fortunately other voices heard during the progress of this enquiry,
the voices of less distinguished men and women, but of those whose
names will be recorded in history as the pioneers and the workers in
the field that eventually led fifteen years later to the establishment
of our Reformatory School system. I refer to such persons as Davenport
Hill, Sir Joshua Jebb, Miss Carpenter, Monkton Milnes, Captain
Machonochie, Mr. Sergeant Adams and Mr. Sidney Turner.
The passing of the Reformatory School Act of 1854 marked the climax
of the efforts of that generation. They had established the principle
that the young offender, _at least up to the age of 16_ should be
dealt with by other than the methods of Prison or Transportation.
This was a great victory at the time, and for many years public
opinion regarded the Reformatory School Act as the last word spoken
on the subject of juvenile delinquency. There were others, however,
and among them Mr. Sidney Turner, who regarded that Act only as a
stepping stone to further progress. _The age of 16_ which for so many
years was consecrated as the age at which criminal youth ends and
criminal majority begins, he described more than once '_as a mere
measure of precaution_'; and a stage on the road to lead to further
developments. The age of 16 was adopted at that time by universal
consent for no other reason, so far as I can gather, than that it was
the age of 'criminal majority' in the French Penal Code, and it had
become notorious owing to the success of the French Colony of Mettray,
established in the 'thirties' and which prescribed 16 as the age of
'discernment' under French Law.
The age of 16, therefore, became crystallised as the age of criminal
majority in this country. Attempts were made from time to time to have
the age raised to 18, but the conflict of opinion on this point waxed
very fierce, some maintaining that the admission of older youths would
corrupt the rest, while others asserted that an enormous number of
youths now being sent to Prison at the age of 16 might be reclaimed,
if subject to reformatory influences. This battle waxed fierce in the
early 'eighties' and although, in my opinion, the best argument was on
the side of those who desired an extension of age, yet by one of those
curious results that sometimes issue from the Parliamentary Machine,
the only legislation affecting the age of the inmates of Reformatory
Schools is known as Lord Leigh's Act of 1891, which, instead of giving
greater powers to Reformatory Schools, limited the right of detention
to the age of 19 years, whereas it had formerly been 21. The question
of age, however, was not destined to remain in abeyance. Other causes
than the conflict of opinions between Managers of Reformatory Schools
brought this question very prominently to the front a few years later.
It came to the front incidentally, as I have already stated, in the
findings of the Prison Committee of 1894; and of the Reformatory
Schools Committee of the same year. Both Committees arrived at the same
conclusion almost simultaneously, _viz_:--that 16-21 was the dangerous
age: that attention must be concentrated on that: that we must try
and lay hold of the incipient criminal, or as we call him in prison
language, the Juvenile-Adult.
It was at this time that I was appointed by the Home Secretary (Mr.
Asquith) to be Chairman of the Prison Commission, against which so
severe an indictment had been laid, as explained in a former Chapter,
of being indifferent to the moral welfare of prisoners. My experience
and observation had already led me to form a very strong opinion that
the Penal Law, which classified forthwith as adult criminals lads
of 16, was unjust and inhuman. I obtained the authority of the Home
Secretary, Sir M. Ridley, who was in warm sympathy with my views, to go
to the United States in 1897 to study at Elmira the working of what is
known as the American "State Reformatory System." The annual reports of
the authorities at Elmira had begun to attract considerable attention
in Europe. The American System classified as youths all persons between
the ages of 16 and 30. While we classified our boys as adults, the
American adopted the converse method, and classified his adults as
boys. I thought myself that the truth lay midway between these two
systems, between the system that ends youth too early and that which
prolongs it too late, between the voluntary system of England and
the State Reformatory System of the United States. The point I was
aiming at was to take the 'dangerous' age--16-21--out of the Prison
System altogether, and to make it subject to special "_Institutional_"
treatment on reformatory lines.
I was impressed by all that I saw and learnt at the principal State
Reformatories of America, at that time chiefly in the States of New
York and Massachusetts. The elaborate system of moral, physical, and
industrial training of these prisoners, the enthusiasm which dominated
the work, the elaborate machinery for supervision of parole, all these
things, if stripped of their extravagances, satisfied me that a real,
human effort was being made in these States for the rehabilitation of
the youthful criminal. It was on my return that, with the authority of
the Secretary of State, the first experiments were begun of the special
treatment, with a view to the rehabilitation of the young prisoners,
16 to 21, in London Prisons. A small Society was formed, known as the
London Prison Visitors' Association, to visit these lads in the London
Prisons: (they were removed later, as stated, to the old Convict
Prison at Borstal). The procedure was to visit Borstal by roster each
month, and interview the cases about to be discharged in the following
month, so that the best arrangements might be made. Out of this small
body of visitors sprang the Borstal Association, and it is interesting
now, looking back to that time, to recall the circumstances under which
this Association was founded. There was in the public mind a great
confusion as to the exact meaning of the phrase "Juvenile Offender".
That ambiguity has since been largely cleared up by the definitions
of the Children Act, but, at that time, there was a confusing medley
of appellations; and children, young persons, and youthful offenders,
were all jumbled together in the same category. The specific proposal
was to deal with the age, 16 to 21, and it was decided, in order to
emphasize this fact and make a clear distinction between this age and
all other ages, to make use of the word "Borstal", that is, the name
of the village where the experiment was being carried out. I think
that this appellation has been singularly fortunate in its results, as
it has made it quite clear that we are not dealing with the youthful
offender as usually conceived, that is, a boy, or even a child, who
may have lapsed into some petty or occasional delinquency, and who was
being sufficiently provided for by the Reformatory School Acts and by
the Rules concerning juvenile offenders in prisons. Our object was to
deal with a far different material, the young hooligan advanced in
crime, perhaps _with many previous convictions_, and who appeared to be
inevitably doomed to a life of habitual crime.
We had, in the Association of Visitors in London Prisons, a nucleus in
forming the now well-known Borstal Association. Among them were two
young barristers, living in chambers, who placed their time and their
rooms at our disposal. They were Mr. Haldane Porter and Mr. (now Sir
Wemyss) Grant-Wilson, the first and the second Honorary Directors of
the Association. We had little or no money. The Treasury gave us £100
a year. An appeal, addressed to the public through the columns of "The
Times", met with only a disappointing result; but later an appeal
to personal friends for a small annual subscription, rather than a
donation, was successful to this extent, at least, that we were able to
rely on a small income with which to conduct our operations. By this
means, we obtained an income of some £400 or £500 a year, and to those
kind and generous friends who helped us at that critical moment, the
success of the movement is principally due.
Having established an Association, we next had to establish a system.
The object of the System was to arrest or check the evil habit by
the '_individualization_' of the prisoner, mentally, morally, and
physically. To the exhortation and moral persuasion of a selected
staff, we added physical drill, gymnastics, technical and literary
instruction: inducements to good conduct by a system of grades and
rewards, which, though small and trivial in themselves, were yet
calculated to encourage a spirit of healthy emulation and inspire
self respect. Elaborate rules for giving effect to the system were
introduced by the Authority of Parliament, but at this stage,
Parliament had not recognized the system in any other way, and _we had
to work within the limits which existing Penal law afforded_: that
is, the cases we dealt with were by the _transfer_ of young prisoners
of this age, who happened, for their particular offence, to have been
awarded sentences of imprisonment for _six months and upwards_. It soon
became clear that the _element of time_, that is, a longer sentence
than the law permitted, was essential for the success of the scheme.
Experience showed that something may be done in twelve months, little
or nothing in a shorter period, that the system should be one of stern
and exact discipline, tempered only by such rewards and privileges as
good conduct, with industry, might earn: and resting on its physical
side on the basis of hard, manual labour and skilled trades, and on its
moral and intellectual side on the combined efforts of the Chaplain and
the Schoolmaster. Such a sentence should not be less than three years,
conditional liberation being freely granted, when the circumstances
of any case gave a reasonable prospect of reclamation, and when the
Borstal Association, after careful study of the case, felt able to make
fair provision on discharge.
It was in 1906, when an experience of four or five years had
established these principles, that I addressed a strong representation
to the Secretary of State, asking for an alteration of the law on these
lines: and in 1908, thanks to the cordial agreement with these views,
manifested at that time both by the Secretary of State (Lord Gladstone)
and the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Asquith), these principles
became law under the Borstal Act of 1908. The system in vogue to-day
is a legal system: it has passed beyond the experimental stage, and
has become a part, an important part, of the criminal law of this
country, and not of this county only, but is a prototype of analogous
Institutions which have been established in many parts throughout the
civilized world. The system, as it operates to-day, is the same in
its leading features as the experimental system prior to the Act. The
principles are the same, but we now have the element of time. We have
now no case of less than two years, and a considerable number with the
maximum of three years.
During recent years the annual committals to Borstal Detention have
averaged nearly 600 for males and 180 for females, and three Borstal
Institutions have been established--Borstal and Feltham for males,
accommodating about 400 each, and Aylesbury for females. These
Institutions are fulfilling in an admirable way the purpose for which
they were created, _viz._,--to furnish the opportunity by which many
young persons who have ceased to be "young offenders" (_i.e._, under
sixteen years) and who are not yet fully developed adults (_i.e._, over
twenty-one) may be rescued from a life of crime. The high tone and
character of the superintending staff, untiring in the efforts which
they devote to the moral, literary, and technical education of inmates:
the healthy rivalry stimulated by competition, not only in the schools,
but in the playground (for it is the privilege of the Special Grade to
take part in games of football and cricket): the great care devoted to
the physical well-being and training in Gymnastics, &c.--experience is
daily showing that all these things are having the effect of arresting
in his downward career the young, and often dangerous, criminal
between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one, who, until the necessity
of special legislation to deal with his case was recognized by public
opinion, only served an apprenticeship in a succession of short
sentences for trivial crime in his early days, in order to qualify for
entry into the ranks of habitual crime.
For the purpose of permanent rehabilitation, the Borstal Association
has taken these lads in hand on discharge and led them into the paths
of honesty, and industry, and employment; and statistics furnished
shortly before the outbreak of war concerning 1,454 cases discharged
on licence since the Act of 1908 came into force showed that only 392,
or twenty-seven per cent., had been reconvicted. It is commonplace to
assert that a good system of "_Patronage_," or aid on discharge, is a
necessary complement to the Prison System; but, generally speaking,
Aid Societies, either from the number of persons with whom they have
to deal, or from insufficient resources, fail to deal except with a
very small proportion of cases; but the Borstal Association takes
_all_ cases, and spends time and money equally on each, despairing
of none, and maintains a long and continuous record and subsequent
history of each case. Behind this highly organized method of care and
supervision lies a great and a sincere humanity, which prevents the
work degenerating, as is too often the case, into a hard and mechanical
routine. The Borstal System, by itself, would not work wonders, nor by
itself, eradicate the vicious or anti-social elements from the young
criminal heart; but a system of strict control and discipline while
under detention, followed up and supported by a real and effective
system of "_Patronage_" on discharge, furnishes the secret of the
considerable success that has been obtained. The same spirit which
animates the system is also being manifested in our Probation and
Children Laws; and to it can be ascribed the marvellous reduction of
juvenile crime during the twenty years prior to the war.
