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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron News-Record, 1894-12-19, Page 8'PRISON, REFORM iN-pAINADA. The 'Boric or tee riaiemersr Aaeuetn. t•irn. The $riaonors' 'Aid Association of Canada has been Ongaged in itsItoble work of prise» reform and rescue.work for the last 20 yoa,rs,olthoun'h the, prison reform movement' proper tfates back to only a,baut four years ago, The obI cis of °.this Assecaattou, as .stated in, theI.r constitution, are; "The refortnation of offenders, their welfare when discharge ed,"tk a prevention of crime and prison reform," Among the most zeatoustnetn, berg of this AW L:lation was the Late ex -Mayor W. IL Howland. The Hon, S. 1I. $lake, Q, C., has been the President for a number of years, 'while Hamilton Cassels, Esq., Barrister, has been connected with thee Central Prison Sunday School also for several years. Dr, A. M. Bosebrugh, the well-known specialist, bas dpring the last ten or twelve years, been actively connected with the Assooiation,firstly as Treasurer, but laterally as Corresponding Secre- tary and Honorary Secretary. Among the Vice -Presidents may he mentioned the following well -knower gentlemen, viz.: J, G. Hodgins, I.L.b.; E. A. Meredith. LLD.. for ten years one of the Board of Inspectors of Asylurns and Prisons in Canada, and for several years Chairman of the Board and John Hoskin, Q.C. Among the means employed for carry- ing out the objects of the Association may be mentioned the following, viz. : 1. A Sunda• School mission in the Central Prison. 2. A Sundae School mission in the Re- formatory. for Women. 3. A Sunday School mission in the Coiuity Jail. 4. A Night School for secular educa- tion its the Central Prison. 5. The'employment of an agent and a Bible woman for the welfare of dis- Charged prisoners. 6. Tho distribution of prison reform literature, and the use of other means for awakening a more general interest in the cause of prison reform. 7. The maintenance ofa central office In the City, at 150 Simcoe Street, as a place of call and temporary shelter for prisoners after their discharge. 8. Assisting with tools, and making temporary loans to discharged prison- ers. 9. A preaching service weekly, in the • Central Prison and Female Reforma- tory, by members of the Toronto Minis- sterial Association. It was through the influence of this Association that the Ontario Prison Re- form Commission was apppinted in 1890, and it was - through these combined agencies that the "Act for the Better Protection of Children," was passed, as also the establishment of the pronosed reformatory for young men by the Dorn - inion Government. The Association also -aims at the gen- sral adoption of the County House of Refuge or Poor -House system, as also the introduction of a more efficient sys- tem of separation of the prisoners in the county jails. THE PRISON SYSTEM OF GREAT BRITAIN. The prison system of Great Britain is very different from the prison system of Canada. There are two classes of pris- ons, namely, the local prisons and the • convict' prisons. Its the local prisons the prisoners may be confined for any period from two days to two years, while in the convict prisons the prisoners or convicts may be confined for any period from five years to twenty, or for life. Each prisoner in a local prison spends the entire time of his sentence, even if for two years, in a aeparate room or cell, whereas in the convict prisons only the first nine months is spent in separate confinement. During this nine months the,convictsboth wort and sleep in their rooms. At the end of nine months they work in association, but they are not allowed to speak to each other. In the local prisons the prisoners are taken into the exercise yard for halt' an hour each day where they are put through a sort of military drill, but they are not allowed to speak. The Indus• tries in which they are occupied is boot- maki,ng, weaving, mat -making and picking oakum, and in some of the prisons they still have the tread -mill. On the treadmill the prisoners work for 20 minutes and then rest 20 minutes, and so on. This system is called the separate system simply because the prisoners are kept separate. A prisoner has no means of becoming acquainted with other prisoners. As there is no intercourse, there can be no contamina- tion and the prisoner leavesthe jail at least no worse than when he entered it. It is a very great mistake some writers make in confounding the English separate system" with what is called the "solitary system." The English separate system can in no way be called the "solitary system." The separation is merely from bad com- pany. Tho prisoner is visited by his eelatives, by the school master, by the chaplain, by the magistrates, besides the daily visits of the jailer or his as-' sistants. He has work, he has exercise in the open air, he has instruction from his teacher, he has books and he can .earn various privileges