Outdoor Labor for Convicts 
 
 A REPORT 
 TO THE GOVERNOR OF ILLINOIS 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES RICHMOND HENDERSON 
 
 .;. 
 \o OF 
 
 iFOR 
 
 CHICAGO 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS 
 
 1907 
 
c. 
 
 COPYRIGHT 1907 BY 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 
 
 Published September 1907 
 
 Composed and Printed By 
 
 The University of Chicago Press 
 
 Chicago. Illinois, U. S. A. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 FACE 
 
 INTRODUCTION , . . vii 
 
 REPORTS OF INTERNATIONAL PRISON CONGRESS, BY: 
 
 JULES FEKETE DE NAGYIVANY i 
 
 Volume I, Part 3, page 323, of Bulletin de la Commission Ptniten- 
 tiare Internationale, 1905. 
 
 O. KELLERHALS 14 
 
 Vol. I, Part 3, p. 341 (with supplement). 
 
 M. LAGUESSE 27 
 
 Vol. I, Part 3, p. 351. 
 
 JULES VEILLER 31 
 
 Vol. II, Part i, p. 67. 
 
 JULES KIRALY 37 
 
 , Vol. II, Part a, p. 155. 
 
 DR. CURTI 52 
 
 Vol. II, Part 2, p. 175. 
 
 S. E. BALDWIN 55 
 
 Vol. II, Part 2, p. 179. 
 
 J. P. VINCENSINI 68 
 
 Vol. II, Part 2, p. 195. 
 
 ALBIN UHLYARIK 72 
 
 Vol. II, Part 4, p. 459. 
 
 KARL HAFNER 76 
 
 Vol. Ill, Part I, p. 55. 
 
 BERNARD FRIEDMAN 80 
 
 Vol. Ill, Part 3, p. 327. 
 
 M. B. ALTAMURA 89 
 
 Vol. Ill, Part 3, p. 341. 
 
 ROBERT H. MARR 93 
 
 Vol. Ill, Part 4, P. 477- 
 
 175155 
 
PAGE 
 
 ANTOINE MARCOVICH 102 
 
 Vol. IV, Part i, p. 85. 
 
 J. V. HURBIN 108 
 
 Vol. IV, Part 2, p. 199. 
 
 ETIENNE FLANDIN 112 
 
 Vol. V, Part i, p. 21. 
 
 M. DE LOUTCHINSKY . ... . . . . . . 117 
 
 Vol. V, Part i, p. 29. 
 MME. THE COUNTESS EUGENIE KAPNIST 126 
 
 REPORT OF VAGRANCY COMMITTEE OF LINCOLNSHIRE, ESPECIALLY ON 
 
 MERXPLAS COLONY, BELGIUM 143 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM. REPORT OF: 
 
 F. H. WINES, ON FARM PRISONS IN LOUISIANA 152 
 
 E. T. MOBBERLY. ON FARM PRISON OF MISSISSIPPI . . . . , .154 
 
To His Excellency Governor C. S. Deneen: 
 
 SIR : Herewith I offer to you the results of the studies on "Outdoor 
 Labor for Convicts" which I have been carrying on for some months. 
 It is clue to your encouragement, and your suggestion that the study 
 might be useful, that I have brought the labor to an end. Most of the 
 material is a translation from the discussions of the last International 
 Prison Congress, but there are independent observations. 
 
 Yours obediently 
 
 CHARLES RICHMOND HENDERSON 
 
 

 INTRODUCTION 
 
 The legislature of Illinois and the law-making bodies of all other 
 states and foreign countries are continually compelled to confront the 
 many-sided problem of occupation for convicts. That health, morality, 
 and the ends of reformatory treatment all demand steady and useful 
 occupation for all prisoners is too obvious to need argument. No sane 
 person will openly advocate making of the enemies of society favored 
 and sheltered exceptions to the law that each man must work for what 
 is given him to eat and enjoy. All other men must toil, and certainly 
 convicts have no particular claim to immunity ; indeed, they owe special 
 obligations to the society which they have wronged, whose property they 
 have made insecure, whose life they have placed in jeopardy. 
 
 But it does not at all follow that all prisoners should be compelled to 
 work within prison walls. The prison is not by any means the only 
 method of punishing culprits. Society has at its disposal numerous 
 ways of reforming the reformable, as reprimands, supervision, fines, 
 reparation, probation, and others. The present publication begun with 
 the encouragement of His Excellency Governor Deneen is a fragmentary 
 contribution to a single aspect of the broad subject, that of occupation 
 of prisoners in the open air. During the summer of 1905 the writer 
 visited prisons and penal colonies in Belgium, England, France, Switzer- 
 land, and Hungary, having in mind the study of this particular topic. 
 Among the interesting experiments observed were the establishment at 
 Borstal for young convicts and the reform school at Red Hill, in England ; 
 the correctional colony of Merxplas, in Belgium ; the reformatory colony 
 for boys at Mettray, in France ; and the farm colony of Witzwil, in 
 Switzerland. At each of these places, and others, consultations were held 
 with the actual administrators of these institutions, with their buildings 
 and equipment directly under the eye, and with every opportunity which 
 courteous and intelligent men could give to interpret the purpose and 
 method of each establishment. In previous years many prisons had been 
 visited in other countries, especially Germany, so that almost every type 
 
 vii 
 
of correctional institution has been inspected and studied with consider- 
 able care. Somewhat extended travel in this country has made the types 
 familiar here a part of the facts considered. As delegate of the United 
 States government to the International Prison Congress at Budapest, in 
 1905, where the question of open-air occupation of prisoners was on the 
 programme for discussion by experts from all nations, further advantages 
 for study were enjoyed. The reports made to the International Congress 
 are here presented in the English language. Most of the translations 
 were made by my students in criminology at the University of Chicago, 
 and their names are printed in connection with the articles they translated 
 from the French originals. Probably no such a collection of opinions, 
 facts, and arguments on this problem was ever before brought together, 
 and the experiences described are fresh and living. No attempt has been 
 made to verify or correct the statements of the authors ; each speaks on 
 his personal responsibility. A few errors will inevitably be found but 
 they are not sufficiently important to mar the value of the collection as a 
 whole. To this material some discussions and facts from other sources 1 
 have been added, the most important being the notes of Dr. F. H. 
 Wines on southern farm prisons and the English report on Merxplas. 
 
 The reports as here presented lack uniformity in style because they 
 were originally composed by men of varied attainments and characteris- 
 tics, were written in several different languages and most of them 
 had to be translated into French. Then these translations into English 
 have been made by several different persons, each with his own form of 
 expression. Yet it is believed that no sentence in the translation has been 
 left obscure ; and, in spite of the irregularities of style, the authors, without 
 any previous correspondence, come practically to the same conclusions. 
 This unity in essentials is itself a remarkable fact and a confirmation of 
 the belief that the principles of social science discovered by reflection on 
 experience are sound and reliable. As someone has said, the Inter- 
 national Prison Congress is a Babel of languages, but a. Day of Pentecost 
 for good understanding and harmony. 
 
 This whole question of occupation of convicts is connected with that 
 of the reform of our jail system, which by the unanimous consent of all 
 
 1 Since the preparation of this report began a very valuable work has been published 
 by the government: the Twentieth Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor, on 
 Convict Labor, Washington, 1905. The facts there given about Illinois prison industries 
 deserve careful attention. 
 
 viii 
 
competent students is the most vicious and corrupting agency connected 
 with our penal system. The essential evil of the ordinary county jail 
 does not lie merely in its insanitary condition, bad as that often is ; for 
 this can be corrected by health authorities. The worst of the jail method 
 is that it involves idleness and base companionship. It is idleness which 
 corrupts young men, especially when the unoccupied time is spent with 
 depraved company. Nor can this evil be corrected so long as the ordi- 
 nary place for serving short sentences is a county institution. The jail 
 should be reserved simply for persons presumably innocent, but held for 
 trial ; a convicted person should at once be sent to a district prison of 
 some kind, and placed under state control until he is restored to freedom. 
 
 When this radical reform has been effected, as some day it will be, 
 then a much larger number of persons must be given employment than 
 at present. What will that employment be? No more serious problem 
 can be proposed for the thoughtful and reasonable people of any com- 
 monwealth. Perhaps some light will be thrown on this problem by the 
 discussions here presented. It is to be hoped, at least, that houses of 
 correction and city reform schools will be removed out of crowded 
 quarters, where reformatory methods are rendered difficult, if not 
 impossible, even under the best of officers. It is simply pitiful to visit the 
 John Worthy School in Chicago and see the obstacles to improvement 
 which are there thrown in the way of the teachers by the outward condi- 
 tions. The St. Charles School presents a contrast which every legislator 
 would do well to ponder. Mere petty tinkering with the present methods 
 is absurd, and is waste of time, money, and manhood. 
 
 There is a large class of low-bred, degenerate, alcoholic "rounders" 
 who are now required to serve short sentences for drunkenness or 
 disorder, and who are made worse by the irrational treatment given 
 them under present laws. Much of their treatment ought to be hygienic 
 and under medical direction, in the open air. Many of this class are 
 simply neurotic and have not enough sound nerve tissue to support a 
 moral volition. To make them over morally, they must be kept from the 
 possibility of getting alcohol and drugs, and sensual gratifications for at 
 least three years, though some can be cured in less time and some can 
 never be cured. The incurable, however, are better off in a farm colony 
 than they would He in city lodging-houses and on the floors of station- 
 houses in winter nights. 
 
 ii 
 
In selecting a, method of employing convicts several considerations 
 must be held together before the mind. In the first place, the physical 
 health of the convict, as all civilized people now agree, should not be 
 impaired by confinement, if this can be avoided; for in reformatory 
 treatment health is an essential condition of successful life in freedom 
 after the term of sentence has been served. It is not the civilized theory 
 of prisons that they should be used for inflicting capital punishment by 
 slow process under the form of starvation or other hardships. "Cruel 
 and unusual punishments" are expressly forbidden by fundamental law. 
 
 Another consideration is economy for the state. Society already has 
 a burden on account of crime which is all too heavy without adding any 
 needless expense for convicts. The occupations of prisoners should 
 therefore be as lucrative to the state as possible, keeping in mind the 
 effect on free labor and the reformation of the prisoner himself. 
 
 The preparation of the convict for a rational and useful career in 
 freedom is one of the fundamental aims of all prison treatment, and this 
 must influence the choice of occupation for each individual convict. It 
 has been said that the habit of industry is more important in this process 
 of fitting a man for honest life than the particular kind of industry to 
 which he may be set ; and this is true but not all the truth. Next to the 
 habit of industry is the importance of giving a man work which he is 
 able and likely to follow on the outside. Very much thought and care 
 should be bestowed on the multiplication of forms of industry, so that 
 each man, so far as possible, may receive just that kind of industrial habit 
 which will at once after discharge make him a quick and efficient workman 
 in the line most nearly adapted to his nature and skill. This regulative 
 principle is of special significance in the case of young offenders and all 
 who are at all reformable. Those who are really incorrigible society 
 must at least learn to keep in custody under the indeterminate sentence, 
 and then the form of occupation is of minor importance. The indeter- 
 minate sentence as interpreted by its wisest defenders, means a training 
 in freedom for young offenders, and a life-long custody by responsible 
 state officials of those who have proved themselves unfit for freedom. 
 This latter aspect is not popularly understood because as yet no state has 
 had the courage to adopt the custodial policy on principle and openly. 
 In practice, and in the worst possible form, our minor courts do try to 
 keep these miserable recidivists in jail and workhouse as much of the time 
 
as possible; but this involves frequent and costly trials, heavy tasks for 
 the police, enormous expense to the public, without the least prospect of 
 doing any good to the weak-willed offenders. For these life in a self- 
 supporting farm colony, where all trades are needed, would be most merci- 
 ful and economical. 
 
 The International Congress at its last meeting in Budapest summarized 
 its conclusions in very brief form, and these conclusions may be made 
 the basis of further comment. The fifth question before the Second Sec- 
 tion was stated as follows: "According to what principles should be 
 authorized, and in what manner should be organized, the employment 
 of convicts in field-work or in works of public utility in the open air?" 
 
 The principles adopted in answer to this question were: 
 
 1. Penal labor in the open air is suitable for any prisoner whose term is more 
 than one year, but less than ten, and who has completed at least six months of his 
 term in a cell. 
 
 2. Prisoners who may be employed to cultivate fields, vineyards, and gardens 
 are: (a) those who have been employed in agriculture before their conviction 
 and who have made a record for good conduct; (&) those who, before their 
 conviction, were vagabonds, mendicants, drunkards, idlers if their conduct in the 
 cell gives ground for hope that they may be reformed; (c) prisoners whose con- 
 stitution is feeble, and those affected by pulmonary disease. 
 
 3. For the purpose of carrying on these works, land should be bought or leased, 
 whenever possible, near to the penitentiary. 
 
 4. The products of this labor should in the first place serve for the consumption 
 of the prisoners. 
 
 5. The kind of agricultural labor to be required of prisoners should be 
 determined, as far as possible, according to the principle of individual treatment. 
 
 6. In case of bad conduct the prisoner should be subjected to the regular dis- 
 ciplinary punishments in the prison, to which he will be returned for discipline, 
 if his state of health permits. 
 
 7. There may be employed on other outdoor labor (improvement of the soil, 
 drainage works, construction of roads and canals, correction of the course of 
 streams, picking out stones, cutting wood, etc.) all prisoners: (a) if the public 
 interest- requires these works and there is lack of free laborers; (fr) if the 
 strength and healtH of the prisoner permit . 
 
 8. It is suitable to set at this kind of labor prisoners of the category called 
 incorrigibles. 
 
 9. The convicts employed on these works should pass each night and the hours 
 of rest, so far as possible, in the prison ; in case of necessity, they may be housed, 
 
for a short period and carefully guarded, in barracks, while they should be prevented 
 from communicating with free laborers or with other convicts. 
 
 It will be noticed that the Congress has committed itself in favor of 
 working prisoners in the open air as far as possible, but under very rigid 
 conditions and with careful restrictions. It is very dangerous, in intro- 
 ducing a reform, to carry it too far and to break it down by wrong 
 methods. All the best authorities, for example, insist that prisoners 
 working outside the prison ought never to be brought in contact with 
 free laborers and with the general public. They give reasons for this 
 position. If prisoners are set to work on public roads or streets of cities 
 where people are constantly passing, they must be chained and guarded 
 by men armed with deadly weapons. If the weapons are used in places 
 where citizens pass, there is danger of killing the wrong person. Nothing 
 can be more degrading to a prisoner, nothing more hardening to public 
 feeling, than the public punishment of convicts. It is to be hoped that 
 our towns and rural communities will never permit themselves to grow 
 accustomed to spectacles which constantly suggest crime. 
 
 In devising plans for outdoor labor, the nature of our climate, with its 
 long and often severe winter, must not be forgotten. We have not the 
 climate of Louisiana and the Carolinas, and we cannot adopt methods 
 which may be excellent there. 
 
 Nor are the majority of our convicts negroes, easily subdued and 
 tractable under white overseers. Our prisoners are frequently dangerous, 
 shifty, and associated in gangs whose members are ready to help each 
 other with money and legal talent of a sort. Discipline under such 
 conditions must be vigorous, keen, alert. 
 
 The legislature holds the wardens of prisons responsible for the 
 escape of convicts, and it must give them means of preventing flight. It 
 is unreasonable and unjust for the state to require a warden to restrain 
 the prisoners, and then place dangerous men in a position where they 
 can easily run away. Dr. Curti, in Switzerland, described to the writer 
 the intolerable anxiety of a warden whose prisoners, if confirmed criminals, 
 are scattered at wide range outside the walls. He declared that no 
 competent officer could endure the weight of such responsibility. Con- 
 victs are not all alike ; they can be classified according to their character 
 and habits, and treated as the case demands. Some men can be trusted 
 outside the walls, under guard; some even without guard; but many 
 
must be held by barriers of stone and steel. Men who have never been 
 farmers and never can be induced to live in the country are not hopeful 
 pupils in rural arts. Careful classification is the basis of rational division 
 of labor. 
 
 A very able commission of Indiana two years ago made a report to 
 the governor and legislature which contains hints of value to Illinois. In 
 that report they said : 
 
 Prison labor is employed in some of the southern states upon public works 
 and in the making of roads. This method of employment of such labor is a 
 common suggestion among a class of our people who have given little thought to the 
 subject. We have given this method consideration, have made some investigations 
 as to the cost it would necessarily involve, and have reached the conclusion that 
 the expense alone renders it whol'y impracticable in Indiana ; and, furthermore, 
 it is not suited to our ideas and our civilization. Its direct tendency is to degrade 
 the prisoner, whereas our modern methods are on lines of helpfulness and 
 reformation. 
 
 But in this strong protest against public exposure of convicts they agree 
 that work in the open air may be, under proper limitations, employed in 
 our climate. They recommend district workhouses placed in different 
 parts of the state and 
 
 located upon tracts of land which would enable the management to utilize the labor 
 of such prisoners in growing farm produce for maintenance, and that such locations 
 be selected in the vicinity of quarries or mines or brick clay, with a view to uti'izing 
 such labor in the production of coal for the state, materials for roads from stone, 
 or the production of brick for the state or for state account. The labor of this 
 class of prisoners [that is, ordinary jail prisoners] might be largely used in the 
 construction of the workhouses contemplated by the proposed plan. 
 
 Our northern prisons and reformatories are not without instructive 
 experience with outdoor labor. Farming and gardening have long been 
 recognized as necessary factors in reform schools for youth and in 
 reformatories for women, as at Sherborn, Mass., and at Bedford, N. Y. 2 
 All admit now that all tuberculous prisoners should live and work outside 
 the walls. Nervous defects demand similar treatment, and many convicts 
 are nervously diseased. 
 
 2 See the remarkable paper of Dr. K. B. Davis in the Proceedings of the National 
 Prison Association for 1905, where Miss Davis, the superintendent, shows the high 
 therapeutic value of outdoor work upon the diseased nervous system. 
 
 xiii 
 
Taking a few illustrations at random from recent reports, we note 
 the following instances where a good beginning has been made. 
 
 At the Jeffersonville Reformatory, Indiana, building has been carried 
 on, and a limited amount of gardening. The last report says : 
 
 We produced last year 145 dozen bunches of rhubarb, 50 bushels of turnips, 
 450 bushels of tomatoes, 1,946 gallons of milk, 1,044 bunches of green onions, 40 
 bushels of onion sets, 275 bushels of beets, 250 barrels of cabbage, 480 dozen ears 
 of green corn, 21^2 barrels of lettuce, and 38,400 radishes. We canned for use in the 
 institution 1,600 gallons of tomatoes, and made and consumed 8 barrels of kraut. 
 .... The reformatory is unfortunate in that it has not sufficient land for the 
 purpose of raising all vegetables that are required for its own consumption. We 
 have about 20 acres of land of questionable utility. With the proper amount of 
 fertile land, this could be made the most profitable department of the trades-school 
 system, for there is no better trade to be taught to the average boy than that of 
 agriculture. .... There is nothing more beneficial to the inmates of the insti- 
 tution who are fortunate enough to be assigned to this work, than the healthful 
 exercise they get in the field. 
 
 In the grounds of the House of Correction of Chicago brick-making 
 has been carried on, and a certain amount of gardening and cultivation 
 of flowers. 
 
 In the report of Major R. W. McClaughry, warden of the Federal 
 p rison at Leavenworth, Kan., we find this statement of the physician, Dr. 
 A. F. Yohe: 
 
 The general health of the prisoners has been good, and can be largely attributed 
 to the outdoor employment of the greater number There were fifty- 
 two cases treated in the hospital annex during the year, of which twenty-four 
 were returned to duty improved. These cases were tuberculosis in various forms 
 and the treatment consisted for the most part in outdoor life and forced feeding. 
 
 On the economic side the report tells us that, in addition to extensive 
 building operations, the prisoners cultivated 164^4 acres and produced 
 vegetables valued at $11,180. The Federal Prison at Atlanta produced 
 farm and garden products of the value of $3,972.54 last year. 
 
 It would be in accordance with the expert conclusions of the Inter- 
 national Prison Congress if the legislature should require the gradual 
 removal of the Joliet prison to a locality where arable land for farming, 
 gardening, and stock-raising could be bought or leased, and where mate- 
 rials for other industries might be available. If some of the now idle 
 
 xiv 
 
convicts in county jails could be paroled under supervision, some of them 
 given a chance to pay their fines on the instalment plan, and the really 
 depraved and criminal men sent to farm colonies long enough to make 
 them over, body and soul, it would be a wise application of the same 
 principles to our situation. 
 
 This is not the place to argue at length about the market for the 
 products of prison manufactures. Public opinion and the interests both 
 of business men and of wage-workers are compelling all modern states 
 to keep these products out of the general market. Many of these products 
 can be used in state, city, and county institutions and offices, as in 
 New York state. For the other labor a profitable use must be found. 
 Materials can be prepared for roads. Where convicted persons can be 
 trusted to work out fines on roads without chains, armed guard in uni- 
 form, or other marks of humiliation, they may be thus employed. It 
 has been suggested that there are public improvements needed in Illinois 
 upon which guarded convicts might be put at work and not brought in 
 contact with the public. This is a matter which may, with great care, be 
 put to trial on a small scale by the officials of state prisons ; but it cannot 
 be safely intrusted to city and county administration. Radical improve- 
 ment must be effected by state control of the administration of the penal 
 laws of the state. 
 
 Not only the fundamental principles, but also many practical methods, 
 already tried by educated and trained prison administrators, may be found 
 in the reports of the collection herewith presented. These discussions 
 are often suggestive, even when the schemes described ought not to be 
 exactly and slavishly imitated. The right principle is to proceed carefully 
 with experiments on selected classes of prisoners, and gradually extend 
 outdoor employment as experience shows to be wise in our climate, with 
 our classes of convicts, and with our industrial and economic conditions. 
 
 CHARLES RICHMOND HENDERSON 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 
 October, 1906 
 
3ITY 
 
 REPORT PRESENTED BY DR. JULES FEKETE DE NAGYIVANY 
 
 COUNCILOR OF THE CRIMINAL COURT OF BUDAPEST 
 [TRANSLATOR, O. F. JORDAN] 
 
 I 
 
 Since Holtzendorf, the opinion that the prison system is bankrupt has 
 become general. I do not mean in the great number of delinquents that 
 the criminal tribunals of Europe have sent to prison in the last ten years ; 
 I desire simply to indicate in a few words one of the most threatening 
 enemies of modern society, the increasing number of recidivists. 
 
 In the United States the complaint of the increasing number of recidi- 
 vists has become general. In Colorado, Mr. Stonaker, secretary of the 
 State Board of Charities and Correction, relates that in the years 1898-99 
 the proportion of recidivists from the state penitentiary was 13.3 per cent., 
 while the proportion of all the recidivists in the prisons approaches nearly 
 50 per cent, of the entire population. In the two California prisons, San 
 Quentin and Folsom, there were among the 14,315 first-termers confined 
 during the last ten years 3,423 recidivists. Isaac J. Wister wrote that in 
 Pennsylvania the proportion of the recidivists is large. In the state of 
 Connecticut the situation is also discouraging ; for the warden wrote 
 that about 14 per cent, of the prisoners discharged are sooner or 
 later returned to the institution, despite the severity which is exercised 
 there, for the "incorrigibles" may be confined in prison twenty-five years. 
 But the proportion of recidivists is still greater, in view of the fact that in 
 many cases the previous life in other states of those sentenced is unknown. 
 The modern system of "repression" is therefore shown to be inefficacious 
 in our classic age of humanity. 
 
 In France in the last fifty years the number of punishable delinquents 
 has been tripled, thus revealing a class of active evil-doers with the 
 habitual practice of crime, which society has vainly arrested, beaten, 
 admonished, reproved, and chastised. The time has come, therefore, to 
 resort to other means and methods, especially those of a social character. 
 
 In 1888 the tribunals of Germany condemned for crimes and misde- 
 
 i 
 
meanors against the laws of the empire 350,655 persons ; in 1893, 430,- 
 463. Considering the matter of recidivism, of 95,755 persons sentenced for 
 theft in 1893, 14,566 had already been condemned for the same offense or 
 for receiving stolen goods; and among the recidivists are counted 1,087 
 minors. 
 
 With regard to England, the Judicial Statistics for 1896 state that of 
 85,405 convictions (55,097 men and 30,308 women), 21,932 had previously 
 been sentenced once; 10,962 twice; 7,531 three times; 5,613 four times, 
 and 4,387 five times. Among the malefactors of a more dangerous class, 
 13,556 had been sentenced six to ten times, 11,519 eleven to twenty times ; 
 and finally there is a class in which are found 990 prisoners who had been 
 sentenced over twenty times. 
 
 Hungary is not at all behind, considering that in 1891, Croatia 
 excepted, of 46,009 men and 16,423 women sentenced for crimes and 
 misdemeanors, there are 6,240 men and 2,637 women who had previously 
 been sentenced once for the same offense; and in 1897 of 58,513 men 
 and 19,291 women, 7,323 men and 2,608 women had been previously 
 sentenced for the same offense. 
 
 The reform movement of the nations which demands the employment 
 of prisoners in the open air is under certain conditions justified and the 
 system of movable houses of correction has obtained in three parts of 
 the world with the following results. 
 
 II 
 
 In the United States North Carolina holds the record, and under the 
 direction of the superintendent-in-chief, I. S. Mann, the "farm" system 
 has already attained a very great development. Besides the twenty-five 
 convict camps organized in that state, there are the Caledonia and Hali- 
 fax farms which merit special attention. These are truly model farms. 
 For the hard work, physically strong persons are used, while those who 
 are weaker are used in the easier labors, in which they acquire strength 
 and learn to do their work. The inhabitants of that state being mostly 
 agriculturists, it has come to pass that in 1896, of 1,145 prisoners in the 
 central house at Raleigh, 1,110 were on the farms. That is why Mr. 
 Mann wrote that to confine that race (negroes) within walls is certainly to 
 increase their death-rate. The convict camps are an absolutely new institu- 
 tion in which are placed the convicts sentenced for less than five years work 
 
during the warm months on the roads, and when cold weather comes they 
 go into winter quarters. Definite judgment cannot yet be pronounced on 
 the system; but from the moral, sanitary, and economic points of view, 
 the farm system makes an excellent showing. Owing to the lack of free 
 labor, the system of contract labor is used here ; and since the prisoners 
 are constantly under the strict rules of the house of correction, no objec- 
 tions can be raised to the method. Mann states that it is a correct policy 
 to divide prison labor between the farm and contracts. In farm work 
 much labor can be used that is totally unfit for contract work. But he 
 concedes that prisoners working in the open render the maintenance of 
 discipline more difficult. In spite of that, he recommends the farm system. 
 
 In England the open labor system is practiced in three convict prisons, 
 Dartmoor, Parkhurst, and Borstal, where convicts condemned for three 
 years or longer are found. 
 
 At Dartmoor 200 prisoners improve the marshy ground over a tract of 
 1,200 acres. By digging canals, the removal of rocks, and raising the 
 surface, they have rendered the ground tillable, and it already produces 
 rich harvests of vegetables, cereals, and fodder. According to B. H. 
 Thomson, the excellent governor, and expert in the work of classification, 
 not activity but character is considered ; and upon that basis the hard- 
 ened and incorrigible persons remain within the walls. A great number 
 of recidivists are used in farm labor. They find work enough for the 
 winter in fencing, digging, reclaiming bog land with the spade, etc. The 
 guard is excellent armed pickets on foot and on horseback and escape 
 becomes almost impossible. 
 
 At Parkhurst 150 to 200 prisoners work upon no acres of excellent 
 ground. The specialty of that prison is that almost 100 weak-minded 
 convicts are occupied with growing flowers, vegetables, fodder, etc. 
 
 At Borstal the young lawbreakers of from sixteen to twenty-one 
 years of age, separated from the adults, are engaged in agriculture, which 
 merits special mention. 
 
 In Australia the law of July 3, 1884, prescribes with regard to New 
 South Wales the kind of work to use in the open air. The comptroller- 
 general of the prisons may direct any prisoner, sentenced to imprisonment 
 with hard labor or to labor on the roads or public works of the colony or 
 to penal servitude, to be taken away for the purpose of laboring outside 
 the walls of any jail. Fugitives may be sentenced, within their first 
 
 3 
 
sentences, to the prison with forced labor for as much as five years. The 
 law of November, 1899, deals with the employment in the open air of 
 persons given a shorter sentence. Whenever a justice orders an offender 
 to be imprisoned with hard labor for a period not exceeding fourteen 
 days in any watchhouse or lockup, ne may by warrant direct such labor 
 to be performed outside such watchhouse. That system can be recom- 
 mended only for vagabonds and for persons who shun work. Corporal 
 punishment is applied also without regard to age. If a male of sixteen 
 years or over is convicted of feloniously assaulting or maliciously wound- 
 ing any person in such jail, the court may, in addition to any other 
 punishment prescribed for such offense, sentence the offender to be once, 
 twice, or thrice privately whipped. The corporal punishment of boys 
 under sixteen may go to fifty blows with the rod as independent or 
 supplementary punishment. In New South Wales work in the open 
 air is carried on in three great prisons at Bathurst, Darlinghorst, and 
 Golburn. The farm system will have a great future here, because the 
 uncultivated land is extensive and the resources of labor are small. In 
 spite of that, the country is far behind America. 
 
 In Prussia it is the rule that the work of the persons incarcerated 
 shall as far as possible satisfy the needs of the houses of correction. 
 Great importance is attached to the financial point of view in the work 
 of construction. The prisoners perform all the domestic and rural tasks. 
 For some time the prisoners have been employed in agricultural work. 
 Agricultural labor for public authorities and private persons may be 
 executed by prisoners. Only when all prisoners cannot be employed 
 in agricultural work may they be used in industry. The profit of the 
 work goes into the treasury of the state, but the prisoners who are well- 
 behaved receive wages, which are smaller for the recidivists. For day 
 work the wages of the prisoners of the central houses cannot exceed 
 fifteen pfennig, or 29 pfennig for the inmates of the prisons. The 
 prisoners of the central houses can be used in agricultural work pro- 
 vided they have already served at least one year of their sentence, their 
 conduct has been good, and the punishment that remains does not exceed 
 a year, or exceptionally two years. The inmates of prisons can also be 
 employed at similar work, with their consent, if they have served six 
 months, or exceptionally three months, of their sentence ; if their conduct 
 is good and the remaining part of their sentence does not exceed two 
 
years. The prisoners of the central houses cannot work with those ot 
 the ordinary prisons ; and they must be kept away from free laborers. In 
 order that the latter should not suffer loss, the prisoners can be employed 
 on outside work only when there is not enough of the free laborers or 
 when the wages are so high that they would be burdensome to the 
 enterprise (ordinance of June 30, 1900). They have already executed 
 great tasks by the draining of Gross Moosbruch, by the improvement of 
 prairies, by draining estates, by cultivating marshy lands, by the improve- 
 ment of sandy land, by the construction of the Nordhorn-Almelo canal, 
 by the care of the forests at Siegburg, by the raising of vines at Ardsbach- 
 terthal, etc. This work is done equally to the profit of the state, the 
 corporations, and the individuals. According to Dr. Krohne, the use 
 of prisoners harmonizes with the purposes of execution of sentence, if 
 groups of from forty to sixty prisoners do the work under the super- 
 vision of a superior and staff. The prisoners work with great pleasure 
 in the open air, and they furnish only at the beginning an inferior grade 
 of work compared with the free laborers. The maintenance of discipline 
 does not offer grounds for objection, says Krohne, one o the greatest 
 friends of the cellular system. But if convicts work in smaller groups 
 under the guard of inferior officers, then great evils may result if their 
 communication with the free laborers cannot be prevented as antago- 
 nism of employes, grave violence, smuggling, and insubordination. For 
 these reasons the smaller groups will in the future work only exception- 
 ally, at least if discipline is unable to overcome the obstacles. 
 