The application of the System to young women is dealt with in the
Chapter (_infra_) on Female Offenders.
It is a great satisfaction to those who have directed so much effort to
building up the Borstal System that the Lord Chief Justice, presiding
over the Court of Criminal Appeal, should have stated recently that the
Court are of opinion that "Borstal Institutions are of the greatest
assistance to the lads committed to them, and may, and often do, save
them; and also the three years, which is the term that is permitted,
is, in the absence of exceptional circumstances, the right term, as it
does give the lad that chance which very often a shorter term does not
afford him."
Independently of the law of 1908, there is in operation a so-called
"Modified" Borstal System at _all_ Prisons, in all parts of the
Country, and special Rules regulate the detention, and "Borstal
Committees" devote themselves to the after-care of young prisoners of
both sexes between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one, whatever the
length of sentence. The object of the System for males is to apply,
us far as practicable, having regard to the length of sentence, the
methods followed at Borstal Institutions, for the special treatment of
offenders 16-21 sentenced to imprisonment. The shortness of sentence,
of course, operates against any manifest result, but experience has
shown that with lads of this age much can be effected by close personal
interest and oversight on the part not only of the prison authority,
but of voluntary workers. The longer sentences are transferred to
collecting depôts. The System provides for two Grades, Ordinary,
and Special. To pass from the Ordinary to the Special Grade, a
juvenile-adult must earn 300 "merit marks", the maximum number being 25
a week; In the Special Grade he may receive a good conduct stripe after
serving a month with exemplary conduct, which entitles him to a special
gratuity. Cases sentenced to _less_ than 3 months are not transferred
to a Collecting Depôt, but are specially located and segregated from
adult offenders at the prison of committal. Both categories receive
daily drill and exercise, and are associated at labour. If the conduct
and industry of an inmate are satisfactory, he may receive a gratuity
not exceeding £2. Remission of sentence is not granted, except when
specially recommended by the Borstal Committee. Special attention is
paid to the education of all cases, by instruction in class and by
lectures on secular subjects. During the year 1919-20, 1130 males were
committed to prison with sentences of 3 months and over, and 2,261
with sentences of less than 3 months.
At all Prisons, Borstal Committees are set up to deal with this
particular class of delinquent. They are composed of members of the
Visiting Committee, who may co-opt for the purpose members of the
Discharged Prisoners' Aid Societies, and any other influential person,
of either sex, interested in the treatment and reclamation of the
young. It is a splendid testimony to the efforts made by the members of
these Committees throughout the country to rescue lads from a life of
crime that, out of 2,126 dealt with during 1918, 1,734 or 81 per cent.
were well placed on discharge, while some Committees were able to place
the whole of their cases in suitable employment. In the case of young
females, the difficulties encountered on discharge are more formidable,
but of 913 dealt with during the year, 406 were suitably placed, and
160 returned to their friends.
In the case of young Convicts, also, sentenced to penal servitude, as
already stated, Rules provide for the collection of this category at
Dartmoor, where they are strictly segregated from the ordinary prison
population, and are treated, so far as conditions permit, according to
the principles of the Borstal System. On discharge moreover, they are
specially committed to the care of the Borstal Association.
It will be seen, therefore, that the Borstal net is now wide-spread,
and embraces the whole of the Prison population, male and female,
between the ages of 16 and 21. Now that this differentiation according
to age has become a fact, it is regarded almost as a commonplace
that no person under the age of 21 should be treated under Rules
applicable to adults. Yet this simple proposition is of quite recent
origin. Twenty years ago, not only were all offenders under 21 years
of age mingled with the general herd to be found in our Prisons, but
many young persons under the age of 16. So quickly, and so easily, do
reforms based on reason, and justice, and humanity--although at the
time encountering the resistance and opposition that comes of prejudice
and custom--commend themselves to public approval.
Such then is the short history of what is well-known as the Borstal
System. It is, in the abstract, an attempt to give expression by the
executive dealing with crime, to the natural and scientific law that,
up to the age of 21 (the age of civil majority for the ordinary affairs
of life), neither the human mind nor the human body is fully formed
and developed, but is still plastic and receptive of good influences,
skilfully and carefully applied. It is, in the concrete, a simple
system of firm and exact discipline, tempered by an ascending scale of
rewards and privileges which depend upon industry, conduct, and special
merit. The Instructions for the treatment of inmates will be found in
the Appendix, and give the details of the system,--a system of grades,
with an ascending scale of privileges--the passing from a lower to a
higher grade, only to be achieved after a sufficient period of test
and observation by supervising authority. The 'Tutors' are a special
feature of the Institutions. They are in a sense House-masters, or
Masters of Sections or Wings of inmates. They are selected for their
special qualifications for dealing with lads of this age and character,
each of whom it is their duty to 'individualize,' _i.e._, to observe
closely. They have an important position in the establishment, having
the rank and status of Deputy Governors. They constitute a sort of
advisory council to the Governor, advising as to claim and fitness to
pass from one grade to another. They are at the same time, the friend
and counsellor of the inmate, and the adjutant to the Governor in
maintaining a strict discipline, and a due observance of order and
method in every particular. They are also, under the presidency of
the Chaplain, the educational authority of the establishment, being
responsible for the method both of elementary and advanced teaching.
Though it will be seen that the rewards and privileges of each grade
are of a simple nature, yet they are a sufficient stimulus to the
majority of these lads to 'gain their blue,' as it is called. They
are simple devices for cultivating self-respect in a field where that
tender plant has never hitherto been sown. But it is in the simplicity
of these things that their value lies. Many of these lads are total
strangers to the most elementary refinements of civilized life; and
so we inculcate the principle that by working hard and behaving well,
a reward which brings comfort and pleasure follows upon the effort
made. Here then we lay the first brick in building up character. The
Borstal lad is regarded as a piece of "human masonry," and every one
works with a will to turn out a creditable piece of work while the
lad is in their hands. They are laying bricks all the time, till the
_fatal_ day of liberation comes--_fatal_ because the Borstal System
depends essentially for its success upon the Aid-on-discharge which
Aid Societies, individually and collectively, can and will render. If
the crime in this country is going to be diminished, effort must be
concentrated on the young. It must be seen that the piece of masonry
which we have built up does not fall to pieces, like an Egyptian mummy,
immediately it comes into contact with the outer air of liberty. But
the best-conceived regulations will not, by themselves, effect much.
It is the personal influence of the Superintending Staff, from the
Governor downwards, which is the thing that matters. To understand
the Borstal System it is not enough to read about it in a book: you
must see it in actual operation,--the keen activity that pervades the
establishment: the admirable order and precision of the parade ground:
the swing-and-go of the gymnasium: the busy hive of industry in all its
multifarious departments: the educational classes and chapel services,
the lecture room; and when the time for recreation comes, the glow and
keenness of the youngsters in the football or cricket field. Given the
material we work with, at first slow, stubborn, impenetrable, with no
outlook in life but that of criminal adventure, with its gamble--but
its ultimate certain doom, the Prison--any impartial visitor will, I
think, agree that here is a wonderful metamorphosis--the conversion of
the inveterate gaol-bird of a few years ago to a strong, well-set-up,
well-drilled handy English lad, with respect for authority, with a new
birthright, qualifying him to enter the ranks of honest, industrious
labour. Such a conversion in a few cases would amply justify the
system, and all the expense and labour it has entailed; but when the
records of the Borstal Association can show that this conversion takes
place in many cases, it must indeed be a great encouragement to all
engaged in social work, even in the most difficult places, that such
results will certainly follow upon healthy influences, steadily and
wisely applied.
The principle of the Borstal System received an important extension by
the provisions of Section 10 of the Criminal Justice Administration
Act, 1914. The condition that the particular offence must be indictable
being removed, largely widens the scope and operation of the System.
The same Act also raises the minimum period of detention, and extends
that of "Supervision" after discharge. Considerable advantage is being
taken of Section 10 since it became law, no fewer than 211 males and 42
females having been dealt with under its provisions in 1919-20.
CHAPTER IX.
THE HANDMAIDS OF THE PRISON SYSTEM:--
(1) THE CHILDREN ACT, 1908:
(2) THE PROBATION ACT, 1907.
(1) THE CHILDREN ACT, 1908.
The passing of the Children Act, 1908, which practically forbids
imprisonment before sixteen years of age, marks the last stage in that
slow and tedious journey which had to be undertaken by many devoted
men and women who were conscious of the grave evils resulting from
imprisonment, before it was generally realized that it was not by
throwing children and young persons automatically and indiscriminately
into gaol, that the grave problem of juvenile delinquency was going to
be solved.
The Children Act, 1908, known as the "Children's Charter",
revolutionized the penal law of this country, so far as the
imprisonment of young persons under the age of sixteen was concerned,
in the English law there is a conclusive presumption that children
under seven years of age cannot have _mens rea_, and so cannot be made
liable to be punished by criminal law. Between seven and fourteen
years that presumption is no longer conclusive. Guilty knowledge
may be shown by the fact of the offender having been previously
convicted of some earlier offence, or even by the circumstances of
the present offence. Full criminal responsibility is presumed at the
age of fourteen. The Children Act, without reference to the question
of criminal responsibility, prescribed a clear distinction between
offences committed by _children_, _i.e._, persons under the age of
fourteen, and _young persons_, _i.e._, between fourteen and sixteen.
Neither "children" nor "young persons" _i.e._, no person under the
age of sixteen, can now be sent to penal servitude or to imprisonment
unless the Court certifies in the case of a young person, 14-16, that
he is of so unruly a character that an alternative form of punishment
is not desirable. Offenders under sixteen cannot be sentenced to
death, but may be detained during His Majesty's Pleasure. Those guilty
of grave crime, such as attempt to murder, manslaughter, &c., can be
detained in such places, and under such conditions, as the Secretary of
State may direct. The effect of this Act is, therefore, to withdraw all
persons under sixteen entirely, or almost entirely, from the control of
the Prison Authority. In lieu of detention in Prison, the Act creates
"Places of Detention", to be established by the Police Authority of
the district, the expense of maintenance being divided between the
Police Authority and the Treasury. Young offenders may be committed to
such Places of Detention for any period not exceeding one month, or
on remand or committal for trial. Such establishments are subject to
regulations and inspection by the Secretary of State. The Children Act,
1908, consolidated the law as to Reformatory and Industrial Schools,
and, at the same time, introduced other amendments, _e.g._, that no
child under twelve should be sent to a Reformatory School: children
under that age may be sent to Industrial Schools, notwithstanding
any previous conviction recorded against them: power is given to the
Secretary of State to transfer from a Reformatory to an Industrial
School, and _vice versâ_: power of control and supervision of cases up
to the age of 19 is given to managers of Reformatory Schools where the
term of detention expires earlier: earlier licensing in the case of
Industrial Schools is permitted: and statutory reference is also made
for providing special Reformatory and Industrial Schools for physically
and mentally defective cases.
