and where the harvest is so prolific, it ceases to be a matter of
wonder that a considerable proportion of the convicts transported to
New South Wales, have found their way back to their native
Country;--and that not a few of them have again afflicted Society by
renewing their depredations on the Public.--It is, indeed, lamentable
to reflect, that after the extreme labour which has been bestowed, and
the unparalleled expence which has been incurred, no effect whatsoever
favourable to the interest of the Community, or to the security of
innocence, has been produced. Looking back to the period when
Government was relieved of the expence of Convicts, almost of every
description under sentence of Transportation, and reflecting on the
enormous expence which has been incurred since the channel of
disposal, through the medium of the late American Colonies, has been
shut up; considering that within the short period of twenty-five years
no less a sum than 1,663,974_l._[151] has been expended in
transporting and maintaining about 15,000 Convicts, which would have
cost nothing under the old System;--it cannot be sufficiently
lamented, that so liberal a provision had not been employed in
establishing Systems of Prevention. One fourth part of this enormous
sum expended in a proper establishment of Preventive Police, would
probably have rendered transportation and punishment in a
considerable degree unnecessary, while the Country would have
benefitted by the industry of a large proportion of these outcasts,
who would then have been compelled to earn an honest livelihood by
their labour.
[Footnote 151:
Expence of maintaining about 9000 Convicts in
the Hulks, from January 1, 1795, to January 1,
1798 L. 623,022
Expence of Transporting Convicts in 1785 and 1786 3,722
Expence of Transporting and Maintaining Convicts
from 1786 to 1797, New South Wales 1,037,230
-----------
Total L.1,663,974]
Deploring the mass of turpitude which has drawn from the resources of
the Country so enormous a portion of wealth, it is no little
consolation to be able to look forward to a measure recommended by the
Select Committee, and in the train of being adopted by Government,
which holds out so fair a prospect not only of gradually diminishing
this expence in future, but also of rendering the labour of Convicts
productive, and of securing the Public against the repetition of those
depredations which have been rather increased than prevented, by the
System of punishments which have been heretofore adopted.
The advantages in contemplation are to be attained by carrying into
effect a _proposal for a new and less expensive mode of employing and
reforming Convicts_, which has been offered to the consideration of
Government by JEREMY BENTHAM, Esq. and which appears to have been
fully investigated by the Finance Committee, who state it (p. 20, of
Report 28,) "to be no small recommendation to the plan, that the
Contractor proposes to employ the prisoners on his own account,
receiving a proportionally smaller sum from the Public for their
maintenance.--That the great and important advantages which
distinguish that plan from any other which has been hitherto
suggested, consist in the certain employment and industrious
livelihood which it insures to those whose terms of confinement are
expired. In the responsibility which the Contractor proposes to take
upon himself, for the future good behaviour of Criminals entrusted to
his care, even when they shall be no longer under his control: in the
publicity which is meant to be given to the whole conduct and effect
of the Establishment, _moral_, _medical_, and _oeconomical_, as well
by an annual report of the state and proceedings, as by the constant
facility of inspection, which will in an unusual manner be afforded by
the very form and construction of the building, upon which the prompt
and easy exercise of the superintending power of the Governor himself
principally depends."
These advantages appear to the Committee of more importance, when the
periods of the enlargement of the several Convicts now on board the
Hulks are taken into consideration. The pernicious effects produced
upon the unfortunate persons confined in these seminaries of vice; and
the circumstance of 1411 destined to be enlarged in the course of 7
years, to afflict the Society from which they have been separated--the
Committee consider as deserving of very serious consideration: and
they conclude their view of the subject by expressing, an uncommon
degree of solicitude, that no delay should take place in the execution
of the contract with Mr. Bentham, "because it would deprive the Public
for a longer time of the benefits of a plan, which they cannot but
look to as likely to be productive of the most essential advantage,
both in point of oeconomy and Police."