 In Russia agricultural penal colonies have not yet been organized for 
 adult prisoners, but there are, as everywhere in Europe, institutions for 
 young delinquents. The only organization of that kind is that of the 
 construction work on the Trans-Siberian Railroad. That glorious and 
 civilizing work has been accomplished in large part by the hands of the 
 criminals of Siberia. Their wages have been increased after they have 
 been paid a gratuity during the execution of the penalty, and even with 
 the reduction of the sentence in case of good conduct, eight months of 
 this work counting for a year of prison for the convicts and ordinary 
 prisoners. That alone has already resulted in increasing their zeal. It 
 cannot be doubted also that the honor of taking part in a national enter- 
 prise has rehabilitated them in their own eyes. The convicts of Siberia 
 have passed their four months of winter in wood houses of temporary 
 
 5 
 
construction, with a guard of five men for a hundred convicts, and this 
 has not resulted in a single case of flight. The irons are taken from 
 the feet of the convicts here, and the latter are placed in a situation that 
 contributes to their moral regeneration. The prisoners are separated 
 from the other workers. 
 
 There is, besides this, the work done by the prisoners in cleaning 
 streets and public places, the construction and improvement of roads, 
 shipping of merchandise, cutting of wood, carrying of water and snow 
 and ice, carrying of furniture, digging of ditches, breaking stone, and 
 work in the fields, kitchens, and gardens. It is probable that this system 
 has its good side; but from the point of view of penal science, the 
 mingling of prisoners with the rest of the population takes away from 
 punishment the feeling of shame which is necessary to it. This is the 
 opinion of Serge Goguel, the great apostle of work in the open. Among 
 the great public works he cites the construction of cathedrals, barracks, 
 fortresses, etc. But it is a fact that there is a failure to organize the 
 workhouse methodically and for a penitentiary purpose. 
 
 In France the two penitentiaries situated in Corsica have not pro- 
 duced very encouraging results. They have been subject to serious 
 criticism because of the poor quality of the labor; and lately it has been 
 proposed to close these colonies. It is true that they have been populated 
 for a long time with Arabs sentenced to confinement or to more than 
 three years' imprisonment. It is now proposed to place in the Castelluccio 
 penitentiary 200 prisoners belonging to the agricultural class, who are 
 scattered in the central houses in France, selected convicts being given 
 half-wages. It is a step toward the system of work in the open air. The 
 population of the agricultural penitentiary of Algeria has 'a special charac- 
 ter. One finds there a great number of soldiers sentenced by courts- 
 martial. The results obtained are in serious question. Articles 21 and 
 40 of the penal code provide that those sentenced to solitary confinement 
 shall be detained in a maison de force, or penitentiary, and secondly, that 
 those sentenced to imprisonment must be confined in a house of correc- 
 tion. It is necessary then to commence by reforming the law. The 
 journey toward reform begins slowly in France, but finally attains its 
 goal. In general, in the central houses, gardens of greater or less extent 
 have been cultivated by the convicts for a long time. But that is a long 
 way from what is being done in England, America, and Switzerland. In 
 
 6 
 
the matter of agricultural colonies, we find in France only the colonies 
 for young convicts, which are famous institutions. But they are not 
 penal agricultural colonies. The outside work of Algeria, carried on 
 already for a number of years, has nothing of interest for us. 
 
 In Austria the first experiment of this kind was made at Laibach in 
 1886, with 65 prisoners. The work of improving the streams in the Alps 
 being crowned with success, the employment of detachments for the 
 improvement of the rapids upon a greater scale was afterward under- 
 taken. According to the director-general, Anton Marcovich, it has always 
 been clear that the employment of convicts in the open air tended to their 
 moral improvement and preparation for free life. For the difficult work 
 of the convicts the corporations interested paid 1.5 crowns a day per 
 convict, while the free laborers received 4 crowns. The penitentiary 
 at Marburg alone used, in 1890, 200 men divided into groups of from 
 15 to 62 persons, to place in cultivation some lands destroyed by inunda- 
 tions, for regulating the waters, and for agricultural and horticultural 
 work, works of defense, etc. If they worked far from the penitential y 
 they were sheltered in wood barracks constructed by themselves, and when 
 agricultural work demanded a greater amount of help there were sent 
 from Marburg alone 454 convicts. The 1 80 convicts who, under the 
 direction of 16 overseers, were used in 1893 near Weitelsdorf, in a 
 Siberian winter, to improve the Drave, accomplished an extraordinarily 
 difficult fyut very valuable work. The free laborers were unable to accom- 
 plish that difficult task which the convicts, housed in a wooden penitentiary, 
 executed with remarkable courage. The work was accomplished in nine 
 years by 3,477 convicts, and the net profit amounted to 174,932 crowns. 
 But far more precious was the moral improvement of the convicts by 
 reason of their heroic efforts at the time of the fires and inundations a 
 success of which they were proud because they were guided by noble 
 sentiments. 
 
 For the work in the open air only trustworthy convicts are employed, 
 and not rarely are persons serving sentences of ten years so employed. 
 Though long-term convicts are thus used, only five escapes in the course 
 of eight years have occurred. It has even happened that one group was 
 placed, during a year and a half, far from the central penitentiary, and 
 the honest execution of the work did not suffer on that account. 
 
 In Switzerland the canton of Bern, in founding the colony of Witzwil, 
 
 7 
 
has created a penal agricultural colony that is the most perfect institution 
 of its kind in the world, and is everywhere considered a model. The 
 ground was originally the property of a company, costing in 1876, with 
 the cost of maintenance, 1,163,201 francs; but the state bought it in 1891 
 for only 742,760 francs. The colony is directed by Otto Kellerhals, 
 who has succeeded in creating upon the sterile and marshy ground a 
 truly model farm. The land contains over 2,400 arpents. There have 
 been constructed all sorts of canals and roads, forests have been planted, 
 and the soil has been improved. The number of animals in 1902 was 412 
 cattle, 32 horses, and 151 hogs. The receipts have amounted to 172,325 
 francs and the expenses 78,699 francs, and the net profit, therefore, 
 93,626 francs. There have been placed there 95 persons sentenced for 
 six months, 73 from six to twelve months, 20 from twelve to twenty- 
 four months, and eight for more than two years. Besides the personnel 
 of the management 39 employees oversee the work of the convicts, which 
 is subject to severe rules. The sanitary condition is excellent, and no 
 grave illnesses occur. The conduct of the prisoners is irreproachable. 
 During one year there were inflicted only thirty disciplinary punishments. 
 In spite of that, only six cases of escape have occurred. The forced labor 
 is pursued with great success, both moral and economic, without injuring 
 free labor. The penitentiary is a model for moral transformation and 
 for preparation for a free life. 
 
 In Hungary the agricultural work of prisoners was inaugurated in 
 1884. The first experiment the largest was made by the improvement 
 of marshy lands in the vicinity of the penitentiary of Lipotvar, where the 
 convicts by many years' hard labor have given to cultivation a tract of 
 77 jochs and constructed the intermediate establishment. At Szamosujvar 
 the convicts are used in the Szamos in the washing of wool. The 138 
 prisoners who in 1888 accomplished the straightening of the Galga, an 
 affluent of the Zagyva, a distance of 65 kilometres, also did a great work. 
 During these tasks the convicts showed exemplary conduct. Besides, 
 in thirty prisons they did work of construction, in building roads, in horti- 
 culture, viniculture, agriculture, and the construction of dikes. The 
 penitentiary in Vacz inaugurated the first work in the open air. Since 
 1884, from 23 to 40 convicts have been engaged there in horticultural 
 work on 22 jochs of rented land. Very important also is the inter- 
 mediate institute of Kis-Harta, where the convicts are mostly employed 
 
 8 
 
ill agricultural work. The convicts of the penitentiary who are dis- 
 tinguished for good conduct are placed there, that arrangement being a 
 favor to them, and because of that they do their work with pleasure. By 
 good conduct conditional release is obtained. The property of the insti- 
 tute measures 293.4 jochs, of which 266.8 are fields where labor may be 
 expended. In this region agricultural labor is very remunerative. Enough 
 work is found for the winter months. 
 
 Let us now pass to the prison of Satoralja-Ujhely, where, under the 
 direction of Dr. Somossy Andras, royal procurator, a work crowned with 
 great success has been accomplished. The vineyard of Satoralja-Ujhely is 
 the extension of the renowned vineyard land of Hegyalja, which was 
 destroyed by the phylloxera. This is a real and new national conquest 
 that had become necessary. In this prison the inmates are intrusted to 
 the cultivators of the vines in groups of eight to "twelve persons, who 
 always pass the night in the prison. The pay is from 80 heller to a crown 
 per day for each of these convicts. For this work the prisoners are 
 chosen without regard to the length of their sentences, only their physical 
 strength being considered ; however, prisoners sentenced for less than 
 five years do not work in the open air. In 1903, 229 convicts worked 
 in the vineyard under the oversight of 25 guards. The guards were also 
 skilled vine-dressers, and they aided in the care of the vines in case of 
 need. Each group is a corporation with common interests, says Somossy, 
 each member of which must, under penalty of disciplinary punishment, 
 oversee the others. A result of this method is that in the last two years 
 only four cases of escape have occurred, and three of the fugitives were 
 taken by the convicts themselves. In general their conduct is excellent. 
 They work with pleasure, because they carry with them on leaving the 
 prison a considerable sum, considering that they spend the greater part 
 of their wages for better food. During the last two years disciplinary 
 punishment has been inflicted in only two cases, and that for smoking. 
 
 Because the institute gives the most attention to the moral ameliora- 
 tion of the convicts, which it truly accomplishes, we should not ignore 
 the material profit obtained ; for not only do individuals profit by the 
 good work of the prisoners, but the treasury also has a profit, proved by 
 the fact that in 1903 there was realized a net profit of 13,332.34 crowns 
 for that work, which is poorly paid. The prisoners are completely 
 separated from the free laborers, and the management enforces rigorous 
 
 9 
 
rules. In Hungary they have already commenced to introduce the new 
 system, and since all the essential conditions of its introduction are 
 present, the time is approaching when the penal agricultural colony will 
 become one of the valued means of great national enterprises. 
 
 Ill 
 
 The question presented for investigation, "On what principles and 
 under what conditions should the employment of prisoners in field-work 
 or other work in the open air be sanctioned and carried on?" has con- 
 ducted us in the preceding part of our report to very valuable principles 
 and devices for practice. I desire for my part to extend my observations. 
 Experience proves that an idle life is the principal source of recidivism. 
 In order, therefore, that they should be able to support themselves in 
 free life by honest labor, the prisoners sent to the penitentiary should 
 be restricted to one occupation, adapted to their life outside and to their 
 ability, and in them should be awakened love of toil, so that they may 
 be convinced that toil rewarded is better for them than idleness. It is 
 true that the prisoner shut up in his cell can easily reflect upon the horrible 
 consequences of his crime, and meditate upon the grave struggles of his 
 mind, and upon the admonitions and instructions of the authorities and 
 philanthropists appointed to lead him to repentance and to bring about a 
 moral metamorphosis. He is made to do much useful industrial labor. 
 But the cell exercises such a depressing effect upon the habitual criminal 
 that he flees from it, often at the price of suicide. In spite of that, it is 
 asked whether imprisonment is the only method of punishment for pro- 
 tecting society, taking into account the social connections and vital interests 
 of the prisoners. Oh, no! For, leaving out of account the extraordi- 
 narily large cost which the system of imprisonment imposes upon the 
 taxpayers, it exercises in many cases an unfavorable influence upon the 
 criminal himself, who cannot acquire in the cellular prison, in any one 
 branch of work, a skill which will make success in free life easy. Since 
 one can use in the cell only few kinds of work which are exclusively 
 industrial, one should use other means of labor. And there we touch 
 the cardinal point of our question. Since in most countries at least 5 
 per cent., and in our own two-thirds, of the criminals belong to the 
 agricultural class, and since agriculture, on account of the emigration to 
 the large cities, suffers from lack of help, and considering that to cause 
 
the prisoners to learn a trade would increase the number of proletarians, 
 physically disabled, the factories and villages already having enough of 
 industrial workmen, it will be very much better to use the prisoners 
 belonging to the agricultural class in agricultural work and in the improve- 
 ment of the soil, this work corresponding better to their kind of life. 
 Hence, because of their age and the expense that would lesult, it would 
 not be advantageous to make the prisoners acquainted only with indus- 
 tries. It is true that the wages of the agricultural laborer are less than 
 those of the industrial laborer; but since the former is considered to 
 belong to the family, and enjoys the simple life of the country, he is less 
 exposed to temptations, and, besides, he can work in all the seasons. 
 He succeeds more easily than the industrial laborer, the latter having 
 greater expense and being more accustomed also to spending money. 
 
 But what should distinguish or characterize all penitentiary labor is 
 that it should be as far as possible remunerative, without bringing injury 
 to free labor. Recently a strong movement has been started by the gov- 
 ernment to provide the equipment and clothing of the army, first of all 
 by our industrials ; for if these articles were furnished principally by the 
 prisoners, it would result in greater danger for the industrials. It is 
 quite otherwise with agriculture and the great national works of public 
 utility. We have already seen that the prisoners have accomplished a 
 regenerative work upon a considerable portion of ground devastated by 
 the phylloxera; and that work has a permanent character, because vini- 
 culture is perpetual, and it will assume increasing proportions. But we 
 cannot limit ourselves to that, for Hungary has 99,881 jochs of sterile 
 lands, and it is of prime economic importance to bring them into cultiva- 
 tion. The perseverance and physical strength of the convicts transform 
 the bad land into fertile fields, and cover the naked and miserable mount- 
 ains with rich forests. 
 
 But that work should be begun, in the first place, in the interest of 
 the public welfare ; then in the interest of the convicts who, changed from 
 the life of idleness and leaving their immoral life, will be the heroes of 
 the task and of the enrichment of the people. It is a fact that these great 
 enterprises cannot be accomplished by offering large wages; but the 
 systematic and persevering efforts of the "moving penitentiary" sur- 
 mount all obstacles. The penologists are today absolutely convinced of 
 the utility of that work for prisoners both from the physical and from 
 
 ii 
 
the moral points of view. The naked, anaemic, demoralized tramp 
 becomes an able workman whose external appearance speaks in his favor ; 
 the incorrigible drunkard will be regenerated body and mind by healthy 
 living and by water. That regenerative process is not the work of a 
 month, but often of several years ; and that is why I said that the treat- 
 ment of criminals that is crowned with success in case of short sentences 
 is possible only in the cells of penitentiaries. 
 
 Agricultural work is not absolutely suspended during the winter 
 months. Thus, for example, the work in the vineyards is continued from 
 February to November, and the other months can be used for other work 
 (basket-making, care of grapes, etc.). Agricultural work itself has 
 winter work (the hauling of manure, ditching, the milking of cows, the 
 feeding of cattle, the manufacture of alcohol, etc.). 
 
 It is at present a great question to know with what class of criminals 
 one should use this system. In the first place, with those criminals who 
 belong to the agricultural class. But classification plays a great part even 
 here, because incorrigible persons, without law or restraint, dangerous, 
 and sentenced for more than ten years, should be excluded. That sort of 
 punishment should be applied, in the first place, to persons sentenced 
 for as much as five years and belonging to the agricultural class. The 
 true penologists will never stop at the number of years, but will rather 
 take as the basis of their choice the character, the degree of reliability of 
 the person, and not the criminal action as such. On that basis choice is 
 made of the persons in the central houses who can be used with success 
 in agricultural work. Since the penal agricultural colony is in the first 
 place a penitentiary, and the work should be directed toward an essentially 
 educative purpose, mdividualization plays a very important part. 
 
 It is not true that one comes to know the individual intimately only 
 in the cell ; on the contrary, one can know a man truly only in the course 
 of his work in the open air, because, not being conscious of being con- 
 fined as in the cell, he discloses involuntarily his individuality. 
 
 After one has chosen his men, it is necessary, from the point of view 
 of correction, to make a new classification. First of all, the prisoners 
 should be confined during their free time and for the night, each in a 
 separate cell, and the hardened criminals should be removed from those 
 who have just entered the path of crime or delinquency. In that manner 
 we prevent the criminals from corrupting each other, which is an extremely 
 important point. 
 
 12 
 
Besides this, three classes should be organized. In that regard the 
 palm goes to the Americans, who have reached perfection in exact classi- 
 fication. In the first class are ranked all the criminals after their sentence. 
 It is there that the greatest severity must be applied. Cellular imprison- 
 ment during idle time and during the night is one of the best means. 
 After the expiration of the first half of the sentence, those who merit it 
 are ranked in the second class, in which the advantages are very great. 
 They can work from time to time under. an overseer and occupy eventually 
 places of trust (in the kitchen, in the stable, etc.). But I contend for the 
 cellular imprisonment even here to the very end, in order that the prisoner 
 may feel the severity of punishment. In the third class are ranked those 
 who are already capable of doing work equal to that of free laborers, and 
 under the sole control of one or two guards. In this class better food 
 and greater liberty of speech will be accorded to the prisoner, who 
 descends into the first class only in case of bad conduct or of idleness, 
 but without hope of coming to a class or of counting upon a reduction of 
 penalty. But if his conduct is irreproachable, he will be able to pass from 
 the third class, after the expiration of two-thirds of the sentence, to con- 
 ditional liberty. It is understood that the final condition of definite 
 liberation is that our man will have work immediately; in the contrary 
 case, the process of correction is suspended. Since the fundamental idea, 
 then, that we praise, is not "expiation" in its modern sense, but "educa- 
 tion" of citizens to be useful to their country, one should try to make the 
 penitentiary life in the penal agricultural colony sober, and to cause the 
 rules to be observed rigorously; and if the prisoners have the chance of 
 receiving recompense, we shall undertake by that means to assure in a 
 great measure the moral success that one should always strive for in 
 cellular institutions. 
 
 I can affirm, then, as a definite conclusion, that, by means of the con- 
 ditions described above, the penal agricultural colony is an institution 
 fitted to transform persons belonging to a dangerous class of society by 
 ennobling work, as well as by good example and by the severe life of the 
 penitentiary so that they will form useful and faithful members of society. 
 That is one of the sure means of protecting it against great dangers. 
 
 May society set itself to the task ; may it be our enthusiastic ally ; may 
 it do the work that we cannot accomplish ; and by that means one of the 
 most urgent social questions will be solved. 
 
REPORT PRESENTED BY O. KELLERHALS * 
 
 DIRECTOR OF THE PENAL AGRICULTURAL COLONY OF WITZWIL, BERN, 
 
 SWITZERLAND 
 
 [TRANSLATOR, O. F. JORDAN] 
 
 Work in the open air presents such great advantages for certain kinds 
 of prisoners, that the founding of penitentiary colonies should be greeted 
 
 GENERAL VIEW OF WITZWIL 
 
 as a real advance, not only from the point of view of penal administration, 
 but in the public interest. We will give here, as an example of these insti- 
 tutions, a brief description of the establishment of Witzwil whose direction 
 is intrusted to me ; but we shall offer in advance one or two remarks. 
 
 All the conditions that one can reasonably demand of penitentiary 
 work can be realized in the open air as well as within four walls. These 
 conditions, in fact, can by common consent be stated under three heads : 
 
 I. It is necessary that the occupation of the prisoner be made to con- 
 
 1 The illustrations of this report on Witzwil Colony are taken from Die Domane und 
 Strafkolonie Witzwil, von Otto Kellerhals, Verwaiter, Bern; K. I. Wysz, 1904. 
 
form as much as possible to his capacities, and that it place him in a 
 condition to earn his living more easily after his liberation. 
 
 2. It is necessary that the work of the prisoners shall be useful and 
 productive, and that it exercise their muscular strength without producing 
 an excess of fatigue ; it is necessary also that it be as remunerative as 
 possible, without injury to free labor. 
 
 3. The occupations of the prisoners should be organized in a way to 
 co-operate with the educational purpose of the penalty. 
 
 A NEW BARN BUILT BY PRISONERS 
 
 In our times, when all those who are occupied with penal questions 
 are persuaded that the great majority of criminals fall much less by their 
 own fault than by reason of misery, of evil example, of environment, of 
 their social conditions, of mental aberrations, etc., and that they are being 
 constantly forced into recidivism in spite of the influences to the contrary 
 that are sought to be brought to bear on them, we should at least try 
 to make the penalty endurable to these creatures so entirely worthy of 
 pity. The penitentiary should, consequently, often become a hospital, and 
 above all an asylum for drunkards ; for we must seek in alcoholism and 
 
 15 
 
its consequences, in the majority of cases, the real roots of crime. Now, 
 work in the open air, in connection with well-regulated diet, is recognized 
 as the best means of curing drunkards and debilitated persons. In order 
 that his treatment may be efficacious, it is necessary that the prisoner shall 
 be kept long enough in the penitentiary colony to bring him to recognize 
 for himself the necessity of living a life of abstinence. Many of the 
 prisoners, no doubt, will never come to that point. For men of this class 
 it would be best to retain them in such an establishment and give them 
 there a sort of citizenship and a certain liberty of movement. 
 
 THE NUSSHOF COLONY 
 
 If what we have just said applies principally to men of a certain age, 
 having rather little moral energy, it is not less true and we insist upon 
 this fact that the penitentiary colonies possessing an extensive agricul- 
 tural and industrial equipment are as perfectly adapted to young delin- 
 quents as to all young people who, even before they have attained their 
 twentieth year, have fallen into evil by debauchery, sensuality, laziness, 
 and idleness. In consideration of their youth they are sentenced to short 
 terms. Now, it is very rarely the case that they have learned a trade 
 thoroughly, and their detention is not long enough to give them a 
 thorough apprenticeship ; they become so useless that no one can employ 
 them. But what is to be done with these young people in a closed peni- 
 
 16 
 
tentiary? One is forced to teach them a trade, which, probably, as 
 happens very often to-day, will be of no value to them after their dis- 
 charge. The conditions are quite otherwise in an "establishment in the 
 open air," as Dr. Goos, of Copenhagen, calls ours. Not only can a debili- 
 tated young man recuperate better and much more rapidly than in the 
 unhealthy atmosphere of the workshop, but he can there acquire in less 
 time the practical knowledge which is demanded of a well-paid workman. 
 In place of making young prisoners serve a brief and insufficient appren- 
 ticeship to some trade, there is assigned to them the management of the 
 different machines in use in the great sawmills, the installation of water 
 
 FEEDING OF HORSES 
 
 conduits, telephones, electric lighting; they are taught to use threshing 
 machines, reapers, steam presses, etc. In a word, they are given many 
 chances to prepare for their future career. Those who desire it have 
 opportunity to learn how to milk, care for animals, drive horses, etc. As 
 all must aid in the summer harvesting, each one can thus be initiated into 
 field work, which is very useful. Agriculture always needs labor, and a 
 workman of good will is sure of finding a way of earning his living. 
 Agricultural establishments are especially helpful to those prisoners who, 
 after having undergone a long sentence, approach the end of their term. 
 These men for several years have done almost mechanically the same 
 labor, have become at length real machines, and they cannot take from 
 day to day an interest in the demands of the normal free life. We can- 
 
 17 
 
not do better than to reawaken this interest in them and prepare them 
 for the struggle for existence which awaits them, than to make them pass 
 the last period of their imprisonment in a penal agricultural colony. 
 Agricultural work more than any other occupation makes it possible to 
 keep an eye on lazy men. They are placed in a work group, and nolens 
 volens they must keep up with their comrades. That is why the agricul- 
 tural colonies are a horror to vagabonds and notorious sluggards, while 
 the good workers find themselves relatively happy there. 
 
 In the second place, it is necessary that the work of the prisoners 
 should be useful and productive without competing with free labor, and 
 
 BRABANT PLOW 
 
 that it exercise muscular strength without injuring the health. It is 
 agriculture evidently which best fulfils these conditions and it would be 
 superfluous to prove it. The ravages of tuberculosis, found in certain 
 prisons, are not to be feared in the agricultural colonies. On the con- 
 trary, the physician at Witzwil remarks that the condition of the prison- 
 ers affected with pulmonary tuberculosis, emphysema, and chronic bron- 
 chitis improves perceptibly during their long stay in our establishment. 
 He attributes it to their regular life, their work in the open, and the 
 healthful and strengthening food. 
 
 Experience has demonstrated besides that penitentiary colonies well 
 
 18 
 
administered may not only dispense with state subsidies, but can even 
 realize profits which permit them to increase their investment, to aid the 
 near relatives of prisoners, and help discharged prisoners. 
 
 Doubtless, the "establishments in the open air" diminish somewhat 
 the repressive, intimidating effect which the penitentiary exercises upon 
 prisoners. But that effect is not always accomplished in greater degree 
 by prison cells, whose advocates are coming to demand that corporal 
 punishment should be restored, and that laws against recidivism should 
 be made more severe. We see at present efforts manifested altogether 
 opposed to these repressive tendencies. We succeed better in improving 
 men by education, persuasion, and goodness, than by fear of punishment, 
 and it is in consideration of this fact that we seek today by means of 
 occupation in the open air to make apparent to the prisoner the blessing 
 of work, of duty conscientiously performed. He never fails to become 
 interested in his task when he sees the products of his own labor grown 
 and bearing fruit. He learns to love the work that he feared, and it later 
 becomes a daily necessity for him. He does not feel that incessant sur- 
 veillance resting upon him and controlling each of his steps, each of his 
 movements, and repeating to him continually, "You are in the peni- 
 tentiary." This relative freedom that he enjoys reconciles him with his 
 surroundings and with his fate. 
 
 The great diversity of occupations that an agricultural penitentiary 
 colony offers permits the director to treat his prisoners as individuals, 
 to punish some by imposing upon them a disagreeable and difficult task, 
 and to reward others by agreeable work. The task of the prisoners can 
 be varied each day, a thing almost impossible in the penitentiary shops 
 where work is done as in a factory. Educational efforts, which should 
 always be first of all in a good example, differ from those hitherto in 
 vogue. It is necessary to have a numerous staff in agricultural work, 
 but the overseers should work like the prisoners, setting them the example 
 of courage and persistence, and during the harvesting, when work is 
 most pressing, all the officials, including the director, should take an 
 active part in the work. It is easier to win the confidence of the prison- 
 ers in this way than by dealing with them in a comfortable office, well 
 heated in winter, nice and cool in summer, where they think that the 
 director has no idea of their misery, weariness, and toil. 
 
 The site best adapted to an establishment that is to bring together such 
 
 19 
 
dissimilar elements in order to prevent them from returning to their 
 vices, and to lead them into an honest and regular life by means of work 
 in the open air, is a large uncultivated tract of ground, as isolated as 
 possible. The ground should be transformed by the labor of the prison- 
 ers, and by more and more intensive cultivation be brought to the point 
 of raising garden truck, to which should be added preparation of agri- 
 cultural products for the use of the establishment. The construction of 
 buildings and the fitting up of all the appliances and conveniences neces- 
 sary to the colony furnish the prisoners the means of learning diverse^ and 
 
 YOUNG CATTLE ON THE PASTURE 
 
 useful trades. Such a property assures sufficient work for a great num- 
 ber of men for a long period of years. 
 
 In order to show our conception of the administration of a penal 
 agricultural colony, we give here as an example a brief description of the 
 establishment at Witzwil, which actually receives four kinds of prisoners : 
 
 1. Old correctional prisoners and criminals of the Canton of Bern, 
 whose sentence does not exceed three years (an exception being made in 
 the case of those who are suspected of attempts at escape, notably 
 strangers). 
 
 2. Residents of Bern sentenced by a military tribunal to jail or 
 penitentiary, if the period of their detention does not exceed three years. 
 
3. Mendicants, vagabonds, and idlers sentenced judicially to the hou'se 
 of correction. 
 
 4. Finally, pensioners sent by the other cantons for crimes or misde- 
 meanors similar to those of the prisoners enumerated above. 
 
 The minimum duration of the sentence is two months ; the number 
 of prisoners varies from no to 150; we can have transferred into a 
 cellular prison the men who do not submit to discipline or who are 
 dangerous, like those who undertake to escape. The escapes are rela- 
 tively very few, tfiere not being more than from two to five a year not 
 
 HORSES ON THE PASTURE 
 
 counting some attempts at flight and those escaping are almost always 
 brought back the same day. The surveillance requires without doubt a 
 large staff we have on the average two guards or overseers to ten to 
 twelve convicts but as these men participate in the common labor, the 
 increase of expense is thus offset. 
 
 Each new-comer, on his entrance to the establishment, is first clothed, 
 then conducted to the director, who seeks to become acquainted with him 
 by conversing with him about his past life, his family, his circumstances, 
 etc. Then he is placed in a group of laborers, with which he commences 
 the following morning his regular work. These groups are composed of 
 from ten to twelve men with two overseers. After having worked in the 
 
 21 
 
open air for some time, the new prisoner, if his conduct has been good, 
 can choose one of the trades that are employed in the establishment ; if 
 he desires, he can also enter the work of the kitchen, cleaning, learn to 
 manage machines, and be set at one of the occupations mentioned above, 
 according to his capability and according to the needs of the prison. 
 