For some years prior to the passing of the Children Act, 1908, those
interested in the welfare of the young had been trying to secure the
hearing of charges against juvenile delinquents in Courts of Justice
apart from those of adults. In 1905, several large towns had taken this
step. At Birmingham, the first separate Court for children's cases was
established in April, 1905, to which was attached the first Probation
Officer for children.
In the same year, the Secretary of State issued a circular to
Magistrates pointing out the evil resulting from contact with the
more depraved and criminal adults, and asking them to consider what
steps could be taken to prevent such contamination by securing their
protection at Police Courts during the hearing of their cases.
One of the recommendations of the Inter-Departmental Committee on
Physical Deterioration, 1904, was that, whenever possible, in cases
touching the young, where the assistance of a Magistrate was invoked,
he should be a person specially selected, sitting for the purpose. In
a Circular to Justices in 1909, explanatory of the provisions of the
Children Act relating to the establishment of Children's Courts, the
Secretary of State expressed the opinion that it was desirable, where
possible, that the formation of Juvenile Courts should be assigned to a
separate rota of Magistrates who possess, or who would soon acquire, a
special knowledge of the methods of dealing with juvenile crime and of
institutions for juvenile offenders.
On the passing of the Children Act, 1908, special Courts, called
Juvenile Courts, were created for dealing with charges against children
or young persons. Such Court may be either in a separate building, or
in a room of an ordinary Court House. No person, other than members
or officers of the Court or parties to the case, their counsel or
solicitors, or persons otherwise directly concerned in the case, may
be allowed to attend, and means must be taken for preventing young
persons while in attendance at the Court, or being conveyed to or from
Court, from associating with adults. The chief methods for dealing with
children and young persons charged with offences enumerated in Section
107 of the Act, are:--
(_a_) by dismissing the charge; or
(_b_) by discharging the offender on his entering into a recognizance;
or
(_c_) by so discharging the offender and placing him under the
supervision of a probation officer; or
(_d_) by committing the offender to the care of a relative or other
fit person; or
(_e_) by sending the offender to an industrial school; or
(_f_) by sending the offender to a reformatory school; or
(_g_) by ordering the offender to be whipped; or
(_h_) by ordering the offender to pay a fine, damages, or costs; or
(_i_) by ordering the parent or guardian of the offender to pay a
fine, damages, or costs; or
(_j_) by ordering the parent or guardian of the offender to give
security for his good behaviour; or
(_k_) by committing the offender to custody in a place of detention
provided under the Act; or
(_l_) by dealing with the case in any other manner in which it may be
legally dealt with.
Since 1910, the number of cases dealt with in Juvenile Courts has
risen from 33,598 to 49,915 in 1918, the increase having taken place
chiefly since the outbreak of war. Included in the latter total were
28,843 boys and 1,364 girls under the age of 14. Statistics show that a
conviction is recorded in about 50 per cent. of the number dealt with
annually, the majority of which are disposed of by fine, whipping, or
committal to a Reformatory School. Of those cases in which the charge
is proved, though no order made for _conviction_ (about 35 per cent.)
the bulk of the cases are disposed of by Probation, Recognizances,
Dismissal, or committal to an Industrial School. Only in the number
who were placed on Probation, and in the number whipped, is there any
great variation since 1910 in statistics as to the manner in which
cases were dealt with, as shown above. In the case of probation, in
1910 3,568 cases or 10·6 per cent. of the total dealt with, were so
disposed of: in 1918, the number had risen to 5,868, or 11·8 per cent.
of the total. A large rise is shown in the number who were whipped,
_viz_:--1,562 in the former year, and 3,593 in the latter, or 11·9 and
13·1 per cent, respectively, of the total _convicted_. In 1913 (the
latest figures available), 6,972 children and young persons, dealt with
in Juvenile Courts, were committed to Places of Detention, 4,073 of
whom were on remand, 1,910 to await removal to Industrial Schools, 11
to await trial, and 147 under sentence. Nearly sixty per cent. of the
total cases were committed from the Metropolitan Police District and
Liverpool.
Public concern is not, however, only with the delinquent child. It
is also with the many thousands of children who are the subject of
physical or mental defect, or of insufficient care and supervision
during the age of adolescence. During that period, after having left
the public elementary schools, boys and girls are thrown into the outer
world to earn what wages they can without regard either to the special
aptitude they may possess, or to any security that the occupation they
choose is one in which they have any chance of remaining permanently
employed. It has become manifest to those dealing with young offenders
on discharge from Prison, or other Institutions, that one of the
principal causes leading to the commission of criminal acts is to be
found in what is generally known as "blind-alley" employment, _i.e._,
employment obtained casually and thoughtlessly by young persons on
leaving school in which they cannot be maintained on attaining maturity.
It was not till 1893, or more than twenty years after the principle
of compulsory elementary education had been established, that Blind
and Deaf children were made the special concern of the legislation. It
was later still than this that the case of the Defective and Epileptic
child engaged the attention of Parliament; but the Elementary Education
(Defective and Epileptic Children) Act, 1899, did not go beyond
prescribing that it should be the duty of the Local Education Authority
to ascertain the existence of such children. It was left to the option
of the Local Authorities whether or not the provisions of the Act
for their special treatment should be adopted, and a large number of
Education Authorities failed to respond.
The Mental Deficiency Act, 1913, however, makes it the duty of every
Local Education Authority
(1) to ascertain the existence of mental defect of such kind or degree
as to justify the diagnosis of feeble-mindedness, imbecility, or
idiocy;
(2) to determine whether a child diagnosed as feeble-minded is or is
not capable of benefiting from education in a Special School, and;
(3) to notify to the Local Authority under the Act, all defective
children over the age of seven (_a_) who are incapable of education
in Special Schools; (_b_) who, though educable, are detrimental to
other children; (_c_) who require supervision or guardianship under
the Mental Deficiency Act, or (_d_) who after leaving a Special School
need institutional treatment or guardianship.
Under the Elementary Education (Defective and Epileptic) Children
Act, 1914, every Local Education Authority is compelled to notify
all mentally defective children; and to provide for the education
of those who are capable of profiting by instruction, the number
of whom (excluding idiots, imbeciles, and the lowest grade of the
feeble-minded) is estimated at over 30,000.
As a security against "blind-alley" employment, and its consequent
dangers, a well-organized movement is now in progress throughout the
country by the establishment of Juvenile Employment bureaux and Labour
Exchanges, and by the setting-up of Advisory Committees in connection
with Education Authorities to secure advice, and guidance, and control
during the perilous age of adolescence. The Education Act, 1918, made
provision for raising the compulsory age for 'full-time' attendance
at a Public Elementary School from 12 to 14, and also for compulsory
attendance at continuation schools between the ages of 14 and 18. The
Act also contains drastic provisions restricting child labour during
such hours as interfere with efficient instruction. The determination
that the youth of this country should not only be saved from a criminal
career, but should have opportunities, suited to the age, for the
development of character, is found in the widely spread organizations
of Boy Scouts, Boys' Brigades, and other kindred associations.
It is in this movement of voluntary personal service, on the part of
the earnest men and women, engaged in all these works and acting in
the highest sense of patriotism and public duty, that the hope of the
solution of the criminal problem lies in the future; and it is for this
reason that I have adverted shortly to a movement that is proceeding in
this country at the present time for the better nurture and education,
and control of all that enormous number of boys and girls who, though
they must profit to a certain extent under a system of free compulsory
education, will not be transformed by education alone into useful and
honest citizenship. Side by side with the machinery of the public
elementary school system, there must be agencies at work of which the
high purpose is not only to secure that the defective child shall be
treated in accordance with scientific method, and that the pauper
child shall not have less favourable opportunity than his fellows,
but that all classes of children after satisfying the standard of
literacy ordained by the school authority, shall, during the period
of adolescence, be subject to such influences as shall secure them,
when they attain maturity, a fair chance in the competition of life.
Therein lies the prophylactic of crime. No Prison Authority can be
indifferent to the great social effort now being made, the effect of
which is perhaps already visible in the diminishing number of young
persons convicted of crime. In future years, it is hoped that it will
not be a commonplace, as it is now, for many old offenders to attribute
their downfall, and their persistence in a criminal career, to neglect
during infancy and early youth, and to the absence of any controlling
influence to save them during the initial years preceding maturity
from acts of mischief, or of fraud, until Prison, as the automatic and
unvarying penalty, destroyed in them the germs of hope and confidence,
and self-respect, without which a foothold in honest life could with
difficulty be regained.
(2) THE PROBATION ACT, 1907:--
Former International Prison Congresses pronounced in favour of the
provisional sentence ("_sentence provisoire_"). By this is meant in
foreign codes what is generally known as a "conditional conviction,"
_i.e._, a conviction takes place, but is not carried into effect,
conditionally on the good conduct of the offender during a term of
years (generally five) prescribed by the law. This respite is known
technically as "_sursis à l'exécution de la peine_." The principle of
conditional conviction is common to most penal codes, but operates
in different ways, _e.g._, it may take the form simply of judicial
reprimand, or of being bound over to be of good behaviour, or of
probation, as in England and America, or of respite in the execution of
the sentence, as in France, Belgium, and Switzerland. The Continental
law of "_sursis_" or "_respite_" differs from the English law of
Probation in that in the former case there is always a conviction.
In England, except in serious cases tried on indictment, there is no
conviction. The English law gives power if the court, "having regard
to the character, antecedents, age, health, or mental condition of
the person charged, or to the trivial nature of the offence, or to
the extenuating circumstances under which the offence was committed,
thinks fit so to act, to discharge the offender conditionally on his
entering into a recognisance, with or without sureties, to be of good
behaviour and to appear for conviction" (if before a court of summary
jurisdiction) "and sentence when called on at any time during such
period, not exceeding three years, as may be specified in the order."
Such a recognisance may contain the condition that the offender
shall be under the supervision of a probation officer. The court may
add further conditions with respect to residence, abstention from
intoxicating liquor, and any other matter which, having regard to the
particular circumstances of the case, it may consider necessary for the
prevention of the same offence, or the commission of other offences.
It is the duty of the probation officer, subject to the directions of
the court--
"(_a_) to visit or receive reports from the person under supervision
at such reasonable intervals as may be specified in the probation
order, or subject thereto as the probation officer may think fit;
"(_b_) to see that he observes the conditions of his recognisance;
"(_c_) to report to the court as to his behaviour;
"(_d_) to advise, assist, and befriend him, and, when necessary, to
endeavour to find him suitable employment."
Should the probationer commit fresh offences, or evade the supervision
of the probation officer, or otherwise break any of the conditions
of his recognisance, he is to be brought again before the court and
sentenced for his original offence.
