! A little further
inside the enclosure you come to more huts, in some of which the men
live, while others serve for quarters for the native officers who assist
in the superintendence of the Home, and to whose noble efforts so much
of its success is due. Then there is the kitchen, and a dining-room, and
a stable for the bullock trap, in which the released prisoners are
brought to the Home, to avoid the risk of a foot journey when their old
associates might hinder them on the way.
The spare bits of ground are all laid out in little plots of garden,
where plantains and vegetables are grown, and in front of the Captain's
quarters is a dainty little scrap of a flower garden. The entire
enclosure forms really a portion of the garden of a neighbouring house,
the property of the late Mr. Ginger, who took a warm interest in our
work, and leased the grounds to us at a nominal rent.
The following are the statistics of the work during the past year:--
Total number of admissions, .......................... 230
Found Situations, ................................... 115
Left, the Home and lost sight, of, .................. 103
Total number of sentences of imprisonment,............ 459
Number of juvenile convicts under 16 years of age, ... 40
Number of meals given,.............................. 15,774
Number of tea-boxes made, .......................... 2,880
Profits on same,................................. Rs. 350
The accompanying is the official report form sent in by us to
Government every month showing the results of the work--
JAIL GATE BRIGADE--COLOMBO--ITS RESULTS.
Prisons.
A.--This Return for the preceding month shall be forwarded on 1st or 2nd
of each month, by the Officer Commanding Salvation Army, through the
Superintendent of the Convict Establishment to the Inspector General of
Prisons, with columns 1, 6, 7, and 8, duly filled in.
B.--The Superintendent Convict Establishment shall fill in columns 2, 3,
4, and 5, and send on the Return to the Inspector General.
1. Name and age of Prisoner.
2. Nationality and religion.
3. Name of Offence.
4. Length of imprisonment in months.
5. General character in Jail.
6. Number of days maintained by the Salvation Army
7. How employed now, or going to be employed.
8. Result of action of salvation Army on prisoner, roughly estimated.
_Superintendent Convict Establishment._
_Commdt. Salvation Army, Colombo._
That the work of the Colombo Prisoners' Home is highly appreciated in
Colombo is further proved by the fact that most of the leading
Government officials subscribe to its funds, including the Colonial
Secretary, Sir E. Noel Walker, the Chief Justice Sir Bruce Burnside,
and many others. Again, it is not an uncommon thing for us to receive
such letters as the following from the Magistrate:--
From the POLICE MAGISTRATE, Colombo,
To the CAPTAIN OF THE PRISON GATE BRIGADE.
_Dated, Colombo, October 30th, 1889._
_Subject--Habitual Offender, Dana._
Sir,
I have the honour to inform you that a man named Dana, produced
before me this day, charged with being a habitual thief, has
expressed a wish to be admitted into the Prison Brigade Home.
I shall be glad if you afford him an opportunity to redeem his
character.
I am, Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
E.W.M.,
_Police Magistrate._
The past year was suitably finished up by providing a special feast to
which only ex-convicts were admitted. No less than 150 accepted the
invitation.
About this branch of our work a leading daily paper, the Ceylon
_Independent_, writes as follows.--
Most of our readers have read in our columns of the good work the
Army is doing at the Prison Gate, in reclaiming from criminal
courses the discharged prisoners who have served their time of
confinement. In that critical moment, when the wide world is once
more before the newly discharged culprit, when he emerges from
confinement to overwhelming temptation, big it may be with fresh
schemes of crime, armed with enlarged experiences to aid in its
accomplishment, to be met, taken kindly by the hand, and led gently
to the pleasanter and more peaceful path of honesty, industry, and
virtue, is a surprise that is calculated to disarm temptation at
least for a moment, and thus virtue gains time for thought.
The success of the Prison Gate Brigade has hitherto been surprising, and
quite beyond its founders' anticipation. It has been especially useful
in reclaiming juvenile offenders, of whom a large number have been
induced to take to the honest means of livelihood, chiefly carpentry,
which the Home provides.
OUR BOMBAY PRISON GATE BRIGADE.