 The prisoners sleep and eat separately in their cells, where they also 
 pass their hours of leisure. The work commences at half-past five in the 
 morning in summer and at six in the winter. They all gather in the morn- 
 ing in two ranks with their overseers in the large corridor of the prison, 
 
 THE PRISON BUILDINGS ' 
 
 where they receive the orders for the day, after which they go to work. In 
 winter they work by artificial light in the prison, or in the barns, until 
 daylight. At nine o'clock and at four o'clock they have twenty minutes' 
 rest to eat their bread, to which is added, when the work is hard, milk, 
 coffee, tea, or lemonade. At half-past eleven they return for dinner. In 
 passing before the kitchen, each man takes his dinner, and the bread for 
 his luncheon, which he carries into his cell where his guard shuts him in 
 until half -past twelve. After having returned the dish to the kitchen, all 
 return to work. Dinner is carried to those who work in the fields, very 
 far from the central building. The prisoners return at seven o'clock in^ 
 the summer and at nightfall in winter; after having eaten supper, they 
 
prepare the vegetables necessary for the morrow, and retire to their cells 
 for the night. The day closes at seven for the artisans also, as well as 
 for all those who work in the shops. 
 
 The food is distributed as follows: the men have coffee in the morn- 
 ing with bread and potatoes ; at noon, soup, either with pie and salad, 
 or with vegetables, to which meat is added twice a week ; in the evening 
 they have soup again, and from time to time fresh fruit, according to the 
 provisions on hand; they are also given fruit as dessert on Sunday for 
 dinner. The daily ration of bread is from 700 to 850 gr. of bread per 
 man ; each receives soup, coffee, vegetables, etc., at discretion. 
 
 Each Saturday there are distributee! to the prisoners books and inter- 
 esting and instructive journals for their leisure on Sunday, and they are 
 given the letters that have come for them during the week. They are 
 permitted to receive visits and write letters once a month. Divine serv- 
 ice is held every fortnight. 
 
 The pastor of the establishment makes each prisoner a weekly visit, 
 and seeks to exercise upon all a salutary influence by edifying personal 
 talks. The cantonal inspector also has conversation with each prisoner 
 at the time .of leaving the colony. The school of the prison is designed 
 for minors, and these especially must register there. The instruction, 
 which principally covers the languages, is given each evening in the 
 winter; on Sunday singing replaces it. 
 
 The prisoners are allowed as much as two frames a month allowance ; 
 further, each receives at his departure enough money for his journey (not 
 farther than the Swiss frontier), and his clothes in good order, and there 
 are furnished to him in every case such things as he needs. Besides, if 
 the prisoners have left their families in misery, the establishment comes 
 to their aid. 
 
 The discharged prisoners who have been well behaved can obtain 
 remunerative employment in one of the colonies of the estate, until they 
 have found a place outside. Some who are particularly well qualified, 
 rise in time to fill places as overseer or foreman ; if they are married, 
 they are given lodging in the colony where they live with their family. 
 
 We always have, in our staff of overseers, some former prisoners, 
 and we have never yet had any troublesome experiences with them. 
 
THE WITZWIL COLONY 
 
 (Of Bern, Switzerland) 
 
 PREPARED BY V. V. PHELPS, FROM A REPORT OF THE COLONY IN 1904, "DIE 
 DOMANE UND STRAFKOLONIE WITZWIL/' BY THE SUPERINTENDENT, 
 OTTO KELLERHALS. 
 
 The situation and plant. The colony is located on land that before development 
 was a wide marsh, and it as well as the neighboring land was subjected frequently 
 
 NOON REST OF ROAD WORKERS IN THE GRAVEL PITS 
 
 to very dangerous floods. Various plans to improve the land had been proposed, 
 and some inaugurated by an agricultural association that was forced to se 1 out in 
 1879. Finally, the government of the canton of Bern decided upon the spot for its 
 prison colony, and bought the land in 1891. It includes a single tract of land of 
 about 2,000 acres (800 hectares). The land has been immensely improved during 
 the past fifteen years, and with no extra expense to the state. 
 
 The land offers itself easily to cultivation, and no pains are spared to increase 
 
 24 
 
the fertility and productiveness of the soil by governmental inspection of samples, 
 etc. The land lies in a mild climate, 436 meters above the sea. Long-sustained 
 frosts are rare, so that during almost the entire year the soil can be plowed. The 
 mean temperature is 9.2 C, and the average precipitation about 950 mm. The 
 property is bounded on the southwest by Lake Neuenburg and the navigable Brage 
 Canal. Two good country roads pass through the greater part of the colony. At 
 the edge of the domain, three kilometers distant from the chief building, are two 
 railroad stations. The chief buildings are 
 
 I. The Linderhof or central colony, wherein are found 
 
 i) The superintendent's dwelling, post-office, and central telephone. 
 
 PRISONERS WORKING A ROAD 
 
 2) The massive prison building, with offices, 100 individual sleeping cells, cells 
 for punishment, prison school, church, sick-rooms, bakery, workshop for tailors, 
 shoemakers, saddle makers, and bookbinders, and workrooms where the prisoners 
 are occupied in bad weather with straw work and broom-making; living and sleep- 
 ing rooms for the officials, and storerooms and cellars. 
 
 3) Dwelling-house with bakery, washroom, ironing- room, and rooms for 
 officials. 
 
 4) Workshop for iron- and wood-workers, supplied with the necessary 
 machinery. 
 
 5) Stable for 270 cattle, 30 horses, and 150 hogs, as well as shelter for the 
 necessary fodder, and and dwellings for families of some helpers and the supervisor. 
 
 6) Machine-shop and storehouse. 
 II. The Nusshof colony. 
 
 i) Two dwelling-houses for the manager with his family and help. 
 
 2 5 
 
2) Rooms to accommodate those who have been released but ask for admission 
 when out of work. 
 
 3) Stables for cattle, two barns for hay and grain, and cellar space. 
 
 The Eschenhof, Birkenhof, and Neuhoff colonies are all supplied with dwelling- 
 houses, barns, etc. 
 
 4) Dairy at Gampelen, with a capacity of 1,400 litres of milk daily, to be worked 
 into cheese. 
 
 5) Buildings, barns, sheds, are scattered all over the estate. The fire insur- 
 ance upon all of these buildings is $156,200. 
 
 The principal farms have their water supply, electric-light and electric-power 
 works, and are connected by telephone. 
 
 The capacity of the prison is no to 150. There are other prisons for the worst 
 class of offenders, and other workhouses in Bern. On such a large estate, with so 
 many agricultural operations, all available help is needed in the summer months, 
 and most of the soil is worked by free labor. Outside of the harvest season, two- 
 thirds of all the prisoners are engaged in agriculture. 
 
 There is room for 40 or 50 officers and the families of four or six helpers in 
 the colony. 
 
 Cost. The land upon which the colony is located, with improvements that had 
 been made up to the time of purchase including 4 dwellings, 6 barns, 4 sheds, and 
 a schoolhouse, with a stock inventoried at $11,000 cost $148,552. By the end of 
 1903 the inventory had risen to $86,924.55, and the estimate upon the buildings 
 alone had increased to more than the purchase price of the entire estate, as is 
 shown by the amount of insurance carried. Besides these new buildings and 
 improvements, the land has risen very considerably in value because of drainage and 
 cultivation, the expense in recent years upon these items amounting to $10,000 
 or $14,000. All these improvements, by which the entire estate has so much 
 increased in value, have cost the government nothing. 
 
 Income from products. The value of the stock upon the farm at the end of 
 1903 was $35,526, and the net profits from agriculture were $19,326. Not only are 
 all the needs of the institution met, but it is able to put some of its produce upon 
 the market, although avoiding any competition with free labor. 
 
 Plans for extension. Some of the characteristic projects of the colony are: 
 (i) Drainage and reclamation of waste land; (2) Extension of fruit culture; 
 (3) Utilization of city garbage for fertilization; (4) All of these with the aim 
 of increasing efficiency in remaking men. 
 
 26 
 
REPORT PRESENTED BY M. LAGUESSE 
 
 DIRECTOR OF THE CENTRAL HOUSE, AND OF THE PENITENTIARY IN THE 
 
 CIRCONSCRIPTION OF POISSY (SEINE-ET-OISE), FRANCE 
 
 [TRANSLATOR, O. F. JORDAN] 
 
 General complaint is made of the lack of laborers for farm work 
 because of the continual exodus of the rural population to the towns. 
 To the causes already well known the roughness of life in the country, 
 the small money recompense that labor receives, a taste for the city con- 
 tracted in military service in attractive garrisons may be added as an 
 important consideration the fact that men from the country who are 
 sentenced by the courts are transformed at their release into city dwellers. 
 
 It is important, on the contrary, that the prisoner of rural origin return 
 to his agricultural occupation, and it is fitting that he should be trained 
 in his calling during his detention, for the sake of his moral welfare, his 
 health, and his future. 
 
 To take a farmer, a vine-dresser, or a woodsman and confine him 
 within four walls, with plenty of food, easy and agreeable work suitably 
 remunerated to allow him ten hours of sleep and to shelter him from 
 bad weather, is to give him a situation preferable to that which he 
 occupies outside; it is to pervert the idea of punishment for the offense 
 which he has committed and to determine him not to go back to the life 
 of toil and economy that he followed from his infancy before his 
 imprisonment. 
 
 To transport him abruptly from the free air to the confined atmos- 
 phere of the cell or the thronged factory is to start him on the road to 
 anemia and tuberculosis. It is to take the responsibility of removing a 
 strong unit from national production, and of transforming it into a social 
 parasite destined to die in prison or in hospital. 
 
 Starting from this statement of things one comes to long for the 
 establishment of works in the open air. It is not absolutely necessary to 
 put people in a cage in order to restrict liberty. Of course, the high 
 wall, preventing contact with the outside world, appears to be an aggra- 
 
 27 
 
vated punishment. If we examine the question a little closer, we come 
 to discover the mistaken view usually entertained by us in regard to 
 the reality of that isolation. All sorts of noises, smothered it is true, 
 echo in the prisons. New inmates bring tidings from the world, in spite 
 of the law of silence; the guards are careless in conversation with their 
 fellows and are heard by the prisoners ; the free overseers, less influenced 
 by discipline, chat with their workmen, and our long personal experience 
 permits us to affirm that the liberated prisoners, even after many years of 
 imprisonment, are not ignorant of contemporary life on their return to 
 society. Do not the barracks, the great shops, the vast factories, and the 
 administrative bureaus hold temporary prisoners? In the hours of 
 employment are not these employees and these workmen separated from 
 each other and from their home by the necessity of winning daily bread ? 
 Now, the barracks are more severe than the factory, which is harder than 
 the store, and that in turn more exacting than the office. 
 
 Why would it be impossible to intensify that discipline, to give it a 
 frankly repressive character in applying it to prisoners of rural origin 
 who are organized in the day for work in the open air, and separated at 
 night in a safe enclosure or prison? We could immediately attach to our 
 large penal establishments work in the vast fields which often lie near 
 our prisons. In the cultivation of table vegetables, for example, would 
 be found a valuable therapeutic agency to complete the recovery from 
 disease before the return to the shop, or to restore life to those suffering 
 from anemia, scrofula, or tuberculosis, contracted by confinement in 
 ceUs or common halls. The flowers, fruits, and vegetables cultivated in 
 the gardens would decrease the expense of. subsistence. 
 
 But special thought should be bestowed on the problem of creating 
 numerous agricultural establishments with the object of recruiting prison- 
 ers without profession or prisoners of rural origin. Certain experiments 
 in this direction have already been tried. In France, the adult prisoners 
 of the central prison of Fontevrault have cleared and prepared the domain 
 of Bellevue, an annex of the colony of penitentiary education of St. 
 Hilaire (Vienne). Those of the central prison of Clairvaux have for 
 many years carried on the cutting of timber in the forests adjoining the 
 establishment. Finally, the prisoners of the central prison of Beaulieu 
 are completing at this very time the building of a prison containing 250 
 cells, in the open country. The island of Corsica contains agricultural 
 
 28 
 
penitentiaries where prisoners of continental origin with long sentences 
 are confined. 
 
 We have been for nearly ten years, during three periods, in that 
 service, and since we were charged with the direction of the penitentiary 
 of Chiavari, with an area of nearly 2,500 hectares, we have supervised the 
 establishment of the farm of Graticella, more than six kilometers dis- 
 tant from the principal establishment. To prevent the fatigue to the 
 prisoners from daily going back and forth, we adopted the expedient of 
 lodging them in a tent on the seashore, as in the case of military camps. 
 Only three guards were employed in overseeing the prisoners, and at 
 night a patrol duty. This state of things lasted for more than a year, 
 when it came to an end. The conduct of the prisoners was excellent, 
 and the originality of their situation kept them obedient, because they 
 enjoyed a relative liberty which they feared to lose by misconduct. We 
 noticed then that the penitentiary seclusion sours the prisoners because of 
 the nervous depression that it causes. In the central prison of Melun 
 I have known the worst subjects to become docile and tractable when 
 once employed in the penitentiaries of Corsica. With regard to most of 
 the men, I recall the evil conduct in the central prison and on the other 
 hand their good conduct in the agricultural prison. Most of them 
 declared to me that confinement in the shop, the absence of fresh air, 
 brought on a state of irritability that they could not overcome. 
 
 Besides the moral and physical benefit that the prisoners would find 
 in their classification in the outside or agricultural establishments, is 
 there need of repeating what a magnificent programme of public works 
 could be executed for the advantage of the nation? What country does 
 not need to confine its rapids; to render marshes healthy by filling them 
 up ; to plant forests upon its mountain sides ; to clear the land ; to reclaim 
 territory by the sea and the rivers ; to dig canals ; to make roads ; to 
 build railroads ; and then to maintain these fruitful results ? 
 
 I believe that it is best to assign certain classes of criminals to these 
 great undertakings, and particularly those with long- terms, and to aban- 
 don the idea of fixed agricultural penitentiaries. It is proposed to create 
 a legion of advance guard pioneers for works of central utility, trained 
 for the technical features, under the control of the Department interested. 
 From the moral point of view, the prisoner by his sojourn in half-free 
 surroundings will not have around him the deplorable customs of the 
 
prison. If he works in the vicinity of any company of people either 
 urban or rural, the sight of honest people, the chance resemblance to 
 some child of his own, a glimpse of a family scene, will perhaps bring a 
 more bitter remorse to life in his heart and a sincere desire to redeem the 
 past. In the evening, in returning into the court surrounding the prison, 
 he will find the appearance of discipline more severe, he will not become 
 accustomed to it by a long stay, and will preserve for a longer time* the 
 horror of such surroundings. 
 
 A legal arrangement should be made to punish severely both the attempt 
 to escape and the successful attempt ; if it is aided by persons outside, the 
 penalty should equal that inflicted on the fugitives. Habitual bad con- 
 duct and idleness should result in the guilty convict being sent from the 
 outside establishments to an establishment for close confinement. 
 
REPORT PRESENTED BY M. JULES VEILLER 
 
 DIRECTOR OF THE CELLULAR HOUSE OF CORRECTION OF FRESNES, SEINE 
 
 [TRANSLATOR, E. H. SUTHERLAND] 
 
 The Third International Prison Congress, held at Rome in 1885, 
 recognized in the following words the benefit of work in the open air : 
 
 The establishment of out-door work for those condemned to punishment of 
 some duration can be recommended in certain countries and in certain societies. 
 This work should not be considered as irreconcilable with the penitentiary systems 
 which are in use in the different countries. 
 
 Thus we have an extensive and practical formula which does not 
 pretend to furnish a statement of absolute and systematic theories, but 
 which, on the contrary, opens the door to experimental researches, makes 
 it possible to continue the individualization of punishment and makes the 
 penalty aid the restoration to society of the released convicts. Every 
 scheme, indeed, which does not take into consideration those convicts who 
 have been released, ought to be judged to be altogether incomplete. 
 Now, one of the most effective means of aiding these persons consists in 
 training them in their profession during the course of their punish- 
 ment, or, if they have no profession, in giving them one, of which they 
 can easily make use, when they return to liberty. With this in view, 
 many judicious persons think it is very necessary that the prisoners 
 who are released should be assigned to labor hi the open air (field-work 
 and public work). Those who are released will find here another great 
 advantage in the fact that they can more easily devote themselves to this 
 kind of work, since it is less crowded than the industries of manu- 
 facture. In some cases they will strengthen, or entirely recover their 
 health, which is as indispensable as the best resolutions for their reforma- 
 tion. Open-air work, with a judicious separation into classes, appears to 
 aid the reformatory efforts and should facilitate a return to a good life 
 for a great many of those released, especially those of rural origin. 
 
 In France the penitentiary system is founded on the cellular system 
 for those who are on trial and for those who are sentenced to prison for 
 
 31 
 
a period less than one year and a day ; on the "Auburn" system for those 
 sentenced to a minor prison or to a penitentiary from one to ten years ; 
 and finally on open-air work in distant colonies for those condemned to 
 hard labor for five years or more, and for the recidivists who are con- 
 demned to perpetual banishment. The system of open-air work for these 
 last two classes hard labor and banishment is general, and does not 
 appear to have been established with a view to the individualization of the 
 punishment, but rather to remove dangerous criminals and professional 
 delinquents from the metropolis, and to endeavor to direct them toward 
 a new life, and thus to use them for colonization. 
 
 Since the organization of open-air work, with some local exceptions, 
 demands a certain duration of the penalties, evidently we cannot think 
 seriously of this method of dealing with those who are condemned to short 
 periods (one year or less), and for this class the transformation of con- 
 gregate prisons into cellular prisons is most desirable. In Algeria, where 
 some open-air work has been carried on near the prisons, experience has 
 shown that penal labor, even for short sentences, has given satisfactory 
 results. 
 
 There remain the convicts who are in the intermediate class (one to 
 ten years in a penitentiary or in an ordinary prison), for whom France 
 has adopted the Auburn system for the "central houses," with industrial 
 labor in general, and some partial trials of out-door labor (workyards 
 or agricultural penitentiaries) : The working of open-air workyards, 
 developed in Algeria and Corsica (Central House of Lambese and agri- 
 cultural penitentiaries of Berrouaghia, Chiavari, Castelluccio) has not 
 been attempted in France except timidly. At different times a few men 
 have been used to work quarries in an annex of the Central House of 
 Clairvaux. Likewise a little more extensive trial was made from 1879 
 to 1884 in the ancient Central House of Embrun, now abolished, an 
 experiment which has appreciable results from an economic point of 
 view, and which also in some degree favored individualization of the 
 penalty. 
 
 As often happens, that attempt arose from the necessity of giving 
 work to the convicts of the Central House of Embrun, which was deprived 
 at this time of means of rapid communication, and therefore exposed to 
 frequent suspension of industries. The prisoners were set to work at 
 breaking stones on the road, at clearing and grading for the construction 
 
 32 
 
of a railroad, and every evening they returned to the prison. Each 
 group was composed of ten or twelve prisoners under the care of a guard. 
 The selection of the men was made by the local administration, which 
 required the following conditions of admission to the out-door work- 
 yards: (i) At least three months' residence in the House; (2) A maxi- 
 mum of three years' further service at the time of admission to the 
 v/orkyards; (3) A settled residence before the conviction; (4) Good 
 conduct in the prison; (5) A previous calling or trade of such a nature 
 as to render the prisoner immediately ready to undertake work in the open 
 air. These rules could be applied easily and quickly. They eliminated 
 the prisoners who had sentences of a very long duration, the individuals 
 without homes, the insubordinate, and the incapable. In practice they 
 were sufficient to keep the yards disciplined and active and prevent 
 escapes, which sometimes arouse public opinion beyond measure. 
 
 This organization, limited, it is true, since it has not been applied to 
 more than fifty prisoners, has shown that it is possible to employ convict 
 labor outside the penitentiary, and that it is beneficial for the state; that, 
 on the other hand, this utilitarian point of view is not contrary to the" 
 interests of the convicts, but rather favors their return to morality, by 
 facilitating their continuation in normal and regular life. 
 
 Finally, a special experiment with open-air labor (the erection of the 
 cellular prison of Caen) has just been completed, in good condition, by 
 the labor of the convicts of the Central House of Beaulieu, near Caen. 
 In that place are workmen excavators, masons, carpenters, joiners, 
 painters, locksmiths, etc. who have found it useful to perfect them- 
 selves in their trades, and who perhaps can also be reformed "by appropri- 
 ate work, and so face more securely the dangerous moment of their 
 liberation. 
 
 These timid attempts are not at all discouraging, and in my opinion 
 the results show that they are not irreconcilable with a reformatory- 
 penitentiary system. 
 
 To return to the exact terms of the programme of the Congress, it 
 is proper to indicate the principles which should control in organizing 
 the open-air works of public utility and the measures that should be taken 
 in view of this organization. In the first place there is a dual need to 
 reassure the people who dwell near the establishments by a careful guard, 
 and to restrict the choice of workers to the classes of prisoners who, 
 
 33 
 
probably, at their liberation, will continue to engage in open-air work ; 
 that is to say, to guard public security, and. in the interest of society as 
 well as the individual, to have constantly in view the prisoner's return 
 to a life which is made secure by his labor. 
 
 It is indispensable to exclude from the exterior yards those prisoners 
 who are engaged in sedentary trades which are not useful outside the 
 prison, and who perceive in this nothing but the means of escaping the 
 somewhat more rigorous discipline of a house surrounded by high walls. 
 It is necessary, also, for evident reasons, to exclude rigorously the insub- 
 ordinate subjects. 
 
 For my part I would not make an exception in respect to the trades, 
 save in case of the unfortunates who are stricken with tuberculosis, since 
 modern science declares that the open air is favorable to them ; but here, 
 nevertheless, we abide by our programme, since definite improvement 
 cannot be obtained except by those who are prepared to supply their 
 essential necessities by labor. 
 
 This being granted, two methods of organization are presented: the 
 yards for public works of varying importance, and the agricultural peni- 
 tentiaries. Both these processes presuppose that on account of the prox- 
 imity of an establishment for long sentences (one to five years) the work 
 can be established and an effective guard organized, which will prevent as 
 much as possible the intercourse of the prisoners with the free population. 
 
 From the purely economic point of view the yards of public labor 
 with work by the piece should yield good results. It is necessary to 
 remember, in fact, that the convict does not in the majority of cases work 
 conscientiously, except under the pressure of constraint. He is lazy by 
 nature, without energy and will. It is therefore to aid in the formation 
 of sturdy and robust workmen that, for my own part, I prefer piece- 
 work, with a daily task. Not that I favor extreme severity, but because 
 I see in the habituation to labor the surest guarantee of social rein- 
 statement. 
 
 The societies for the care of discharged prisoners can furnish pre- 
 cise information on this point. They occasionally find work for ex- 
 convicts, but the work is generally difficult, sometimes repulsive, often 
 abandoned, and is such as can be done only by persons in good health 
 and in condition to endure great fatigue. 
 
 The public workyards are not easily developed, it is true, since there 
 
 34 
 
is very often instability, changes of management, scarcity of material, 
 and temporary shelter, and frequent necessity of reorganization ; but when 
 there are the material means the yard can be used with no fear of great 
 disappointments. 
 
 The organization of agricultural penitentiaries appears to be very 
 different. These furnish work for long periods ; they should have a cer- 
 tain character of permanence and permit the construction of establish- 
 ments which, with the necessary buildings for the officers, are sufficient 
 for the shelter of the prisoners, and for the agricultural and household 
 service. If the penitentiaries are established as far as possible in the 
 uncultivated and sparsely inhabited regions, they will add to the value of 
 the land, by clearing, draining, making rural roads, and by other works 
 which must precede regular agricultural operations. 
 
 In my opinion this preliminary period, often long, supplies the best 
 conditions of success from a purely penitentiary point of view. Most of 
 these works, in fact, permit the application of the rule of a daily task 1 
 for the prisoners a rule which I consider indispensable to the economic 
 success of such an enterprise, and not less useful in the future for the 
 social education of the delinquent. The legal obligation to work often 
 means nothing, if it does not fix a task suited to the strength of each 
 prisoner. When the organization is accomplished, the lands analyzed, the 
 attempts at cultivation achieved, the penitentiary becomes purely agri- 
 cultural, and offers no more interest as a prison enterprise. 
 
 The occupations no longer lend themselves to piece-work, a fact which 
 is a serious cause of economic mistakes, since these occupations no longer 
 respond to the demands of reformatory punishment, and are of doubtful 
 value in the process of restoring the convict to a social position. 
 
 It is, in fact, a question of farm labor of essentially different forms: 
 care of herds, driving animals used for hauling and working; sowing 
 wheat, plowing, weeding, harvesting, horticulture, arboriculture, etc. all 
 forms of labor which can generally be done only by the day. 
 
 When this stage is reached, it will be proper to give up to the free 
 husbandmen the land which is now comparatively valuable, and transport 
 the penitentiary to other places. 
 
 Thus the convicts will become real pioneers, having the unique 
 
 l lt is apparent that this task ought to be fixed with moderation. 
 
 35 
 
charge of preparing the way for civilization, increasing the value of the 
 uncultivated fields, and creating estates for habitation and cultivation. 
 
 In summing up, I conclude that of the convicts sentenced for medium 
 periods, it is desirable to employ the prisoners of rural origin as much as 
 possible at work in the open air, under the following conditions : ( I ) 
 That the special yards or penitentiaries are established in places where 
 communication with the inhabitants of the region can be rendered diffi- 
 cult, if not impossible, and where as far as possible, the authorities can give 
 the buildings the character of a rural village, or of detached farms, in view 
 of the future sale of the lands; (2) That an efficient guard can be organ- 
 ized , (3) That for the most part the work will permit the establishment 
 of a daily task; that finally (4) The choice of individuals will be deter- 
 mined by the needs of the penitentiary itself, and its normal activities, 
 taking account of the previous occupation of the convict, his good con- 
 duct, or exceptionally of his state of health, if it supposed that life in the 
 open air is likely to improve his health. 
 
 This choice supposes a period of probation in a closed prison (cellular 
 or congregate) which can be varied according to the case, since approxi- 
 mate certainty of good conduct ought to serve as the basis of the classi- 
 fication. It calls necessarily for a certain number of workmen who are 
 acquainted with the industries indispensable for the operation of a great 
 enterprise, such as masons, carpenters, locksmiths, blacksmiths, and 
 farriers. 
 
REPORT PRESENTED BY M. JULES KIRALY 
 
 COUNTING-HOUSE CLERK OF THE ROYAL HUNGARIAN PENITENTIARY OF VACZ 
 [TRANSLATORS, F. S. BLACK AND J. R. SCHULTZ] 
 
 From the moment, toward the beginning of the nineteenth century, 
 when the labor of prisoners was at last freed from the general opinion 
 that it should be considered as an increase of punishment, as a sort of 
 means of increasing its pain ; since more humane sentiments have begun to 
 make their way contributing toward elevating work to a level where it 
 could be considered as an important factor of moral improvement and 
 of material profit for the convict from that moment there has been no 
 cessation for an instant of attention to and interest in it 
 
 This interest only increased when, toward the second half of the last 
 century, the recriminations and complaints of the small manufacturers 
 and of the free workmen were directed against penal labor, in which they 
 saw their most formidable competitor attacking their very existence. 
 While the small business demanded that the manufacturing industry be 
 excluded from the area of activity given over to the work of the convicts, 
 the free laborers, on their side, expressed the wish to see labor removed 
 from prisons, claiming that the lower price of wages for prison labor 
 would reduce them to an inferior position. 
 
 Moved to a hearing of these recriminations, the governments on the 
 one hand, the penitentiary congresses, functionaries of prisons, and 
 penologists on the other, submitted the question of prison labor to a 
 critical examination and endeavored to give to that labor an organiza- 
 tion which, while according satisfaction to the complaining parties, would 
 not lower the character of the execution of the penalty and would render 
 it, on the contrary, more effectual than before. 
 
 For this purpose, they decided upon the employment of the convicts 
 in agriculture and in other works of general interest performed in the 
 open air, as being best calculated to satisfy both sides. 
 
 The purpose of the present report is to prove that the employment 
 of convicts in this labor is of a nature to silence complaints; that this 
 
 37 
 
work can be advantageously introduced in the plan of inflicting punish- 
 ment; that it is of an important moral and material interest for the con- 
 vict; and that it will bring about an indisputable advantage for that 
 class. 
 
 In considering all the particular circumstances of our country, I 
 concluded that it is to agricultural labors we should give the preference in 
 choosing the occupations of the prisoners. As for other labor of public 
 value performed in the open air I am of the opinion that they are neces- 
 sary and possible only as an auxiliary occupation, performed conjointly 
 and over and above the agricultural labor, in the strict sense. Accord- 
 ingly, I shall consider here, essentially and in the first place, only labor 
 having a bearing upon agriculture itself, and content myself with affirm- 
 ing that my reasons can, in general, be applied to all the labors which 
 offer a public interest. 
 
 Under the term convict I mean to designate the individual sentenced 
 to a penitentiary, where I know the conditions by experience, being an 
 official of such a prison. My arguments and propositions appeal there- 
 fore to prison-wardens, while not excluding their application to those 
 sentenced to a minor prison, and to those who are serving a term of 
 ordinary imprisonment. 
 
 I think that the employment of convicts in agriculture and in other 
 works of general interest performed in the open air, could be carried 
 on in accordance with the following principles : 
 
 I. This employment could be very well introduced into the Irish peni- 
 tentiary system. This system recognizes four degrees in the execution 
 of the penalty, viz.: the experimental detention in the cell at the begin- 
 ning of the punishment; then the work in common in the workshops, 
 followed by an intermediate stage; then, lastly, conditional freedom. 
 Tlie essence and purpose of this system are to prepare the convict for 
 complete liberty, and in so doing, have him pass successively through 
 all these stages, beginning with absolute isolation. By this means we 
 seek to insure the individual against danger resulting from a too sudden 
 transition from one extreme to another. And the more numerous the 
 degrees to pass through the more easily will the proposed object be 
 achieved. 
 
 This stage may be represented by labor in the open air; intervening 
 between work in common and the intermediate establishment, or between 
 
 38 
 
labor in common and conditioned freedom. This work in the open air, 
 therefore, will be more advantageous than work in common, but less 
 favored than incarceration in an intermediate establishment. The short 
 stay that the convicts are called to make in the intermediate establishment 
 would still lead to the work in the open air. 
 
 On the assumption that seclusion in the cell and work in common 
 constitute two-thirds, and conditional freedom one-fourth, of the whole 
 sentence, the stay in the intermediate establishment constitutes only one- 
 twelfth part, and is, in any case, entirely insufficient to prepare thor- 
 oughly for conditional freedom. On the contrary, work in the open 
 air, preceding the incarceration in an intermediate establishment, would 
 be of a nature to cause this disadvantage to disappear. 
 
 But where this work can become a factor of absolute efficacy is in its 
 application to prisoners who, for one reason or another, cannot profit by 
 the favors of the intermediate establishment or by conditional freedom. 
 Such are, for example, the men sentenced for less than three years and 
 who cannot, consequently, claim their incarceration in an intermediate 
 estalishment, and the recidivists who have not the right to conditional 
 liberty. In applying this regime conformably to the conditions required 
 by the aim in view, labor in the open air can be considered, even for these 
 men, as a very useful thing, inasmuch as it is designed to represent for 
 them the preparation for a free life. 
 
