Art. V.—IRISH CONVICT PRISONS.
The intermediate system of discipline adopted in the convict prisons of Ireland, to which we have called the attention of our readers in previous numbers of this Journal, seems to gain favor. The simple principle on which it is founded is the gradual improvement of those prisoners who are susceptible of reforming influences, until they are prepared for entire freedom, and the return to and continuance in confinement of those who are obstinately bent on pursuing a criminal career. The system is so arranged as to give the convict the control, in a great measure, of his own position. If he is disposed to dowell, every reasonable aid is afforded him for the purpose. If his vicious habits are so confirmed as to forbid the hope of his permanent reformation, society is protected from his hostility, by his retention, indefinitely, in prison. In the first place, the prisoner must conform to certain rules, while confined in the ordinary prison, to entitle himself to the privileges of the intermediate prisons. Any misconduct at this stage, will have the effect of postponing his admission into the intermediate prison, and thereby defer, to an equal extent, the remission of a portion of his sentence. The following table shows, at a glance, what inducement the prisoner has to co-operate with the government in his reformation:
FIXED PERIODS OF IMPRISONMENT.SENTENCES.In ordinary Prisons.Shortest term in intermediatePrisons.Years. Months. Years. Months.3 years 2 2 0 4-------------------v--------------------/2 64 „ 2 10 0 5-------------------v--------------------/3 35 „ 3 6 0 6-------------------v--------------------/4 06 „ 3 9 0 9-------------------v--------------------/4 67 „ 4 0 1 3-------------------v--------------------/5 38 „ 4 8 1 4-------------------v--------------------/6 910 „ 6 0 1 6-------------------v--------------------/7 612 „ 7 3 1 9-------------------v--------------------/9 015 „ 8 0 2 0-------------------v--------------------/10 0
FIXED PERIODS OF IMPRISONMENT.SENTENCES.In ordinary Prisons.Shortest term in intermediatePrisons.Years. Months. Years. Months.3 years 2 2 0 4-------------------v--------------------/2 64 „ 2 10 0 5-------------------v--------------------/3 35 „ 3 6 0 6-------------------v--------------------/4 06 „ 3 9 0 9-------------------v--------------------/4 67 „ 4 0 1 3-------------------v--------------------/5 38 „ 4 8 1 4-------------------v--------------------/6 910 „ 6 0 1 6-------------------v--------------------/7 612 „ 7 3 1 9-------------------v--------------------/9 015 „ 8 0 2 0-------------------v--------------------/10 0
FIXED PERIODS OF IMPRISONMENT.SENTENCES.In ordinary Prisons.Shortest term in intermediatePrisons.Years. Months. Years. Months.3 years 2 2 0 4-------------------v--------------------/2 64 „ 2 10 0 5-------------------v--------------------/3 35 „ 3 6 0 6-------------------v--------------------/4 06 „ 3 9 0 9-------------------v--------------------/4 67 „ 4 0 1 3-------------------v--------------------/5 38 „ 4 8 1 4-------------------v--------------------/6 910 „ 6 0 1 6-------------------v--------------------/7 612 „ 7 3 1 9-------------------v--------------------/9 015 „ 8 0 2 0-------------------v--------------------/10 0
FIXED PERIODS OF IMPRISONMENT.
SENTENCES.In ordinary Prisons.Shortest term in intermediate
Prisons.
Years. Months. Years. Months.
3 years 2 2 0 4
-------------------v--------------------/
2 6
4 „ 2 10 0 5
-------------------v--------------------/
3 3
5 „ 3 6 0 6
-------------------v--------------------/
4 0
6 „ 3 9 0 9
-------------------v--------------------/
4 6
7 „ 4 0 1 3
-------------------v--------------------/
5 3
8 „ 4 8 1 4
-------------------v--------------------/
6 9
10 „ 6 0 1 6
-------------------v--------------------/
7 6
12 „ 7 3 1 9
-------------------v--------------------/
9 0
15 „ 8 0 2 0
-------------------v--------------------/
10 0
It will be seen that, by this scale, a three years’ sentence is reduced to two and a half; four years to three and a fourth; five years to four; six years to four and a half; seven years to five and a fourth; eight years to six and three-fourths; tenyears to seven and a half; twelve years to nine, and fifteen years to ten.
In order to ensure the remission of any part of his sentence, the prisoner must work himself, by good behaviour, into the intermediate prison, through which he must pass to obtain his final liberty; and this liberty, when obtained, will be conditional; for the criminal who, after his discharge, consorts with bad companions, and shows that he meditates a return to criminal courses, is liable to be re-arrested and re-consigned to the prison from which he was (as it appears) prematurely discharged. Thus society is protected, on one hand, from the existence of hordes of criminally-disposed persons at large, and the discharged convict is restrained from renewed transgression by surrounding the further commission of crime with obstructions so formidable as to disband, in a great measure, the class of “habitual offenders.”
It will be observed that the remission of any part of the sentence is not a matter ofcompactbetween the government and the prisoner. It is a gratuitous act, and as such, may be restrained or modified, to suit individual cases. When crimes are of so heinous a character as to forbid the extension of any such leniency, they will, of course, be specially dealt with by the government.
With a uniform constabulary system, embracing the whole country, and a uniform penal code, we might expect here a more perfect system of prison discipline than in any other country; but there is much complaint of the inequality of sentences for the same crimes, and of the too great leniency shown to “habitual offenders.” These, it is maintained, should be recognized by the law as a distinct class, as they are by the police. The practice of lengthening the sentence of an offender because of previous convictions, is regarded with favor, and its observance should be systematized and made universal. In this way “conditional pardons and registrations for the remitted term may be made the means of causing the very general incarceration of ‘habitual offenders’ in the only placesuitable for them—convict prisons—with sentences of sufficient length to insure their being properly dealt with.”
An important principle is involved in this probationary system. If a man deliberately commits an offence against public law, the presumption is that he will repeat it whenever the occasion and temptation are presented. The privation and suffering which the execution of his sentence imposes, may deter him from farther transgression, but the burden of proving this is on the offender. The first duty of society is to protect itself. When the period of penal restraint expires, the man is discharged, on the presumption that he will sin no more. Whatever measures we can adopt to strengthen this presumption, and to assure society that he may be safely set at liberty, are as salutary for him as for us. And there is a farther obligation, and a very imperative one, on the part of the government, and that is tostrengthen and encourage purposes of amendment. If the liberated convict finds it difficult to procure labor where his antecedents are known, he has the option of going to countries where labor is more in demand; and the means of reaching those countries are supplied by his prison gratuity, obtained through his own industry. In many of our schemes for ameliorating the miseries of public prisons, the interests of society are too often overlooked, and the comfort and ease of a transgressor unduly sought. There is a medium. The community whose laws have been outraged, justly demands the prompt and certain imposition of the penalty. If this can be imposed in such a way as at once to express the due disapprobation of the act, and a desire that the offender may be restored (on his reformation) to his forfeited place in society, a double advantage is gained.
As more enlightened methods of dealing with the criminally-disposed prevail, we have a right to look for a more efficient and well-balanced administration of penal law, and as a consequence, a sensible diminution in the number of crimes and criminals.