THE PRISON SYSTEM
Centralisation--The constitution of the Prison Commission--
Parliamentary control--The Commissioners--The rules--The visiting
committee--The governor and the matron--The chaplain--The medical
officer--The staff.
Before the year 1877 all the Scottish prisons, with the exception of the
Penitentiary at Perth, were under the control and management of the local
authorities. One result was that there were many standards of treatment,
and Parliament decided that as the prevailing methods were unsatisfactory
the treatment of prisoners and the management of prisons should be vested
in a central Board.
The changes made by the Prison Commission have been many, and the prison
of to-day is widely different from that of forty years ago; but before
attributing all improvements to the new system it is fair to take into
account the progress made in local administration during that time. The
true comparison is not between the prison of forty years ago and that of
to-day, but between the prison and the local institutions of to-day.
Central management is likely to result in uniformity of routine and
treatment in all prisons; but it is questionable whether that is a gain.
It may tend to more economical administration if the test is one of
expenditure of money, but it makes experiment in the way of reform very
difficult. Not only are no two men alike, but no two districts are alike;
and methods of dealing with people belonging to one part of Scotland are
not necessarily the best to apply to the inhabitants of another part. It
is not a good thing to bring prisoners from outlying districts to centres;
there is always a danger of their remaining there after their liberation
and obtaining introductions that will not be likely to help them except in
the way of wrongdoing. The large institution may cost less money, but it
can never have such intimate supervision as the small one.
The Prison Commission for Scotland consists of two ex-officio and two paid
members. The ex-officio members are the Crown Agent and the Sheriff of
Perthshire. The Crown Agent goes out with the Government of the day, but
he is not usually a Member of Parliament. The Sheriff of Perthshire in
virtue of his office had a place on the board which managed the old
Penitentiary at Perth; that is probably the reason why he is a
Commissioner of Prisons under the Act of 1877. It is certainly not because
Perthshire is a county which contributes many criminals from its Courts to
the prison population.
There are thus two lawyers on the Board, one being a judge and the other
being the solicitor in whose office public prosecutions are directed. The
other Commissioners are permanent civil servants, appointed by the
Secretary for Scotland.
At first there were also two Inspectors who gave their whole time to the
work of visiting the various prisons and reporting on their condition and
management to the Secretary of State, but in process of time there has
been a change, and now the Secretary of the Commission is the only
Inspector.
The Commissioners themselves visit the prisons and inspect them; but as
they are responsible for the management, the arrangement is open to the
criticism that they report on their own work, without independent
inspection.
The Secretary of State is the head of the Board, and is responsible to
Parliament for the work of the department; but his sole means of knowing
that work is the reports he receives from the Commission. Whether on all
boards Members of Parliament should not have a place and power, just as
members of a town council form the supervising authority over the work of
its departments, is a question that will bear discussion. At present the
Member of Parliament can only make himself a nuisance by asking questions;
that is what it amounts to, since no matter what the answer may be, it
leaves him very much where he was. He is usually as ignorant at the end as
he was when he began. Some aggrieved constituent having more faith than
knowledge has made an _ex-parte_ statement to his representative, who puts
a question to the Minister, who passes it on to the department concerned,
which transmits to him the answer given by the person complained of, which
shows that there is no ground for the complaint. It may be uncomfortable
for someone, but it is not business. If the complaints are too frequent or
the complainers too influential to be disregarded, the Minister forms a
committee of enquiry which turns things up for a time, censures somebody
who is too small to cause trouble, makes a few apologetic suggestions for
alterations, white-washes with liberality those who most need it, and
presents another report for the waste-paper basket.
Spasmodic enquiries can never make up for systematic neglect, and their
effect is seldom to cause as much improvement as irritation. The danger to
the public service is not from corruption, but from the official mind
getting out of touch with the spirit of the time and the needs of the
public.
Rules for the government of prisons are laid down by the Secretary for
Scotland, and these rules become statutory after they have been laid on
the table of the House of Commons for a period. They define the duties of
the various officials, lay down regulations for the treatment of the
prisoners, and deal in detail with the management of the prisons.