 2. But it is chiefly from a sanitary point of view that work in open 
 air is justified and recommended with all its advantages. It is a truth 
 that cannot be invalidated : punishment has for its end to strike the 
 prisoner by depriving him of his liberty, but without injury to his health. 
 Therefore, the amelioration of hygienic conditions is a humanitarian 
 duty. On the other hand, it is no less indisputable that, with only a few 
 exceptions, the work of convicts is very injurious to health ; partly because 
 the workshops are crowded, partly also because of lack of exercise and of 
 pure respirable air. But the actual state of things becomes a real 
 calamity by the harmful effect which it has on the convicts of the rural 
 class, which, with us, furnishes 70 per cent, of the total number of prisoners, 
 and whose mode of living, of occupation, and of food is diametrically 
 opposed to that which is practiced in the life and occupations of the peni- 
 tentiaries. The harmful influence of this kind of life is manifested to 
 begin with by a very sensible diminution of physical forces, simply because 
 
 39 
 
the best hygienic care never will replace pure air, exercise, and the 
 vivifying rays of the sun. 
 
 But agriculture supplies these needs. 
 
 The following table is intended to establish the enormous advantage 
 which, from a hygienic point of view, is offered by agricultural work 
 placed in comparison with indoor labor or work in the cell. The pitiless 
 figures of the statistician fix the average percentage of . instances of 
 death observed in every branch of industry in the royal penitentiary of 
 Vacz, as follows: 
 
 KINDS OF OCCUPATION 
 
 RATE PER CENT. 
 
 Domestic shoe-making 8.16 
 
 Domestic tailoring 3.36 
 
 Domestic carpentry 3-74 
 
 Interior domestic work 3.20 
 
 Basket-making 3.70 
 
 Printing 9-37 
 
 Locksmithing 3-19 
 
 Carpentry on contract 6.72 
 
 Gilding on contract 5-7 
 
 Sieve-making 3 73 
 
 Manufacture of bellows by contract 6.30 
 
 Weaving by contract 9- 22 
 
 Wheelwright-work by contract 3-&3 
 
 Tailoring by contract 9-91 
 
 Paper-making by contract 19-44 
 
 Cell, care of 4-77 
 
 Agriculture (intermediate establishment) 1.28 
 
 This 1.28 per cent, of men occupied in agricultural labors can be con- 
 sidered as so much the more favorable since these prisoners have but a 
 relatively short stay in the intermediate establishment. 
 
 If it is considered that, in consequence of the departure of a consider- 
 able number of convicts employed in agricultural labors and in others 
 carried on in the open air, the hygienic conditions of those who stay 
 within the walls of the penitentiary are improved in the direct ratio of the 
 number who go out, it is unquestionable that, from a sanitary point of 
 view, agricultural labor outside the prison constitutes the most valuable 
 factor in the health of the prisoners. 
 
 We can therefore accept as our own the view which the Blatter filr 
 
 40 
 
Gefdngniskiinde expresses (1898, p. 78), where the text says: "Labor 
 in the open air is an inestimable hygienic factor of a punishment which 
 deprives of liberty." 
 
 3. Nevertheless, work of prisoners in the open air should be intro- 
 duced and organized not only because it is advantageous from a hygienic 
 point of view, but also for its high moral value. Occupation in the open 
 air is a favor which lessens the weight of imprisonment, and nothing 
 is better to prove the truth of this fact than the eagerness of the prisoners 
 to apply for this favor. In giving it a proper application, for example, 
 in reward for good conduct, it is evident that it will be of incomparably 
 better efficacy for the correction and education of prisoners than the 
 granting of any other favor whatsoever could be. 
 
 The corrective and educative effect obtained from this occupation 
 could be claimed if for no other reason than that it is unique as a privilege, 
 and that, in this connection, there is scarcely a perceptible difference 
 between the different occupations of the prisoners in the penitentiaries. 
 The majority of prisoners therefore will concentrate their whole effort 
 to make sure of this occupation by justifying the confidence which their 
 officers have shown. These constant efforts will have for an immediate 
 result the increase of the power of will, the development of the conscious- 
 ness of the duty to be accomplished, and, finally, the return of confidence 
 in themselves. In addition, the constant view of free nature and the 
 enjoyment of its beauties will exercise upon the individual a good 
 influence; these will beget within him purer thoughts and feelings and 
 will discipline his imagination, always too much inclined to excess. 
 
 But these are not the only advantages which plead in favor of work in 
 the open air ; another no less considerable is that this kind of occupation 
 withdraws the prisoners from the injurious influence that the hardened 
 malefactors exercise on their comrades, and which can never be entirely 
 suppressed in the prisons and penitentiaries. The good resolutions made 
 under the impression produced by nature will not therefore be smothered 
 in embryo by contact with vicious persons. 
 
 4. The occupation of the convict ought, according to the guiding 
 principle, to assume a utilitarian character from the point of view of the 
 future of the convict. In support of this argument, I shall cite paragraph 
 32 of the instructions relative to the execution of the punishment of hard 
 labor : 
 
 41 
 
Branches of industry which produce a harmful effect upon the health of the 
 body cannot be' admitted into the prisons; the approval of the minister of justice 
 is necessary to permit the admission of any new kind of work whose usefulness 
 for the future of the condemned ought to constitute the principal consideration. 
 
 On the other hand, paragraph 30 of the same instructions provides 
 that: 
 
 At tEe time of taking up any work care must be taken that the prisoner, as far as 
 possible, shall be assigned to one of the trades which are exercised in the prison, but 
 to one which, at the same time, is familiar to him, or at least to one which comes 
 nearest to that; this failing, he should be assigned to a trade which he is capable 
 of learning very quickly, taking into account his state, more or less developed, 
 his age, his natural tastes and physical power, and a trade which, according to the 
 circumstances, he will be able to exercise after his liberation. 
 
 How shall we apply these principles to the prisoners who belong to 
 the class of farmers who, with us in Hungary, represent 70 per cent, of 
 the population of -our prisons of hard labor? If we should distribute 
 this large number among all the trades pursued within all our prisons, 
 for the most part urban industries, how could advantage result from it 
 for the future of the convict? Will he work at the same trade after his 
 dismissal? Scarcely ever! 
 
 And to begin with, the trade of an artisan does not suit the farmer, 
 neither from the point of view of his tastes, nor with regard to his indi- 
 vidual nature. But to look at it from the point of view of the prisoner's 
 future, it can be affirmed that this occupation tends directly to the 
 opposite of the end proposed, inasmuch as it is exceedingly rare that one 
 of these men can learn one of the trades in such a way that it will assure 
 him a livelihood. Besides, this consideration becomes so much the more 
 alarming since manufacturing industry itself is found today in a most 
 unfavorable state. 
 
 In the majority of cases we should train a workman of only moderate 
 value, who would stick neither to agriculture nor to a trade only half- 
 learned. On the contrary, if this individual can exercise, during his 
 imprisonment, his habitual calling, and, what is more, if he can be 
 improved therein by methodical direction, he is assured of his future, 
 because the farmer can get along more easily than the artisan who only 
 vegetates. 
 
 By classifying agriculture among the number of works carried on in 
 
 42 
 
state penitentiaries we should, to begin with, bring to an end the contra- 
 diction which exists in the 'provisions contained in the paragraphs of the 
 aforesaid instructions and their actual application. At the time of assign- 
 ing to the prisoners any trade whatsoever, it is scarcely possible, in 5 per 
 cent, of cases really to have regard for their future, as I have had occa- 
 sion to read in the report drawn up by a director of the penitentiary. 
 
 In addition, one must not lose sight of the fact that in transforming 
 our farmer into an artisan, we simply promote the exodus of the rural 
 population into the city, which also is as little to be desired from the 
 point of view of national economy as in respect to morality itself. 
 
 It is evident, therefore, that in taking account of the particular con- 
 ditions characteristic of our country, it would be by the occupation of the 
 prisoners in agricultural labors that we can best realize the principles 
 which ought to serve as a basis of convict labor. 
 
 5. But the employment of convicts in agricultural labors would con- 
 stitute at the same time a very successful remedy for the frequent 
 complaints made by the small manufacturers and free workmen. The 
 appearance of these complaints is contemporaneous with the introduc- 
 tion of trades into the prisons. The industry of the penitentiary appeared 
 in their eyes to be one of their most dangerous rivals, because the prices 
 of articles furnished by this industry are lower than those of the market, 
 a circumstance which tends to diminish the number of orders given to 
 them. The price of penitentiary labor placed at the command of business 
 men being lower than that of free workmen, the wages of the latter are 
 naturally subject to reduction. 
 
 Several attempts have already been made to provide a remedy for this 
 state of affairs. In France, notably in 1848, all industrial work in 
 prisons was suppressed in response to the pressure brought to bear by 
 the complaints which were unceasingly directed against this kind of 
 work. Nevertheless, the great wrong and injury caused by this sup- 
 pression soon caused a return to the old regime. Then they conceived 
 the idea of devoting the work of the prisoners entirely to the needs of 
 the state. Once more they saw themselves compelled to admit that they 
 had taken a wrong step, for this system deprived the free laborers of the 
 orders executed for the state, a fact which made it impossible to quiet 
 the complaints which were raised. At this opportune time one could 
 read in the Blatter fur Gefdngniskunde for 1887 (p. 340), that when the 
 
 43 
 
authorities began to erect the new penitentiary at Prague, and only 
 prison labor was being used, the free workmen assumed such a threaten- 
 ing attitude that the uprising was suppressed only by withdrawing the 
 prisoners from the construction yards. In order to quiet these com- 
 plaints, they even planned manufacture for the foreign market ; but this 
 palliating measure presented two difficulties: In the first place, with us, 
 account could not be taken of the future of the convict; while, on the 
 other hand, numerous difficulties arose in the way of putting the measure 
 into practice. 
 
 It is from agricultural work alone that an alleviation of the com- 
 plaints reiterated by the small industry is to be hoped for. To wish to 
 stop them completely by this method would be to indulge a vain hope. 
 Just as it is true that it is not the penitentiary industry that has caused 
 the crisis that has raged severely about the small free industry, but really 
 the common weakness of industry in general, so it is equally true that we 
 cannot remedy this state of suffering merely by suppressing penitentiary 
 industry. Like a sick man who fears the least current of air, industry, 
 which likewise is suffering, is sensible to the rival action of penitentiary 
 industry, however trivial it may be. 
 
 Nevertheless, it would be puerile to deny the harmful effect which 
 prison labor exercises upon free local industry, which it deprives of a 
 considerable number of orders, as for shoe manufacture, tailoring, car- 
 pentry, etc. This fact has a certain importance even if the penitentiary 
 is situated in a city where the demand is great. On the other hand, it is 
 no less evident that the price of articles made up in the central prisons 
 is lower than that of articles made by free workmen, although in reality 
 this difference may not be as considerable as some desire to make us 
 believe. But, however trivial the difference may be, it is still sufficient to 
 attract orders to the central prison, to the detriment, it goes without 
 saying, of the free local industry. 
 
 Nevertheless, it is an undeniable fact that the prisoners cannot be 
 left unemployed, solely and simply to quiet the complaints made by free 
 laborers. According to my view, it is therefore in agricultural labor 
 alone that a remedy for this situation is to be found, as the Blatter fur 
 Gefangniskunde (1891, p. 63), very justly says: "By this occupation, 
 the complaints made by free labor against the competition to its disad- 
 vantage are shut out once for all." 
 
 44 
 
If 30 to 40 per cent, of the prisoners are employed in agricultural 
 work, and this from the beginning of spring far into the autumn ; after- 
 ward during winter, in the labor of the farm, or in outdoor work 
 having a general interest, they would no longer be occupied in carrying 
 on those trades which are usually assigned to prisoners, such as shoe- 
 making, tailoring, carpentry, bookbinding, locksmithing, etc. ; with the 
 exception of a number of persons strictly necessary for satisfying the 
 needs of the establishment, and eventually for filling important orders 
 made on behalf of the state. 
 
 In this manner the number of enterprises in the penitentiary would be 
 reduced to the smallest possible limits, with certain advantages to the 
 free workmen, and at the same time these annoying complaints would 
 be silenced. 
 
 The preceding discussion results in the conclusion that the employ- 
 ment of convicts in agricultural work meets all the requirements of work 
 for prisoners; that it conforms to the spirit of discipline; that it has an 
 invaluable advantage for the body as well as the soul of the convict ; that 
 it can be employed as a corrective and educational means ; that it assures 
 the future of the convict, and contributes, in part at least, by reducing 
 competition to a minimum, to the abatement of the complaints which free 
 labor does not cease to make against prison labor. 
 
 The opponents of work in the open air seek, in the meantime, to apply 
 to it the stamp of the materia odiosa, pretending that it is in violent con- 
 tradiction to the idea that ought to be entertained concerning punish- 
 ment ; that it annuls the principle that punishment should consist in con- 
 finement to a place, and in the suppression of liberty of movement, since 
 the crime committed during liberty cannot have more effective punish- 
 ment than the suppression of that liberty; that this suppression cannot 
 be conceived of without recourse to incarceration. And they very seri- 
 ously conclude that all these reasons are entirely overturned by the 
 employment of convicts in the open air ! 
 
 Come! This argument has a weak point, because it frames a judg- 
 ment with the work of free laborers as a basis, and without taking into 
 account the difference that does, and should, exist between the two classes 
 of workmen. 
 
 The going- forth from prison under heavy guard ; the restraint during 
 work in the open air ; the complete isolation from free workmen ; the 
 
 45 
 
restrictions upon conversation at will ; the prohibition to pass certain 
 defined limits ; in the evening the return to the prison ; as well as other 
 precautions having for their end to limit any show of freedom, are all 
 conditions which prevent the convict from imagining that he has ceased 
 to be a prisoner. While it is true that he is not confined between four 
 walls, it is no less true that out-of-doors as well as in-doors he is forbidden 
 to leave a certain territory which is assigned to him as a place within 
 which he can move. Consequently there is real confinement to a given 
 place, an actual limitation of free movement. 
 
 Of that liberty which the prisoner has lost by committing his crime, 
 almost nothing is left to him. Even in this place, as in any prison, he 
 is forbidden to exchange a single word with free men. Everything here 
 recalls to him his condition his clothing, his food, his surroundings, 
 etc. and who knows whether in the view, and under the kindly influence 
 of nature he will not realize that he is more of a prisoner than he would 
 be within the four walls which hide from his sight all that of which he 
 is deprived. 
 
 If convict labor in the open air is carried on in a form that accords 
 with the principles of punishment, which is perfectly possible, the end 
 which is sought in punishment is not defeated ; and, this being the case, 
 it is therefore the judicious choice of method most nearly conforming 
 to that end which should occupy the principal place in consideration of 
 convict work in the open air. For it is upon this choice that all depends 
 the advantages as well as the disadvantages. 
 
 Before beginning a detailed discussion of the second part of this 
 question, it is important to fix first of all the ratio of prisoners who can 
 be employed in outdoor work, since the available population will determine 
 the extent of the outdoor work, just as, on the other hand, it will 
 determine the kind of work in which convicts can be employed. 
 
 Those confined to the cell while on trial, the sick, those occupied in 
 indoor work, and those who are undergoing disciplinary punishment, 
 form about 50 per cent, of the total population, and these cannot be 
 employed in outdoor work. Deducting 10 to 15 per cent, from those 
 remaining to work at the more indispensable branches of industry, there 
 still remains a sufficient number, 35 to 40 per cent., of those who can be 
 employed in carrying on work in open air. 
 
 At the time of assigning employment in the open air to workmen, 
 
 46 
 
it is necessary to take into account, above all, the record of the convict, 
 and to consider his conduct while kept in the central house, as well as 
 the time he has left to serve in prison. Those who belong to the farming 
 class ought to be chosen from preference, after excluding, however, hard- 
 ened recidivists, and persons undergoing disciplinary punishment. The 
 exclusion of this last class ought not, however, to be more than a year. 
 As to the exclusion a priori of all recidivists, it does not appear to me 
 to be necessary, for it is proved that the difficulties these men encounter 
 in their search for work, even those which general life itself does not 
 spare them, are to a great extent a result of the relapse of these unfor- 
 tunates. In our epoch of industrial stagnation, agriculture is tetter 
 fitted to sustain the life of a man than any other trade. In consequence, 
 if the recidivists are occupied in agriculture, they are given a means of 
 existence, and therefore are prevented from a relapse into crime. 
 
 In practice, recidivists are not excluded from work in the open air. 
 As to this fact, it is enough to cite the example of the penitentiary of 
 Lipotvar. At the time when the 52 arpents forming the property of the 
 penitentiary were cultivated by the prisoners of the place it was before 
 the erection of the intermediate establishment a third, often even half, 
 of the men employed in field-work were taken from the recidivists who 
 had never given cause for any complaint. 
 
 At Vacz recidivists are not excluded from work in open air, so that 
 among the convicts employed in cultivating the land conceded by the 
 royal Hungarian cantonment, and also in the cultivation of the 21 arpents 
 leased by the penitentiary, there were also recidivists. 
 
 Considerations of safety induce me to propose the exclusion of per- 
 sons who are in the cell, passing through the trial stage, of those who 
 are serving a life-sentence, as well as those who are serving a sentence 
 of long duration and have not yet finished the major part of their punish- 
 ment. This last class can be employed, after having served two-fifths of 
 their sentence. 
 
 Let us now examine the nature of work in the open air. 
 
 In order that the men employed in open-air work may return each 
 evening to the central house, it would be best to lease ground near the 
 penitentiary, and cultivate it, as is the case at Vacz. There the central 
 house has rented 21 arpents of arable land, where food products are 
 cultivated, as well as the oats necessary for the maintenance of the 
 
 47 
 
horses used in farm work. The same plan is used by the central house 
 of Nagy-Enyed which has leased 10 arpents, and at the penitentiary of 
 Lipotvar which owns 52 arpents. . 
 
 However, considering the fact that agriculture in the proper sense 
 requires comparatively very little work, and that during a considerable 
 part of the spring, summer, and autumn, it is absolutely necessary to 
 find another outdoor employment besides work in the fields. This is 
 easily secured by introducing extensive horticulture which would, first 
 of all, produce vegetables and fruits for the food of the penitentiary, 
 while the surplus would be placed upon the market Horticulture of 
 this sort requires continuous labor, save during the cold months of 
 winter, and will keep the Tiands busy during the entire year. 
 
 I believe, moreover, that the installation of a dairy farm for agri- 
 cultural and horticultural cultivation would not encounter any difficulty, 
 with the special advantage that it would furnish the penitentiary with the 
 quantity of milk it needs. This innovation would, besides, be of enor- 
 mous advantage in removing the ground for the daily complaints pro- 
 voked by the bad quality of milk, and the surplus milk could be placed 
 on sale in trie market. 
 
 Besides agriculture, gardening, and dairying, I believe it useful still 
 to admit, as far as practicable, other forms of outdoor work having a 
 general interest, such as the changing of watercourses, leveling the soil, 
 construction of railways, laying out roads, erection of dikes, construction 
 of public buildings, forestry work in the royal cantonments, etc. How- 
 ever, it is my opinion that no kind of work can be recommended that does 
 not allow the return of the convicts each evening to the central house. 
 Under this condition, they should be given the preference over all other 
 outside work requiring a long stay outside the walls of the penitentiary. 
 A too prolonged absence would render difficult a truly efficient super- 
 vision which the authorities of the penitentiary could not maintain in 
 accordance with the end of punishment. 
 
 With us, for example, one must concede the public advantage of vine- 
 yard work having for its purpose the reconstruction of destroyed vine- 
 yards ; for here the work of prisoners can be carried on with advantage and 
 success. It is evident that this kind of work could be carried on only in 
 vine-growing lands situated near the penitentiary. In our country we do 
 
 43 
 
not lack examples of the employment of prisoners in this work, not 
 especially penitentiary convicts, but men condemned merely to jail. 
 
 In the year 1896 a number of prisoners from the prison of Satoralja- 
 Ujhely were placed at the disposal of the vine-growers of Hegyalja to 
 restore some destroyed vineyards. From the first year, that plan has 
 given such excellent results, that the small proprietors have not ceased 
 since then to importune the minister of justice for further drafts. Dur- 
 ing the winter the prisoners receive a theoretical instruction in all branches 
 of vine-growing. The same plan could be well applied to central houses 
 whose inmates would receive during the winter months, like those cited 
 above, suitable instruction in all branches of agriculture and vine-growing. 
 
 During the relatively short annual cessation of agricultural work 
 and all other work done in the open air, the men could be occupied with 
 indoor work connected with agriculture, such as wood-turning, basket- 
 making, plaiting mats, making straw matting, weaving straw, making 
 brushes and brooms, working at the forge, etc., and in the second place, 
 at the more indispensable branches of industry and trade for satisfying 
 the domestic needs of the penitentiary, such as shoemaking, tailoring, 
 carpentry, locksmithing, wood-cutting, etc. ; third and last, in meeting 
 the not very important demands which the state makes upon the central 
 house. 
 
 The introduction of agriculture and other work carried on in open 
 air does not signify, therefore, the exclusion pure and simple of all 
 the branches of industry carried on in the central house, and this because 
 not all the convicts can be employed at this work. On the one hand, the 
 majority are not eligible for outdoor work, while, on the other, those 
 remaining for that work cannot even be occupied in it during all the 
 months of the year. 
 
 Now that we recognize the importance of the resources in the con- 
 victs which can be employed in carrying on outdoor work, as well as the 
 kind of work with which they may be occupied, it is important to 
 examine closely the questions which arise in regard to this, and of these 
 the most important, without doubt, are the end and the principles which 
 ought to inspire the practice of work in open air. 
 
 Here is my response to this question: Work in open air ought to 
 be organized in such a manner that a rigorous supervision, constantly 
 maintained, shall keep alive in the convict the thought and idea of lost 
 
liberty. This is, at the same time, the reason I insist very strongly upon 
 a strict and severe surveillance. 
 
 The direction of farm work, and of all work carried on in the open 
 air, should be confided to a skilled superior guard, or to an inspector-in- 
 chief who has received special instruction. Tried guards, worthy of 
 confidence, and having a strong physique, should be detailed to watch 
 the convict farm laborers, and this in the ratio of one guard to every 
 ten convicts. This guard would have as his duty to see that those placed 
 under his charge execute the work assigned them in a thorough manner 
 and that no conversation be permitted except that which is strictly indis- 
 pensable to the proper execution of their task. 
 
 If, in addition to all this, we add the formal prohibition of the convicts 
 passing beyond a certain limit of designated territory, their complete 
 isolation from free workmen, and strangers to the penitentiary, the 
 severe suppression of disobedience by an immediate exclusion from open- 
 air work, it is not possible for the thought and sentiment of imprison- 
 ment to disappear from the mind and heart of the convict. 
 
 However, in order to impress this thought upon the mind of the con- 
 vict, he can be made to return each evening to the prison ; to receive no 
 other nourishment than the other prisoners of the place receive, at least 
 in respect to quality. The difference in food should affect only the quan- 
 tity, the increase of which is required by the nature of work which 
 involves a great deal of physical effort. 
 
 With a view to assuring the execution of all these measures, the 
 warden of the penitentiary should every day make a tour of the fields and 
 yards. This added precaution would contribute in large measure to 
 remind the convicts that they belong to the penitentiary. 
 
 From time to time the chaplain would give them lessons in morality, 
 either visiting them in the fields, or at the penitentiary after they had 
 returned thither. 
 
 That agriculture may be admitted to the rank of prison labor, and 
 that under the form which I have just explained, it is indispensable that 
 the field or yard be situated near the central house, or at least not far 
 distant, in order that the convicts may return to it without too great loss 
 of time, and that the supply of food for the open-air prisoners may be 
 facilitated. This proximity would, at the same time, permit prompt medi- 
 cal aid to be brought in case of accident. In this regard, I am of the 
 
 50 
 
opinion that it would be advantageous to have upon the ground an intelli- 
 gent guard who might be taught the methods of giving first aid to the 
 sick and injured. 
 
 The wages of workmen in the open air would be the same as that 
 paid to workmen indoors, that is to say, 8 hellers each per day. An 
 increase of wages does not seem to me to be desirable, especially since 
 open-air work is in itself much more advantageous than interior occupa- 
 tions. 
 
 In addition to the regular buildings for rural production, that is to 
 say, a granary and storehouse, it would be necessary to build a third where 
 the workmen could pass their leisure time, and find shelter in case of storm. 
 
 If only those convicts who have served out an important part of their 
 sentence within prison walls are employed in agricultural labor; if they 
 are subjected to a strict and vigilant surveillance; if they are entirely 
 isolated from free men, and kept within given bounds ; if they are 
 incessantly subjected to the control of the prison authorities, and con- 
 stantly dominated by the fear of disciplinary punishment, incurred by 
 violation of rules ; if they pass all their time in carrying on rough labor, 
 it is certain that the thought and idea of punishment will not leave them 
 for an instant. 
 
 It would be in this form, and according to these principles, that I 
 think it possible to introduce open-air work into the number of prison 
 occupations: farming, in the first place; and, in the second rank, as 
 auxiliary and accessory occupations, the carrying-on of other outdoor 
 labors of public utility. In this manner, released prisoners are protected 
 against the antagonism of society which distrusts the convict in the indus- 
 trial world, and turns away from the disgraced man. But if he presents 
 himself as a farm laborer, the ex-convict has a much greater chance to 
 succeed. 
 
REPORT PRESENTED BY DR. CURTI 
 
 DIRECTOR OF THE PENITENTIARY OF REGENSDORF, SWITZERLAND 
 [TRANSLATOR, R. K. NABOURS] 
 
 Principles. The principle according to which criminals should be 
 permitted to work in open air should be prescribed by law. The law for 
 the infliction of punishment within the walls of the penitentiary should 
 be determined, and also the kind of punishment which shall be applied 
 to the prisoners in the country or in the works of public utility in the 
 open air. In the latter category belong, for example, the improvement of 
 water courses, works of leveling the ground, the construction of roads, 
 railroads, work in mines, quarries, etc. 
 
 Under no circumstances should the employment of young delinquents 
 be allowed ; it is easily seen that work done in common with other prison- 
 ers would degrade them and so be harmful to them. It is also clear that 
 they do not possess the necessary physical power. 
 
 The hardened criminals must be considered by themselves, and the 
 serving of their sentence should be under rigorous conditions. They 
 should be made to feel keenly the restrictions of their liberty, so far as 
 possible, even if their occupations should be in the open air. Isolation in 
 cells is necessary for that class of criminals, if one would gain from the 
 penalty its proper fruits. 
 
 Through fear that the hardened criminals will escape the legislature 
 does not authorize their being employed outside the walls of the peni- 
 tentiary. But in contrast with these, it is more rational to occupy those 
 prisoners in open-air work, who, though not criminals in the strict sense 
 of the word, yet are required to work, essentially because they have given 
 themselves over to laziness, to carousal and debauchery, have been justly 
 prosecuted and so, for these reasons, ought to be deprived of their 
 liberty. One should by preference employ convicts who are accustomed 
 to such labor, in the work of the farm, and who after their liberation 
 will make their living in the work of the country. Another motive which 
 ought to encourage the occupations of the prisoners in the open country 
 
 5* 
 
is the interest of health. The prisoners confined in cells, whose state of 
 health is precarious, and for whom consequently life in the open air is 
 indicated, ought as far as possible, to be employed on the farm. 
 
 Organization. This will conform to the prescriptions of the law or 
 regulations. Following the opinion expressed above, the prisoners should 
 be occupied, preferably, outside the prison wall in the open air. As this 
 crowd or aggregation of men is recruited chiefly from loafers who do 
 not work of their own will, it is well to consider an appropriate means 
 for enforcing productive work. The supervision should be, to this end, 
 close and continuous. The premises should be specially arranged to 
 admit of hours of repose and the interruptions of work. Each prisoner 
 should at such times be alone, and have also his own cell which he should 
 be obliged to keep clean. A service of public worship should be held on 
 Sundays and holidays. In general, there should be careful attention given 
 to the prisoner's religious and moral education. The food should be 
 simple but nutritious and suitable to replace the loss of tissue resulting 
 from a fatiguing and compulsory labor. The food should not go beyond, 
 in quality or quantity, that of a good farmer's table, under the same 
 conditions of work. Alcoholic drinks should b? entirely prohibited. For 
 quenching the thirst, fresh water should be sufficient; milk also may be 
 given, or weak coffee and tea. These rules should not be broken, except 
 for reasons of health, or on the order of a physician by whom fermented 
 drink could be authorized. 
 
 The clothing should be adapted to the circumstances of the climate ; 
 it should be simple and substantial ; being different from the fashion of 
 the place, so that the prisoner may be detected more easily if s he escapes. 
 
 The physician should control the hygienic conditions of the places of 
 work and the sleeping-quarters. He should see to it that the drainage 
 and sewage are properly planned. All contact with free citizens should 
 be prohibited. 
 
 A kind of work which is well adapted to the circumstances described 
 is that of occupying the men in the open air to clear off and transform 
 sterile land into that which is productive. This work of restoring the 
 soil, if carried on through a number of years, is carried out successfully 
 by convicts, who have tne satisfaction of seeing the formerly poor soil 
 made productive, and responding abundantly to cultivation. Through 
 these means the prisoner knows how to appreciate the honor attached to 
 
 51 
 
work; the aim and taste are reconstructed, and the joy of work will also 
 be increased. The taxpayer, upon whom lies the burdens of these estab- 
 lishments, and who easily regards them as heavy, will be the first disposed 
 to give his approbation to this sort of occupation for the prisoners. 
 
 We call attention to the fact involved in the theory of classification, 
 which recognizes conditional liberation as the highest grade, that "a period 
 of trial is necessary. To that end the imprisonment in cells will be fol- 
 lowed by work in open air, and the preference should be given to some 
 form of agriculture. If the period of trial is passed with success, the 
 prisoners can then be granted the benefit of conditional liberation with 
 less fear or hesitation. We propose, in consequence, the following theses : 
 
 1. The authorization of farm work ought to be regulated by law. 
 
 2. In the organization of the works there must be kept in view the 
 employment of: 
 
 a) The convicts of the penitentiary class; 
 
 b) The prisoners, who in free life devote their lives to agriculture ; 
 
 c) Those who, for reasons of health, ought to be given work in open 
 air; 
 
 d) The prisoners who in virtue of their good conduct are soon to be 
 granted conditional liberation. 
 
 54 
 
REPORT PRESENTED BY SIMEON E. BALDWIN, LL.D. 
 
