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Page 55
Penal servitude has taken the place of transportation in Great
Britain. Every person sentenced to a term of five years and over
undergoes what is called penal servitude. The sentence is divided into
three stages. In the first stage the offender passes nine months of
his sentence in one of the local prisons in solitary confinement. In
the next stage he is allowed to work in association with other
prisoners; and in the last stage he is conditionally released before
his sentence has actually expired. If a prisoner conducts himself
well, if he shows that he is industrious, he will be released at the
expiration of about three fourths of his sentence. If, on the other
hand, he is idle and ill-conducted, he will have to serve the full
term.
During the first nine months of his confinement the convict sentenced
to penal servitude is treated in exactly the same way as a person
sentenced to a month's imprisonment; the only difference being that he
is provided with better food. During the period of detention in a
Public Work's Prison the convict may, if well-conducted, pass through
five progressive stages; each of these stages confers some privileges
which the one below it does not possess. The first stage of all is
called the Probation Class. In this, as well as in every succeeding
class, a man's industry is measured by a process called the Mark
system. This system is somewhat similar to the method adopted for
rewarding industry in our public schools. In those schools a boy's
diligence is recognised by his receiving so many marks per day, and he
would be an ideal pupil who received the maximum number of marks. In
convict prisons, on the other hand, the maximum number of marks, which
is eight per day, can easily be earned by any person willing to do an
average day's work. If a convict earns the maximum number of marks per
day for three months he is promoted at the end of that time out of the
Probation Class into a higher stage called the Third Class. He must
remain in the third class for at least a year; while in this class he
is permitted to receive a visit and to write and receive a letter
every six months. He is also rewarded at the rate of a penny for every
20 marks, which enables him to earn twelve shillings in the course of
the year.
After the expiration of one year in the Third Class the prisoner, if
he has regularly earned eight marks a day, is advanced to the Second
Class. In this stage he can receive a visit and write and receive a
letter every four months. He is allowed a little choice in the
selection of his breakfast; the value attached to his marks is also
increased, and he is able in the Second Class to earn 18 shillings a
year. At the termination of a year, if a prisoner continues his habits
of industry, he is promoted to the First Class. Persons whose
education is defective are not permitted to enter the First Class,
unless they have also made progress in schooling. In the First Class a
man is allowed to receive a visit and to write and receive a letter
every three months. He is also given additional privileges in the
choice of food. In the First Class he can earn 30 shillings a year.
Above the First Class is a Special Class composed of men whose conduct
has been specially exemplary. Men may be admitted into this class 12
months before their liberation; they may also be placed in positions
of trust and responsibility in connection with the prison, and are
able to earn a gratuity amounting to six pounds. Such men are, as a
matter of course, liberated at the expiration of three fourths of
their sentence, which means that a term of five years' penal servitude
is reduced to somewhat under four years.
For female convicts all these rules are modified and mitigated.
Isolation is not so strictly enforced; a female may be liberated at
the expiration of two thirds of her sentence; she may also earn four
pounds instead of three, which is the highest sum men can receive,
except the limited number in the Special Class. Corresponding to the
Special Class of male convicts, there is among the females what is
called a Refuge Class. Well-conducted women undergoing their first
term of penal servitude are placed in this class, and nine months
before the date on which they are due for discharge on ordinary
licence, that is to say, nine months before they have finished two
thirds of their sentence, they are released from prison and placed in
some Home for females. Two Homes which receive prisoners of this class
are the Elizabeth Fry Refuge and the London Preventive and Reformatory
Institution. These Homes receive ten shillings a week for the care of
each inmate confided to them by the State, and the time spent there is
used as a gradual course of preparation for the re-entrance of these
unfortunate people into ordinary life. According to this method
females, after a prolonged period of imprisonment, are not thrown all
of a sudden upon the world; they re-enter it by slow and imperceptible
stages, and are thus enabled to commence life afresh under hopeful and
salutary conditions.
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