The Probation Act, therefore, provides a method by which a person who
has offended against the law, instead of being punished by imprisonment
or fine, or, in the case of a child, being sent for a prolonged period
to a reformatory or an industrial school, may be brought under the
direct personal influence of a man or woman chosen for excellence
of character and for strength of personal influence; and, lending
authority to that supervision, and securing that it shall not be
treated as a thing of little account, the Act keeps suspended over the
offender the penalties of the law, to be inflicted or to be withdrawn
according as his conduct during the specified period is bad or good.
The new procedure, under the Act of 1907, marks a great advance. The
formality of the Probation Order, regular visits and reports, and the
knowledge that the supervision is that of a duly appointed officer of
the Court,--all these things combine to secure a much stronger hold
over the offender than the simple recognizance, which was previously
the rule. Again, the Act provides for the appointment of officers at a
number of Courts which had not previously been provided with the means
of securing supervision in cases where the Courts desired not to resort
to the penalty of imprisonment. The appointment of at least one paid
Probation Officer at every Court may now be regarded as indispensable
for the proper administration of justice. Their appointment, however,
is not compulsory, and it is only in the Metropolis that they are
appointed by the Secretary of State. It is within the discretion of
other Courts whether or not they shall avail themselves of the services
of a Probation Officer. In fact, many Courts of Summary Jurisdiction
throughout the Country are still unprovided for.
The extent to which Probation Orders are applied varies to a great
extent in different parts of the country. In the Metropolis, not
more than one in seventy-eight out of the total number of persons
proceeded against summarily was so dealt with in 1913. At Liverpool
and Manchester, it is less than this, while in Hull and Birmingham,
it is greater. Though many years have elapsed since the passing of the
Act, there is still a comparative inactivity on the part of many of the
Courts to give effect to its provisions, and many do not yet appear
to have fully realized that the Act may be applied to all classes
of offenders, and not only to first offenders, as was formerly the
case. Moreover, the fact that the Probation System has been actively
advocated by those specially interested in the treatment of Juvenile
Offenders has led to a general opinion that the measure is to be used
only in the case of the young. But in fact there are a great number of
cases in which the offender is neither a first offender nor a child,
but in which a Probation Order could very properly be made. Time will,
no doubt, remove this misunderstanding, and when the Courts realize
what assistance can be rendered to the administration of justice by
judicious use of the Probation System, it is nearly certain that
Probation Officers--male and female--for the younger as for the older
prisoners, will become an established part of the machinery of every
Court. The Probation Act, 1907, repealed Section 16 of the Summary
Jurisdiction Act, 1879, and the Probation of First Offenders Act,
1887. The Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1879, provided by Sec. 16 (1) that
where the charge, though proved, was of a trifling nature, the Court,
_without proceeding to conviction_, might dismiss it, and _might_ order
the defendant to pay damage not exceeding 40/- and costs; by Sec. 16
(2) that _on conviction_ the Court might order the defendant to give
security with or without sureties, and with or without payment of
damage or costs.
The Act of 1887 provided that the Court, before whom a person, not
previously convicted, was brought, and who was convicted of larceny
or false pretences, might, having regard to the youth, character and
antecedents &c. of the offender, or to the trivial nature of the
offence, direct that he be released on entering into recognizances, &c.
to come up for judgment when called upon, and to be of good behaviour.
If he failed to observe any of the conditions of his recognizance
he was liable to be brought up to answer as to his conduct, and to
receive judgment.
The Act of 1907, in lieu of the foregoing, provides that when any
offender is charged before a Court of Summary Jurisdiction with an
offence punishable by such Court, and the Court thinks the charge is
proved, it may nevertheless dismiss the charge altogether, or may bind
the offender over, with or without sureties, to appear for conviction
and sentence when called on at any time during a specified period not
exceeding three years, if it "is of opinion that, having regard to the
character, antecedents, age, health, or mental condition of the person
charged, or to the trivial nature of the offence, or to the extenuating
circumstances under which the offence was committed, it is inexpedient
to inflict any punishment or any other than a nominal punishment, or
that it is expedient to release the offender on probation."
If such an order is made, or if the charge is dismissed under the Act,
the Court may further order the offender "to pay such damages for
injury or compensation for loss (not exceeding in the case of a Court
of Summary Jurisdiction ten pounds, or, if a higher limit is fixed by
any enactment relating to the offence, that higher limit), and to pay
such costs of the proceedings as the Court thinks reasonable."
The powers granted under the latter Act were thus wider in their scope,
and it was hoped that they would be used with greater frequency, and
with better guarantee of good results by the appointment of Probation
Officers, as prescribed by the Act. But at the present time, statistics
do not show that the principle of Probation has been as widely extended
in consequence of these provisions, as might have been expected. The
numbers so dealt with in 1907 (the year before the Act came into
operation) and those for the last recorded year (1918) are as follows:--
1907 Probation of First Offenders Act, 1887 8,097
" Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1879, Sec. 16 (1) 45,195
" " " " " Sec. 16 (2) 8,205
-------
Total 61,497
-------
(or 8.2 per cent of the total number proceeded against).
1918 Probation Act. 1907:--
Tried on indictment (conviction recorded):--
Recognizances, with Probation Order 443}
" without " " 652} 1,095
Tried summarily: Order made, without conviction for:--
(_a_) Dismissal 26,231}
(_b_) Recognizances 11,284} 48,761
(_c_) Probation Order 11,246}
Total 49,856
-------
(or 11·5 per cent of the total number proceeded against).
Owing to differences in the law and of procedure, it is difficult,
if not impossible, to make comparison between England and Foreign
Countries as to the extent to which Probation in the former,
and "_sursis_" in the latter is being used as an alternative to
imprisonment. So far as my researches have enabled me to go, I would
venture the opinion that "_sursis_" is being used to a considerably
larger extent in France, Belgium, and Italy than Probation is being
used in England. There are, moreover, I believe, no statistics for
comparing the results of the two systems. We know that in England the
percentage of revocations is not more than about 6, the actual numbers
having been as follows for the five years ended 1913:--
------------------------+------------------------
Probation | Number who appeared
Orders made. | for sentence.
------------------------+------------------------
1909 8,962 624
1910 10,217 584
1911 9,516 593
1912 11,192 655
1913 11,057 603
-------------------------------------------------
The effect of suspended sentence ("_sursis_"), without probationary
oversight, was declared at the Washington Congress to be difficult,
if not impossible, to ascertain, and the Congress went further in
resolving that it was desirable for each State or County to provide
a Central Authority to appoint some agency to exercise general
supervision over Probation work. This is now the case in the State
of New York, where a State Probation Commission has been appointed,
and where, since 1910, as the consequence of good organization, there
has been a great extension of the operation of the system. My own
opinion is that Probation, carefully organized, _i.e._, with a staff
of carefully selected Probation Officers, both Male and Female, is,
as I have already stated, an indispensable part of the machinery of
criminal justice, and, as such, ought to be under the direct control
and supervision of the State, not with the idea of hindering or
impeding voluntary effort by official interference, but by securing
that each Court shall have its proper equipment for this purpose, and
that, in every case where there is a transgression of the conditions
of Probation, there shall be, without fail, an immediate report to the
Court entailing an effective punishment of the offender who has refused
to profit by the clemency extended to him under the Probation Act. I
do not think, so long as the institution of this valuable machinery is
permissive and left to the discretion of the Court, that a full effect
will ever be given to the admirable principles of the Probation System,
as a handmaid of justice, or that there will be a sufficient guarantee,
that where a Court has used its powers in this respect, there shall
be a prompt and effective vindication of the law in the event of any
breach of conditions. In this way only, can an answer be made to any
criticism by the many persons who have attempted, by their experience
in individual cases, to suggest that Probation may be merely a mask
for impunity. Unless Probation is so organized as to clear itself from
this reproach, I am afraid that it will never take its place firmly and
progressively as a necessary and indispensable weapon in the armoury of
the criminal law.
The Home Secretary has recently appointed a Committee to inquire into
the question of the organization of Probation; and it is likely that we
are on the eve of an extensive development of the system.
CHAPTER X.
FEMALE OFFENDERS.
At the date of the London Congress of 1872 there were more than 1,200
females in convict prisons undergoing penal servitude: to-day there are
less than 100. In the same year, there were 44,554 committals to local
prisons, representing 382·3 per 100,000 of the female population of the
country. For each of the ten years ended 1913, the committals steadily
decreased from, roughly, 50,000 to 30,000, and since that date, to
about 12,000, or 76 per cent., representing in 1920 only 32 per 100,000
of the population of the country, as compared with 198 in 1913. The
Local Prison daily average population has fallen from 3,198 to 2,375
during the ten years ended 1913-14, and to 1,137 in 1919-20, or 61 per
cent., and that of the convict population from 149 to 82, a decrease of
45 per cent.
The great diminution of the female population has resulted in the
closing of a large number of establishments. At the time the Prisons
were taken over by the Government there were about 100 female prisons;
to-day there are only 26, and of these only six had a daily average
exceeding 50 in 1919-20.
Women sentenced to penal servitude are, as already stated, kept in a
section of the local prison at Liverpool. Except in the Metropolis,
those sentenced to ordinary imprisonment are kept in wings of local
prisons, entirely detached from the male side, and are under the
supervision of a matron, assisted by a female staff, the Governor
of the whole establishment being responsible for general order and
discipline. In the Metropolis, a large prison--Holloway--is given up
entirely to the custody of female convicted prisoners, and is also the
House of Detention for the unconvicted. The Governor is a medical man.
At the largest Prisons the female population is under the supervision
of a Lady Superintendent.
If we examine the causes that bring these women to prison annually,
whether the population be high or low, it appears that nearly
two-thirds are committed for Drunkenness or Prostitution. Each
succeeding year presents a heavy and monotonous list of women who
thieve, keep brothels, neglect, or illtreat their children and offend
in various ways against the Vagrancy Laws or Police Regulations. For
such offences, the figures of recidivism are appalling--about one in
every five committed having incurred over 20 previous convictions--some
as many as 100 or 200. The actual percentage of the total receptions
annually who have been previously convicted is greater in the case of
females than for males, the former ranging between 70 and 75 per cent.,
and the latter between 50 and 60 per cent, annually.
A striking illustration of the high rate of recidivism prevailing among
the female population was afforded a few years ago, when an inquiry
was instituted as to the numbers of women committed to Holloway Prison
for Drunkenness, and their previous convictions for that offence. It
showed that during the three years ended 1915, 10,888 committals for
Drunkenness were recorded against 1,628 women, who, including the above
convictions and those incurred _prior to 1913_, had on their combined
records a total of 30,986 convictions. Of these 1,628 individual
prisoners:--
1,092 were received in 1913, incurring in that year 2,768 convictions,
1,045 were received in 1914, incurring in that year 3,931 convictions,
813 were received in 1915, incurring in that year 4,189 convictions.
Amongst the 1,628 women was selected a group of 25, who, at the end
of 1915, had each received ten or more convictions for this offence.
All were stated to have been first offenders in 1913 and 1914. By the
end of 1915, these 25 women had amassed a total of 353 convictions.