 ASSOCIATE JUDGE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF ERRORS OF CONNECTICUT, 
 
 PROFESSOR OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AND OF INTERNATIONAL PRIVATE 
 
 LAW AT THE UNIVERSITY OF YALE; FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE 
 
 AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION, OF THE AMERICAN SOCIAL 
 
 SCIENCE ASSOCIATION, AND OF THE INTERNATIONAL LAW 
 
 ASSOCIATION 
 
 The International Penitentiary Commission recommends that those 
 who wish to discuss this question should seek for the underlying prin- 
 ciples. It is, in fact, very important to study our subject seriously, since 
 heretofore the systems which have been applied in the different countries 
 to the occupation of the convicts in open-air work have not always been 
 crowned with success; and, besides, they could not be from their very 
 nature. 
 
 Man has always had and always will have an inclination to abandon 
 that which is artificial, and return to that which is natural. Civilization 
 is relatively recent. Before being civilized, man had probably lived ten 
 or twenty times as long in his natural state. And what is our civilization ? 
 Does it offer nftthing but advantages ? For example, have we not carried 
 refinement too far in the notion that society owes certain duties toward 
 the individual ? Have we not come to have an exaggerated idea of human 
 dignity? Are not the rights of the individual inferior to those of the 
 community. 
 
 When men associated in the state collectively are subjected to a 
 wrong done by one who, impelled by selfish motives, has failed to recog- 
 nize his obligations toward his fellows, being superior to him politically, 
 since they represent the state, they have the right to treat him as the 
 interests of their society demand. In view of these interests, they can 
 first of all endeavor to reform the guilty man and make of him a good 
 citizen. They can shut him up, in order that, for a certain period at 
 least, he may be prevented from spreading the contagion of his crime 
 among the innocent, and perverting good citizens by his influence. 
 
 55 
 
Again, they may make him atone for his crime by inflicting upon him 
 a punishment corresponding, as far as possible, to the degree of his guilt. 
 Finally, they can require him to make reparation. 
 
 The guilty man has, by his action, violated one of the fundamental 
 laws of Justinian, if not all three : honeste vivere, alterum non laederc, 
 suum cuique tribuere ("to live honestly; not to injure another; to render 
 to each one that which is his due"). 
 
 In a state of civilization not far advanced the state undertakes to 
 obtain compensation for that one of its members who has been individu- 
 ally damaged by the selfish action. The criminal owes reparation to his 
 victim. He has an account to settle with him. It is necessary that he be 
 deprived of some valuable in favor of the victim. In consequence of 
 his act, he should lose his property or liberty or life. If he loses his 
 liberty, it is to the advantage of some one else. He is not supported at 
 the expense of the state. He must work in order to pay the debt which 
 he has contracted by his crime ; he must work for the benefit of the one 
 whose debtor he is. At the beginning of civilization reparation was 
 considered more important than punishment. Chastisement was not 
 inflicted unless the guilty man was unable to furnish the reparation 
 demanded; or else it was added to the reparation, of which it was only 
 the complement. Society has not now fewer rights than at its origin. 
 In fact, it has even greater, since mankind has come to recognize that 
 in the public interest it is necessary to regard crime first of all as a 
 damage caused to the entire community, however disastrously it may 
 affect one of its individual members. 
 
 Criminals can never restore to the state all they cost it. For the 
 most part they are the ones who caused its organization. If, then, a man 
 commits a crime so grave that the state is justified in depriving him of 
 his liberty, a profit, instead of a loss, is due to the community, if it is in 
 any way possible to accomplish this without causing new wrongs. Every 
 one should admit that it is proper and useful to make the convicts in 
 prison work, within certain limits. Is it unjust, evil, or useless to make 
 them work in the open air? 
 
 The most frequent objections to compulsory labor in the open air are 
 as follows : 
 
 1. It exposes the criminal to public humiliation. 
 
 2. It degrades him, by making him fall into bad company. 
 
 56 
 
3. It exposes him to the abuse and tyranny of those who direct or 
 superintend the work. 
 
 4. It facilitates escape. 
 
 5. It involves unfair competition with the work of free citizens. 
 Let us examine these objections in their order. 
 
 I. It is claimed that open-air work exposes the prisoners to public 
 humiliation. But their very condemnation, being a known fact, has 
 already drawn upon them public scorn. It is necessary that a man 
 behave very badly, to lead society to judge it necessary to deprive him 
 of his liberty and condemn him. to prison. It is too serious a sentence 
 to be imposed lightly, since it is very rare that one who has been 
 subjected to it succeeds in outliving it, and in reinstating himself in the 
 esteem of the community where he has been condemned. 
 
 After all, it is easy to prevent new occasions of shame for the prisoners 
 by making them work within the inclosure of the prison ; without great 
 expense, agricultural lands can be surrounded .with inclosing walls, in 
 order to preserve the convicts from outside observation. In most 
 countries the majority of the prisoners belong to the class of simple work- 
 men and peasants. They have not learned any trade. They know how 
 to use only the simple tools of the laborer and excavator : the shovel, pick- 
 axe, and hoe. Then let the government buy or rent extensive fields and 
 use these robust arms for the improvement of the soil and at field labor. 
 For the interest of the state it will be better to buy these fields ; at a 
 moderate price, it can acquire the neglected or ruined estates and render 
 them fit for cultivation ; it will have enough hands to drain the swamps, 
 irrigate the arid fields, construct walls, plant hedges and forest trees. 
 These estates, once improved to their full value, can easily and with great 
 profit be sold and the process repeated indefinitely. The purchase and 
 culture of large estates necessitate, without doubt, an investment of large 
 sums ; but, if the government administers this capital wisely, it will be 
 returned with interest. 
 
 Several American states have adopted this system. In an elaborate 
 report for the International Penitentiary Congress of 1900 is a very inter- 
 esting account of the manner in which it has been administered, a report 
 made under the direction of Mr. S. J. Barrows, commissioner of the 
 United States, 1 by the secretary of the bureau of public charities of North 
 
 1 "Prison System of the United States," House Document No. 566, LVI Congress. 
 
 57 
 
Carolina. This state possesses six penitentiary colonies, which form 
 agricultural communities, because 97 per cent, of the criminals sen- 
 tenced to the penitentiary belong to the class of workmen without a 
 trade. They are for the most part, negroes. The fields of these estates 
 have been improved, manured, and sowed at the expense of the state, 
 which has invested large sums in the important work of draining and 
 damming. From 1883 to 1889 the execution of these vast enterprises 
 demanded an annual expenditure of $100,000, which was reduced almost 
 two- thirds from 1889 to 1893 and more than three-fourths from 1893 to 
 1895. In 1896 these agricultural colonies became self-supporting, and, 
 besides, had a running capital exceeding $90,000, accumulated in the 
 course of the preceding years. One guard was needed for about ten 
 prisoners. Public officers direct the work through inspectors appointed 
 especially for this work. The most important crops of these estates are 
 cotton, peas, oats, wheat, and other cereals. Large fields have been con- 
 verted into pastures since the raising of cattle is carried on on a large 
 scale, and contributes very much to the profits of the enterprise. 
 
 It is less expensive to employ convicts on the construction and repair- 
 ing of roads, canals, railroads, or other public works. But here every 
 prisoner who still respects himself is forced to be exposed to new humilia- 
 tions. He may be seen by some old acquaintance who will not forget, as 
 long as he lives, the circumstances and place of this encounter. 
 
 Most prisoners are insensible to shame. They have become the 
 slaves of evil. If they are afraid of being recognized, it is only because 
 this may increase their chances of being discovered later when they 
 return to criminal ways which they do not intend to abandon when they 
 are discharged. 
 
 Those who have not lost their sense of dignity and who desire to 
 retrieve their past by a better life may, without inconvenience, be authorized 
 to wear a semi-mask or a domino, which, without especially hindering 
 them in the execution of their task, will prevent them from being recog- 
 nized in a band of convicts. Permission to wear a domino might be 
 accorded to the convicts who are recommended by the chaplain, or by 
 some authority of the court or penitentiary, and this privilege might be 
 made to depend on their good conduct. This measure might diminish 
 somewhat the pecuniary return from the work of the prisoners ; but what 
 will this slight loss to the state signify, compared with the chance of 
 
 58 
 
reforming a man? The government could very well sacrifice all the 
 profit which comes from the work of the convict in the hope of restoring 
 him to the ranks of good citizens. 
 
 The law could also remove the objection we are considering by stipu- 
 lating, as the Prussian penal code has already done ( 16), that "no 
 convict shall be forced to work in the open air against his own desire." 
 
 2. It is perfectly true that a convict engaged in agriculture or work 
 of public utility is in vile company. But will he be in better society within 
 the walls of a prison? 
 
 We may assume that no one now approves of cellular labor, once 
 extolled, unless it is desired to drive men to suicide or insanity. When 
 they are confined on a long sentence, it is necessary to give them some 
 contact with their fellows. Equally from the economic point of view 
 work in common is necessary. 
 
 Certainly it is easier to prevent all conversation between the prisoners 
 and isolate them completely during the night by guarding them in the 
 prison, than when they are employed in the open air. Without doubt it 
 would be possible to construct vast cellular penitentiaries on the domains 
 of the state ; but this would soon be very burdensome, and, besides, since 
 public works need frequent changes of location, it would be very rarely 
 that the convicts could be occupied in places so accessible to the prison 
 that they could return each evening. 
 
 But, while admitting freely that the occupations in the open air 
 increase the danger of bad companionship, just as it does improper and 
 degrading communications and conversation, which it is much more diffi- 
 cult for the guards to prevent than in prison, can we not find some 
 indisputable advantages that will compensate ? 
 
 Every man who works in the open air has beneficent companionship 
 that will never be wanting to him : that of nature. The simple aspect of 
 sun and sky, of fields and woods, has something which elevates and revives 
 the soul. The least gifted creature, the most degraded, cannot remain insen- 
 sible to the immensity of the world which surrounds him and his own 
 personal insignificance in the presence of this universe which extends 
 even beyond the stars "of the night. It is in nature alone that the convict 
 finds a release from the misery of his own existence. Confined within 
 four walls, compelled to work mechanically in the somber workshop of 
 the prison, he seems even to forget that he is a man. He cannot forget it, 
 
 59 
 
if he feels the fecund earth beneath his feet, the pure air about him, and the 
 infinity of the heavens over his head. The dangers of a degrading pro- 
 miscuity can certainly be reduced to the minimum by a wise administra- 
 tion. In Georgia, for example, where convicts and delinquents who were 
 sentenced to a short imprisonment were often forced to work side by 
 side, the government was subject to severe and just criticism. 
 
 If there are conscientious guards, sufficient in number, and if it is 
 necessary for the prisoners to return to the barracks each evening, it is 
 surely possible to prevent all communication between them, both during 
 their work, and during the night. 
 
 Evidently it is much better not to permit the most depraved criminals 
 to work outside; and all those who hold improper communication can 
 be punished by confining them again in prison. 
 
 3. The convict who works in the open air is more exposed than in 
 the prison to the abuse and tyranny of those who direct the work. A 
 guard, who in prison would not dare give free rein to his brutality in the 
 presence of a number of witnesses, can take the liberty to beat or insult a 
 prisoner if he is alone with him, or with only two or three others, as very 
 frequently happens in an agricultural colony, where the workmen are 
 necessarily more or less scattered. There is a very simple remedy for 
 this evil : to employ only humane guards. 
 
 The objection really has no basis unless the work of the prisoners is 
 leased to an individual. It is there we must look for the principal cause 
 of the discredit into which the system of compulsory labor in the open air 
 has fallen in America. The state has often undertaken to sell the labor 
 of the convicts to the highest bidder. The highest offers would be very 
 moderate, since, according to the custom established in the United States, 
 the work of a convict is not worth more than about one-third of that of 
 a free citizen having the same physical ability. 2 But, whatever the 
 salary offered, the patron who obtained in this fashion the services of a 
 band of workers of evil disposition and obstinate, was strongly tempted to 
 reduce them to obedience by any kind of measures. 
 
 In Texas the penitentiaries contain less than a third of the prisoners. 
 All the others about 3,000 are employed at work in the open air and, 
 with the exception of 400 who work in the agricultural colonies of the 
 state, are leased to the farmers, who hire them by contract at a monthly 
 
 2 "Prison System of the United States," op. cit., 87. 
 
 60 
 
salary of $15 to $20, or are placed on the farms belonging to societies of 
 private shareholders, who pay to the state half of the proceeds of the 
 enterprise. The convicts are mostly negroes, slothful, without initiative, 
 and without resources. The result is a large number of abuses and 
 frequent examples of cruelty on the part of those who employ them. 
 It has been discovered that among the guards (who are all appointed and 
 paid by the state) there are some who also receive rewards from the con- 
 tractors, evidently engaging to favor their interests to the detriment of the 
 prisoners placed in their charge. 3 Recently a committee of the legislature 
 has advocated the abolition of this whole system of contracts. These 
 reproaches do not so much apply to the agricultural colonies of the state ; 
 although their administration, also, has given occasion for severe criti- 
 cism. From the financial point of view, compulsory work in the open 
 air has given very satisfactory results. From 1900 to 1903 the annual 
 gains from the convict labor exceeded the sum of $133,000, all expenses 
 deducted. 
 
 It is indisputable that the convicts should not be employed at open- 
 air work except by the government. And it is only in this way that a 
 just and humane treatment can be assured them. This condition is 
 expressly required by the code of the German Empire (sees. 15 and 22 of 
 the "Fundamental Principles"). 
 
 4. Whatever the system of administration, the convict has a better 
 chance to escape if he works outside the walls of the prison. He has 
 already taken one step toward liberty. 
 
 The chains and irons used to prevent this danger should be entirely 
 abolished. They are the manifest signs of degradation; they cause the 
 prisoner a constant physical discomfort, if not pain ; and finally, they 
 hinder him considerably in his work and diminish its product. We 
 ought also to reject the custom practiced in Russia of shaving only half 
 the head of the convict. This procedure without doubt facilitates the 
 pursuit and capture of fugitives, but it inflicts a very humiliating personal 
 outrage on the prisoner. Still it is altogether permissible to compel him 
 to wear a distinctive costume. This is generally an adequate means of 
 preventing escapes and assuring the capture of fugitives, and it does not 
 injure the convict. The state can also acquire lands somewhat distant 
 
 3 See, in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, Vol. 
 XXI (1884), an article on "The Convict Labor System of Texas." 
 
 61 
 
from the railway stations and sea-ports, and install there its agricultural 
 penitentiary colonies. 
 
 Let us add that open-air occupations under the conditions suggested 
 could not reasonably include the prisoners who are sentenced for life or 
 for many years to the penitentiary. Those who have only a short sentence 
 to serve are relatively little tempted to escape. 
 
 I do not wish to say that the system of hard labor in the open air 
 should not be applied also, under harder conditions, to the recidivists and 
 incorrigibles sentenced to a penalty of very long duration, or indefinitely. 
 They have lost their rights as citizens ; they have voluntarily abandoned 
 their position as free members of an organized society. Since they act 
 thus, they can be compelled to work in gangs on the public roads, and be 
 locked up again every evening. 4 
 
 5. The last objection which remains for us to consider is this : by 
 using convicts in open-air work an unjust competition with free labor is 
 introduced. 
 
 This objection could be applied to every other form of penitentiary 
 work. Besides, it goes too far. If men were shut up without occupation, 
 they would die before long, or become insane. On the other hand, it 
 would be unjust for the state to support them when they could earn their 
 own bread. Without doubt it would not be proper for the state, in its 
 effort to save the criminals, to injure or destroy the work of free work- 
 men by a formidable competition. But it is easier to avoid this competition 
 by employing the convicts at work in the open air than by instructing them 
 to practice a trade in prison. Every manufactured article has a market 
 essentially local. Its sale, like the number of its purchasers, is subject 
 to a sort of fashion. But the products of the earth are required by all men 
 indiscriminately, whatever be their rank or nationality. The surplus 
 product of one country finds ready sale in another. The field of the 
 farmer is the world. Moreover, if the agricultural penitentiary colonies 
 are public, as they should be, the prisoners themselves consume the great- 
 est part of the products. Messrs, de Bellye and de Balogh, in a remark- 
 able report presented to the Congress o? Brussels in 1900 on prison reform 
 in Hungary employ this language in respect to the objection which now 
 occupies us : 
 
 4 The editor cannot let this suggestion pass without protest, if it involves exposure 
 to public gaze. C. R. Henderson. 
 
 62 
 
The open air work most frequently tried is the culture of willows, which are 
 used for basket work. For some time also horticulture, viticulture, work on the 
 common sewer, the construction of dikes, cutting down rushes, etc., have been 
 undertaken. Very good results have been obtained by the prisoners employed on 
 the restoration of the vineyards of Tokaj-Hegyalja ravaged by phylloxera, an 
 enterprise very important for the economic interests of the country. 
 
 But if account is taken of the prison interests and of the agrarian-socialist 
 movement which has arisen in the country, it should be sta'ted that the- work of the 
 prisoners in the fields and gardens should not be extended furthej. 5 
 
 It is legitimate to ask if the agrarian socialists do not really contra- 
 dict their own principles in opposing the acquisition by the state at the 
 public expense, of lands to be cultivated for the public profit. 
 
 It next remains for us to set forth the essential merits of the system 
 of occupation in the open air, which we have not been able to present 
 completely while discussing the objections which are urged against it. 
 
 1. This system permits the application of an acknowledged principle, 
 by virtue of which the work of each prisoner ought to be adjusted to 
 his individual capacity. 
 
 A shoemaker for instance, would not be placed in an agricultural 
 colony, unless he expressed a desire to go there. He would be more 
 useful and happy in practicing his trade, though shut up between four 
 walls. The prison itself could not afford that intense satisfaction which 
 every man feels in doing the work he knows how to do. 
 
 But the great mass of convicts do not know any of the trades. They 
 live from day to day. The work of agriculture and of the public roads 
 suits them best, and to these they are best fitted. 
 
 2. It also affords considerable encouragement to the prisoners if the 
 permission to work outside is accorded to them as a privilege which 
 depends on their conduct, if it is made a reward whose value is appre- 
 ciated by the majority. 
 
 Under similar conditions every man who enjoys a normal condition of 
 health, if he is condemned to work under the orders and for the benefit 
 of another, certainly prefers to do the work in open air rather than in 
 prison. 
 
 This principle has already been adopted in Italy (Penal Code, sec. 14) 
 where the open-air occupations, both in the agricultural penitentiary 
 
 8 Acts of the Congress, Vol. IV, 525. 
 
 63 
 
colonies, and on works of public utility, are accorded as a reward to the 
 convicts who approach the expiration of their term of punishment and 
 who have shown good conduct in prison. 
 
 3. The convicts are engaged in an ordinary and useful work, in 
 which they can perfect themselves so that they are better workmen after 
 they are discharged. 
 
 4. It improves the country, by making the land valuable. As has 
 been said, whoever has made two blades of grass grow where only one 
 grew before has done something for the world. The state accomplishes 
 a work profitable to all when it transforms an exhausted or arid piece of 
 land into a cultivated garden. It serves the public interests by construct- 
 ing or repairing roads, canals, and railroads. 
 
 5. It is excellent for the health of the prisoners. The regenerating 
 forces of nature work unceasingly to keep the atmosphere free from all 
 contagion, to rid it of every morbid germ. But, since their aid is entirely 
 banished from the prisons, these places, in spite of all possible cleaning, 
 become seats of infection and notably of tuberculosis ; besides, a life of 
 sedentary imprisonment may give a predisposition to tuberculosis. Very 
 few prisons are found that are not impregnated with an unwholesome 
 odor sui generis. 
 
 6. This brings greater revenue than the industries carried on within 
 prison walls. 
 
 In open air the work of the convicts is done in more natural conditions, 
 since they engage in the production of commodities which find a ready 
 sale in the entire world, and in the building and maintenance of ways of 
 communication which directly develop and multiply the commercial rela- 
 tions. If the government possesses the roads of the country, each day's 
 work furnished by a convict permits it to save, in part at least, the wages 
 which it would have to take out of public revenues to pay a free work- 
 man. It is true the prisoner takes away the work which might be done 
 by the free man ; but it is not a function of. government to procure work 
 for its citizens. 
 
 7. It is admitted that field labors are best suited to young minor 
 delinquents, and most civilized nations place these in agricultural peni- 
 tentiary colonies created for this purpose. 
 
 But in a certain degree do not all the objections which are raised 
 against the system of convict labor in the open air apply as well to minors 
 
 6 4 
 
as to adults? The most serious of these, the danger of evil companion- 
 ships, certainly exists. No conversation is so coarse and cynical as that 
 of a depraved youth ; no adult can spread the contagion of his vice among 
 his comrades more quickly or surely than he. 
 
 It is claimed that it is proper to apply this system, in spite of the risks 
 which it presents, to very young convicts, because it cannot fail to give 
 them useful habits of labor, even though it should fail with grown men, 
 with whom bad habits are inveterate. Such an affirmation is extreme in 
 two directions. While, on the one hand, it seems that a very large pro- 
 portion of the youths who leave the reformatories return, on the other 
 hand, there is a large number of adults who make good use of the occupa- 
 tion in which they engaged, or the trade which they learned in the 
 penitentiary. 
 
 If we consider the history of the system of compulsory labor in the 
 open air, it is seen that it originated at a very early period and that to 
 this day it has been practiced constantly, even if not always for the same 
 aim, by one nation or another. In fact, it is nothing but the penitentiary 
 colony localized in the country. 
 
 This system has not always been applied with judgment and humanity. 
 It has been abolished in England by public opinion, which is strongly 
 opposed to the degrading promiscuity to which it exposes the workers. 
 Mr. William Tallock condemns it, as he himself states, because of this 
 principle, which will always remain fundamental : "It is that the congre- 
 gate life of the prisoners and vagabonds annuls the regenerative and 
 repressive effect of the punishment." 6 He admits, however, that it may 
 have some advantage, in certain cases, by permitting tlie field labors to be 
 done by small groups chosen from the prisoners who were condemned 
 for slight offenses. 7 
 
 In my opinion that is the main point of the question. The occupations 
 in the open air cannot be permitted to all convicts, any more than the 
 same kind of labor could be allotted to all indiscriminately. In general it 
 would be well to permit work outside to be done only by the prisoners 
 who would not be strongly tempted to escape, and as far as possible this 
 permission should be accorded as a recompense to those who merit it for 
 their conduct and who manifest the desire to obtain it. This result was 
 
 6 Penological and Preventive Principles, 222. 
 ''Ibid., 225. 
 
 65 
 
secured by the author of some interesting experiments which were made 
 during the construction of the fort of Civita-Vecchia, erected in 1882-83 
 under military direction, and which were described in a report presented 
 to the Congress of Rome in 1885. 
 
 It is at once important and possible, in forming the groups of con- 
 victs who are to work and sleep in common, to exclude those who might 
 be radically perverted and depraved (supposing that any of this sort are 
 found among those authorized to work in the open air) and place them 
 apart. Those convicts, Tike scabby sheep in a flock, can also be employed 
 in the open air, as we have already said, not according to their desire or as 
 a recompense, but by force and at the most difficult public works. The 
 only profit which can be acquired from men of this class is the product 
 of their labor. Then let the hard toil of work on the road or at tilling 
 be reserved for such. 
 
 In Austria these convicts are completely excluded from every kind of 
 occupation in the open air. Only the prisoners with best records are 
 authorized to take part in the work in the open air, which is undertaken 
 both for the government and for particular employers. In the last case, 
 the state leases workers by groups composed of at least ten convicts, and 
 furnishes a guard for each group. Fundamentally this entire question is 
 purely one of administration. As long as Sir Walter Crofton was gen- 
 eral director of the prisons of Ireland, the agricultural penitentiary 
 colony of Lusk, whither the most meritorious convicts could obtain the 
 privilege of being transferred toward the end of their penalty, won the 
 admiration of all who studied penal discipline. When he resigned his 
 position, this establishment, falling into other hands, degenerated to 
 such a point that Sir Crofton himself did not hesitate to join the pro- 
 tests raised against its maintenance, and it was abolished in 1887. 
 
 If convicts are employed on public works, it is evidently necessary to 
 observe the greatest prudence and discernment in order to employ them 
 in places and circumstances where it will be possible to prevent all con- 
 tact between them and free citizens. It is absolutely necessary to prevent 
 them from working with free workmen. This is one of the abuses which 
 has done the most to discredit this system and it should never be toler- 
 ated. The penal code of the German Empire formally forbids it. Neither 
 should the prisoners be employed in the streets of a city, where, if one 
 
 8 Acts of the Congress, Vol. Ill, 193. 
 
 66 
 
of them should try to escape, the guard in 'shooting at him, might hit 
 some one passing by. Appropriate conditions of time and place should 
 be considered with the greatest care. 
 
 The Congress of Rome decided that "the establishment of open-air 
 work for those condemned to penalties of some duration can be recom- 
 mended in certain countries and certain surroundings." This moderate 
 and prudent solution may be expressed in more positive and precise 
 terms, in order to permit further discussion. Whatever we may think 
 of work on the road, or other occupations in the open air, for irremediably 
 depraved and incorrigible prisoners we maintain that, in every country, 
 the state has the right to employ certain convicts at agricultural enter- 
 prises organized and possessed by the government, and that, moreover, 
 this right may be exercised to the advantage of the state and of the con- 
 victs, provided it is under a humane, discrete, and judicious administra- 
 tion and care, and that the open-air work is reserved for the prisoners for 
 whom it is individually suitable. 
 
REPORT OF M. J. P. VINCENSINI 
 
 DIRECTOR OF THE CENTRAL PRISON OF MONTPELLIER, FRANCE 
 [TRANSLATOR, C. R. HENDERSON] 
 
 The question of principle does not appear to me to present any 
 difficulty, and so, in the interest of individuals as well as of intelligent and 
 reformatory repression, the organization of agricultural work and labor 
 in the open air ought to be advocated and authorized. 
 
 All those who, previous to conviction, have been workers in the soil, 
 farmers, vine-growers, laborers, should be occupied after their conviction 
 in labor of the same kind. Labor in shops ought to be reserved entirely 
 for industial workmen or persons belonging to town population, who 
 will return to the city, who have no trade, and who in prison might serve 
 apprenticeship to a calling by which they can earn a living after liberation. 
 
 The system of confining all in the same establishment, without regard 
 to differences of origin, and without thought of what they will do after 
 discharge, is not suitable. The effects are heart-breaking and the 
 penalty is not equal for all. It is evident that in body and disposition the 
 man who is accustomed to live in the open air, to move freely in a pure 
 atmosphere in space without limit, will suffer much more from incarcera- 
 tion than the man who, accustomed to work in a room or shop in a city, 
 has always been shut up within walls, and has never had, except at rare 
 intervals, the happiness of breathing and moving as he pleased. The 
 man who has led a rural life suffers more and loses vitality sooner in the 
 prison. Whatever the work given him and whatever his good will, his 
 power does not pass certain limits. He may obey, but he knows that he 
 will never follow the calling which he is taught, and which he does not 
 learn thoroughly, and so he works without zest. His production is almost 
 always relatively inadequate, as compared with that of the urban work- 
 men, and his guards are tempted to regard him as rebellious, lazy, or 
 unskilful. This is a grave error. If he does not produce much and of 
 good quality it is because work contrary to his nature is imposed on him, 
 in surroundings not familiar. Put this same man in open air and his 
 
 68 
 
attitude changes. He accomplishes what the urban workman could not 
 do. In his turn he does more and better work. When he plies pick or 
 spade he knows what he is about, as the other knows how to use his file 
 or his hammer ; and so he becomes more and more useful. 
 
 Having passed nine years in the agricultural prisons of Corsica, I had 
 occasion to observe that the cultivators of the soil were in their place: 
 there, and that they did better than in the closed prisons whence they 
 were sent. There was an enormous difference between the peasants and 
 the urban convicts. The former were submissive and industrious, the 
 latter undisciplined and lazy. In my view work in open air should be 
 reserved for farmers, vine-growers, and others accustomed to field-work 
 or public works, to the exclusion of those who have been convicted of 
 vagabondage or mendicancy and have no home. 
 
 The organization of work in the open presents no difficulties nor 
 dangers, and may give good results. If one admits to the works or agri- 
 cultural establishments only real cultivators, men having a home and 
 desirous of returning to their families, there will be few escapes. In the 
 prisons of Corsica, where the prisoners were in constant contact with the 
 free population, and where they could procure the means of escape not 
 only from the prison but from the district, the escapes were rare. It was 
 only the men without a future who ran away. Almost all were brought 
 back to the establishment. The true cultivators of the soil, the laborers, 
 did not attempt to escape. I have known some of them who did not need 
 to be supervised and who interested .themselves in the crops and stock- 
 raising as if they were really proprietors of the farm. 
 
 In 1884 and 1885, at the central prison of Embrun, now suppressed, 
 thirty prisoners went out daily twenty or thirty kilometers from the 
 establishment to labor on the railroad. They went every morning by 
 train and returned in the evening by the same means. From the station 
 to the prison they were escorted by two guards. There were no escapes. 
 Some attempted at first to introduce tobacco. These were punished and 
 did not go out again. That was all. In Algeria almost all prisoners work 
 outside and no serious criticism has been made. 
 
 When any person has lived in these institutions, when one has seen and 
 directed prisoners working in open air, he is convinced, as I am, that 
 there is a moral interest, without speaking of a material interest, which 
 is also great, but which I do not treat in this brief report, in organizing 
 
 69 
 
work in open air for the convicts of whom I have spoken. They are no 
 longer the suspicious figures of the central prison that we have before 
 us. The look is direct, the bearing is correct, the attitude easy, natural, 
 respectful, without being obsequious. The prisoners working at an occu- 
 pation which pleases them, give themselves to it and become useful 
 and intelligent helpers of those who direct the labor. The orders given 
 are often executed with devotion and intelligence, and it would be easy 
 for me to cite numerous cases among the prisoners of men who are 
 entirely renewed in moral character. I have witnessed touching examples 
 among them of efforts to save life in fires and to render h~lp to shipwrecked 
 persons, and I have seen them do acts worthy of praise and which proved 
 that they had become men in the best meaning of the term. 
 
 Work in the open air may vary with the conditions of the country. 
 I have seen men employed in digging canals, filling up marshes, clearing 
 brushwood, cultivating, planting vines, creating artificial prairies, stock- 
 raising, constructing roads, cutting wood. All that properly belongs to 
 them they can do. In Corsica they have created estates of considerable 
 value. At Fontevrault, near Samur, they have cleared lands and drained 
 regions which now belong to the reform school of St. Hilaire. The 
 utility of this labor is no longer in doubt. 
 