The object in view is by the aid of ingenious machinery, to render the
labour of every class of Convicts so productive to the Contractor, as
to admit of their being maintained at 25 per cent. less than the
expence incurred on board the Hulks; while a rational prospect is held
out of reforming these Convicts and returning them upon Society, not
only with purer morals, but with the knowledge of some trade or
occupation by which they may afterwards earn their bread;--but this is
not all.--The proposer of this important design insures to the
Convicts, after the expiration of their time, the means of obtaining a
_livelihood_; by setting up a _Subsidiary Establishment_, into which
all who found themselves otherwise destitute of employment would be
admitted, and where they would be continued in the exercise of the
trades in which they were employed during their confinement.
It is, however, impossible to do justice to the merit of this
_Proposal_, without laying it wholly before the Public. It seems to
embrace every object calculated to remove the errors and difficulties
of the present System, while it promises in a short time to relieve
the Finances of the Country from the enormous and unparalleled expence
which is incurred by the Establishment of the Hulks, and by
Transportation to New South Wales.
* * * * *
PROPOSAL
FOR A NEW AND LESS EXPENSIVE MODE OF
_EMPLOYING_ AND _REFORMING CONVICTS_.
The Author, having turned his thoughts to the Penitentiary System from
its first origin, and having lately contrived a Building in which any
number of persons may be kept within the reach of being inspected
during every moment of their lives, and having made out, as he
flatters himself, to demonstration, that the only eligible mode of
managing an Establishment of such a nature, in a Building of such a
construction, would be by _Contract_, has been induced to make public
the following Proposal for Maintaining and Employing Convicts in
general, or such of them as would otherwise be confined on board the
Hulks, for 25 per cent. less than it costs Government to maintain them
there at present; deducting also the average value of the work at
present performed by them for the Public: upon the terms of his
receiving the produce of their labour, _taking on himself the whole
expence of the_ BUILDING, _fitting up and stocking_,[152] without any
advance to be made by Government for that purpose, requiring only that
the abatement and deduction above-mentioned shall be suspended for the
first year.
[Footnote 152: All these articles taken into the account, the
originally-intended Penitentiary Houses on the late Mr. Blackburne's
plan, would not have cost so little as L.200 per man:--for 1000
Prisoners, L.200,000: exclusive of the whole _annual_ expence of
maintenance, &c. to an unliquidated amount.]
Upon the above-mentioned Terms, he would engage as follows:
I. To furnish the Prisoners with a constant supply of
wholesome _Food_, not limited in quantity, but adequate to
each man's desires.
II. To keep them _clad_ in a state of tightness and
neatness, superior to what is usual even in the Improved
Prisons.
III. To keep them supplied with _separate Beds_ and Bedding,
competent to their situations, and in a state of cleanliness
scarcely any where conjoined with liberty.
IV. To insure to them a sufficient supply of artificial
_warmth_ and _light_, whenever the season renders it
necessary: and thereby save the necessity of taking them
prematurely from their work, at such seasons (as in other
places) as well as preserve them from suffering by the
inclemency of the weather.
V. To keep constantly from them, in conformity to the
practice so happily received, every kind of _strong_ and
spirituous liquor; unless where ordered in the way of
medicine.
VI. To maintain them in a state of inviolable, though
mitigated seclusion, in _assorted_ companies, without any of
those opportunities of promiscuous association, which in
other places, disturb, if not destroy, whatever good effect
can have been expected from occasional solitude.
VII. To give them an interest in their work, by allowing
them a share in the produce.
VIII. To convert the prison into a _school_, and, by an
extended application of the principle of _the Sunday
Schools_, to return its inhabitants into the world
instructed, at least as well as in ordinary schools, in the
most useful branches of vulgar learning, as well as in some
trade or occupation, whereby they may afterwards earn their
livelihood. Extraordinary culture of extraordinary talents
is not, in this point of view, worth mentioning: it would be
for his own advantage to give them every instruction by
which the value of their labour may be increased.
IX. To pay a penal sum for every _escape_, with or without
any default of his, irresistible violence from without
excepted; and this without employing _irons_ on any
occasion, or in any shape.
X. To provide them with _spiritual_ and _medical_
Assistants, constantly living in the midst of them, and
incessantly keeping them in view.