This inquiry showed that in 1915 a falling population committed for
Drunkenness was contributing more convictions per annum than formerly,
_viz_:--5 per annum in 1915 as compared with 2.6 in 1913. The high
rate of recidivism in the Local prison population limits the number of
_individual_ women in the community who are sent to prison annually to
a comparatively small total. Statistics show that over 32 per cent.
of the total committed on conviction in a given year are sent to
prison more than once in that period. This rate applied to the total
receptions for 1919-20 would show that the whole Female population of
prisons for that year was limited to slightly over 8,000 individuals.
It does not appear that until recently any special effort had been made
to deal with the problem of the female recidivist: in fact, the study
of the English Penal System does not show that at any time the method
of dealing with criminal women has engaged that close attention which
might have been expected from the nature and difficulty and importance
of the problem. The law strikes men and women indifferently with the
same penalties of penal servitude and imprisonment. In the case of
women it only provides that they shall be separated from the other sex:
that they shall be in the charge of female officers, and that they
shall be relieved from the harder forms of labour. Generally speaking,
the methods of punishment are the same, subject to such modification
and exceptions as difference of sex obviously demands. This is not the
place to examine those abstruse, psychological, and social causes which
render the rehabilitation in honest life of women who have fallen from
their high estate of probity and virtue so difficult. Prison workers
can, from painful and almost daily experience, endorse the despairing
plaint--
"L'honneur est comme une île, escarpée et sans bords,
On n'y peut plus rentrer, quand on est dehors."
But the admitted difficulty of the task has not prevented the most
strenuous efforts being made in this country during recent years to
rescue the female prisoner by visitation in Prison and by after-care
on discharge. In 1901 the Lady Visitors' Association was founded with
the object of securing at each Prison a body of earnest and devoted
ladies, with experience of rescue-work and a keen sympathy with even
the most degraded of their sex. This body worked for many years under
the presidency of Adeline, Duchess of Bedford, until her much lamented
death which recently occurred. These ladies working in all the female
prisons, local and convict, under a regular and approved system, by
their unfailing devotion to the quiet, if trying and inglorious, duty
of cellular visitation, and in close co-operation with the authorities,
lay and religious, have discharged a great and difficult public duty.
They have undoubtedly contributed to that decrease in the number of
female prisoners which recent statistics illustrate. Apart from this,
they have furnished a notable example of high christian endeavour, and
many prisoners owe their reclamation to the light from the torch of
promise which these Visitors hold high in their work of encouragement
and persuasion to turn from the paths of crime and evil-doing.
Lady Visitors are appointed by the Commissioners, subject to the
concurrence of the Visiting Committee and of the Prison Authorities,
with a view to the regular and systematic visitation of _all_ Female
prisoners, soon after reception, during sentence, and shortly before
discharge.
In order that the assistance of Lady Visitors may be utilised to the
fullest extent, Governors, Matrons, and Chaplains are instructed to
inform all female prisoners, and to encourage them to avail themselves
of the privilege within their reach.
It is the duty of the Chaplain at each Prison to endeavour to secure a
sufficient number of Lady Visitors to attend to the needs of all female
prisoners, and to take care, by a judicious distribution of duties,
that all deserving cases receive consideration, and that no conflict
or competition arises in the attention given to any individual case.
As it is obvious that most practical good is likely to follow the
ministrations of the Lady Visitors if their attention is concentrated
mainly on the welfare of the prisoners on discharge, and if any
influence that may be acquired over the prisoners while in prison is to
be continued after release, it is desirable, in this connection, that
use should be made of the services of any ladies who may be attached to
the Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society. In order to secure the better
direction of the services of Lady Visitors, and to avoid any clashing
of duties, it has been found advisable that their work should be under
the guidance of the Chaplain or Prison Minister.
Arrangements may be made for a Lady Visitor to deliver, or arrange for,
addresses or lectures, to selected classes of prisoners, on any moral
or useful subject.
A book is kept for the use of Lady Visitors, in which they may make any
record they think desirable as to the action taken by them in regard
to any prisoner, and in which they may enter any suggestion they may
have to offer with regard to the industries on which prisoners could be
employed, having regard to the needs of the locality and their welfare
on discharge.
But it is to concentration of effort on the younger cases that the
most fruitful and lasting results must be due. The application of the
Borstal System to the young female, is being strenuously pursued at
the Aylesbury Institution and is full of promise for the future. Here
again the Prison authority relies greatly on the influence and aid of
voluntary lady workers both inside the Institution and on discharge.
The Visiting Committee, over which a lady presides, in addition to
duties, judicial and other, prescribed by statute, take a keen personal
interest in the work of the Institution,--laundry and domestic work,
cooking classes, gardening, drill, school,--and make themselves
acquainted with the personal character and history of the inmates.
These, on discharge, pass into the hands of a Ladies' Committee of the
Borstal Association who have already made the preliminary arrangements
necessary for suitable disposal. As a rule, a girl passes straight
to work, be it domestic service, or factory, or workshop. A social
worker in the district, who places her services at the disposal of the
Association, and known as an "Associate," is placed in touch with the
case, for help or advice at any time. If possible, also, arrangements
are made that the girl may benefit by association with any guild, club,
or adult school, under the influence of which a relapse into idle or
criminal habits might be prevented.
The Annual Reports of the Borstal Association show that on an average
about 59 per cent. of girls discharged annually from Aylesbury are
reported as satisfactory at the end of the year; 30 per cent. as
unsatisfactory, and about 11 per cent. as having been reconvicted.
On the question of permanency of results of Borstal treatment, the
following figures will be of interest:--132 girls were discharged from
Aylesbury between 1st January, 1910, and 31st March 1914. In 1915 their
records showed that 75 (or 56.8 per cent.) had not since been reported
as reconvicted, and were satisfactory when last heard of; 17 (or 12.9
per cent.) were unsatisfactory when last heard of, but had not been
reported as reconvicted; 35 (or 26.5 per cent.) had been reported as
reconvicted; 2 had died; and 3 were sent to asylums. That is to say,
over 69 per cent. had not been reported as reconvicted.
These figures are full of hope for the future when it is considered
with what material we are dealing. It is nearly, if not quite, certain
that if, as was till lately the case, these girls had on the occasion
of each repeated offence, been made subject to a mere repetition of
short sentences of imprisonment in the Local Prisons, they would,
without exception, have drifted hopelessly and inevitably into the
ranks of "professional" recidivism. To pick up and save even one from
such a fate is a great and praiseworthy act, bringing as much honour to
the worker who achieves it, as advantage to the community, which is at
least freed from this one contaminating and hurtful influence: but to
save even more than half, and as time goes on, it is hoped even more
than that, is a work, not only of substantial material benefit to the
State, and in that way patriotic in the best sense of the word, but a
splendid example of human charity and effort, which is determined that
these young erring creatures shall not glide down the easy current of
shame and dishonour without at least an attempt to rescue and save.
As in the case of male offenders, there is also in operation at all
Prisons, a "Modified" Borstal System for females, which may be applied
up to the age of 25. The later age than in the case of males is due
to the great desire of the Commissioners to segregate, as far as
practicable, all young females from the contamination which experience
shows must arise from any association with the older females, versed
in crime and ever ready to corrupt, by their precept and example, the
younger ones, who are still hesitating which path to choose.
The instructions regulating this class provide that cases up to the age
of 25 may be admitted if the Authorities at the Prison are of opinion
that benefit would result therefrom, and that no prejudicial influence
would be exerted on younger inmates in the class. Admission to the
class up to the age of 21 is the rule rather than the exception, but
in any case where it is shown that a girl has rejected former efforts
made to reclaim her, or that she is known to be likely to exert a
corrupting influence on others, or that her manner or disposition, or
previous history, are such as to make it probable that she will do
so, the Authorities are empowered to exclude her from the class. The
rules provide that such cases as are excluded shall be kept apart, as
far as possible, from adult recidivist prisoners, and may, if thought
desirable, receive special treatment. Care is to be taken that no
prisoner shall be allowed to think that she is considered to be past
hope or cure.
It is not likely, of course, that the same results can be obtained by
the application of the "Modified" System to short sentences in local
prisons, but there is satisfactory proof that the "individualization"
of each case as it comes to prison, the care and attention given, the
encouragement of any showing the least symptom of a desire to reform,
are bearing fruit.
The fall in the annual number of young women, 16-21, received into
prison on conviction, which has taken place during the fifteen years
prior to the War, _viz_:--from 2,310 to 858, or 63 per cent., may
be largely attributable to this special work in Prisons. It is to
be regretted that during the War there has been a tendency for this
particular age category to increase, the number received last year
having risen to 1,098. But it may confidently be expected that with
a return to normal conditions, this total will again decrease. Had
not the terrible calamity of War impeded progress, steps would have
been taken earlier to greatly improve and develop the State methods
of dealing with young female offenders; but, as already stated, in
view of the remarkable fall in the number of women sentenced to penal
servitude, it has lately been found possible to transfer the female
convicts from Aylesbury to a Wing of Liverpool prison, thus releasing
the establishment entirely for use as an Institution under the Borstal
Act. The powers conferred by this Act are largely extended by Section
10 of the Criminal Justice Administration Act, 1914. Whereas the former
Act applies only to persons of criminal habits or tendencies convicted
on indictment, this Section allows a sentence of detention in a Borstal
Institution to be imposed in a case where an offender is summarily
convicted of an offence for which a sentence of one month or upwards,
without the option of a fine, can be imposed, but before an offender
can be dealt with under this Section, it must _appear_ that there is
criminal habit or tendency, and it must be _proved_ that there has been
a previous conviction of an offence or a failure to observe a condition
of recognizance on being discharged on probation. This same Act also
raises the minimum period of detention in a Borstal Institution to two
years, and increases the period during which a case may be kept under
supervision after discharge.
Owing to this extension of powers under the Borstal Act a larger number
of young women offenders are now falling within the meshes of the net,
thus widely and wisely spread, the daily average having risen from 87
to 184.
In anticipation of such an increase, an extension of the scope of
employment under skilled superintendence is being gradually introduced.
Work in the open air, gardening, farm-work, tending poultry and stock,
will be specially encouraged.
It is devoutly to be hoped that as the Borstal System for women
develops, the march of the annual army of female recidivists
through the prisons may be arrested. It can only be stopped by
the concentration of a great effort, legal, official, and moral,
on the young female offender. The easy irresponsible method of
awarding sentences of a few days or weeks for repeated offences of a
trivial nature is no remedy for the evil. The Borstal System catches
comparatively few of these cases. If the age were extended, say to
30, in the case of women, and the principle of Reformatory sentences
were approved by Parliament in every case where criminal tendency was
observable, and a State Reformatory for this purpose were established,
as it has lately been established in some States of America, then
there might be some hope of rescuing from crime a larger percentage
of women than is likely, or even possible, under the present system.