by good conduct. It is found that this system fiicilitates reflection and religious counsel and it promotes reformation. The reformatory tendency of the system is indeed so marked that, except for juvenile offenders, special reformatories in Eng- land are considered quite unnecessary. Since the adoption of the separate sys- tem in Great Britnin in 1877, there has been a large diminution in the volume of crimp in the United Kingdom, and much of this satifactory result is be- lieved to be due to this cause. At that time there were about 2.),00') prisoners in the local prisons, whereas now there are only about 14,000, although the 'population has largely increased during that time. More than this the number of convicts has decreased during the same period from 10,000 to something like 4,000. It shu,uld be added that this system of separate confinement is by no means confined to Great Britain. it is in Belgium however that the system has its best exemplification, To sunt up, we may say that the separate sys- tem is both deterrent and reformatory, and although the prison buildings are more costly, the system in the end is by far the most economical, as apart from the great gain from the reformation of the prisoners and fewer recommittals, it is found that there is great deterrence, even in short sentences, and as a matter Of fact, shorter sentences are now im- posed in consequence. THE "PRISON SYSTEM OF ONTARIO, Tho Oala'Ip ,peina1 aid rtefol'txiatorY institutions a,te. as follows r. Ono, Central Pr180n for Theft Oils Iteformatoryefo4, women, one .ettormator for boys, o Values for girls .one Industrial Bch for boys, one IutjjustrIal School for girl and, thirty-seven County Jails. Tun OANTRAi: PRISON. The Central Prison is located at g ronto, and has an average of 800 priso ors. The length of the sentences: vari front two months to two years (less one day). Prisoners may be Sent to the Con. trill' Prison either by, sentence of the court, or they may be transferred from the county jails. The men of the "Central"are engaged at a number of industries, including making tweeds, blankets, bed mattres- ses, brass end steel beds, brooms, wood- work, shoemaking, tailoring, binder twine, etc. All able-bodied men are compelled to work. Tho rule is, "No work, no bread." Although the disci- pline is strict—in fact, military in exact- ness—the men have good food, and are humanely treated. There is a night school four nights a week where the men are taught reading, writ- ing and arithmetic, by teachers selected byathe Prisoners' Aid Association. Every Sunday morning there is a Sun- day school from 0 to 10.30, and at 8 in the afternoon there is a sermon by some member of the Toronto Ministerial As- sociation. THE REFORMATORY FOR WOMEN, also called the "Mercer" Reformatory, is situated about halt' a mile west of the Central Prison, between King• street and the Industrial Fair grounds. Come$' are sent to this reformatory for perio1s vary lug from three months to any period less than two years. The average num- ber imprisoned here is less than 100. The principal industry is laundry work. There is a Sunday school Sunday morn- ing et 9 o'clock, and a sermon Sunday afternoon at 4 o'clock, as well as on every Thursday evening. The Prison Reform Commissioners appointed by the Ontario Government recommend with regard to the women's Reformatory tite removal of the young girls from the adjoining Refuge. and utilizing the space gained to effect a better system of classification than is now practicable. THE REFUGE FOR GIRLS Is (unfortunately) situated on the same grounds AP, and the building is con- nected with, that of the Reformatory tor women. The average number of girls in the Refuge is about fifty. The ages range from five up to sixteen. The sentences vary from six months to six years. The great drawback to the suc- cessful working of this institution is the close proximity to the Wonien's Reform- atory. The Commissioners recommend that the Refuge be entirely separated from the Reformatory, and be establish- ed on farm land away from city iufiu ences, and that the girls be taught farm and dairy work, and all kinds of house- work as well. THE REFORMATORY FOR BOYS COUNTY' .HOUSES OF BEFORE, s The members of the 'ri oilers'. Aid Association are urging 'they general adoption of the system of caring for! Ow ne destitute poor of the'cowAr by m,�eittta.