 It seems to me that institutions can be installed anywhere for those 
 who ought to be given outdoor work. These establishments need not 
 resemble other prisons in appearance, methods, or food. In some cases 
 mere movable barracks seem to be sufficient. One must take account of 
 situations where location of works must frequently change. It should be 
 made easy to break camp and settle elsewhere. In other circumstances 
 more permanent quarters may be provided, as where many months or 
 years are to be spent in a place, but in any case I object to buildings 
 which are costly and fine. Simple farm buildings are sufficient. I advise 
 that each camp have places for disciplinary punishment, but in case of 
 habitual misconduct the best punishment would be to send them to cellu- 
 lar prisons without giving them "good time" for a term served in cells. 
 Each camp should provide for each 100 persons : 2 tailors who keep the 
 clothing and linen in order ; I shoemaker ; 2 in the laundry ; I cook ; I 
 smith to mend tools : I baker ; 2 assistants for the cook, the baker, and 
 other services. At the head of each farm should be placed a superintend- 
 ent and a sufficient number of guards, I guard to 10 prisoners. 
 
 70 
 
The food should le like that of workmen of the same locality. Wages 
 should be such as to enable them to pay cost of their keeping and leave 
 some remainder. Equality with free workmen would thus be complete. 
 It follows that prisoners would not be paid except as they work. They 
 might be granted coffee, wine, and tobacco at their own cost. 
 
 I do not insist further. I merely sketch th^ outlines, for here only 
 general ideas are possible. One could not imagine a method which in all 
 respects would fit all countries. All things differ according to places, 
 temperaments, resources. All that we can affirm everywhere is that work 
 in the open air is suitable for certain categories of prisoners, that the 
 necessary organization is easily made, and that it ought to be such as 
 to involve the least expense possible and not give the convicts a position 
 superior to that of free laborers. 
 
REPORT PRESENTED BY ALBIN UHLYARIK 
 
 DIRECTOR OF THE PENITENTIARY AT SZAMOSUJVAR 
 
 [TRANSLATOR, H. H. LE DREW] 
 
 The employment of criminals at agricultural and horticultural work, 
 as well as at works of public utility carried on in the open air, would 
 justify itself upon the same principles as those which govern the humane 
 application of punishment through loss of liberty, seeing that sections 29, 
 37, and 40 of the Hungarian penal code admit of the employment of 
 criminals at work performed outside the walls of the penitentiary. 
 
 Granted that occupation at public work is an alleviation of the pun- 
 ishment, an alleviation recommended by reason, I am convinced that this 
 kind of work could be permitted to inmates of penitentiaries by virtue of 
 the principles stated below. First of all this invaluable favor could be 
 accorded only to those convicts who had already served half their sen- 
 tence and who had at the same time some chance of securing their trans- 
 fer to an intermediate institution or of being dismissed on conditional 
 release. That favor ought to be granted, then, to those who have furnished 
 proof of their improvement as well as of their repentance, of indefatigable 
 activity, and of unquestioned moral regeneration ; in other words, those 
 of whom one is justified in supposing that they have returned to the right 
 way, whose trade is not out of harmony with this work, and who engage 
 voluntarily to do this public work outside the walls of the penitentiary, 
 or, to speak more accurately, who consent to do the work which is assigned 
 them. Without doubt employment at work done in the open air con- 
 stitutes a very great benefit, making it much easier for criminals, who are 
 adapted to this work and show themselves deserving of it, to bear their 
 punishment. The introduction of this work into the penitentiary can 
 therefore be recommended upon humanitarian grounds. But, although 
 this aspect of the question deserves to be considered, I am of the opinion 
 that there is a reason of still greater importance, viz., occupation in the 
 open air constitutes a great moral factor which one can reasonably employ 
 for the moral improvement of the criminal. He aspires quite naturally, 
 
 72 
 
and always in increasing measure, to be employed at work in the open 
 air ; he strives with all his might to preserve this favor and refrains from 
 doing anything which might result in his losing it. Experience has 
 shown that agricultural labor and viticultural work softens the criminal 
 and exercises an ennobling effect upon his mind. Besides that consider- 
 ation, which has its importance, there is another which pleads in favor 
 of agricultural labor for criminals. In our country, especially, where the 
 majority of the population are engaged in agricultural work, it is not 
 without importance to occupy the prisoners with work similar to that 
 which they have pursued in the past, whether agricultural" or horticultural, 
 giving them practice and rational instruction in a profession which they 
 will in all probability continue to follow after liberation, and which cor- 
 responds the better to their aspirations as well as to their manner of life. 
 And if, moreover, we perfect them in their trades, we shall have con- 
 tributed in large measure to assuring them a future livelihood by a more 
 complete professional education. 
 
 It is necessary that the director, placed at the head of an establishment 
 of detention, be a severe judge, but just and fair to all those whom fate 
 has placed in his hands. But it is necessary that he be at the same time, 
 and above all things else, the teacher and educator of these prisoners 
 intrusted to his care. Conformable to these principles, it is necessary that 
 he devote a great deal of his attention to the public works in a way to 
 secure moral improvement of the prisoner. Public work done in the open 
 air offers also this advantage, that it does not enter into competition 
 with free labor, a circumstance calculated to diminish, at least, the 
 complaints and recriminations of free laborers, if not to suppress them 
 completely. 
 
 Our rural workmen depreciate gardening on the ground that it is 
 mean and unworthy of a man and fit only for women and children. They 
 have not learned how productive this occupation may be made. They do 
 not yet believe that it demands, not only a vast amount of physical force, 
 but also a great deal of skill, which alone can procure as a result an 
 adequate return for toil. "Horticulture is a science; its secrets are 
 manifold and their discovery constitutes a victory over nature. Nature 
 plays at hide and seek, but she consents to let herself be caught." He 
 who knows how to go about it intelligently will not fail to find in plant 
 life that gold mine which will enhance the welfare of mankind. I think, 
 
 73 
 
then, that the employment of prisoners in these occupations is reasonable, 
 and calculated to attain the desired end. In passing, I shall say a few 
 words concerning the work of regulating watercourses, constructing 
 dykes, and laying out roads, as being public works done in the open air 
 by inmates of penitentiaries and establishments of detention. These 
 works intrusted to prisoners may be the source of great benefit to the 
 state, without taking into account that, in intrusting to these convicts the 
 work of excavation done with a view to bringing to light the antiquities 
 which the earth conceals in her bosom, one would render a -signal service 
 to science and that at a minimum of expense. 
 
 But as I think that horticulture and agriculture are not only the most 
 important of all the public works done in the open air, but also the most 
 advantageous for prisoners who are employed in them, their introduction 
 into the programme ought to be realized in the first place, with the under- 
 standing (and that all the more that they rest upon fixed foundations), 
 that they can be organized in conformity with rational principles, and 
 that their admission to the number of penal works would not encounter 
 any insurmountable difficulty in the majority of penitentiaries. It is well 
 understood that it is important to bring great wisdom and vigilance to 
 the devising and execution of plans for the realization of this labor 
 programme. 
 
 First of all the prisoners designated for this kind of work ought to be 
 chosen with great care, so that there can be no room for fear of abuses, 
 escapes, or acts of insubordination. To these ends it is important that the 
 prisoners be carefully warned beforehand that immediate and rigorous 
 repression will be the consequence of any conduct contrary to the regula- 
 tions. A strict surveillance will be exercised with a view to a complete 
 isolation of the prisoners from free laborers. The personnel shall be well 
 chosen and provided with the most minute instructions. Their duty is 
 to see with jealous care that a discipline without reproach, an inviolable 
 order may rule the prisoners detailed for this work, since neglect would 
 tend to lighten the severity of the punishment which deprives of liberty. 
 
 I believe there is need of totally eradicating the idea of production 
 carried on with a view to sale on the market. Such production ought to 
 be applied exclusively to furnishing supplies necessary for the mainte- 
 nance of the prisoners. 
 
 Forestry, arboriculture, vine-grafting, silk culture, and apiculture 
 
 74 
 
could be combined advantageously with field and garden work, and the 
 prisoners could receive thorough instruction in all the branches of the 
 profession of agriculture. And although all these occupations are intro- 
 duced, in the first place, less for the material profit than for moral and 
 educational advancement of the prisoners, it is none the less certain that 
 they would not fail to yield a material profit nay, even a gain of consid- 
 erable importance, provided always that they are managed in a rational 
 manner and submitted to strict supervision. 
 
 I close my modest commentary with an exposition of conditions under 
 which the penitentiary at Szamosujvar has employed its inmates for five 
 years already at outside garden work, in conformity with the principles 
 and methods above outlined. This penitentiary establishment cultivates 
 an area of n arpents and 1,300 toises (=6.5 hectares) rented with a view 
 to producing kitchen vegetables necessary for its maintenance. This 
 cultivation is sufficient for its needs, for the establishment consumes only 
 its own products and buys absolutely nothing in the free market. Garden- 
 ing is combined with nursery work and a little apiculture. During these 
 five years a total of 254 individuals have been employed in outside work, 
 and only six cases of insubordination have occurred. The men have 
 worked gladly and with much zeal, and, to use a trite expression, "have 
 gone through fire" in order to obtain the privilege of going to work in 
 the open air, preliminary to their restoration to conditional liberty or 
 their transfer to an intermediary establishment. At noon their lunch is 
 brought to them where they are ; in the evening they generally get dinner 
 for themselves, preparing ordinary vegetables which have grown on the 
 place, and returning to the penitentiary at nightfall. As to profits, let me 
 mention that in the course of the five years the net gain has amounted to 
 11,000 crowns, which has brought to the treasury more than 200 crowns 
 per year per arpent. As to the moral gain I affirm categorically that the 
 work of gardening has had an ennobling and softening influence upon the 
 character of the men employed. I have, moreover, certain information 
 concerning a number of men who have derived advantages in their free 
 life after liberation, from things learned during their detention in this 
 experience with gardening. 
 
 75 
 
REPORT PRESENTED BY KARL HAFNER 
 
 DOCTOR OF LAWS, ZURICH 
 
 [TRANSLATOR, ELIZABETH FORREST] 
 
 The punishment which involves the loss of liberty ought not to be 
 hurtful to the health of the convict. It is not right to impose on anyone 
 an occupation which endangers his life. The work must be in harmony 
 with the end sought in pronouncing the sentence. The work ought to 
 enable the prisoner to provide better for his support after discharge, or 
 at least to permit him to do as well as he could before he entered the 
 penitentiary. These are the principles which should be the norm for the 
 choice of all work required in the prison or in the open air. 
 
 The manner in which formerly certain public work was done by con- 
 victs or galley-slaves gave only too much justification for the criticism 
 of opponents of work of prisoners in the open air. Moreover these 
 occupations have been systematically antagonized and completely dis- 
 credited by the partisans of the cellular system. 
 
 Work in the open air cannot and ought not to be re-established in 
 its earlier form ; but it should be adapted to the demands of recent opinion 
 in the matter of administering punishment. There are a number of out- 
 door occupations which are perfectly suitable and which a number of 
 countries have adopted for their penitentiaries, with or without consider- 
 ing the end of punishment. Among these occupations there is one which 
 holds the first place and to which scarcely anyone thinks any longer of 
 raising serious objections it is the cultivation of land inclosed by a wall. 
 But another kind of work as justifiable is that of agricultural improve- 
 ment of land belonging to an establishment and situated outside the 
 inclosing wall. Agriculture is for various reasons the most important 
 outdoor work. It has, however, the inconvenience of being greatly inter- 
 rupted by winter, but there is the same inconvenience in manufactures or 
 in trades in which there are dead seasons. 
 
 At first sight there may be some hesitation over the question of whether 
 prisoners may be employed in the open air with work other than that of 
 
 76 
 
agriculture, for example with the improvement of the soil of certain 
 places, with draining, with the excavations of gravel and sand pits, with 
 the construction of roads, bridges, canals, harbors, and fortifications, and 
 with the building of new penitentiaries, etc. All this work has already 
 been done by prisoners. In theory there is no difference between such 
 work and tnat of agriculture. The same rules and the same conditions 
 are applicable to all work in the open air. Although the prisoner 
 employed out-doors does his work under different conditions from those 
 of the convict in the cell, the character of the punishment ought not to be 
 changed. Outdoor work must be done under the constant supervision of 
 capable and vigorous guards. In certain cases it is an advantage to form 
 little groups independent of each other. The organization ought always 
 to be such as to allow of observation and constant oversight of each of 
 the prisoners. For this reason it is important to arrange for a sufficient 
 number of guards. In order that outdoor work may be uniform the 
 direction of it must be given to a responsible specialist who understands 
 perfectly the work to be done (a farmer, an engineer, a steward, an 
 architect, etc.). 
 
 No conversation except that absolutely necessary to the work in hand 
 ought to be allowed ,among prisoners. In making up a group of labor- 
 ers, in order to avoid the danger of contagion, the character of the prison- 
 ers fit to work together ought to be considered. Work in the open air is 
 allowable only when trie shop or the field is isolated and away from public 
 sight, or when means can be taken to stop all communication with the 
 outside world. It is by this method that one can succeed in making the 
 prisoners feel conscious of their confinement, without cruelly wounding 
 the self-respect of these unfortunate beings and making them consider 
 themselves publicly disgraced. 
 
 Some measures of precaution are required and are possible when work 
 in the open air gives occasion for escape, as when agricultural work is 
 carried on over large areas of land. For example, small fire-arms may 
 be supplied to the attendants or dogs can be used to assist in guarding 
 convicts. If the local circumstances permit, a telephone may render good 
 service. In the cultivation of a limited area, the land can be inclosed 
 without great expense. 
 
 One of the necessary conditions of all open-air work is that the con- 
 victs be taken back to their cells every night. Let them not be sheltered 
 
 77 
 
in common dormitories. It would be better to give up outdoor work 
 than resort to barracks. 
 
 The moral influence of academic and religious instruction ought not 
 to be neglected even in times of hurry. During the part of the summer 
 when the work is urgent Sunday can be devoted to instruction and at the 
 same time to visiting convicts in their cells. Whatever the circumstances 
 may be, no work should be done out-doors on Sunday, not even agricul- 
 tural labor, which one is sometimes tempted to do. 
 
 If all the foregoing conditions are met, and they ought to be met 
 in the case of prisoners permitted to work in the open air as a recom- 
 pense of good conduct; but some of these provisions may be neglected 
 when one controls or establishes an intermediate institution if, we say, 
 all these conditions are fulfilled, the objection that outdoor work con- 
 tradicts the spirit of punishment is no longer reasonable and breaks down 
 of its own weight. The uniform worn by the prisoner distinguishes him 
 from the rest of the population; if then the rules which we have just 
 stated are observed, the convict ought to feel constantly, as much as the 
 prisoner in the workshop the continuous power of the law and at the same 
 time the purpose of punishment 
 
 The choice of prisoners for outdoor work ought to be made with the 
 greatest care. On principle the convicts of every category, the prisoners 
 for a short term as well as those in the penitentiary, can be employed in 
 this kind of work. However, it must be remembered that when the con- 
 vict leaves the prison he ought to be able to make his living more easily 
 than before, or at least as well, by the work with which he was occupied 
 in the penitentiary. It is true, unfortunately, that this result cannot always 
 be obtained. Unless for special reasons people should not be employed in 
 the open air who have learned a trade which is used in a work-shop, but 
 they should by preference be kept at this trade if circumstances permit. 
 
 Short-term convicts can very well be employed in outdoor work 
 when there is no work for them in the industries of the penitentiary, and 
 if their crime is of such a nature that the punishment does not forbid work 
 in the open air because, for long-term convicts outdoor work, outside 
 or within walls is really a necessity. This work is equally well suited to 
 the habitues of the house of detention, that is to those recidivists who 
 constantly return to this place for slight misdemeanors. Consequently it 
 is important that each penitentiary be able to employ permanently a cer- 
 
 78 
 
tain number of its prisoners with work in the open air. Agricultural 
 work can be recommended above all, because it provides for the important 
 and permanent needs of the establishment (milk, vegetables, etc.). All 
 large penitentiaries have among the prisoners some who are farmers 
 and to whom can be intrusted the work of the farm and the stable. 
 Persons of feeble health, the infirm and the convalescent, will always find 
 easy work for themselves in the garden, the meadows, and the fields. Of 
 all the occupations which can be introduced into a house of detention none 
 is better than agriculture to make use of various physical and intellectual 
 powers. 
 
 If one wishes to respond to the demand of the day in inflicting punish- 
 ment, much more importance must be given to work in the open air than 
 has hitherto been given it. This consideration is especially applicable to 
 horticulture and agriculture, for these occupations can easily be intro- 
 duced into most penitentiaries, where they have, better perhaps than any 
 other kind of work, a happy influence on the health of convicts. This is 
 a most important point to be considered in the infliction of punishment. 
 We wish to fortify the prisoner for the struggle for existence which 
 awaits him and which he ought to be able to meet with more success 
 than at the beginning of his career. In order to assure this success we 
 cannot neglect one of the essential conditions the physical development 
 of the convict. 
 
 As a last consideration in favor of work in the open air, we ought to 
 add that such occupations generally pay much better than the trades 
 carried on in the penitentiary. 
 
 79 
 
REPORT PRESENTED BY M. BERNARD FRIEDMAN 
 
 ATTORNEY-AT-LAW, BUDAPEST 
 
 [TRANSLATOR, E. FRISCH] 
 
 I do not belong to that class of specialists whose business and vocation 
 is to occupy themselves with enforcing penalties and observing their 
 effect on individual men. I content myself with treating this question 
 under the title of a mere amateur. No one, neither the examining magis- 
 trate, nor the public prosecutor, nor the judge pronouncing sentence, 
 nor the inspectors of the prisons themselves, penetrate into the soul of 
 the prisoners as deeply as the lawyers charged with their defense. Usually 
 it is not only the whole being of the prisoner that remains for them a 
 book hermetically sealed, but all his conduct, from his arrest to his 
 liberation, is most of the time full of dissimulation. We are more able 
 to judge whether the state has to deal with a soul corrupt to the bottom, 
 if the repentance is sincere or the correction and improvement genuine 
 or false, for generally we know the secret springs of action, the con- 
 dition of family and of fortune, the after-effects of punishment as well 
 as the difficulties which the task of seeking and obtaining work presents 
 to every prisoner who has been set free. Considering all this, I may not 
 be undertaking an unprofitable task in making known my opinion, 
 although, properly speaking, I am not a specialist in penitentiary matters. 
 With us, as in every other agricultural country, the question is still 
 further complicated by important considerations from the economic point 
 of view. The industrial classes usually complain of lack of work while 
 agriculture finds fault with the absence of working hands. With us, at 
 least, in Hungary, it is so. Nevertheless we do not cease aggravating 
 this unpleasant situation by introducing manufactures into penal labor. 
 In this manner we multiply the very difficulties with which the small 
 manufacturer must constantly wrestle ; on the one hand, on account of the 
 work done wholesale in the prison establishments, on the other hand, 
 because we are thus raising up a whole army of bunglers. But this is not 
 all, and, to fill the measure, we take the prisoners from their accustomed 
 
 80 
 
work of farming, and force them to do work or learn a trade at which 
 they will eventually starve. 
 
 It is evident that the solution of this question is clothed with us, as 
 in every agricultural country, with capital importance from an economic 
 point of view. It does not seem that this fact is of a nature to diminish 
 the importance of the criminological side of the matter, inasmuch as, if 
 any penal regimen is applied without regard to the conditions which 
 govern the manners, the social life, and the economic situation of a 
 country, it may be perfect in theory, but in practice it will fail. A country 
 whose population for the most part engage in manufactures, will natur- 
 ally require an altogether different system of penal labor from one whose 
 inhabitants as a rule busy themselves with agriculture. The manner of 
 living, the circumstances governing labor, the food and nourishment, 
 occupations, clothing, and the moral conceptions of those two strata of 
 the population diverge in such a way and to such a degree, that we may 
 compare them in their reciprocal relations to fire afid water. 
 
 The country peasant going about bare-footed does not concern him- 
 self any more with the snow than if it did not exist ; one such experience 
 would mean a severe inflammation of the chest to any factory employee 
 who should try it. The artisan is not frightened beyond measure at the 
 idea of seeing himself inclosed within four walls and working there 
 under restraint, whether in company with others or in a cell alone, because 
 he is used to it. But if one forced him by way of punishment to work in 
 the open air under the hot rays of the summer sun, handling the scythe 
 or the hoe, he would not be long in succumbing. If the artisan commits 
 an offense against the law and finds himself in prison or in a house of 
 detention, his life does not undergo any great change. He is given work 
 which he has already done when at liberty or is placed at an occupation 
 related to it and in a closed place, similar to that in which he worked 
 before imprisonment. He finds himself with more leisure to devote to 
 walking in the open air than the laborer of the poorest classes can con- 
 trol, who is confined the whole day in the factory where he is employed. 
 The imprisoned artisan often finds opportunity to perfect himself in trade, 
 which before he knew only imperfectly, and after liberation from prison 
 is able to profit by his increased skill. In contrast to this, the imprisoned 
 agricultural laborer, whether he, be a gardener, a vine-dresser, a small 
 proprietor, or a ploughman, has been accustomed through all seasons to 
 
 81 
 
work out-of-doors. With conditions entirely changed, behind closed 
 doors, he is taught an industrial occupation, for which he finds his cal- 
 loused hands entirely unsuited, and which he never can learn perfectly 
 unless he is still young; and in the event of his liberation he finds his 
 body enfeebled, no longer able to endure excessive cold or heat and he 
 soon sinks under the burden of field labor. Neither is he able to make a 
 living with the aid of the trade learned in prison, because he cannot 
 compete either in pace or in skill with those trained in the art from 
 childhood and consequently who are in all respects superior to him. Not 
 knowing how to adapt himself to this new condition, his good intentions 
 will remain intentions that cannot be carried out, and the imprisonment 
 having deprived him of and unfitted him for the only means he could 
 command to maintain himself, his efforts will remain sterile, because he 
 will have lost his strongest support in this return toward the good. 
 Leaving apart these considerations there is still another reason which 
 demands attention. Industrial classes complain of prison workshops 
 which, since they do not pay any tax, imperil the existence of free industry 
 which cannot produce under the same conditions. On the other hand the 
 land could employ twice the number of hands which it actually employs. 
 This resource is inexhaustible. No one of the workers makes the living 
 of another difficult; consequently if penal labor were extended to this 
 field it would be an economic benefit. This judgment, in many countries, 
 is recognized as having a sound basis, and measures are taken by which 
 men belonging to the agricultural class shall be occupied during their 
 entire term of sentence, in such a way as to become more skilful, and 
 capable of maintaining themselves after liberation. 
 
 In all the prisons in which convicts work out their sentence with 
 deprivation of liberty, the prisoners are occupied partly or altogether in 
 agricultural labor. This plan is now followed in many places in the 
 United States, and in Europe at Witzwil, in Switzerland, at Lepoglava, 
 Gaspice, and Novoselo in Croatia; and at Zenica in Bosnia. In Hun- 
 gary this method is used at Vacz, Lepotvar, and Harta. 
 
 Is it inevitable that persons should be committed to prisons with 
 agricultural work, only in the latter part of their sentence? If the estab- 
 lishments of detention which have an agricultural character are organized 
 only as intermediate stations for preparation of the convict for free life, 
 after he has already undergone a long imprisonment, it is natural that his 
 
 82 
 
transfer to establishments of this kind should not take place except in the 
 final period of his sentence. What we must realize is, that the vital energy 
 of the prisoners belonging to the agricultural class shall not be destroyed 
 as a result of the imprisonment, and that they themselves should not be 
 returned to society inferior in their capacity to work. No penal regime, 
 however, demands such a result. On the contrary, the ideal penal sys- 
 tem would be one which, while providing for sufficient repression, would 
 give back to society a penitent improved not only from the moral point of 
 view but also made more vigorous and hardy as respects the capacity 
 for work. 
 
 Repression does not consist merely in closing the door upon a man. 
 It makes itself felt rather by the aid to severe discipline, by the change 
 in living imposed, by the lack of things to which one has been accustomed, 
 by the restrictions upon food and the manner of dress, the obligation and 
 constraint to do continuous and uninterrupted work, the supervision or 
 limitation of communication with family or acquaintances outside, subor- 
 dination of the individual's will to that of others or to the rules of the 
 regimen, etc. The punishment would therefore not be appreciably 
 weakened by the fact that the prisoner would be occupied with agricul- 
 tural work, not only during the last portion of his detention but even 
 much before that. The restrictions exacted by the nature of the pun- 
 ishment could be imposed in these classes of establishments just as well 
 as in the other penitentiaries. As a matter of fact the prisoner who is 
 engaged in shop work is not continually under bolt and bar, since he 
 works in the shops where he moves about freely. 
 
 It is not to be denied that if work in the fields and in the open air 
 were assigned not only to those prisoners wno are about to recover their 
 liberty and to those who have given proof of excellent conduct, but also 
 to the others, the danger of escape would increase. However, that 
 danger is not for this reason unavoidable. Besides, the advantage, which 
 would be derived from intensive occupation for rural prisoners working 
 in the open air, would be infinitely greater than the annoyances which 
 would result therefrom, whether in consequence of the large number of 
 escapes or because of the increase in the expense of surveillance. 
 
 To better comprehend this, it is enough to think a moment of the 
 immense economic advantage which would result from thousands of 
 prisoners who belong to the agricultural classes being sent back every 
 
 83 
 
year to a free life, not broken down, disaccustomed to their habitual work, 
 but better instructed and capable of a greater amount of work, from 
 which society would also profit. In every other occupation the work- 
 men must provide themselves with instruments or costly tools and with 
 raw material, and the prisoner who has been set free must, in addition, 
 ask his patron to give him credit, if he wishes to make sure of a living. 
 In agriculture, if the individual possess a strip of land, the necessary 
 tools a spade, a hoe, and a scythe cost him only a few crowns at most. 
 
 It is, of course, understood that I am not considering here farmers 
 having some fortune, for liberation does not cause them any embarrass- 
 ment. I speak here of those poor people who own scarcely one or two 
 arpents of land or those who, if they have no land, can lease it. 
 
 There are various branches of agriculture which permit large produc- 
 tion on a limited area of land, on the condition, however, that the pro- 
 prietor cultivate it with intelligence, with an unfailing energy, and with 
 constant zeal. Market-gardening, vine culture, bee culture, fruit cul- 
 ture, floriculture, raising of medicinal herbs, mushrooms, and hops, as well 
 as day labor, woodcarving, etc., are all within the reach of the small 
 farmer. And with all this, the individual has no need of credit nor of the 
 favors of outsiders, as is the case with the shop laborer who cannot get 
 along without these, and whom employers usually shun, unfortunately, if 
 they learn that he comes from prison and that, too, notwithstanding the 
 improvement claimed and attested by the management of the penitentiary. 
 That is a strange penal system which excludes the convict from that 
 occupation, and refuses him access to that territory in which he can best 
 earn a living after his liberation, and which requires him to take up a 
 calling in which, since he is too old to learn, he cannot improve, and with 
 which he cannot contend against the prejudices which confront him. I 
 am therefore of the opinion that, regardless of the general question 
 whether agricultural or open-air work can or cannot be introduced into 
 a penal system, that most prisoners who come from the rural class 
 should be given field-work or other work in the open air during the 
 greater part of their detention. This is easy of realization, since it would 
 be sufficient to furnish each penitentiary with a tract of 40 to 50 arpents 
 of arable land for this purpose. A tract of land of this size devoted to 
 gardening or grape culture could furnish employment for so many that 
 there would remain few if any of this class who could not be engaged in 
 
 84 
 
such work. Intensive gardening requires work even during the winter 
 months; turning over the soil, draining inclosures, fertilizing, pruning, 
 etc., are all necessary. During the cold season tools or materials for 
 packing (baskets, boxes, cotton wrappers) can be made all articles 
 requiring only elementary skill, but necessary for horticulture, grape- 
 culture, and agriculture. It is, of course, understood that if any prisoner 
 should express the desire to learn any trade he would not be hindered. 
 
 Here is my idea of introducing agricultural or open-air work in con- 
 vict labor : Each prison should be provjed with a large garden, inclosed, 
 where each rural prisoner can be enr^>yed ; after having served out a 
 third of his sentence if it is longer than three years but less than ten; 
 during the whole period of his detention, if his sentence does not exceed 
 three years, but immediately after having passed the cellular stage 
 required by the regulations. These prisoners, of course, must be sub- 
 jected to the same discipline as that which is applied to the others who 
 work in the shops. In addition, there should be created intermediary 
 agricultural establishments absolutely independent of the penitentiaries 
 and set apart for the prisoners who come from the rural class and, having 
 been condemned to a long sentence, have manifested irreproachable con- 
 duct and are approaching the time when they are to be given conditional 
 liberty or definitively discharged. In the gardens adjoining the peni- 
 tentiaries there would be provision first of all for employing those con- 
 victs who are serving short sentences, between one and two years, inas- 
 much as the risks of escape are comparatively slight with these, while, 
 on the other hand, time is wanting to teach them any trade thoroughly. 
 The prisoners serving long sentences should not be thus employed unless 
 space is left for them, and they are separated from the others. It would 
 not be desirable to employ at this work convicts serving a sentence of ten 
 years or over, because these prisoners have time to learn thoroughly one 
 of the lines of work done in the penitentiary building, and because of 
 their small number it is not economically desirable that they should be 
 kept at their old occupation. A certain class of criminals with whom 
 the risk of escape is to be feared, and who, besides, may exercise a per- 
 nicious influence over their comrades, should likewise be excluded from 
 gardening and field-work. 
 