By the daily operation of the law, sending these cases repeatedly and
hopelessly to Prison, and from the present limitation of age (21) for
the admission of women offenders to special reformatory treatment
(_i.e._, under periods of detention long enough to give a chance of
eradicating the evil tendency), no really great impression is going to
be made on the girl or woman offender. The heavy roll of commitments
to Prison and re-commitments will only cease when the State boldly
recognizes the essential difference between the instincts and motives
leading to criminal acts in the two sexes, and adapts its method of
punishment and reformation accordingly.
The desirability of employing women for the superintendence and control
of female prisoners is recognized. At the time when the Departmental
Committee on Prisons, 1895, made their report, nearly 50,000 women were
being committed annually to Prison, but that Committee did not consider
that "the time of a Lady Inspector of Prisons would be sufficiently
employed, but thought that a Lady Superintendent might be appointed who
could not only do the ordinary work of inspection, but who could also
be responsible for the general supervision of female prison industry,
and for such other duty as the Secretary of State might consider it
desirable to assign her." Since that date the annual committals have
fallen by 78 per cent., the total commitments for last year being only
12,000; but the Commissioners have, for a considerable time, been
assisted by a Lady Inspector of Prisons, and at each female prison
there is a voluntary body of Lady Visitors, whose duties are referred
to above; the welfare of young girls at the Aylesbury Institution, both
during detention and on release, is the subject of anxious care and
supervision by Lady Members of the Visiting Committee. Lately a new
rank of Lady Superintendent has been created among the discipline staff
of the largest female prisons. The presence of Ladies on the Visiting
Committees of Prisons is in every way desirable, and it is hoped that,
in the near future, the qualification of Justice of the Peace having
been extended to the female sex, all Prisons for females may be subject
to the visitation and jurisdiction of Lady Justices. It is recognized
also that the medical care of females in penal institutions should be
entrusted to Lady Doctors. We have been fortunate in securing very able
and highly skilled women both at Holloway and Aylesbury, and their
appointment has been an undoubted success.
CHAPTER XI
EDUCATIVE, MORAL, AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES IN PRISON.
In a former Chapter I have referred generally to the efforts made in
English Prisons to apply such methods as are practicable, having regard
to the average shortness of sentences, and to the fugitive character of
the population, for the uplifting of prisoners educationally, morally,
and spiritually.
It is a commonplace, dating from the middle of the eighteenth century,
that we must educate our prisoners, as it was also the common
injunction that we must inspire them with the teachings of religion,
and the habit of industry.
At a time when education was the privilege of the few, and no national
system was in existence, and when the average length of sentence gave
opportunity for methodical and continuous teaching, it was reasonable
that advantage should be taken of a long period of enforced custody
to establish a system, where, at least, the many illiterates coming
to prison could be taught the simple lessons of reading, writing, and
arithmetic.
Records, however, do not show that before all prisons passed under
the control of the Government a very serious effort had been made
to grapple even with illiteracy, to say nothing of schooling in
the more advanced subjects. When the Local Prisons were taken over
by the Government in 1878, there were only 50 schoolmasters in 113
prisons. 'Hard Labour' was the dominant note in prison administration,
regardless of the obvious fact that simple manual labour unaided by
the increased aptitude that follows upon even a moderate cultivation
of the mind, will not rehabilitate a man or enable him to rise to a
higher level of existence. Half-an-hour a week, or even a quarter of
an hour, was all that could be set aside from the demands of labour
for such a purpose as teaching a prisoner to read or write, or perform
those simple calculations in money, by which he could regulate the
spending power of his wages, or estimate his domestic budget.
No great advance was made even after the Government assumed control,
though the subject of education in prison was, on more than one
occasion, the subject of special inquiry.
Even at that time, the question was considered whether the passing
of the Compulsory Education Act in 1870 had not relieved the Prison
Authority of the duty of adult teaching in its elementary sense, and
whether it might not be assumed that all persons coming in later life
to prison had acquired a sufficient learning in elementary subjects in
the National schools. But statistics showed that in 1880 the number of
illiterates coming to prison was practically the same as before the
passing of the Act--about 33 percent., while the number of those who
could only read and write imperfectly was no less than 62 per cent. It
was obvious that some years must elapse before elementary teaching in
Prisons could be dispensed with. If we examine statistics since 1880,
it is true that we find a large decrease in the number of illiterates
coming to prison. In 1890 there were 37,000 committed who could neither
read nor write: in 1900, 28,000, and in 1913 (the last recorded year)
the number had fallen to 18,000,--representing for each year 25, 19,
and 13 per cent. of the total committals, respectively. The bulk of the
prisoners fall within the category of those who "can read and write
imperfectly, or with moderate proficiency," and concurrently with the
decrease in the proportion of illiterates received, these have risen
from 72 per cent. in 1890, and 75 per cent. in 1900, to 82 per cent. in
1913. But the remarkable feature of these statistics is that, after 50
years of compulsory education, over 18,000 should be committed annually
who are unable to read or write. These disappointing figures may be
explained in various ways. Either a large number of those forming the
criminal class, by reason of vagrancy and absence of settled home
and life, slip through the meshes of the educational net: or, in the
years between the school-leaving age and the apprenticeship of crime,
they forget all they have learnt: or the rudiments of learning are
not impressed with sufficient force and concentration in the tender
years, when impressions are most likely to remain. Educational experts
may argue as to this, but the fact remains that, judged by prison
statistics, our costly and elaborate system of public education is not
at least producing the results which were anticipated by those who
dared to think fifty years ago that elementary teaching would be no
longer required in Prisons; and so the Prison authority still remains
in a sense an educational authority; but the _rôle_ it plays is not
ambitious, and does not aim higher than to teach the illiterate to read
and write, and in the small space and opportunity given, to raise to a
higher standard those who are just a little better than illiterates.
For many years all prisoners under the age of 40, and with sentences of
three months and over were taught in prison. Experience has, however,
shown that better results can be obtained by concentrating attention on
the young, and on them even if the sentence is quite short--more than
a month. The rule is now to confine education to those under 25 years
of age; with power to admit older prisoners to the privilege, where the
circumstances of the case would promise any practical result.
At the present time, it is estimated that about 5,000 prisoners under
25 in a year, who on reception are below Grade III. of the National
Code pass through the schools, and, as a result of such education as
will be given, about 33 per cent. succeed in passing out of this Grade
in a year, while 74 per cent. pass one or more grades during the year.
Our teaching staff is recruited from our own discipline staff.
Capable and intelligent warders are given the opportunity, subject
to satisfying the Civil Service Commissioners that they possess the
necessary literary requirements, of entering the Schoolmaster class.
Having passed such literary test, they are appointed for six months,
when their ability to teach is tested by the Chaplain of the Prison,
and then, subject to confirmation by the Chaplain-Inspector of Prisons,
they pass into the permanent Schoolmaster grade.
It is not an ambitious scheme, nor is it pretended that our
Schoolmasters can compete in learning and ability to teach with the
trained teacher of our public schools; but, given the nature of the
task they have to perform with a fugitive class, many of whom are not
desirous to learn, or to re-learn what they have once been taught, it
may be stated that they adequately fulfil the purpose for which they
are appointed.
Although the classes are now limited to the younger prisoners, there
is, of course, an infinite diversity in the standard of education,
ranging from the illiterate to the half-educated, and those who having,
perhaps, been taught, have forgotten what they once knew. Formerly,
education was given to each individual prisoner in cells; but now it is
given in class. The best plan would probably be to revert to cellular
teaching in the case of those who, from the absence of a common
standard of education, cannot usefully be taught in class. Here, again,
'individualization' is asked for. In the case of the younger prisoners,
now collected in depôts under the "Modified" Borstal System, we have
lately made arrangements with the local education Authority to lend us
a trained teacher, who comes in the evening after hours of labour, and
conducts what is of the nature of a "Continuation Class," the teaching
being adapted to the requirements of each. This plan has worked very
successfully and might, with advantage, be extended. The whole question
is now under consideration.
But elementary teaching in prisons forms only a small part of the
moral influences which we seek to bring to bear in Prisons. The Prison
Libraries are stocked with suitable books both of technical instruction
and of general literature, and prisoners are encouraged to make full
use of them under the guidance of Chaplains and Schoolmasters. Note
books and pencils are provided for those who wish either to make a
special study of some particular subject, or to maintain knowledge
which they previously possessed; and if the necessary books are not
in the library, permission can be obtained for them to be supplied
by the prisoner or his friends. The privilege of selecting books
from the library is associated with the Progressive Stage System,
_i.e._, depends on industry and conduct, but, generally-speaking,
a well behaved prisoner would be allowed two books a week, in
addition to those which form a permanent part of his cell equipment,
_viz_:--devotional and school books, and books of moral and secular
instruction. Under this latter head, a Chaplain is given a wide
discretion to allow practically all kinds of books, except works
of fiction, _i.e._, histories, biography, and science, political,
social, and physical. Generally speaking, fiction would be reserved
as a privilege to be earned by good behaviour. Lectures calculated to
elevate and instruct prisoners are given from time to time either by
some member of the prison staff or by lecturers from outside. Such
lectures are given weekly during the winter months to those under
Borstal treatment and are frequently illustrated by lantern slides.
The subjects cover a wide range. Sometimes there is a description of
life in foreign or uncivilised countries, or an account of travel and
adventures by land, sea, or air, by men who are speaking of their own
personal experience; or a talk about the wonders of science. At other
times, they are of a more practical character and deal with various
trade processes, or domestic work, housekeeping, cooking, hygiene, and
so on. There is seldom any great difficulty in finding persons who are
experts in these and other subjects and who are very willing to place
their services at the disposal of the Chaplains.
As a step beyond this, the experiment has been successful in large
prisons of allowing men to meet together under the presidency of the
Chaplain, or other official, for the purpose of a debate or discussion
on a subject chosen by themselves. The proceedings are conducted on
the lines of similar meetings in free life, and as long as due order
is maintained, there is no objection to the expression of natural
feelings. The object of these efforts is not merely educational.
Experience has shown that they have a psychological effect, which is
even of greater importance and value. They provide healthy food for
thought during many solitary hours, and so tend to prevent morbid
introspection, brooding over wrongs or worrying about family affairs;
they break the unavoidable monotony of institution life, and provide
a mental stimulus which is of the utmost value. But more than this,
the mere fact that a prisoner is trusted, if only for a short time,
to control himself without the restraint of authority, is of immense
value in building up that self-respect, without which restoration is
impossible.
In addition to these lectures and classes which usually take place
in the evenings after working hours, selected prisoners may be
withdrawn from labour twice a week to attend Bible or other classes of
instruction conducted by the Chaplain.
Recognising that the sanctions of religion are the true basis of all
reformatory work, every effort is made to render the daily Services
in Chapel as bright and instructive as possible. For this purpose,
frequent advantage is taken of the help of outside preachers, not
necessarily clergy, in the delivery of religious and moral addresses;
also choirs, singers and instrumentalists are invited to take part in
the Services. The Church Army is specially helpful in this way, and
also in sending their trained Evangelists at the invitation of the
Chaplains to conduct special Missions to prisoners.