• gel of houses of refuge or oor•houses. lip s, to the present time ons T,0 out ofa total of 35 counties in Oxitf?rto have as seri adopted this system , '],'hey olaims that it is not oily the most humane, but that T - in the end it is by far the most econpmi• n. cal method, and moreover, that in corm- es ties where there is a well managed house of t'efttge there is far leas begging in fleet no e'.euse for it—far loss pauperisin and far less crime. Other advantages requiting from tate establishment of a poor house in the count, which is referred to by the As- sociation, is the fact that the removal of the tramps and the simply destitute poor from the county jall prevents over- crowding of the latter and makes' it possible to effect a better classification of the remaining prisoners. This they claim is a matter of much greater im- portance Chau is generally supposed, as it is found that both vice and crime is propagated by a lack of proper classifi- cation of the inmates of county jails. When it has been decided to erect a county poor -house, plenty of time should he taken in selectingthe farm. selecting the site and in deciing Upon the char- acter of the building's. . Tim farm should 'be good land, not less than 100 acres, easy to till and con- venient to a railway station or boat land- ing-. The buildings should be erected on high ground where they can he easily drained, and where there will be an abundant supply of water both winter and summer. in making plans for the buildings the aims should beoeconotny, convenience, orderly administration, a complete separation of the sexes and a right classification of the inmates. The heating, ventilation and drainage is of great importance, and this should not be entrusted to any except good reliable parties or well-known firms. One of the hest county poor houses in Ontario Is the one recently built in the County of Oxford, near the town 01 1Yoodstock. The total coat to the county, complete, was e30.363, less the Government grant of $1,000. In the United States nearly every county has a county poor house. In the State of Ohio, for instance, there is a poorhouse in each one of its 88counties. In the State of New York, with only fent• exceptions,ever;y county has a poor- house. In this State the poorhouses are under the supervision of n State Board, and this board now favors the adoption of the cottage system in the construc- tion of county poor -houses. The cottage system is more expensive than the con- gregate system, but it is claimed that ' it is much safer in case of fire, it pre- vents the spread of contagious diseases, it is more home like, and it is the only system that provides for the absolute separation of the sexes. A well managed county poor house. is a regular hive of industry, and every inmate not too ill or too feeble is ex- pected to do a fair day's work, and in this way contribute to their tultir-tett- ance. As :night be expected such a poor -house is not popular with the lazy, good for nothing tramp, and it is - found that he Fives a wide berth to the county where it is located. is situated at Penetanguishene. The location is bad, and the building ie; not at all adapted to the wants of such an institution. The Pilsen Reform Com- missioners recommend that a Reforma- tory for boys be established on geod farm land, not too far from the centers of population ; that the boys be taught farming (which is now impossible), and that the Cottage system be introduced, both with a view to classification and also for the purpose of bringing to bear upon these wayward boys the reforming influence of Glome life as is done in Michigan and Massachusetts. There is an average of over 200 boys in this Reformatory. TIIE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOr. FOR BOYS is situated at Mimic::: on a farm of fifty acres, about five miles west of Toronto. About tour -fifths of the boys are from Toronto ; the balance are from different pints of the Province. Their ages range from seven to fifteen. The number in the School at present is about 160. At this school the boys are taught farming, gardening, carpentering, tail- oring,.printing, laundry work, cooking and housework generally. The boys are specially encouraged to goon farms atter leaving the school This school is one of the most useful reformatory in- stitutions and is doing an admirable wore:. THE JAILS OF OXTAIRIO are partly under municipal and partly under governtnental control. -The build- in„rs are constructed and the prisoners maintained by the counties, while the jailers are appointed by the sheriffs and the sheriffs by the government. The jails are also visited by the Inspector of Prisons of the Province. About nine - tenths of all prisoners in custody in the province are confined in the county and districts jails. There are about 10,000 commitments to the jails of Ontario yearly. During the last five yellrs, how- ever, there has been a slight decrease in the number of committals. The prisoners in our jails are securely kept acrd they are well cared for, but it is notorious that our jail system is far from satisfactory. It is neither deter- rent nor reformatory. Tho great bane of our jail system is the lack of means for the efficent classification of the pris- oners. The remedy is a radical one, but un- fortunately, also, rather expensive, namely, to adopt the separate system inaugurated in all the local prisons and jails of Great Britain some fifteen years ago, and with mostly gratifying results. In the meantime the classification of prisoners in jails