 We must next consider the conditions under which convict labor may 
 be employed in other works of benefit to agriculture, or of a public utility, 
 
 85 
 
as the construction of buildings for the state, making roads, dredging 
 streams, drainage, regulating beds of rivers, etc. These works are 
 not confined to one place and therefore they cannot be carried on near a 
 penitentiary and in connection with it. It is unnecessary to demonstrate 
 the utility of these works from the economic point of view, especially 
 since they are executed i>y permanent labor forces subjected to a severe 
 discipline and paid relatively low wages. But it is not less certain that 
 they are beneficial for the agricultural prisoner. Usually this work 
 develops the intelligence of the wprkman, extending his horizon and ren- 
 dering him capable, after his lit, -ation, of undertaking not only work 
 intimately connected with the cultivation of the soil, but also assuring 
 him his daily bread in doing work more or less similar. We have many 
 times employed prisoners used to coarse and hard labor on such works 
 and the experiment has always succeeded. In 1887 recourse was had to 
 this class of labor for regulating the course of the river Galga. Fifty- 
 four prisoners sentenced to hard labor and eighty-four others serving 
 jail sentences were employed. The work was done under the direction of 
 agricultural engineers and lasted eight months. During all this time 
 there was not one case of escape. The house of correction was built 
 through the same kind of labor supply. The working convicts, fifty in 
 number, were quartered in simple peasant cottages ; supervision was 
 maintained by an inspector and four guards. The work lasted eighteen 
 months. Altogether there were employed a total of one hundred and 
 ninety prison convicts, not one made effort to escape, and but one case 
 of disorderly conduct was reported: the prisoner being recommitted to 
 the penitentiary. The intermediary establishment at Harta and the peni- 
 tentiary at Metrovicza were built by convict labor. For several years 
 convicts have been employed in restoring the destroyed vineyards of 
 Hegyalja, and no difficulty has been encountered. It is evident that the 
 employment of prisoners, under long sentences, on field-work or other 
 work in the open air, does not recommend itself on account of the greaf; 
 risks of escape. Furthermore a prolonged education would be required 
 and salutary discipline might be relaxed. But I find no plausible reason 
 justifying the pretended impossibility of employing on work in the 
 fields rural prisoners who are serving a sentence shorter than two years. 
 The brief time passed in prison by them is insufficient for supplementary 
 education and it is equally impossible to train them in so short a time to 
 
 86 
 
any trade. And further, in teaching them one of the simpler manual 
 trades, there is such waste of material that the profit obtained later scarcely 
 compensates the expense of production, without taking into consideration 
 that this sort of work is ordinarily unlikely to furnish the prisoner, when 
 liberated, with a living. After all, severe discipline is not so necessary in 
 the case of the petty violators of the law as with the professional criminals, 
 and a discipline more or less severe may be enforced even where they 
 are employed in the open air. ^.s for the chances of escape, it must be 
 recalled that the petty culprits belonging to the farmer class are allowed 
 provisional liberty, that they defend themselves and present themselves at 
 once to pay their penalty from the moment that the sentence has been 
 imposed. This danger is not great because the majority of these men 
 scarcely know any region outside that in which they have been reared ; 
 and nothing is rarer than flight to escape their punishment. This occupa- 
 tion, occasional or permanent, on work done in the open air, is not of a 
 nature to diminish or to suppress the feeling of being punished or the 
 fear this feeling should inspire. 
 
 From what I know of our agricultural population, I can say, without 
 fear of contradiction, that they will feel the weight of their punishment 
 more, if they are made to work without remuneration, or on a very small 
 wage while subjected to a severe discipline and a constant surveillance, 
 than if they were permitted to give themselves over to laziness within the 
 walls of the prison or, if instead of the hard labor, which the cultivation of 
 the soil demands, they are set at penal labor which scarcely fatigues and 
 which permits them to "mark time," rather than to work earnestly. 
 
 However, I think they should not be leased to work under private 
 persons and many reasons, some better than others, could be urged 
 against such a plan. I shall content myself, therefore, with mentioning 
 but one of them, the most important. If the prisoners were permitted to 
 work under private contract, it would be impossible to prevent contact 
 between them and the person who employs them, or between them and the 
 people in his service, and this causes a relaxation in discipline, and 
 weakens the feeling of punishment. 
 
 In summing up all that I have just said, I reach the following con- 
 clusions with regard to the questions which have been put : 
 
 I. It is desirable that, wherever possible, a tract of inclosed land 
 should be joined to each prison ; that such agricultural work should then 
 
 87 
 
be introduced as will permit the employment of a great number of 
 prisoners on a relatively limited piece of land. 
 
 2. It is desirable, in the future, to erect penitentiaries and prisons only 
 in places where the creation of this kind of agricultural areas will not 
 encounter insurmountable obstacles. 
 
 3. These agricultural annexes will form a complementary part of 
 penitentiaries and houses of detention, and will be subjected to the same 
 disciplinary regulations as those applied to the workshops of the prison. 
 
 4. As far as possible, prisoners coming from the agricultural class 
 will be employed in farm work during the greater portion of their 
 sentence. 
 
 5. Besides these innovations, there should be created independent 
 agricultural work places, which, separated from the prisons and peniten- 
 tiaries, will be designed to serve as intermediate establishments organ- 
 ized on a less rigorous method of discipline, with a freer and wider latitude 
 of action, where are to be placed, during the second half of their sen- 
 tence, those prisoners of rural origin, who, sentenced for over three 
 years of detention, have given conclusive proofs of improvement and 
 good behavior. 
 
 6. The management of the agricultural annexes, as well as of the inter- 
 mediate agricultural establishments, should be intrusted to persons versed 
 in that kind of work, and who are charged with the task of instructing 
 the prisoners in agriculture, by means of theoretic courses given during 
 the leisure of winter. 
 
 7. Temporary work by rural convicts upon other public works does 
 not conflict with the general purpose of punishment and is not con- 
 trary to a penal system, if these prisoners, serving short sentences, can 
 be entirely separated from free workmen, and if this work conforms to 
 the general conditions of their existence. 
 
 8. While waiting for the prisoners coming from the agricultural 
 class to be placed in the agricultural section as also during the winter 
 months, when the cultivation of the soil is arrested, they should be taught, 
 as far as possible, one of the manual occupations which are connected 
 with agriculture and which can be carried on as a domestic industry. 
 
REPORT PRESENTED BY M. B. ALTAMURA 
 
 DIRECTOR OF THE CELLULAR PRISONS OF ROME 
 [TRANSLATOR, E. FRISCH] 
 
 Many reasons, which we shall mention briefly, favor work in the open 
 air by convicts who are agriculturalists or have not yet acquired any 
 trade : the profit which society will derive from a large amount of work 
 done by the convicts; the need of protecting men from such diseases as 
 tuberculosis, scrofula, and anemia, which the close and noxious air of the 
 prisons and the idle life led there cannot but provoke and foster; the 
 insufficiency of employment in manufacturing in proportion to the great 
 number of prisoners in the workshops ; the necessity of avoiding compe- 
 tition with free industrial labor, even if the state treasury should suffer ; 
 the opportunity of furnishing rural inmates the prospect of working in 
 the fields instead of driving them to turn to the cities for the purpose of 
 engaging there in an occupation poorly learned in the penitentiary, the 
 workmen of the city having already so much trouble in making their way 
 there ; the need of procuring for the prisoner an occupation corresponding 
 as far as possible to that in which he was engaged when free ; the ability 
 to provide himself with a trade really productive and remunerative, as 
 well as educative, and one which will enable him to supply his wants when 
 he leaves prison. 
 
 Besides, in the era in which we are living, the mode of treatment 
 being corrective and educative rather than repressive, it is fitting, with 
 this end in view, to organize continuous work on a wise and rational plan. 
 Herein lies an indispensable element of success. 
 
 But prison labor implies a very important social question, and every 
 state has the duty of solving it with a view to its best interests and its 
 industrial and agricultural conditions. 
 
 In a land eminently agricultural, like Italy, where industrial workmen 
 abound, but where the prison population is composed, more than half, of 
 peasants and hand-laborers, it is all the more necessary to organize con- 
 vict labor in the open air because there are vast stretches of uncultivated 
 
 89 
 
and unhealthy land. Italy has, in fact, for many years, employed in open- 
 air work the convicts of strong physique who have behaved themselves well 
 and who, when free, work in the fields. In accordance with the pro- 
 visions of the penal code of 1889, and as a reward for their good conduct 
 the government transferred the convict peasants into the intermediate 
 agricultural establishments, and the convict industrial laborers into the 
 intermediate industrial establishments. The conditions requisite for this 
 transfer demanded a sentence exceeding three years of imprisonment; 
 the transfer could become operative only afer the convict had served 
 half of his time provided it was not less than thirty months. 
 
 It appears from prison statistics that, as a general rule, the convicts 
 of agricultural colonies enjoy better health than those who are shut up in 
 the penitentiaries. The figures of 1901 established the fact that while 
 52.9 per cent, of the colonists had been at the hospital, this proportion 
 rose to 60 per cent, for prisoners properly speaking, and for galley 
 convicts even as high as 80.90 per cent. The days spent in the hospital 
 did not exceed 2.10 per cent, for agricultural colonists; they rose to 4.20 
 per cent, for those in prison and to 5.90 per cent, for galley convicts. 
 The number of the tuberculous receiving treatment on December 31, 1900, 
 was 0.30 per cent, of the number of colonists and 4 per cent, for the 
 convicts kept in the penitentiary. It is not surprising, therefore, that 
 the conduct of convicts occupied with agricultural work should be con- 
 stantly better than that of inmates of all other establishments. Indeed 
 the average of the prisoners who in 1901 committed one breach of dis- 
 cipline was 5.20 per cent, of the number of colonists and 4 per cent, 
 as the proportion of recidivists ; in the regular prisons these numbers 
 were respectively 13.90 per cent, and 17.30 per cent. 
 
 Important economic advantages have been gained in well-organized 
 agricultural colonies. At the colony of Pianosa, in 1901, a net profit of 
 56 centimes for each day's labor was realized ; but in other colonies, the 
 profit was small ; it did not exceed 8 centimes at Castiadas, in Sardinia. 
 These results, however, must not lead to discouragement, for if the state 
 does not obtain any immediate and tangible profit, it accomplishes a very 
 useful and remunerative result from the improvement of marshy regions 
 and the restoration to national cultivation of immense stretches of land 
 today abandoned. 
 
 The law of June 26, 1904, authorizes the government to employ con- 
 go 
 
vict labor for the work of clearing and improving uncultivated and 
 marshy lands. Although promulgated, this law has not yet been applied 
 in practice; none the less it will be the starting-point and the basis of a 
 new penitentiary system inspired not only by the necessity of repression, 
 but above all by that of educating the culprits through care for their 
 physical and moral wretchedness. 
 
 The valiant promoter of this system is A. Doria, at present director- 
 general of prison administration and courageous innovator in this field 
 of administration, as also in that which concerns the system of prisons 
 and reformatories in the kingdom. 
 
 These penitentiary colonies for clearing and improving the soil are 
 meant to receive those sentenced to imprisonment for a period exceed- 
 ing a year. The prisoners at the detention prison may be transferred 
 there upon their own request. 
 
 Colonies will be established for delinquent minors, and we are certain, 
 given favorable experience, that a desire will arise to reserve a colony, as 
 for example that of Capri or that of Gorgona, specially for convicts 
 who show slight signs of mental alienation, as well as for such persons as 
 suffer from light epileptic fits, and this for the purpose of improving 
 their health by work in the open air, as is already done in England, in 
 the Parkhurst colony. 
 
 Italy will likewise be able to proceed to a rational, practical, and 
 effective classification of her convicts, since the better ones, after having 
 served half of their sentence, will be transferred to the penitentiary where 
 they will be employed in the cultivation of fields, gardens, and vineyards, in 
 the making of bread and cheese, etc., enjoying comparative liberty in 
 the colony and being able, according to* the law in force, to obtain condi- 
 tional liberation as the reward of their amendment. 
 
 The most vicious, who resist every effort tending to improve them, 
 will be shut up in the regular penitentiaries, under the cellular system 
 or that of Auburn, where they will be subjected to discipline more 
 rigorous and more in conformity with the method of punishment prescribed 
 by the penal code. 
 
 Finally, convicts who are serving the first half of their sentence, 
 peasants, bricklayers, or hod-carriers, and persons without trade, and 
 those whose conduct inspires doubts and who have not yet gained per- 
 mission to enter an agricultural colony, will remain in the . above-men- 
 
 9 1 
 
tioned colonies for clearing, or they will be occupied with work of 
 improving, of digging aqueducts, of damming streams, constructing 
 roads, etc. In these colonies all intercourse of convicts with the citizens 
 will be prevented, and the work will be conducted by agents of the govern- 
 ment directly concerned with the management of the colony. The dis- 
 cipline will be firm and just, but reasonable and humane, in the conviction 
 that without a well-behaved and obedient personnel it will be impossible 
 to obtain any useful result, either in the interest of the land or in that 
 of correctional justice. 1 
 
 But the principal characteristic of penitentiary colonies for clearing 
 and improving the soil will consist of the transfer or cession of lands, 
 as soon as the work is finished, to individual colonists who will make of 
 them new places of cultivation and production while the rest of the 
 convicts will move on to another region to improve it. And when for 
 any cause, this will not be possible, the colony for clearing will be con- 
 verted into an intermediate colony for convicts serving the last part of 
 their sentence. They will engage in works of cultivating, planting, etc., 
 until the opportunity presents itself to cede the land, improved and 
 cultivated, to private colonists. In one word, by this method and for 
 their moral, physical, and material welfare, the convicts will be transformed 
 into pioneers of civilization. 
 
 RESUME V - 
 
 In the interest of the state and in that of the health and regeneration 
 of the convicts, it is expedient to employ in field-work or works of public 
 utility in the open air all those convicts who belong to the agricultural 
 class or who have no trade. 
 
 This work should be organized in such a way as to become a source 
 of profit to the state. By a rational system of classification and division 
 of the convicts, the punishment will be invested with a repressive and 
 reformatory character. The most laborious work, that of clearing, 
 will be reserved for convicts who are serving the first half of their 
 sentence, and the least laborious, cultivation, to those who are in the 
 second stage of their sentence and who, on account of their conduct and 
 amendment, deserve milder treament. Conditional release will be 
 accorded the latter, if they continue to give proofs of improvement. 
 
 1 It is unnecessary to be too greatly concerned about the danger of escape. The 
 penal code provides for such an emergency and threatens with severe punishment the 
 convict who has attempted to escape, as well as those who facilitated his escape. 
 
 92 
 
REPORT PRESENTED BY ROBERT H. MARR / 
 
 ATTORNEY-AT-LAW, NEW ORLEANS, U. S. A. 
 
 [TRANSLATOR JESSIE B. MCKINNEY] 
 
 It is an incontestable truth that occupations in the open air, of what- 
 ever nature, are more favorable to health than any kind of work done in 
 a closed place ; but how the state can, in whole or in part, thus employ its 
 convicts is a most difficult problem. The conditions which certain coun- 
 tries present, or even different localities of the same country at different 
 epochs, are so variable that it is little less than impossible to establish the 
 foundation of any general rules, applicable to every case or even to the 
 majority of cases. The principal and most conspicuous of these conditions 
 are the following: 
 
 1. The special occupation which may be assigned to the prisoner, as 
 an individual, should depend in great part upon the length of his 
 imprisonment and upon his physical health and strength. The nature 
 of the work to which he is assigned should depend greatly upon the 
 average duration of imprisonment of all the prisoners and the average 
 of their health and strength. 
 
 2. The kind of industry or the work of the population. 
 
 3. The attitude of free labor organizations in respect to prison labor, 
 or what is called "the competition with free labor." 
 
 4. The character of the population as to the homogeneity or diversity 
 of races of which it is composed. 
 
 5. The nature of the country; whether it is ancient or modern; 
 whether it is thickly populated or not; whether it is well or poorly 
 policed; what are the means of transportation and communication. All 
 these conditions are of great importance as to the chances of escape and 
 recapture. 
 
 6. The extension and the necessity of public works of improvement, 
 and whether these works are executed directly by the state or by private 
 
 . managers. 
 
 7. The nature of the climate, whether it is hot or cold, of the tempera- 
 
 93 
 
ture, of the dryness or humidity of the atmosphere ; whether it is subject 
 to tempests or violent rains, or whether short and warm showers are fre- 
 quent. All climatic conditions ought in fact to be taken into considera- 
 tion, and so these questions become chiefly questions of barometer and 
 thermometer. 
 
 8. The value of the land, whether it is estimated at a high or low 
 price. 
 
 The sentiments of humanity, and a wise economy demand that the 
 prisoner should be employed, and employed during the whole time of his 
 imprisonment, but in a manner which will not result harmfully to him, 
 either mentally, morally, or physically, by the duration or the kind of 
 the work. His occupation ought to be useful and continuous but should 
 certainly never be harmful or dangerous ; and although the best results 
 are obtained when the workman likes his task, nevertheless it is not 
 necessary that the work of the convict should be agreeable. In establish- 
 ing a system of penitentiary work, the first question to be considered is : 
 What kind of work can the prisoner do best? The authorities should 
 ascertain as exactly as possible what has been the occupation of the 
 prisoner before his detention, his character in general, whether it is docile 
 or irritable, and the condition of his physical strength, education, and 
 intelligence, and his aptitude for different kinds of work. The second 
 question should be, whether there are enough men adapted to the same 
 kind of work to justify the enterprise? In spite of the exactness of 
 these first investigations, errors may occur, and the physical and mental 
 conditions of the man are subject to variations : consequently the prisoners 
 should be kept under strict supervision, and should be examined at 
 frequent intervals. These investigations are important, not alone to deter- 
 mine what kind of work can be assigned to each prisoner, but also to 
 eliminate the sick and those who are affected with contagious diseases. 
 The aim of the penitentiary system is the protection of society. The 
 majority of criminals are incapable of rendering satisfactory service and 
 ought to be returned to the outside world able to do something useful, 
 this being the best way to prevent them from again becoming criminal. 
 Whether, with the trade learned during imprisonment, the convict will be 
 able after liberation to find lucrative occupation will depend in great 
 part upon conditions more or less favorable in the labor market: condi-. 
 tions which cannot be known in advance. 
 
 94 
 
Society is an enormous machine in which the wheels adapt themselves 
 automatically to each other, and the number of workers engaged in each 
 occupation, each country, and each epoch, represents the proportion of 
 workers which can be employed with profit in that kind of work in the 
 particular country. This is the surest guide in the selection of prison 
 labor, considered simply from the point of view of ability to obtain 
 similar labor after liberation. Thus, for example, the average of prisoners 
 to be employed in agriculture should be the same as the average of the 
 population of that country employed in the same occupation. But this 
 theory is not everywhere applicable. The organizations of free labor have 
 forced several states of North America to enact laws which prevent the 
 employment of prisoners in certain designated industries, and because of 
 the restrictions thus imposed, it requires an effort to find a useful occupa- 
 tion for the convict. 
 
 The extension and the need of public works undertaken by the state 
 necessitate a minute control of the number of prisoners which can be 
 employed, while if free laborers are wanting there is no reason why the 
 state should not arrange with contractors or the municipal administration 
 for the construction of highways, canals, and other needed works. But 
 under no pretext should the state leave the prisoners to the mercy of 
 private contractors. From the moment when the sentence begins, until the 
 day it expires, the prisoner should remain under the exclusive surveillance 
 of the public officers, who alone are responsible for them. 
 
 Few criminals possess any special aptitude for any kind of trade. 
 Their average intelligence does not reach a very high plane, and in con- 
 sequence the classification should be based directly upon their state of 
 health and physical strength. Farm work and work on public roads 
 have generally an advantage in point of hygiene over that done inside 
 the prison. An apprenticeship of a few days suffices to initiate a man into 
 this kind of work, and on a farm work may be found even for the most 
 feeble. If the imprisonment extends through the whole season in which 
 outdoor work is impossible, it is necessary to find another occupation for 
 the prisoner. The great objection to the whole system of outdoor work 
 is the difficulty of preventing escape a difficulty greater in public work 
 than in agriculture, because, in the first place, of the complexity of the 
 work, and next because of the little security which improvised quarters 
 offer, in which the prisoners are brought together during the night and 
 
 95 
 
the hours of rest. Any turbulent man having a disposition to rebel or 
 escape should be rigorously excluded from any work in the open air ; such 
 prisoners should be inclosed carefully within the four walls of a safe 
 prison. 
 
 The workman must have tools, and these may become dangerous arms 
 in the hands of a criminal who is energetic and desperate. In view of 
 obtaining the best results from his work, he ought to have the free use 
 of his limbs, and for this reason he should not have to bear chains while 
 he is working. Instead of physical bonds, the prisoner ought to be 
 brought under control of the knowledge that an attempt at escape would 
 be certainly and severely punished, and that work in open air would be 
 followed by close imprisonment. To encourage them to do well and to 
 divert their thoughts from flight, it would be well to offer a reward for 
 those who did well, and pay should be accorded to each man for every day 
 of conscientious work, so that his share of the product of his labor could 
 be given to him at his departure from prison. 
 
 The discipline should be gentle but firm, and the conditions should, 
 as nearly as possible, resemble those in which the prisoner will find him- 
 self when he is free, in regard to food, shelter, hours of work, etc. 
 In short everything should combine to prevent the prisoner from thinking 
 of escape. The organization should be military, the prisoners being com- 
 manded by officers who have the necessary experience to manage a great 
 number of men occupied in the special work in which the prisoners are 
 engaged. Care should be taken that prisoners have no communication 
 with anyone excepting their guard, and the night should be passed in a 
 cell. Undoubtedly this is not always feasible, in connection with public 
 works, because of the temporary character of the prisoners' quarters. For 
 this reason it would be best to lodge them in local prisons, if they can be 
 kept there, and if these prisons are not too far away from the working 
 places to occasion too great loss of time in going and coming. 
 
 Idleness demoralizes the prisoner and absorbs all the profits ; the state 
 ought therefore to organize its penitentiary system in such a way as to 
 procure work for all the prisoners during all the time of their detention. 
 The number of men necessary for agriculture is not always the same. 
 There is need of more during the harvests than during the planting and 
 the sowing, and, excepting in certain localities, there are periods of mort> 
 or less length during which there is no work to be done in the fields. 
 
 96 
 
Thus, although the number of workers who can be employed usefully OH 
 one part of the public works, from the beginning to the end, is not ver> 
 variable, there are those periods, naturally very short, when the cessation 
 of work in the fields is necessary, when bad weather or other cause* 
 hinder the continuation of the work. 
 
 For the two classes of workers, the occupation, which is provided for 
 the moment when the principal work ceases, ought to be if possible of i\ 
 similar nature. The worker occupied on the public works ought to pre- 
 pare materials for the construction of roads; the farm hand should con- 
 vert the products of the farm into manufactured articles. 
 
 All the prisoners ought to be concentrated as much as possible, in a 
 single locality, that there may be a diminution of expenses and the cost of 
 guarding, better sanitary arrangements, and, above all, prevention of 
 escape. Cencentration is easier to secure with prisoners employed in 
 agriculture, than with those employed in public works, because the num- 
 ber of men employed in each part of this work depends upon its 
 importance and character. 
 
 The state ought to buy, not lease, the lands upon which the farmer 
 prisoners labor, because the work of future and permanent betterment 
 cannot be done economically save on the property of the state itself. The 
 farms ought to be, it goes without saying, situated in healthful locations 
 and well supplied with water. The conditions in the southern states of 
 the American Union are very favorable for the organization of open-air 
 labor, whether on the farms or on public works. The climatic condi- 
 tions are such that one can provide work in the open air for every day 
 in the year, excepting in case of rain or tempest. A new country offers 
 two advantages ; a great deal of the soil is arable, very fertile, not 
 dear, and there is constantly increasing need of work for the improve- 
 ment of the whole region, as roads, highways, canals, drainage, bridges, 
 and building of dams. This country is in great part a virgin country 
 demanding plenty of work to prepare it for the influx of immigration. 
 In the southern states the cultivation, in the strict sense, and the man- 
 agement of a large farm offer such a variety of work that the capacity 
 of each prisoner, unless he is entirely infirm, can be adapted to useful 
 employment according to his individual aptitudes. And the free workers 
 cannot complain about competition with their labor. The South is a 
 region thoroughly rural, and the majority of the prisoners are negroes, 
 
 97 
 
accustomed to hard labor and familiar with agricultural work. So when 
 the convicts are obliged to work at leveling, building of dams, or on it 
 farm, they continue the work to which they are accustomed and for which 
 they show the greatest aptitude. The negro is, as a rule, more docile 
 than the white man and less inclined to escape ; he has not the genius for 
 conspiracies and combinations ; he has a salutary fear of the white man, 
 whom he rarely attacks, unless he has a marked advantage. He comes 
 of a servile race ; he obeys promptly, and is not disposed to rebellion ; he 
 has little ambition, and his wants are purely physical. The negro is 
 indolent; he has little perseverance and little capacity to learn a trade 
 which demands skill and accuracy. The malaria and the extreme heat 
 do not seem to affect him, and where the white man would soon exhaust his 
 strength, the negro can be employed with impunity in any place or at 
 any season. 
 
 The system of Louisiana represents the methods employed in all the 
 southern states. It is the method best adapted to the existing conditions 
 in this region and it produces a revenue which increases every year. 
 Those who are convicted of grave crimes are sent to a penitentiary 
 colony, whether they are to work on a state farm or on the public works. 
 Only those are kept within prison walls to whom liberty in the open air 
 would be dangerous, and who are known to be incapable of doing this 
 kind of work. The warden is placed under the direction of a board o); 
 control. The convicts detained for misdemeanors are employed in farm 
 work, and repairing of roads, highways, and public edifices, and are 
 under the surveillance of local authorities. 
 
 The classification of the prisoners is based entirely upon physical con- 
 dition. They are divided into four classes : 
 
 1. All the men of robust health, between twenty and fifty years, 
 weighing 140 pounds and more, and who are accustomed to hard work. 
 
 2. All men of good health, who have not yet reached or have slightly 
 passed the age limits of class I, who weigh less than 140 pounds or who 
 have not been accustomed to work in the open air. 
 
 3. All old men and young boys, all those whose health is affected, 
 but not enough to be transferred to the hospital, and all female prisoner;; 
 in good health. 
 
 4. All prisoners who are sick and who must remain in the hospital 
 and be confided to the care of a physician. 
 
 98 
 
All prisoners included in the first class are employed in rough public 
 work; those in the second and third classes are employed in the less 
 laborious occupations of agriculture. 
 
 The two state farms possess in all 12,300 acres of land which is for 
 the greater part unbroken, so that at any diminution of rural labor, the 
 workers find ample occupation for themselves in chopping down and 
 hauling trees, and in clearing new areas for agriculture. On one of 
 these farms the culture of sugar cane and the manufacture of sugar are 
 carried on. On the other cotton is cultivated and two hundred prisoners 
 are employed continually ; but during the months of September, October, 
 November, and December (the harvest season) this business requires 
 200 additional hands. It is necessary then to find work for these 200 
 additional workers during the eight other months of the year. A saw- 
 mill to transform the woods of the forest into lumber, the making of 
 bricks and tiles to use the waste of the sawmill, a factory for making 
 barrels to use the material of the gum and willow trees, an oil-mill to 
 convert the cotton seed into a manufactured product, a cotton-mill for 
 making cloth for clothing all these furnish occupation for the prisoners. 
 It is to the interest of the state to procure from these farms, in addition to 
 these product? of the harvest, all the necessary supplies for the consump- 
 tion of the employees and the prisoners. By this method one obtains for 
 the prisoners the means of support with lower cost than if the organiza- 
 tion of the prison demanded the purchase of every article consumed. 
 The farm also produces the necessary food for the sick, as poultry, milk, 
 butter, and vegetables. 
 
 The convicts sentenced to solitary confinement almost always in 
 very small number are employed in the making of wearing apparel, 
 articles of bed covering, shoes, and hats. 
 
 The best way to organize these agricultural penal colonies is to choose 
 the centers of varied employments and there to construct quarters for 
 150 men, for the guard and the officers, as well as sheds, granaries, a 
 storehouse, and places for implements in such a way that each unit will 
 be able to furnish a maximum of work, instruments, supplies, in a word, 
 everything which is necessary for the undertaking. 
 
 The land cultivated by each section should not be too extensive, in 
 order to prevent a great loss of time in going to the fields from the central 
 station. Each section has a dormitory, or a wing with cells, about 120 
 
 99 
 
feet long and 32 feet wide, with a dining-room and kitchen 76 feet 
 long and 32 in width, having between them an open passage of 32 feet 
 in length. The entire building then would be 220 feet in length. On 
 one of the sides, 75 feet distant, are the quarters of the officers and the 
 guards and the storerooms where the provisions are kept. 
 
 On the other side, at an equal distance, are the baths and the laundry. 
 The bathrooms have a reservoir and an apparatus for heating which pro- 
 vides hot water in abundance for baths during the winter. This reservoir 
 is also very useful in case of infectious diseases, for here can be disin- 
 fected in a few hours, every mattress, every wooden bed, every piece of 
 bed linen, and all clothing supected of being infected with disease. The 
 women's quarters are in the center of the area at a league's distance from 
 any other building. At the side of the hospital is a pavilion especially 
 reserved for the treatment of consumptives. The hospitals and the 
 quarters of the sick contain iron beds which are more hygienic and are 
 more easily disinfected than the others. 
 
 Under no circumstances is the prisoner compelled to work in chains, 
 or be encumbered with any kind of bonds, either going or returning from 
 his work. No officer or guard is allowed to strike a prisoner excepting 
 in a case of legitimate self-defense ; the director alone has the right to 
 order a disciplinary punishment. If a prisoner is ill, he is sent to the 
 hospital immediately and the physician decides when he is able to return 
 to his work after his illness, or assigns him to some other occupation. 
 
 The alluvial parts of Louisiana are divided into a certain number of 
 levee districts, each district being responsible for the construction and the 
 repairing of its own dikes (levees). 
 
 The work is let to contractors by competitive bids, and the council of 
 administration of the penitentiary can then compete just like any indi- 
 vidual contractor. As it is necessary to spend a great deal of money for 
 the construction of temporary quarters, the council accepts only large 
 contracts, that is to say contracts which permit the men to work from four 
 to six months without separating them more than a league and a half 
 from their camps. 
 
 The system of organization has a military character in the farms 
 as well as in the camps. Each section is composed of 125 to 150 men. A 
 captain is at the head of the command ; he is responsible to the council 
 for the good behavior of the prisoners and for the care which they require, 
 
 100 
 
as well as for the proper execution of the work. He has under his orders 
 two sergeants who are his lieutenants and a guard for every ten prisoners. 
 Each section has a head, who is a prisoner of the white race, intelligent, 
 sentenced to a short imprisonment, who under the orders of the captain 
 holds the leadership, keeps the statistics, and distributes the provisions, 
 and the clothing. A prisoner tailor has charge of the repairing of the 
 garments, and others are occupied in washing and keeping beds and bed- 
 furnishings in a state of perfect order. 
 
 Each group of buildings has one guard during the day and three 
 during the night ; each of the sentinels being posted at an extremity of 
 the building, at the interior of which is found a guard corps. The 
 physician of the prison visits the quarters daily. 
 
 Evidences of good conduct may secure a commutation of the sentence. 
 
 This system is regarded as the best of the systems tried up to the 
 present by the state. The health of the prisoner is in general excellent, 
 the rate of mortality is low, and the financial results are satisfactory. 
 
 XOI 
 
REPORT PRESENTED BY M. ANTOINE MARCOVICH 
 
 DIRECTOR-IN-CHIEF OF THE PENITENTIARY AT GRAZ (AUSTRIA) 
 
 [TRANSLATOR, J. M. BIGGS] 
 
 It is generally difficult, or even impossible, to secure in sufficient 
 measure for all prisoners, especially for those in prisons of minor 
 importance, employment corresponding to the trade of each. The fault 
 lies, on one side, in the continual opposition of small manufacturers from 
 without, and in the equipment of the prisons. Besides, it is often neces- 
 sary to fall back upon an occupation which is only an expedient for 
 keeping prisoners busy, and which in no way conduces to their educa- 
 tion and future welfare. 
 