This work in Bombay was commenced some two years ago at the instance of
a leading Parsee gentleman, with a generous subscription of Rs. 1,200.
Owing partly to the fact that we have been hitherto unable to secure
suitable premises and partly to the entire absence of any assistance on
the part of Government, the work in Bombay has been much more uphill and
discouraging than in Ceylon. Nevertheless we have persevered in the
teeth of all sorts of difficulties, and the results have been very
encouraging. Recently in one week no less than three of the inmates of
our Bombay Home were accepted as cadets, to be trained up as future
officers. Previously to this nine others had been similarly accepted.
One of these, Lieut. Hira Singh, is now himself taking an active part in
the rescue of other convicts, while another is sucessfully working in
Gujarat. Accounts of their lives are given further on.
Indeed Bombay has proved itself to be an even richer field than Colombo
itself; and now that some of the peculiar difficulties that have
hitherto hindered the work, are one by one being removed, there is every
reason to believe that this work will soon make rapid progress.
The returns for the past year show that the prison gates have been
visited 235 times, for the purpose of meeting the convicts on their
release. Since the commencement of the Home about 134 men have been
admitted. Of these 74 have professed conversion, about 12 having been
accepted as officers by ourselves and the remainder having mostly found
employment elsewhere. The number of meals given during the past year has
been about 7,800.
One of the special features of the work here consists in the constant
visitation of the liquor dens, with a view to persuading those who were
frequenting them to give up their evil ways. No less than 430 such were
in this way visited and a large number of papers distributed. While the
opposition was in some instances severe, as a rule our officers were
well treated even by the grogshop-keepers, who while admitting that
their trade was evil, pleaded that they had the Government's approval,
and that they must somehow support themselves and their families.
Besides the regular inmates, a large number of casuals have been
relieved and assisted, but of these we have no exact figures.
The following are some specimens of the work done by us among the
criminal classes in Bombay and Ceylon:--
LIEUTENANT HIRA SINGH
Is a Hindu of the Kshatraya caste. He comes of a soldier race and
family, his father having served in the East India Company's army before
him, and he having from his youth followed the same profession for the
past eighteen years, serving successively as Private, Lance-Corporal,
Corporal, and Sergeant in a native Regiment. He went through the last
Afghan campaign, having been to Cabul, Quetta, and other places.
For many years his conduct was excellent, but latterly he took to
drinking, got into serious trouble with the police, and was sent to
prison for forty days, thus losing his post as well as his claim to
pension. He was met by our officers on his release, accompanied them to
the Home, gave his heart to God, and has now been an officer in our
ranks for more than a year. During most of this time he has been
connected with our Bombay Prison Gate work, and has in turn helped to
rescue many others. But for the help he then received, a life of
drunkenness and crime would probably have been, almost forced upon him.
He is a good specimen of numbers who would _like_ to reform, but with
ruined reputation have no choice, save between starvation and crime.
HARMANIS.
"I am a native (Singhalese) of Kalutara in Ceylon. My father was a
toddy-drawer. We were very poor. Sometimes my uncles would give me a
cent or two for mounting guard to give them warning about anybody's
approach while they were slaughtering stolen cattle in the jungles.
Once, being very hungry, I climbed up a palm tree to steal cocoanuts,
but was caught by the owner and handed over to the police. The
magistrate sent me to jail for three weeks. After my release I came to
Colombo, and falling in with the Salvation Army, I went to their Home
for prisoners, and now thank God I am saved."
PODI SINGHA
This is only one of the many aliases by which he is known. He has been
one of the worst thieves and bad characters to be met with even in
Colombo, where there is a pretty good assortment of the scum of slumdom.
Adopted as an infant by a pious Mahomedan, he was trained up in that
religion. But in spite of every effort that was made for his
reformation, he rapidly went from bad to worse, till at length he found
himself in the hands of the police.
His first sentence was twelve months for throwing sand in a Singhalese
man's eyes and then robbing him of his comb. When released he fell in
with other criminals, from whom he learnt many new tricks of the trade.