XI. To pay a sum of money for every one who _dies_ under his
care, taking thereby upon him the insurance of their lives
for an ordinary premium: and that at a rate grounded on an
average of the number of deaths, not among imprisoned
Felons, but among persons of the same ages in a state of
liberty within the Bills of Mortality.
XII. To lay for them the foundation-stone of a _provision
for old age_, upon the plan of the _Annuity Societies_.
XIII. To insure to them a _livelihood_, at the expiration of
their terms, by setting up a _Subsidiary Establishment_,
into which all such as thought proper, should be admitted,
and in which they would be continued in the exercise of the
trades in which they were employed during their confinement,
without any further expence to Government.
XIV. To make himself personally responsible for the
reformatory efficacy of his management, and even make
amends, in most instances, for any accident of its failure,
by paying a sum of money for every Prisoner convicted of a
Felony after his discharge, at a rate, increasing according
to the number of years he had been under the Proposer's
care, viz. a sum not exceeding 10_l._ if the Prisoner had
been in the Penitentiary Panopticon _one_ year: not
exceeding 15_l._ if _two_ years; not exceeding 20_l._ if
_three_ years; not exceeding 25_l._ if _four_ years; not
exceeding 30_l._ if _five_ years or upwards: such sum to be
paid immediately on conviction, and to be applied to the
indemnification of the persons injured by such subsequent
offence, and to be equal in amount to the value of the
injury, so long as it did not exceed the sums respectively
above specified.
XV. To present to the Court of King's Bench, on a certain
day of every Term, and afterwards print and publish, at his
own expence, a Report, exhibiting, in detail, the state,
not only moral and medical, but economical, of the
Establishment; showing the whole profits, if any, and in
what manner they arise; and then and there, as well as on
any other day, upon summons from the Court, to make answer
to all such questions as shall be put to him in relation
thereto, not only on the part of the Court or Officer of the
Crown, but, by leave of the Court, on the part of any person
whatsoever; questions, the answer to which might tend to
subject him to conviction, though it were for a capital
crime, not excepted: treading under foot a maxim, invented
by the guilty for the benefit of the guilty, and from which
none but the guilty ever derived any advantage.
XVI. By neatness and cleanliness, by diversity of
employment, by variety of contrivance, and above all, by
that peculiarity of construction, which, without any
unpleasant or hazardous vicinity, enables the whole
Establishment to be inspected at a view, from a commodious
and insulated room in the centre, the Prisoners remaining
unconscious of their being thus observed, it should be his
study to render it a spectacle such as persons of all
classes would, in the way of amusement, be curious to
partake of: and that, not only on Sundays, at the time of
Divine Service, but on ordinary days, at meal-times, or
times of work: providing thereby a _system of
superintendance, universal, unchargeable and uninterrupted_,
the most effectual and _indestructible_ of all securities
against abuse.
Such are the methods that have occurred to him for accomplishing that
identification of "_interest with duty_," the effectuating of which,
in the person of the Governour, is declared to be one of the leading
objects of the Penitentiary Act.--[19 GEO. III. ch. 74.]
The station of Gaoler is not in common account a very elevated one:
the addition of Contractor has not much tendency to raise it. He
little dreamt, when he first launched into the subject, that he was to
become a suitor, and perhaps in vain, for such an office. But
inventions unpractised might be in want of the inventor: and a
situation, thus clipped of emoluments, while it was loaded with
obligations, might be in want of candidates. Penetrated, therefore,
with the importance of the end, he would not suffer himself to see any
thing unpleasant or discreditable in the means.
* * * * *
_Outline of the Plan of Construction alluded to in the above
Proposal._
The Building _circular_--about the size of _Ranelagh_--The Prisoners
in their Cells, occupying the Circumference--The Officers, (Governor,
Chaplain, Surgeon, &c.) the Centre.
By _Blinds_, and other contrivances, the Inspectors concealed (except
in as far as they think fit to show themselves) from the observation
of the Prisoners: hence the sentiment of a sort of invisible
omnipresence.--The whole circuit reviewable with little, or, if
necessary, without any change of place.
_One_ Station in the Inspection-Part affording the most perfect view
of every Cell, and every part of every Cell, unless where a screen is
thought fit occasionally and purposely to be interposed.