The Commissioners have the whole control in their hands, subject to the
rules. They appoint all the inferior officers; transfer and promote them;
or dismiss them if their conduct is unsatisfactory. They do not appoint
the superior officers, but it is to be expected that their advice will be
considered by the Secretary of State, with whom the nominations lie. As a
Commissioner cannot be in more than one place at a time, they cannot be
expected to have any intimate knowledge of the capability of the men who
depend for promotion on them; and their task in this matter alone is no
easy one. As for knowledge of the prisoners at first hand, that is
impossible; for prisoners are as hard to know as other people, and one
person cannot know much of another as the result of an occasional short
conversation. If they were liable to err they could not be criticised
effectively; for any official who might be in a position to criticise
would run the risk of not being in that position long; any prisoner might
be looked upon as a prejudiced person; and no member of the public is able
to offer criticism, for he does not know the facts. This is an unfortunate
state of affairs; for even the ablest minds are the better for being
brought in conflict with others and in contact with other ideas, and a
system that discourages independent thought is not likely to lead to
rapid progress. It has its advantages, however, for a knowledge of the
rules and a habit of always carrying them out ensure to the prisoner,
peace, and to the officer a good reputation and better prospects than he
could ever hope for if he were foolish enough to set his brains to work.
In a private business, when a man gets a position, he cannot hold it
unless by exercising his judgment in such a way as to satisfy his employer
that he is worth his salt; when he fails in this he is liable to
dismissal. In the public service the case is different. There is no
question of bankruptcy for one thing, and there is security of tenure for
another. You cannot depend on always having men of ability in the posts,
but by the aid of rules you can teach a person of moderate talent to get
through his work. To disregard the rules may be justifiable in a given
case and so far as that case is concerned, but it is liable to knock the
whole machine out of gear.
There are many able men in all branches of the civil service, and the fact
is often referred to by Cabinet Ministers amid loud cheers from the
public; but they recognise the need for routine and follow it. They would
otherwise have less time for literary work, in which they can use their
original powers to greater advantage. The public departments have produced
more poets, novelists, critics, and playwrights than any other large
businesses, as, for instance, the railways or the engineering trades.
These also employ talented men, but their talents are deflected to
business channels. If they had their work laid down for them in rules and
regulations they also might add to the gaiety of nations.
Commissioners are always appointed from among men in a good position whose
minds have not been warped by any previous association with prisons. They
can thus approach their duties without prejudice; and officials and
prisoners alike have the satisfaction of knowing that they are in the
hands of gentlemen.
Each prison has its visiting committee, consisting of members nominated by
various local authorities with the addition of ladies nominated by the
Secretary of State. Under the rules for prisons it has considerable powers
of criticism, but they are not much used. In Glasgow the committee meets
once a year, when its members arrange to visit the prison in pairs once
monthly. In practice this means that each member spends in the prison two
or three hours on an average every year. How much the members can learn
about the work of the prison in that time may be surmised. They go round
the place and ask each prisoner if he has any complaints, and they seldom
receive any. They see that the place and its inmates are kept clean; that
the food is good; that the sick are being attended to; and they may hear a
complaint of breach of discipline and award a punishment therefor
occasionally. They record their visits and make any suggestion that may
occur to them. They may communicate direct with the Secretary of State if
they choose.
They might perform a very useful part in the management of the prison if
their powers were used to the full extent and their meetings were more
frequent. They have no power to incur expenditure, but without doing so it
is quite conceivable that by inviting the officials to explain matters and
to direct their attention to special cases they might do a great deal to
suggest improvements, with a view to prevent certain people from being
sent to prison and to provide for others on their release.
They have the power to allow or to refuse certain privileges to untried
prisoners. They are all agreed that the prison is an admirably managed
institution, as free from faults as any place could be; but whether they
have ever got the length of asking themselves what is the use of it is
doubtful. It is clean--as it well may be; it is orderly--which causes no
surprise, although its inmates are there because they "cannot behave
themselves"; there are no complaints, and at the end of a visit they know
as much of the inmates as they might learn of natural history by a walk
round the Zoo.