Once he was stealing some clothes from a line when the lady of the house
saw him. A hue and cry was raised, and he soon found himself surrounded
with coolies and dogs. Seeing that there was no chance of escape, he
began to jump and scream and go through all sorts of antics. The lady,
thinking he was mad, and having pity on him, let him go.
He has seen the inside of nearly all the Colombo jails, but without
being made any better. Finally, he was received into our Home. At first
he was rather troublesome, but after a short time he gave his heart to
God, and has been doing well. "He cannot read or write," says the
Captain in charge, "but he prays like a divine, and I am believing to
see him become an Officer some day."
JANIS
Was brought from his village by a Singhalese gentleman when quite a
little boy, but, leaving his master, thought he would start life on his
own account. He soon became a practised thief. "I always managed to
escape," he says, "till one day with some of my companions I robbed a
Buddhist temple. I managed to get a silver 'patara' (plate), which we
sold for Rs. 24, but was caught and sent to jail." "But you were
yourself a Buddhist," said the Captain. "How came you to rob your own
temple?" "What of that? I thought nothing of sin in those days. But it
is all so different now. I am saved, and mean to spend all my life in
saving others. I am just now practising a song to sing in the meeting
to-night."
The Captain asked him whether he did not think it a great disgrace to go
to jail. "Oh, no! I thought everybody in Colombo had been there some
time or other. All the people with whom I mixed had been." "Well, how
did you like it?" "Oh, it was not such a bad place! The food was fairly
good, and I had not to work very hard but I wish I had known about
salvation sooner. Even then I used to wish that I could find something
which would _make_ me good, but all my efforts were in vain till I came
to the Home, and got saved."
In conclusion, I feel sure that a few brief particulars regarding this
branch of our work in Australia will be read with interest, and will
serve to prove the usefulness of this portion of our social reform
scheme:
Some six or seven, Prisoners' Homes have been established in
Australasia. The Victorian Government give an annual grant of £1,000, to
assist us in this branch of our work. Special facilities are afforded to
our Officers in visiting the prisoners, and in some of the jails printed
notices are posted up by the authorities to the effect that any
prisoner, previous to discharge, may communicate with the officers in
charge of our Home, with a view to making a fresh start in life.
The testimony of Sir Graham Berry, Agent General, the Chief Secretary,
the Inspector General of Penal Establishments, and the Chief
Commissioner of Police, proves conclusively how much good has thus been
done. The following extracts from their letters are copied from our
Australasian Prison Gate report:--
H.E. SIR H.B. LOCH, K.C.B., G.C.M.G., writes through his Private
Secretary to express "his approval and appreciation of the work done by
the Salvation Army in connection with the Prison Gate Brigades and
Rescued Sisters' Homes, and has great pleasure in expressing his belief
in the good which has resulted from the philanthrophic endeavours of the
Salvation Army to rescue and afford material assistance to those in
whose interests these organisations have been formed."
SIR GRAHAM BERRY, Agent General for Victoria, writes:--"I have
confidence in the permanent results of your labours, because you, treat
these unfortunates as if they were human beings and capable of better
things. I believe your organisation is a very powerful agency for good
among that class which is practically neglected by others."
CHIEF JUSTICE HIGGINBOTHAM says that "it is only proper to mention that
there is no better nor more useful work done in rescuing discharged
prisoners from relapsing into crime, than that effected by the Prison
Gate Brigade of the Salvation Army."
Similar letters have also been received from the following gentlemen:--
The Hon. ALFRED DEAKIN, M.L.A., Chief Secretary.
The Hon. JAMES BALFOUR, M.L.C.
The Hon. M.H. DAVIES, M.L.A. (Speaker of the Legislative Assembly).
The Hon. F.F. DERHAM, M.L.A., Postmaster General.
The Hon. H.T. WRIXON, M.L.A., Attorney General.
The Hon. W.F. WALKER, M.L.A., Commissioner of Customs.
Mr. JUSTICE KERFERD.
The Bishop of MELBOURNE.
W.G. BRETT, Esq., Inspector General, Penal Department.
H.M. CHOMLEY, Esq., Chief Commissioner of Police.
A. SHIELDS, Esq., M.P., Medical Officer, Melbourne Jail.