Every week a short resumé of the week's news is given by the Governor
or Chaplain, and this practice has been found to react favourably on
the temper and attitude of prisoners towards authority, as showing that
it is not desired to exclude them, though prisoners, from news of the
outside world.
The annual reports of our Chaplains in nearly every prison, furnish
accounts of strenuous efforts, apart from their usual ministrations,
for the moral uplifting of their charges. The following is a summary
of such efforts recorded during twelve months at a large Metropolitan
Prison for males--an eight-day mission: 15 selected preachers occupied
the chapel pulpit: 7 attendances by Choral Societies, bands, &c.: 28
special lecturers attended to give secular addresses to lads: a weekly
Bible Class or moral lecture to lads by the Chaplain: the organization
of a weekly debate among selected prisoners: the floral decoration of
the Chapel, &c. Besides all this, there is the personal interest in
the prisoner after his release, and many Chaplains and others speak of
a correspondence maintained which furnishes abundant testimony that
the labour of love during a prisoner's stay in prison has not been in
vain. Year by year this great volume of work goes on in our Prisons:
it is quietly and unostentatiously performed, and is probably little
known and insufficiently appreciated by the general public; and for
this reason a somewhat detailed account may not be out of place in an
Account of the Prison System of this country.
CHAPTER XII.
LABOUR IN ENGLISH PRISONS.
A great change has taken place in the system of labour both in Convict
and Local Prisons during the last twenty-five years. In Convict Prisons
this change is due, not, as in Local Prisons, to a different policy or
to changes in the law, but to the fact that not only has there been a
great reduction in the number of persons sentenced to Penal Servitude,
but the opportunity for employment on what was known generally as
"Public Works," _e.g._, the excavations at Chatham, the breakwater at
Portland, the Dockyard extension at Portsmouth, the Forts at Borstal,
has largely disappeared. Such Works in the early days of the English
Convict system greatly facilitated the purpose of the Administration
by affording means for carrying into effect the object of a sentence
of Penal Servitude, which was to create a deterrent effect on the
prisoner himself by the execution of a hard day's work, to develop his
intelligence by his employment on interesting and productive labour
and to give facilities for acquiring a knowledge of all those trades
which the construction of such Works involved. Moreover, having regard
to the valuable character of the Works referred to, it was possible in
those days largely to recoup the cost of maintaining the Prisons. Thus
the value of the labour of convicts at Portland, Portsmouth, Chatham
and Borstal during the year 1880-1 amounted to £124,000, exclusive
of the value of what is known as the domestic service of Prisons,
such as baking, cooking, washing, &c., while the cost of maintaining
those Prisons in the same year was £147,000. It has never at any time
been regarded as an axiom in this country, however, that all prison
labour should be remunerative or that the primary object of a Prison
was to make it self-supporting, and for this reason, in those Prisons
controlled by the Government, (that is Convict Prisons only prior to
the Prison Act of 1877), the principle of competition with free labour
was not admitted on such a scale that reasonable ground of complaint
could arise as to undue interference with the outside market. The
"Contract" system by which goods are manufactured for outside firms
with the use of machinery, or under the supervision of the agents
of those firms, is unknown in English State Prisons; and from early
days to the present time, there has been no change of policy in this
respect. The largest prison in the country, Wormwood Scrubs, was built
entirely by convict labour, between 1874 and 1890. It has cellular
accommodation for 1418 prisoners. Most of the bricks were made by
prison labour on an adjacent site leased for the purpose. The massive
blocks of stone used for the chapel, gate, and other buildings were
quarried by convicts at Portland and Dartmoor: iron castings were
prepared at Chatham and Portland. The average cost per cell was £70. 7. 0,
as compared with a mean rate of £164 per cell paid to contractors
elsewhere. Although no Public Works of importance have been undertaken
for many years, the constant reconstruction of, and other works in
connection with, the Convict Prisons of Aylesbury, Portland, Dartmoor,
and Parkhurst have continued to engage a large percentage of the labour
at the disposal of the Authorities. Thus of the value of the labour
performed in Convict Prisons during 1912-13--a total of £63,000--more
than half was in connection with building and quarrying work, the rest
being divided between manufactures, farm and domestic service in the
proportion of £16,000, £5,000, and £9,000 respectively. Apart from the
fall in the numbers of the convict population, which now represents
not more than a daily average of 1,500 persons, (whereas in the period
of Public Works, strictly so called, to which I have referred, it was
about 10,000) there has been a remarkable change in the physique and
personnel of persons sentenced to penal servitude. From a medical
census of the inmates of Convict Prisons taken in 1881, no less than
three-fourths of the convicts were fit for hard labour of any kind,
while only about one-thirtieth, or rather more than three per cent.,
were deemed unfit for any labour. An intermediate group of about
twenty-one per cent. were returned as fit for the lighter forms of
labour. A medical census of Convict Prisons taken in 1898 shows that
only fifty-six per cent. were fit for hard labour, while seven per
cent. were unfit for any labour and thirty-seven per cent. fit only for
light labour. The days are, therefore, past when Public Works can be
undertaken by large bodies of convicts either at the place of detention
itself or by transfer to other localities for this special purpose.
The last Public Work of this nature contemplated by the Government
was the building of the new harbour at Dover; but though the plan
advanced so far that a special prison was actually built at Dover for
the location of the necessary number of convicts, the idea was not
proceeded with chiefly on account of the great delay and slowness of
building operations which is inseparable from the employment of convict
labour. The result is that with the exception of quarrying stone,
which is still a distinctive feature of the convict labour at Portland
and Dartmoor, and reclaiming land for farming purposes (Dartmoor and
Parkhurst), the character of the labour in Convict Prisons is more
and more approximating to that in Local Prisons. Thus, if we compare
the work carried on at the Local Prison of Wormwood Scrubs and at
Parkhurst at the present time, we should find that much of the work was
practically the same for those undergoing the longer sentences, _e.g._,
a considerable number at each Prison would be employed as tailors,
smiths and fitters, shoemakers, bricklayers, labourers and carpenters.
In Convict Prisons, however, there was till recently no cellular
labour, and the hours of labour and the whole system of Administration
were adapted to the principle of outdoor associated labour. Now that
the quarries employ a continuously diminishing number, the system
of labour in both Convict and Local Prisons will be more and more
assimilated.
Labour in Local Prisons has quite a different history. These Prisons
did not come under Government control till 1878. The want of uniformity
in their management, leading to an inequality of punishment in
different parts of the country, was one of the principal arguments
used for the centralization of all Prisons in the hands of the State;
and it was specially marked in the matter of Prison labour. The
Parliamentary inquiry of 1863, which led to the passing of the Prison
Act 1865, while Local Prisons were still under the control of the
Local Authorities, laid great stress on this point. In some Prisons,
there was complete idleness: in some, unregulated association: in some
an active industry conducted with a view to commercial profit: and,
in some, a close and melancholy adherence to the rule of separate
confinement and its concomitant hard labour. Although, as before
stated, the phrase "hard labour" was adopted in Acts of Parliament
since the middle of the 18th century, its meaning has never been
accurately defined, and there was consequently a great variety in
its application. The Prison Act of 1865 attempted to define it, and
enacted that hard labour was to be of two classes. First Class,--mainly
treadmill, shot drill, crank, capstan, stonebreaking, to which every
male prisoner of the age of sixteen and upwards, sentenced to hard
labour, was required to be kept for at least three months and might be
kept for the whole of his sentence. Any other approved kind of labour
was called Second Class. This meant practically all forms of prison
employment exclusive of the special forms of penal labour prescribed
for the First Class. When the prisons were taken over by the Government
under the Act of 1877 it was found that at some Prisons, _e.g._
Winchester, practically the whole of the population were employed in
pumping, grinding and oakum picking. At Oxford, the treadmill, shot
drill and capstan were the order of the day. At Devizes, sixty-two
out of seventy-eight prisoners were engaged on the treadmill or on
oakum picking. At other Prisons the question of providing remunerative
employment received the keenest attention. One Prison competed with
another in finding a market for its produce. Governors and Officers
were encouraged to take an active interest in trade by bonuses or
other payments and the amount of trade profit was taken largely into
account by the Magistrates in dealing with applications for increase of
pay. At Wakefield an extensive mat trade was carried on in which the
sale averaged £40,000 a year. Steam-power was employed. A commercial
traveller was appointed to sell the goods, and the whole of the
industrial department of the prison was under the control of a trade
manager, who was provided with a staff of clerks and trade instructors.
The salaries of all those officers were paid out of the trade profits.
The trade manager had authority to award a gratuity not exceeding
half-a-crown to any prisoner on his discharge who had shown special
assiduity in the performance of his work, and the Governor could
supplement this to the extent of 17_s._ 6_d._, making it one pound in
all. It was in the power of the trade manager also to recommend the
grant of additional bread as a reward for marked industry. Diligent
long-term prisoners on their discharge were frequently provided for
in the way of clothes, and had their railway fares paid to their
destination. Cases have even been known of mutton chops being allowed
at Christmas time to exceptionally industrious men. Preston Prison
was another busy prison. It carried on a large trade, employed a
commercial traveller, and the Governor was allowed a trade agent at a
salary of £60 per annum. A taskmaster and assistant taskmaster also
formed part of his staff. The regulations provided that "with a view to
encourage habits of industry as well as to reward the honest efforts of
prisoners, and to enable such as desired to reform to have the means
of living after discharge until they can procure employment," the
Governor should be empowered to grant a sum of two shillings to every
prisoner who had performed his fixed task diligently and well during
the whole period of his sentence (being not less than three months) and
a further sum not exceeding two pounds for all work done in addition
to such fixed task. The allowances were:--for an extra square yard of
matting, 1_d._; for an extra ton of stone breaking, 2_d._; for every
extra coat made, 2_s._; for every extra pair of boots, 9_d._; and
so on. The same system prevailed at Bodmin, Bedford, Chester, Mold,
Chelmsford, Maidstone, Coldbath Fields, Holloway, Lewes, and Warwick.
Manchester had an agent paid by commission for the purchase of stores,
and the sale of manufactured articles. The Governor of Hereford
received ten per cent. on the net profits arising from the sale of the
manufactured goods, and the assistant turnkey had an extra allowance of
three shillings a week for acting as trade instructor. Then Kirkdale,
Strangeways, Leeds, Lewes, and many other prisons were furnished, in
addition to the ordinary disciplinary staff, with trade officers, whose
duty it was to instruct the prisoners in the various industries carried
on.
All this was altered when the Government assumed the complete control
of all Local prisons in England and Wales on the 1st of April 1878.
In connection with the strict and uniform system of discipline which
was introduced into every department of the Service, the granting
of allowances to officers and the payment of rewards to prisoners
were abolished, and in lieu of these rewards, the gratuity system,
which is explained in another chapter, was introduced. The actual
industries on which prisoners were employed remained much the same,
except that, later on, matmaking, which had been one of the principal
Prison industries, employing a daily average of nearly 3,000 workers,
had to be almost abandoned in consequence of an agitation which had
commenced in 1872 on the part of outside workmen, who complained that
the competition of Prison labour was seriously affecting their trade.