Against _Fire_ (if, under a system of constant and universal
inspection, any such accident could be to be apprehended,) a
pipe, terminating in a flexible hose, for bringing the water
down into the central Inspection-Room, from a cistern, of a
height sufficient to force it up again by its own pressure,
on the mere turning of a cock, and spread it thus over any
part within the Building.
For _Visitors_, at the time of Divine service, an _Annular Gallery_,
rising from a floor laid immediately on the cieling of the Central
Inspection-Room, and disclosed to view, by the descent of a central
_Dome_, the superior surface of which serves, after descent, for the
reception of Ministers, Clerk, and a select part of the Auditory: the
Prisoners all round, brought forward, within perfect view and hearing
of the Ministers, to the front of their respective Cells.
_Solitude_, or _limited Seclusion_, _ad libitum_.--But, unless for
punishment, limited seclusion in assorted companies is preferred: an
arrangement, upon this plan alone, exempt from danger. The degree of
_Seclusion_ fixed upon may be preserved, in all places, and at all
times, _inviolate_. Hitherto, where solitude has been aimed at, some
of its chief purposes have been frustrated by occasional associations.
The _Approach_, _one_ only--_Gates_ opening into a walled
_avenue_ cut through the area. Hence, no strangers near the
building without _leave_, nor without being _surveyed_ from
it as they pass, nor without being known to come _on
purpose_. The gates, of _open_ work, to _expose hostile_
mobs: On the other side of the road, a wall with a branch of
the road behind, to _shelter peaceable_ passengers from the
fire of the building. A mode of fortification like this, if
practicable, in a city, would have saved the _London
Prisons_, and prevented the unpopular accidents in _St.
George's Fields_.
The _surrounding Wall_, itself surrounded by an open
palisade, which serves as a fence to the grounds on the
other side.--Except on the side of the Approach _no public
path_ by that fence.--A _Centinel's Walk_ between; on which
no one else can set foot, without forcing the fence, and
declaring himself a trespasser at least, if not an enemy. To
the four walls, four such walks _flanking_ and _crossing_
each other at the ends.--Thus each Centinel has two to check
him.
In contemplating the whole of this important design, it is impossible
to avoid congratulating the Public on the prospect which now opens by
a recent vote of Parliament,[153] for the purpose of carrying it
speedily into effect.
[Footnote 153: At the close of the Session in June 1798, the House of
Commons voted 36000_l._ to Mr. Bentham, toward the expence of carrying
his plan into execution. See the Appropriation Act, 39 Geo. III. c.
114.]
It comprizes in its structure every thing humanity can dictate, or
which a mind full of resource, and a judgment matured by great depth
of thought could suggest, for the purpose of relieving Society from a
dreadful and oppressive evil.
It is even to extend comforts to offenders in the course of
punishment; and they are to be returned to Society after the period
expires, not as at present, polluted and depraved beyond what the
human mind can conceive; but impressed with the force of religious and
moral instructions, with an abhorrence of their former course of life,
and with a resource for obtaining an honest livelihood by the trade or
occupation which they were taught during their confinement.--And if
employment should fail, when at liberty to make their own election, an
asylum is provided, into which they will be admitted, and where they
may continue to exercise the trades in which they were employed during
their confinement, with certain advantages to themselves.
These Convicts are, moreover, while in confinement, to have an
interest in the work they perform, by being allowed a share of the
produce, which may be either partly or wholly applied in laying the
foundation-stone of a provision for old age, upon the plan of the
Annuity Societies, which is to form one of the oeconomical
arrangements of this excellent Establishment.
Among many other advantages calculated to improve the morals of
delinquents, and to render them useful to Society, it will possess,
after a certain period, the singular faculty of extending to the
Public these incalculable benefits, _perhaps without any expence
whatsoever_; since it may be reasonably expected, that by training
both Sexes to productive labour, extended and rendered valuable by the
proposed introduction of ingenious machinery, it will hereafter become
an object of advantage to new Contractors, (after the System is fully
matured, and the profits arising from it clearly ascertained), to take
upon them the conduct of the design, without stipulating for any
annuity or assistance whatsoever from Government. Nay, the certainty
of this profit, and its magnitude arising from labour alone, may,
perhaps, ultimately even create a competition of Contractors, who,
instead of _receiving_, will be induced to _offer_ a premium to
Government for the appointment to the situation; the value of which
will be evidenced by the increasing annual profits.