could be improved, firstly, by removing the simply destitute prisoners to poor houses ; secondly, by making separate provision for the cus- tody at children, and thirdly, by provid- ing one or more reformatories in the Province for the habitual drunkard. COUNTY POOR HOUSES. The establishment of poor houses is in the stands of the County Councils, and as an encouragement to the counties, the Ontario Government has offered a bonus of $4,000 for the erection of every such poor houfr'e. In many of the coun- ties the jails are used as poor houses, and the aged destitute poor, are thus associated with the degraded, the vici- ous, and the criminal. This is out of harmony with the spirit of the age,with our common humanity and ,with the dic- tates of religion. "Prison reform is not sentimentalism, It believes in the proper pestishment of criminals as necessary to the security of society, and as beat, everyway, for Crim- inals themselves.—Brinkerhoff. HOUSES OF REFUGE ON THE COTTAGE PLAN. In the neighboring State of New York the county poor -houses are under the supervision of a general board, called the State Board of Charities and Correc- tion. Although the functions of this Board is to a large extent wholly advi- sory, it has nevertheless succeeded dur- ing the last 10 or 15 years in bringing bout very great improvements both in the construction and its the manage- ment of these as well as of other county institutions. This Board had a large model of a county poor- house on exhibition at the World's Fair at Chicago last year, and this model is now at the State Capital at Albany. This model is' constructed on what is known as the "Cottage System," that is, instead of one main building for the accommodation of all the inmates there are a number of detached cot- tages. This .is the system now recom- mended by the State Poard,:Ind already one of the counties has adopted it atter trying the old system for many years. In view of the fact that more than one of the counties in Ontario is now moving in the matter of providing a county house of refuge or poor -house, a short description of the cottage system will be timely. In the cottage system there is a cen- tral building' tor the keeper's residence and administration offices. In some case the farm house purchased with the farm can be utilized tor this purpose if it is in a good location. To make the matter simple we will suppose that the keeper's residence faces the south, and also. that there is a good barn to the northwest of the same. In this case the cottage for the men would be located to the west of the central cottage so as to be on the same side as that of the barn find for reasons that will be referred to presently. To the east of the keeper's cottage is the cottage for the women. These buildings are 20 or 30 feet apart and' they are connected by means of a covered passage. To the north of the keeper's residence, but connected there- with by a covered passage, is the gen- eral kitchen and two dining -rooms, one for men and one for women. The cot- tages are two stories only. Over the dining -rooms is the chapel and over the kitchen are bedrooms for attendants. For the accommodation of sick inmates it is recommended to have two one-story cottages, one to the west of the men's cottage for the men, and one to the east of the women's cottage for the women. The barn and cottage for the then are located on the same side of the keeper's residence se as to keep the mon at all tirnes as far as possible ftom the women's department. The morality of many of the inmates of houses of refuge is very low indeed and every precaution must be taken to keep the two sexes absolutely separated. This separation is much better effected by the cottage system than by the ordinary congregate system. The cottage sys- tem, moreover, is much safer in case of fire ; it is safer in case of an epidem- ic ; it is more homelike and remotres the objection that many have to the ordinary poor -house ; the cottages have more sun light -and are more easily ven- tilated than the rooms of a Large build- ing. "What is worth doing at all, is worth doing well." ' Weliave bought a Manufacturers Stock of DIES' MANTLES ALL NEW AND THE LATEST STYLES, The most of them made during the last twenty days, at prices never heard of before in the -�-'MANTLE TRADE.-+� They must all be cleared out dur- ing the next few days. The prices we put on them will sell them at sight. Wholesale prices and profits put aside. JACKETS FROM X1.00 UP. We want every one that will need a Mantle this season to see these GOODS. lumsteel k Gibbi-ngsl Clinton, Dec. 14. J -STILL IN IT!- ISYOUR MEAT T000H? OUR'S IS NOT, We guarantee that every peice of meat we sell is the best meat of its kind there is, and every buyer who returns a piece of meat and can show there's fault in it, will get his money back twice over if we cannot suit him. See Our Xmas. Display JOHN SCRUTON, ~k THE CENTRAL MEAT MARKET, PLLBERT STREET, CLINTON.