About this date, the oakum trade, on which the prisons throughout the
country had been able to rely for employment for many generations,
collapsed owing to the substitution of iron and steel for wood in the
building of ships. This industry employed between 3,000 and 4,000
prisoners, mostly those under sentences then considered too short to
admit of the teaching of any trade. At the same time, the Act of 1877
reduced the period of hard or penal labour to one month in the case
of those sentenced to hard labour. A larger body of prisoners thus
became eligible for the ordinary industrial employment of the Prison,
but these employments were still carried on in separation, and it was
not till twenty years later that the principle of associated labour
in local prisons was recognized and adopted. The public inquiry of
1894 into Prison Administration was a practical condemnation of the
separate or cellular system except for short periods. It swept aside
the old-fashioned idea that separate confinement was desirable on the
ground that it enables the prisoner to meditate on his misdeeds. It
held that association for industrial labour under proper conditions
could be productive of no harm, and this view was supported by the
fact that association for work on a large scale had always been the
practice at the Convict Prisons without being productive of dangerous
outbreaks by prisoners who as a class were less easy to control
than those in Local Prisons. At the same time the vexed question of
competition with free labour was examined, and representatives of
trade unions who appeared before the Committee, while admitting that
industrial labour was morally and physically beneficial to prisoners,
only urged that direct competition with outside labour should not be
allowed at cutting prices. They only asked that goods should not be
sold below the market price for the district or the standard price
elsewhere, and that every consideration should be shown to the special
circumstances of particular industries outside so as to avoid all
undue interference with the wages and employment of free labour. The
inquiry of 1894 marks a new starting point in the history of Prison
labour in Local Prisons, and steps were at once taken to give effect
to the leading recommendations of the Committee, which were broadly in
favour of the abolition of all forms of unproductive labour, cranks,
treadmills &c., and of a system of associated, in lieu of cellular,
labour. The problems involved were costly and difficult and only slow
progress could be made. The provision of workshops alone in Prisons
built for the most part on the cellular plan and for strictly cellular
purposes was a considerable undertaking. The abolition of cranks,
treadmills, &c., involved the necessity of finding work which should
be of an onerous and disagreeable character for prisoners during the
first month. The collapse of the matmaking and oakum trades increased
this difficulty. The form in which the labour statistics had hitherto
been rendered was thoroughly revised and the out-of-date labour price
list, which had previously been in use as the basis of valuation in
Convict Prisons, was abolished and a new list brought into operation
on the 1st April, 1897, applicable to both Convict and Local Prisons.
The old-fashioned "per diem" rates which had previously obtained in
Local Prisons and which often had no relation whatever to the amount
of work done, giving rise to fallacious valuations, were replaced
with what are called "per article" rates, the actual quantity of work
performed being now the basis of valuation. The institution of the
new rates in connection with the new scale of the tasks required of
prisoners now enables accurate calculation to be made as to the exact
degree of industrial output and efficiency at each Prison. At the same
time, a scheme was introduced for the payment of special allowances
to officers engaged in instructing prisoners. The effect of these
changes became at once apparent, and by the year 1900, there was an
increase of no less than thirty per cent. in the average earnings per
prisoner, as compared with what was earned four years previously when
the revision of manufacturing methods was first taken in hand, and in
that year the entire value of the labour in all branches, manufactures,
farms, building and domestic service showed an increase of nearly
£10,000. It was at this time that the demolition of treadmills had
begun to place at our disposal for workshop purposes the buildings in
which the treadmill had hitherto been worked, and steps were taken
for the development of work of a higher grade such as bookbinding,
printing, carpentry, tinsmithing, shoemaking, and tailoring, which
it was thought it would be possible to obtain by the friendly
co-operation of the Government Departments requiring such articles.
Hitherto the Government work undertaken had been more or less of a
simple and non-technical character and this must, of course, in the
main be looked to for the employment of the local prison population,
consisting largely of prisoners with short sentences, many being sent
to Prison for periods of a month or under. Only two or three per cent.
are for periods of more than six months. In spite of these drawbacks,
the progress resulting from the new organization has been remarkable.
There is a great improvement in the value of the manufacturing output
which in 1913-14, exceeded that of 1897 by no less than 88 per cent.,
and this has been achieved without entering into undue competition
with private traders. The payment of trade allowances to carefully
selected officers, though small in amount, has had a far reaching and
stimulating effect. Not only do the officers take the keenest interest
in their work, but the prisoners, now that they receive instruction in
interesting trades, are year by year increasing their average earnings.
It was estimated that the average earnings of a local prisoner in
1878, when the local prisons were taken over by the Government, was
£5. 18. 0. In the year 1904, the average earnings per prisoner per
annum reached £9. 18. 9. At this time the employment of local prisoners
in associated labour was further extended: where shops were not
available, they worked in the corridors, on the landings or at their
cell doors for several hours daily: the numbers so employed, starting
from comparatively low numbers in 1898, numbered more than 9,000 in
1911. The average number of prisoners for whom productive work is found
represented in 1913-14 about eighty-six per cent. of the population,
distributed as follows:--manufacturing department, 10,500: building,
1,700: prison service, 3,000: farm, 400.
By 1908, the average annual earnings per prisoner had increased to £13.
2. 0., and a gradual reduction had been made in the number engaged upon
what are generally known as low-grade industries. A certain amount of
unskilled and less remunerative labour is inevitable, owing to the
short sentences of so many prisoners, and the physical inability of
others. The work thus described consists of pea-sorting, bean-sorting,
coir-balling, coir-picking, cotton-sorting, oakum-picking,
rope-teasing, and wool-sorting. In 1908 about twenty-eight per cent.
of the total number of prisoners under the Manufacturing Department
were employed in this way. There was also a permanent non-effective
strength, amounting to about sixteen per cent. This number represents
prisoners under remand or awaiting trial, patients in prison hospitals,
ill-conducted prisoners under punishment, and prisoners not told off
for work pending medical examination, registration, &c.
The strong efforts made to increase the productivity of prison labour
during the period which had elapsed since the daily round of crank and
treadwheel was superseded by a rational system of tasked industrial
labour obtained a marked success in 1911, in which year there was a
record output of labour valued at over a quarter of a million pounds.
In this year, the average annual earnings per prisoner rose to £14. 9.
4. This average has since increased to £15. 1. 0. in the year 1919-20.
At the same time, there has been a decrease both of non-effective
strength, which has fallen to 15 per cent. of prison population, and of
the number employed on low-grade industries, which decreased to four
per cent. last year. In 1910, satisfactory results became manifest from
the development of female labour, the reorganization of which had been
proceeding steadily throughout the country. By permitting women to
proceed to associated labour at the commencement of their sentences, it
was found possible to do much of the domestic service by prisoners with
comparatively short sentences, thus freeing those undergoing longer
periods for skilled labour, _e.g._, dress-making, needle-work, or
other suitable occupation. Owing to the difficulty experienced during
1912-1913 in connection with the supply of materials for manufacturing
purposes, consequent upon serious labour disputes throughout the
world, there was a fall in that year in the aggregate earnings of
prisoners, which still, however, continued high, thanks to the orders
for skilled and unskilled work which are now placed at the disposal of
the Authorities by the various Government Departments--the General Post
Office, Admiralty, War Office, Office of Works, Stationery Office, &c.
The sympathetic help of these Departments, on which we are now able to
rely, furnishes a promising prospect for the present, and also for the
development of other industries in the future.
On the outbreak of war, drastic steps were taken to secure a maximum
output of war manufactures, _e.g._, the association of male prisoners
during the first month of sentence; extended hours of labour; and
optional employment on Sundays. The appeal which was made to the
patriotism of the prisoners met with a splendid response, and, in spite
of the large withdrawal of able-bodied men and women for national
services, the average value of prison labour was nearly £9 per head
greater than for the five years before the War. During the period of
the War, over 20 million articles were supplied to various Government
Departments.
The Great War has sadly impeded the development of the plan of
industrial training in Borstal Institutions which was originally
intended. Up-to-date modern workshops, plant and machinery have not yet
been fully installed, owing both to lack of the necessary material,
and to the shortage of labour caused by the enlistment of inmates
after a comparatively short period of detention. Rapid steps are now
being taken to make up for lost time: advantage has been taken of
the opportunity offered by the sale of materials of all sorts by the
Government Surplus Property Disposal Board to accumulate plant and
machinery, and it is hoped that before long the opportunity will be
given to intelligent lads to acquire a good elementary instruction
in various technical trades, which will facilitate their disposal
on discharge, and also instil, not only the habit, but the love of
work--the absence of which is in most cases the beginning of the
criminal career, born of idleness, and the example of bad early
associations. In the meantime, good work of an instructional character
has been forthcoming by the employment of lads in the various building
operations, often necessary at Borstal and Feltham, and the trades of
carpentry and smithing incidental thereto. There is also a considerable
area for farming operations at both places, with the advantage of
healthy outdoor life and hard manual labour. There is also a regular
system of instruction in market-gardening; and the various forms of
domestic service, cooking, baking, laundry, &c., and in the case of
those more fitted for sedentary occupation, tailoring, bootmaking, &c.
CHAPTER XIII.
(1) VAGRANCY: (2) INEBRIETY
(1) Vagrancy:--
Out of a curious medley of Tudor legislation has grown up the English
idea of Vagrancy. It is a survival of a long series of penal enactments
dating from the 14th century, which were directed against the desertion
of labourers from their respective districts when serfdom was breaking
down. Parliament interposed to prevent the rise of wages, resulting in
the free exchange of labour, and, at the same time, to check the acts
of disorder which followed in the train of Vagrancy and Mendicancy.
Further penalties against Vagrancy followed from the Elizabethan law
of Settlement. The wandering or vagrant man became, from the operation
of these causes, a suspected or criminal person, and, in the course of
time, vagrancy and crime became almost synonymous terms. It was not
till the beginning of the last century that steps were taken to repeal
and consolidate the numerous enactments--some fifty in number--relating
to the law of Vagrancy, which four centuries had accumulated. The
present law dates back as far as 1824, and bears the impress of the
old Tudor legislation. It is repressive in character, and its object
is to punish the offences such as wanderers are likely to commit. The
offences dealt with by the Act are numerous, and can be divided roughly
into three classes:--
(1) offences committed by persons of a disreputable mode of life, such
as begging, trading as a pedlar without a licence, telling fortunes,
or sleeping in outhouses, unoccupied buildings, &c., without visible
means of subsistence:
(2) offences against the Poor Law, such as leaving a wife and family
chargeable to the poor rate, returning to and becoming chargeable to
a parish after being removed therefrom by an order of the justices,
refusing or neglecting to perform the task of work in a workhouse, or
damaging clothes or other property belonging to the guardians; and
(3) offences committed by professional criminals, such as being found
in possession of housebreaking implements or a gun or other offensive
weapon with a felonious intent, or being found on any enclosed
premises for an unlawful purpose, or frequenting public places for the
purpose of felony.