It is, indeed, highly probable, that as the Institution advances to
maturity, under a plan so admirably adapted to render labour
productive in the greatest possible degree; in the same manner will
the profits gradually increase year after year until they shall be
rendered obvious and certain, and not as at present depending on
speculative opinions.
The proposed annual report to the Court of King's Bench, through which
medium the progressive profits will be generally promulgated, will
create notoriety, and excite attention; and it is by no means
improbable, that when the contract becomes open, by the decease of
the two Gentlemen to whom the Public are to be indebted for this
invention, that it will acquire _a precise value_, like any other
saleable commodity.
This was exemplified in the instance of Convicts sent to America,
which for a great length of time cost Government a large sum annually,
until a discovery of the profits, arising from the disposal of the
services of Felons, created a competition, which eased the Public of
every expence whatsoever on account of their Transportation.
But these are not the only advantages which the Country will derive
from this new Penitentiary System. Its success will rapidly change the
oeconomy of the many unproductive Houses of Correction, which have
been erected at an enormous expence to the different Counties, under
the Act of the 16th of Geo. III. cap. 43. Those in the management of
these respective Establishments will gladly follow an example which
mingles in so great a degree--_humanity with reform and profit_,
thereby holding out a prospect both of diminishing crimes, and
reducing the County Rates, now estimated by the Finance Committee at
_fifty thousand pounds a year_ for prisons, and criminal Police alone.
Such are some of the benefits which may be reasonably expected to
arise from the proposed Penitentiary System. If they shall be realized
to the extent which is contemplated, so as to render transportation,
as well as the Hulks, unnecessary, the pecuniary saving to Government
in twenty years will be immense. This may be ascertained by referring
to a preceding page, where the disbursements in the criminal
department are inserted, which have taken place since the commencement
of the American war, which rendered a new System necessary. If to this
sum is added the expences incurred by the Counties, it will probably
be found to have exceeded _Two millions sterling in all_.
But still further advantages may be contemplated in addition to those
of a pecuniary nature.--By retaining delinquents in the Country, and
rendering their labour profitable to the State, a new source of wealth
is opened which never existed at any former period, since the labour
of convicts transported, whether to America or New South Wales, has
been totally unproductive to the Country.
The success of such a design, once clearly manifested, would give a
new and favourable turn to the System of Punishments. Labour would be
exacted in almost every case, not more for the benefit of the State
than the advantage of the Prisoner, since labour and reform generally
go hand in hand.--Without the aid of labour, it is in vain to expect
an improvement in the morals or habits of delinquents--without an
asylum to which discharged prisoners can resort for employment, their
punishment produces no advantage. On the contrary, the vices of a
Gaol send them forth more hardened in iniquity, and greater adepts in
the trade of thieving than before.
Nothing, therefore, can be more hostile to the diminution of crimes
than the present mode of punishment for small offences, by a short
imprisonment, without being employed in useful and productive labour.
Under this defective System the different Gaols in the Metropolis and
the Kingdom, are periodically vomiting forth hordes of Minor
Delinquents, who serve as recruits to the more desperate gangs, and
remain in a course of turpitude until cut off by the commission of
higher offences. Some exceptions, doubtless, there are; but while the
resource for honest labour is so effectually shut out, many who have
totally lost character, and are without friends, seem to have no other
resource.
To all who may be confined in the proposed Penitentiary Establishment,
this difficulty will be removed.--A difficulty in the present state of
things, the magnitude of which cannot be estimated, since it generates
most of those evils to which are to be attributed the extensive
corruption of morals, and the increase and multiplication of crimes.
Upon the whole, it would be expedient to give full effect to the new
Penitentiary System as soon as possible; which, to use the language of
the Select Committee, (p. 30.) "seems to bid fairer than any other
that was ever yet offered to the Public, to diminish the Public
expenditure in this branch, and to produce a salutary reform in the
objects of the proposed institution."