They might conceivably be set to find out on behalf of the local
authorities they represent why the prisoners are there and why so many of
them return; whether it is not time we were seeking other means of dealing
with them, and what means; whether nothing more and nothing else can be
done than is done at present to help them on their liberation. The
Commissioners have enough to do; and in the nature of things they are not
so well qualified to deal with these subjects as the local authorities,
for they cannot come so intimately in touch with local conditions. But the
members of the visiting committees are usually busy men on the local
Councils and have little time to spend on prison affairs, which may be a
very good reason for the Councils nominating others who could find the
time. So long as they merely see that the prisoner is not being ill-used
outwith the rules, they are only looking after the interest of prisoners
and public in a partial way. When they begin to examine matters from the
standpoint of the public welfare--when they realise that the treatment of
the criminal is as much a matter of public health as the treatment of the
sick, and that it is to the interest of the community that it should be
undertaken in such a way as to lead to his reformation--it will be better
for everybody, including the prisoner.
I can imagine local committees making discoveries for themselves with
regard to the causation of crime that would influence powerfully their
whole administration; bringing pressure to bear within the law where it is
most required and relieving pressure where it is harmful; using the powers
they have, instead of lamenting the want of power which there is no
evidence they could use if it were given them; but it needs a beginning.
Each prison is in charge of a Governor who is in daily communication with
the office in Edinburgh. He visits the prisoners once daily and hears any
complaints by them or regarding them. He has the power to impose certain
punishments for offences against discipline, but if they involve a
decrease of diet they must be confirmed by the Medical Officer, who may
refuse to allow them on medical grounds. He is responsible for the
carrying out of the rules and his discretionary power is very small. No
qualification has been laid down for the position, and this leaves the
Secretary of State free to appoint anybody whom he considers most likely
to perform the duties satisfactorily, and prevents the post becoming a
preserve for the members of any profession. In Scotland military men have
been appointed, and members of the clerical staff and warders have been
promoted to governorships, but no professional man has ever been placed in
such an important position. When the Governor is absent or on leave his
place is taken by the head warder, who performs the duties of this
important office in addition to his own.
Where there are a sufficient number of female prisoners there is a Matron
in charge of them, who visits them in the same way as the Governor does
the males and discharges similar duties towards them.
The Prison Chaplain must be an ordained minister, and in the larger
prisons he holds services weekly and conducts prayers daily. He visits the
prisoners in their cells and administers spiritual consolation and advice;
and he does what he can to help them on their liberation. Prisoners who
are Roman Catholics and those who are Episcopalians are visited by
clergymen of those Churches in a similar way.
The Medical Officer must be a registered practitioner, and it is his duty
to look after the health of the staff and of the prisoners. Of all the
officials he has the freest hand, for it has not so far been practicable
to direct the treatment of the sick from a central office; but his very
freedom--such as it is--may lead him into trouble should he pay regard to
differences of temperament among prisoners and go beyond a consideration
of merely physical signs. If he confine his energies to carrying out the
rules he need never fear death from work or worry. He may hope to become a
highly respectable fossil and have a place in the esteem of everyone to
whom he has caused no trouble. He can do much to help prisoners, not by
indulging them, but by humanising the place to some extent and setting the
tone. He need not be a better man than his colleagues, but he is less a
part of the working machine, and that should make a difference in his
attitude. He is not concerned with discipline, for the sick are free of
it, so that in a sense it is his business to interfere with discipline.
His work is to do the prisoners good in a way they can understand; and he
has even an advantage over the Chaplain, whom they also recognise as a
humanising influence, for men are usually a good deal more anxious about
their bodies than about their souls. The Governor may be a better man
than either the Doctor or the Chaplain, but his position as the head of a
system that the prisoners do not regard as directed to their aid handicaps
his influence on them.
At one time the clerical staff of the prisons was composed of clerks, but
now men who join as warders are promoted to clerkships, serving part of
the day in the prison and part in the office. All applicants for
warderships have to pass a series of examinations and to serve on
probation for twelve months before being finally admitted to the service.
A rigid enquiry is made as to their antecedents; their health forms the
subject of a careful enquiry; and they have to pass an examination in
general education. After all this they receive a salary which is not
large, to put it mildly. It is a steady job, and therefore sought after by
those who prefer to take a small salary with security of tenure to risking
the rough-and-tumble of industrial life. Female warders are paid better
than men, as women's wages go. Compared with the work done by them in
other institutions they are well off, but there is not a rush for
vacancies. Both male and female warders in Scottish prisons will compare
favourably with any other body of officials; and the prevailing spirit
shown by them towards prisoners is kindly and human.