 Considering that 50 per cent, at least of the prisoners belong to the 
 agricultural class, and that agriculture lacks laborers, it is seen that, 
 for them, a trade, which they learn at any rate only very imperfectly, 
 has almost no utility. Besides, they will be able to pursue it later only 
 in cities, where they will form a dangerous laboring class. In regard to 
 employing them in manufacturing paper boxes, in spinning, in sewing, 
 the tendency is to enfeeble them physically and render them incapable 
 of devoting themselves to the more laborious trades upon their release 
 from prison. Again, in considering those prisoners whose usual occu- 
 pation is agriculture or who work at a trade and fail to earn a living 
 through overcrowding of places, the question arises whether it would 
 not be better to employ them, during their detention, in rural labors or 
 in the vineyards. 
 
 There is no state, which has not, within its own boundaries, a quan- 
 tity of work to be done, such as straightening of rivers and streams, con- 
 struction of roads, improvement of the soil, etc. These labors remain 
 undone, very often, either because workmen are not found in sufficient 
 number, or because ordinary labor costs too much. Very well ! these 
 are precisely the tasks which convicts should be made to do. Although 
 those who uphold the principle of repression pure and simple do not 
 admit that prisoners should be employed in the open air, long experi- 
 
ence shows that employment on earthworks, even when a prolonged stay 
 outside the penitentiary is necessary, exercises upon them an influence 
 beneficial in every respect. The principle of repression and intimidation 
 is condemned by the fact that punishment inflicted under such con- 
 ditions, while it prevents the criminal from doing harm for the time 
 being, has never resulted in the least good. Recidivism increases in 
 an alarming degree. To think that our age cannot without difficulty 
 free itself from this rigid theory of a former age! A punishment which 
 makes idlers out of prisoners should not be applied to them under pre- 
 text of intimidation ; on the contrary they should be accustomed to the 
 most difficult tasks, it may be outside the penal institution, in order that 
 after their liberation they may become useful members of society. It 
 is not by tortures, as in the time of the Spanish Inquisition, nor by pun- 
 ishments as severe as possible, that we today seek to suppress crime. 
 
 In Austria, the smaller industries having complained repeatedly of 
 the harm done to them by convict labor, the Department of Justice, under 
 a resolution of the Chamber of Deputies, decided in 1885, with the con- 
 sent of the Department of Agriculture, to employ prisoners in the 
 improvement of streams and in earthworks. In this case it was only 
 necessary to apply a previous ordinance of 1866, a time when it was 
 already considered very desirable that prisoners who had not been 
 accustomed to sedentary life should be employed as far as possible in 
 the open air. In 1886 a first detachment of sixty-five prisoners, selected 
 carefully from the establishment which I was managing, was sent into 
 the Alps. The results were so satisfactory that in the following years 
 the number of prisoners employed in work in the country considerably 
 increased. 
 
 It is not to bayonets nor to thick prison walls that this success is due, 
 but to the discipline inculcated in the prisoners as a moral factor. It has 
 been shown more and more conclusively that work in the fields has a 
 most beneficial effect upon well-disciplined prisoners; that it contributes 
 highly to their moral improvement, and prepares them to make good use 
 of their liberty. Letters coming from the townships and principal locali- 
 ties of the district, as well as from parishes, praise the employment of the 
 convicts; the burgomaster of Marburg wished that prisoners who had 
 had a certain apprenticeship in prisons might be employed, in great 
 numbers, in restoring the vineyards, and he sees there a question abso- 
 
 103 
 
lutely vital for .agriculture. Other reports commend the conduct and 
 bearing of the detachments sent a great distance from the penitentiary; 
 all observe that the successful results are due to the good instruction of 
 the overseers and the severe discipline imposed upon the prisoners. Not 
 only have the latter worked with diligence and conducted themselves 
 admirably, but very often, in cases of fire or inundation, they have thrown 
 themselves into the rescue of their fellows with a real spirit of sacrifice. 
 They were proud of their conduct; noble sentiments were awakened in 
 them; and all this, we believe, was due to the mode of applying the 
 punishment. 
 
 Let us consider the sanitary point of view. With the exception of 
 some mild acute complaints, such as rheumatism, catarrh of the respira- 
 tory organs, and wounds resulting from accidents, prisoners who work 
 in the open air are exempt from those maladies peculiar to prisons which 
 are contracted by so many who are condemned to permanent indoor work. 
 Very many among them who suffered from anemia, scrofula, latent or 
 pronounced, suspected disease of the lungs, and general debility (pre- 
 mature decline )^ have been cured or improved by outdoor work. In 
 certain cases apathy and lack of will-power, manifested especially in 
 intellectual idleness and moral depression, have disappeared. Work in 
 the open air has not ony proved salutary in the preservation and improve- 
 ment of physical health, but it has even arrested the development of 
 mental maladies ill their early stage. One can judge of the excellent 
 influence which it exerts upon the looks, the bearing, and the whole 
 disposition of life of prisoners employed outdoors, even upon those 
 already advanced in years. Moreover, since prisoners are made to work 
 in the open air, the conditions of the prisons, which influenced disease 
 and death, have improved considerably. 
 
 I wish to relate the following incident: During the winter of 1892 
 it was found necessary to have recourse to a detachment of 180 prison- 
 ers and 18. overseers, in the execution of some works on the Drave, in 
 the Rosenthal, near Klagenfurt, in Carinthia, where in winter Siberian 
 cold holds sway. Four years before, the government 4lad tried in vain 
 to complete the enterprise with some workmen whom it paid very highly, 
 but who were incapable of enduring for any length of time the severe 
 cold and snowstorms of that country. Lodged in barracks of wood (a 
 penitentiary of planks!) constructed by themselves and capable of being 
 
 104 
 
warmed, these prisoners, from October, 1892, to March, 1893, accom- 
 plished the tunneling of the mountain. So remarkable was the work, and 
 so irreproachably had the men conducted themselves, that the emperor 
 conferred upon the commandant of the detachment the Cross of Merit. 
 The work had been done in spite of the rigors of winter, when the ther- 
 mometer had fallen as low as 30, Reaumur. 
 
 Employment of prisoners in the open air has not weakened the force 
 of the penalty which should be borne in expiation for transgression of 
 the law, that is to say, for the wrong that has been done. The men are 
 still deprived of their liberty, are isolated in individual cells after their 
 hard toil is over, and they are subjected to rigorous discipline ; but no 
 longer is there uninterrupted isolation in the heavy air of a dungeon, no 
 longer those occupations which often produce mental derangement. The 
 pernicious effects of a system which ends in imprinting upon the prisoner 
 the stigmata of the convict are banished or at least diminished. Without 
 doubt the open-air system relieves the prisoner and exercises a favorable 
 influence upon his morality. Thenceforth his penalty achieves its princi- 
 pal aim, which should be the reform of the prisoner. If one takes into 
 account the facts which have just been stated, I am convinced that he 
 will solve the question of open-air employment of prisoners by placing 
 himself at the right point of view. 
 
 The authorization of the employment of prisoners in these works 
 by direction of the competent authority should be given under the fol- 
 lowing conditions: 
 
 GENERAL PRINCIPLES 
 
 1. In penitentiaries or prisons possessing some arable land, prisoners 
 acquainted with agriculture should, before all others, be required to 
 cultivate this ground, naturally under adequate supervision. 
 
 2. If work in the open air at a certain distance from the penitentiary 
 is offered, we should endeavor then to obtain employment for the prison- 
 ers, especially when it is a work of public utility undertaken by the 
 state, the communes, or other public corporations, and where it will prob- 
 ably be a work of fairly long duration. 
 
 3. Prisoners should be employed, preferably, in large enterprises 
 of public utility, such as correction of rivers and streams, construction 
 or improvement of roads, the building of railways, planting destitute and 
 sterile countries with trees, works of drainage, reclaiming ground and 
 
rendering it fertile. In such works prisoners from the nearest prison 
 should be employed, and once the work is ended, the detachments should 
 return to their place of detention. 
 
 4. These detachments should be composed only of those prisoners 
 who belong to the agricultural class, and whose conduct and character 
 give assurance that they will not abuse the very great liberty which 
 accompanies open-air occupations. 
 
 5. In the course of a season one should join to these detachments 
 those prisoners in cells who ask for the privilege. 
 
 6. Independently of the works already named, detachments should 
 be assigned for employment by individual farmers in fields and vineyards 
 close to the penitentiary, provided there is an attestation of communal 
 authority certifying that it has been impossible to find free workmen for 
 these tasks. 
 
 Organisation of detachments. In the organization of detachments 
 one should proceed essentially as follows : 
 
 1. Care should be taken that among the guards, who have served as 
 soldiers, there should be those who, as sub-officers, are familiar with the 
 execution of technical works, so that, as commandants of detachments, 
 they may be prepared to direct the works, as is often necessary. 
 
 2. In the schools of the prisons greater attention than has been cus- 
 tomary should be given to instruction in agriculture. This should be 
 done in order that those instructed may learn the practice of arbori- 
 culture and vine-culture, and that, in a general way, they may gain the 
 greatest possible knowledge of agriculture. 
 
 3. Especially is it necessary that legislation should provide for the 
 employment of prisoners upon open-air works. The state, for example, 
 should allow contracts on public works, such as correction of rivers and 
 streams, etc., only on condition that prisoners shall be employed there. 
 
 4. In order to prepare detachments for work there is need of suffi- 
 ciently long preparation; from the point of view of the financial results 
 of the enterprise, it is an advantage to begin the works as soon as pos- 
 sible; as an enterprise may be long or short, the expenses of equipping 
 the detachments as well as the cost of constructions and transportation 
 should always be cut down to the minimum. In consequence, those 
 establishments which desire to employ their prisoners upon open-air 
 work should make application to the proper authority, which should make 
 
 106 
 
a decision as soon as possible and inform the director of the prison of 
 the works to be executed in the coming season, and the number of prison- 
 ers to be employed. 
 
 5. One should seek to employ at the same task the greatest possible 
 number of prisoners, with thirty as a minimum. 
 
 6. For works in the vicinity of the penitentiary, the detachments 
 should contain a smaller number ; they should be composed, nevertheless, 
 of at least ten men. 
 
 7. To the regulation of the house and to the instructions of service 
 there should be added a special regulation for the detachments, which 
 shall be in force during the time of the undertaking. 
 
 8. The equipment of the prisoners who are to take part in the expe- 
 dition should be ready in time; it should include the following items: 
 two entire suits for summer, one suit for winter, one pair of high boots 
 (for wading in water), a pair of shoes, and a large straw hat. 
 
 9. The detachments should be lodged in the proximity of the works to 
 be executed. If there is found in the vicinity an appropriate building, or 
 one which can be adapted to the need with little expense, the detachments 
 should be lodged there ; if there is none, the prisoners sent out to prepare 
 the lodgings should build barracks of wood, after the pattern of military 
 barracks, or a blockhouse with a kitchen; for this purpose one should 
 add to the fo^ce both guards and prisoners who are familiar with carpen- 
 tering, masonry, locksmithing, etc. 
 
 10. The maintenance of the prisoners during the undertaking is of 
 equally great importance ; and the administration of the penitentiary 
 should take the necessary measures in time. 
 
 11. Each detachment should be commanded by a chief guard, who 
 should have under him the necessary number of guards. One guard is 
 sufficient for ten prisoners. 
 
 12. When a prisoner forms part of a detachment, the measures for 
 rendering the sentence more severe are not to be applied if the physician 
 declares them incompatible with the heavy task which the prisoner must 
 accomplish. 
 
 107 
 
REPORT OF J. V. HURBIN 
 
 DIRECTOR OF THE PRISON AT LENZBOURG, SWITZERLAND X 
 
 [TRANSLATOR CHARLES R. HENDERSON] 
 
 OUTDOOR LABOR FOR PRISONERS 
 
 The penalty of incarceration rests on the deprivation of liberty. One 
 might suppose from this that a penalty is all the better for responding to 
 this principle. But this point of view would be in direct and evident oppo- 
 sition to the modern conception, more humane, which is entertained in 
 respect to detention. In fact, if this theory were logically held, the ancient 
 and somber dungeon would be the ideal type of prison. All kinds of work 
 in the open air should be placed on the prohibited list. In our day, thank 
 God, we have risen above this mora] meanness, and we regard the sen- 
 tence from a more humane point of view. The extreme theory of intimi- 
 dation has had its day. We now seek, not merely to intimidate the culprit, 
 but to improve him, and we extend the hand of reconciliation to the 
 repentant sinner. 
 
 I. With a well-ordered service of surveillance and with a vigilant con- 
 trol, we can deprive the convict of liberty outside the walls of the prison, 
 in a degree naturally less restrictive and oppressive. If this affirmation is 
 true, then the labor of convicts in the open air must be regarded as 
 admissible. We begin By taking liberty away completely from a convict 
 who has made bad use of it, so that he may learn to appreciate it. But 
 we do not wish to leave him to languish forever in prison ; on the con- 
 trary we wish to conduct him by progressive stages to liberty, and to teach 
 him to make a better and legitimate use of it. And this purpose we can 
 best attain by means of intermediate or transitional stages, prudently and 
 rationally planned. It is for these establishments that we take into con- 
 sideration the occupations in the open air, as well as in the last period of 
 the penalty preceding liberation, conditional or absolute. 
 
 Work in the open air is also suitable for convicts serving a short sen- 
 tence (one to six months) who have not learned any trade and who 
 would not have time to learn one in so brief a period. Such prisoners are 
 
 1 08 
 
not well fitted for trades. Naturally we must exclude from work in the 
 open air the recidivists who merit a more severe punishment, as well 
 as minors who must not be permitted to labor along with men older than 
 they are; although in the houses of correctional education, for example, 
 they may very well be occupied with agricultural labor. There is a great 
 advantage also in employing in the open air persons condemned to work- 
 houses (Zwangsarbeit) for idleness and vagabondage. They will profit 
 by it themselves, because then they will have the opportunity to learn 
 something, while the administration of the establishment will also profit 
 by securing an immediate return from the work of men unfit for any kind 
 of difficult manual occupation. 
 
 Finally, we recommend employment in the open air for prisoners 
 whose health, injured by prolonged incarceration, is seriously impaired. 
 Such persons are found in all prisons. The open air improves the appe- 
 tite as well as the digestion. 
 
 2. In response to the question, what occupations are suitable for 
 prisoners working in the open air, I answer, in a general way : All those 
 kinds of labor which can be executed without exposing the 'laborers to the 
 curious observation of the public. There are prisoners, fortunately, who 
 have not lost all sense of shame and who do not like to be seen in their 
 convict garl, and to be made a spectacle in a public way. There are 
 others who have become insensible to shame. These would only become 
 more hardened by being exhibited before the gaze of all. For the same 
 reason the more public roads should be avoided in conducting convicts to 
 and from the penitentiary, and they should not be taken through inhabited 
 places. It follows that the work to be done ought not to be at a great 
 distance from the prison. The difficulties of supervision are increased 
 with distance. 
 
 Finally, we should not employ nor compel the prisoners to labor on 
 public works where their life may be exposed to danger. The free citizen 
 may "sell his skin" as it seems good to himself ; no one has an interest nor 
 a right to prevent him. But we should not require of a man who is 
 powerless in respect to the state to labor, against his will, at the risk of 
 his life. The state has not the right to require that. And in any case, the 
 prisoners ought always to be insured, for their own benefit, against 
 accident. 
 
 The occupations which we can more especially recommend for prison- 
 log 
 
ers in the open air are making excavations and embankments for the con- 
 duct of water ; for the foundation, repair, and maintenance of roads ; the 
 improvement of rivers ; the construction of buildings ; and, in thinly popu- 
 lated places, field work, cultivation of prairies and vines, cutting wood, 
 fertilizing and clearing land. 
 
 3. And now, under what conditions may work be undertaken in the 
 open, air? The observations which I have been able to make during 
 thirty years of practice and experience in our own establishment, where we 
 have on the average twenty to thirty prisoners daily at work outside, have 
 led me to the following conclusions : 
 
 a) The director should not permit any prisoners to go outside the 
 prison for labor except those whom he has observed and learned to know. 
 He should not be influenced or duped by the protestations and promises of 
 prisoners. The more a prisoner eagerly solicits the privilege of working 
 outside, and insists when being refused, so much the more should the 
 director use caution. In any case, permission to labor in the open air 
 should be accorded only to prisoners condemned to short sentences, or to 
 those who have already served most of their time. 
 
 b) The guards appointed to supervise outdoor labor should be tried 
 men, worthy of confidence. Lazy hirelings are of no use for this task. It 
 is necessary that they know the work which they are to supervise, and 
 how it should be done. A guard should not be responsible for more than 
 seven or eight men at one time. 
 
 c) In order to prevent all dealings with the outside world and all 
 contraband trade in tobacco, food, tools for escape, etc., care must be 
 taken to avoid communication with all persons, whether at the place of 
 work or on the road. 
 
 d) The labor ought not to be in contradiction with the purpose of 
 conviction but should tend to fulfil it. The diet should remain essentially 
 that of other prisoners. So far as possible all alcoholic drinks should be 
 prohibited, and a substitute found in milk, coffee, etc. 
 
 e} Prisoners should be conducted to the place of work and return 
 during the daylight. 
 
 /) If the work to be done is far from the prison, in order to prevent 
 long daily journeys, sheds may be built and temporary colonies formed, 
 if a vigilant and conscientious chief guard can be found. 
 
 g) If discord arise in these colonies the director of the central estab- 
 
 IIO 
 
lishment should take all desirable precautions. Telephonic communica- 
 tion between the prison and the colony is desirable. 
 
 h) It seems an outrage against human nature to employ dogs specially 
 trained for the purpose of watching prisoners working in the open air. 
 Besides these animals soon become familiar with the men and permit 
 themselves to be caressed and fed by them. 
 
 NOTE. This paper is worthy of special consideration from the fact that the 
 author has had thirty years' experience in administering prisons, and keeps from twenty 
 to thirty prisoners employed outside all the time. I visited him at Lenzbourg in 
 August, 1905. C R. H. 
 
 1X1 
 
REPORT PRESENTED BY M. ETIENNE FLANDIN 
 
 DEPUTY, FORMERLY ATTORNEY-GENERAL AT THE COURT OF ALGIERS 
 
 [TRANSLATOR, EFFIE W. MILLER] 
 
 From the threefold point of view, physiological, moral, and economic, 
 judicious organization of convict labor may be considered as the touch- 
 stone of a good prison system. For a number of years, the trend of 
 opinion has been toward demanding the organization of outside labor, 
 where the work of the prisoner could be carried on under more healthful, 
 and at the same time more moral, conditions, and where it could be a 
 more directly productive force for the common good. 
 
 The Third International Prison Congress which met in Rome in 
 1885 voted the following resolution ; "The establishment of works in the 
 open air for those sentenced for a considerable period may be advised in 
 certain countries and in certain surroundings. These works ought not 
 to be considered as irreconcilable with the prison system already employed 
 in the different countries." This idea deserves consideration. We do 
 not, by any means, deem it Utopian. Experiments already completed 
 in different countries, warrant us in thinking that the organization of 
 outdoor convict labor might bring about unquestionable advancement, 
 on the condition of resisting certain tempting errors, and avoiding certain 
 dangers. 
 
 The first means which presents itself in response to the view of the 
 congress at Rome, is to multiply the agricultural penitentiaries. Some 
 attempts, often successful, have been made in this direction, notably in 
 England and in Switzerland. A very interesting study by our dis- 
 tinguished colleague, M. Kellerhals, discovers to us the excellent influence 
 which these agricultural works, as they are conducted in the penitentiary 
 at Witzwil, in the canton of Bern, have had upon the health and morals 
 of the prisoners. This rural prison is a marvelous moral-reform school, 
 where a superintendent, who is a veritable physician of souls, knows how 
 to distribute work, sometimes laborious, and sometimes almost recreation, 
 according to the tendency which the prisoner exhibits in relation to 
 
 112 
 
improvement. We have thus the happiest application of the principle 
 of "the individualization of punishment," based upon the improvement 
 of the earth by man, and of man by the earth ; but we owe it to truth to 
 state that agricultural prisons have not given everywhere such beneficial 
 results as at Witzwil. The results of experiments which France has 
 made along the same lines in Corsica and in Algeria, have been regarded 
 as unsatisfactory in view of the pecuniary sacrifices which they have 
 necessitated. The compilers of our budgets have shown clearly that the 
 non-agricultural prisoner costs 0.52 fr. per day, and the agricultural 
 1. 60 fr. It is a serious financial difficulty, but it is not the only one. 
 
 How can we arrange to employ in exclusively agricultural labor, 
 throughout the year, a population which remains the same in number? 
 It will perhaps find employment as long as the estate destined for the 
 prison must be improved ; but how can the labor of the prisoners be 
 utilized afterward in a permanent manner? How can they be employed 
 during the time not occupied in preparing the ground and harvesting? 
 And then, will this cultivating of flowers and fruits really be an "expia- 
 tion" for the convict? How many free workmen would envy their condi- 
 tion ! Is it the part of the prison to become a branch of the agricultural 
 college or the model farm ? Would it be expedient to offer to those who 
 intend to acquaint themselves with the process of intensive cultivation a 
 sojourn in a penitentiary, as an economical means of perfecting their 
 agricultural or horticultural knowledge? 
 
 We should be on guard against misconception of the services which 
 agricultural prisons may render, especially to young convicts for whom 
 there is the greatest advantage in learning to become farmers ; but we deem 
 it necessary to challenge the expensive establishment of agricultural prisons 
 located where, in the end, once the property is cleared up and improved, 
 the work would not be of a sufficiently repressive character. That which 
 we desire to see is agricultural property, created by the aid of prison 
 labor, without the heavy expenses of installation, and, when improved, 
 given over to the free workman. With convict labor it would be a ques- 
 tion of organizing a legion of pioneers for the service of colonization, 
 and perhaps it would be possible to carry on profitably the work of 
 colonization even in certain nearly waste regions of the mother country. 
 
 But the solution of the problem seems to lie in organizing, simultane- 
 ously, indoor and outdoor labor expended upon works of public utility. 
 
 "3 
 
If that were done, there would be no need of abandoning or transform- 
 ing our prisons ; it would be sufficient to send out, under the surveillance 
 of guards, gangs of convicts who would return to the prison in the 
 evening. The kinds of work which could be done profitably by convict 
 labor would be numerous : the clearing of land, the draining of low- 
 lying ground, the damming of streams, the digging of canals, the rais- 
 ing of low land, etc. There is, however, one kind of work that can be 
 carried on in the neighborhood of all the penitentiaries, and that is work 
 on the roads of a parish. What country is there where there are no roads 
 to open or keep in repair? Then, when the parish system is finished, is 
 it not necessary to complete it by making country roads? We know 
 the protests that the requirement of compulsory work on roads raises in 
 our country, and we are endeavoring to discover some plan which will 
 lessen the burden of the farmer. Why not throw the burden back upon 
 the convict? 
 
 The practical mind of the Americans is eager to adopt this solution. 
 In North Carolina the law allows the offender to be sentenced "to work 
 on the roads." The system of highways and country roads is kept in 
 repair by convicts who work on them under the supervision of their 
 guards. In Australia, prisoners are employed alike in the construction 
 of highways and railroads. Convict labor is employed on works of public 
 utility in Prussia, Austria, Russia, and Italy. In the prison colony of 
 Castiadas, in Sardinia, they have the curious method of using movable 
 prisons, drawn by oxen, which convey the prisoners, and change their 
 place of residence as they complete the work in each section. 
 
 An interesting experiment is being carried on in Algeria at the present 
 time. The decrees which have organized the department of courts for 
 punishing the natives in carrying out a provision inserted in 1897 into 
 the law on the misdemeanors of natives, have specified that the penalty of 
 imprisonment should be undergone, "either in prisons, or in local reforma- 
 tories, or on works for the public good." In executing this decree, it 
 was decided, by a circular from M. Revoil, the governor-general, that, in 
 all mixed communities, labor should be organized under the direction of 
 the managers for all public works, such as the opening and repair of 
 public roads, cleaning or irrigating canals, laying of drains or sewers, 
 drilling for wells or springs, planting and keeping up public gardens 
 or nurseries, procuring and transporting materials intended for use in 
 
 114 
 
public works, opening of drains in the state or county forests, etc. 
 The prisoners are placed in groups numbering from ten to thirty, in 
 order to facilitate supervision and the direction of the work. When the 
 work consists of filling in, excavating, or moving material, the days of 
 imprisonment are changed to tasks similar to what each is accustomed 
 to in working out his road tax. In case of resistance on the part of the 
 convict, refusal to obey, or failure to accomplish the work assigned to 
 him, he is subjected to the same disciplinary measures as those to which 
 he would be liable if he did the work in the prison. The same rules 
 could very advantageously be extended to the mother country if the 
 legislature decided to depart from the strict terms of art. 40 of our penal 
 code, according to which, convicts may only be employed at indoor prison 
 labor, unless there is an exception to the application of the law of 1893 
 on the construction of cellular prisons. What an advantage it would be, 
 for example, to make tramps and beggars work on the roads here, as in 
 America, instead of offering them, during the inclemency of the bad 
 season, the comfortable hospitality and alluring idleness of the prison? 
 The whole question is one of organizing a sufficiently watchful and well- 
 armed guard, so that there may be no danger of escape. Some difficulties 
 of a practical nature appear, but they are far from being insurmountable. 
 
 We consider, further, that outdoor work ought only to be allowed the 
 convict after hj has already served a part of his sentence, one-fourth at 
 least. It is necessary, first of all, that the cell, closed to evil, and open 
 to all wholesome influences, should have produced beneficial results by 
 bringing the prisoner face to face with himself, by provoking reflection, 
 and by strengthening the voice of his conscience to improve his char- 
 acter. We feel that the work ought to be in proportion to the strength 
 of the prisoners, and graded according to indications of improvement. 
 However laborious it may be in the beginning, the work may be eased, 
 little by little, and end by becoming, as the time of release approaches, the 
 comparatively restful work of cultivating and gardening. This would 
 be "the individualization of punishment," taking into account the previous 
 conduct of the prisoner, and his efforts to return to the right way. 
 
 Finally, it goes without saying, that the convict ought to be remuner- 
 ated, under just conditions, which would assure him on his discharge 
 a sum of money, without which a second offense is inevitable. 
 
 In a word, we are of the opinion that outdoor work, which is actually 
 
 "5 
 
labor, would be a more efficacious punishment for many of the convicts, 
 than the more or less disguised idleness of the prison. It would be 
 infinitely more hygienic ; for to confine a man accustomed to life in the 
 fields too long in the close atmosphere of the cell or the common work- 
 shop, is to make him anemic, and run the risk of returning him to 
 association with his fellowmen with the germs of tuberculosis. It would 
 be more profitable to the government, which would have the opportunity 
 of combining prison labor with public works. 
 
 We have, therefore, the honor of submitting to the congress, the 
 following propositions : 
 
 1. That outdoor labor should be authorized, from the threefold point 
 of view, physiological, moral, and economic, instead of following the 
 imperative rule according to which, in the penal code of France and 
 several other countries, the work of convicts can only be done within 
 the prison. 
 
 2. Outdoor labor ought to be permitted only to those prisoners who 
 have served at least one-fourth of their term. 
 
 3. Prisoners allowed to do outdoor work ought to be employed either 
 on public works, or in agricultural labor. 
 
 4. In assigning work, the prisoner's natural constitution, his previous 
 conduct, and his apparent efforts to improve should be taken into account, 
 so that the principle of "the individualization of punishment" may be 
 rightly applied. 
 
 5. The work ought to be paid for in such a manner as to insure a sum 
 of money to the convict, at the expiration of his term of imprisonment. 
 
 6. The organization of labor, where prisoners adapted to it could 
 work under the vigilant supervision of their guards, should be preferred 
 to the establishing of costly agricultural prisons. 
 
 7. Disobedience, or neglect of work, should render the prisoner liable 
 to severe disciplinary measures. 
 
 [The author adds in a footnote a quotation from Sachet, Legislation sur les acci- 
 dents du travail, Vol. I, p. 115: "The remuneration granted under the name of pecule 
 (savings) is not paid as ordinary wages, but is an encouragement granted by the 
 grace of the state. In their work the prisoners are still under guard and yet are 
 removed in part from control of the manager of the undertaking. The deprivation of 
 liberty, as the German law distinctly requires, is quite apart from the treatment of the 
 prisoner as a workman."] 
 
 116 
 
REPORT PRESENTED BY M. DE LOUTCHINSKY 
 
 FORMER INSPECTOR OF RURAL PRISONS 
 
 A RUSSIAN VIEW 
 
 [TRANSLATOR, EFFIE W. MILLER] 
 
 In spite of all possible reforms and improvements in prisons, the chill 
 of the tomb still prevails there. Without considering the form of dis- 
 cipline, the feeling of disgrace alone which the prison inflicts makes an 
 outcast of the criminal more than any other influence connected with it. 
 And yet it is this institution which is charged with the burden of reform- 
 ing the criminal, and creating in him a new moral life, one without 
 blemish. Here the question arises : Is this institution capable of fulfilling 
 such a high and difficult mission, and why disguise the truth, however 
 sad it may be is it able to accomplish its main purpose ? 
 
 By way of answering this question, we would call attention to the great 
 number of habitual criminals who, not only do not fear the prison, but, who, 
 on the contrary, find there excellent preparation for their later schemes. 
 Our ardent hope is to break the enchanted circle which enchains them, and, 
 far from giving a definite task to the prison, try to make it, in itself, 
 less offensive. In this direction tend all the efforts and wishes of theoreti- 
 cal and practical criminologists who study the question with full knowl- 
 edge of the subject. In truth, if the penalty prescribed has for its aim 
 not only the restoration of the disturbed equilibrium of public order, but 
 also the prevention of new attempts on the part of the criminal against 
 public peace and safety, it ought naturally to reconcile him with society, 
 instead of embittering him against it, to place upon his feet the feeble 
 individual who has fallen in a struggle perhaps beyond his strength, 
 incapable of resisting his own evil instincts or corrupting external 
 influences ; but it ought to do it without debasing and demoralizing 
 him, or giving him the finishing stroke. In inflicting upon the criminal 
 the disgrace of the prison, a result is obtained that a sensible penal policy 
 would seek to avoid, namely, the death of the human being in the criminal. 
 
 It follows directly that all that does not help to secure the aim of the 
 
 117 
 
punishment ought to be rejected. Consequently, disgracing the convict 
 by the very act of transforming him into a prisoner, from the point of 
 view of penal policy, cannot be justified. 
 
 Passing to the question of outdoor labor for convicts, it must first 
 of all be noticed that it constitutes a measure, which, if not so radical 
 as the conditional sentence, at least is one of the most powerful means 
 which tend to remove the criminal from the pernicious influence of con- 
 finement on his own moral nature. At the first congress of representa- 
 tives of penal institutions, at St. Petersburg, in 1902, the discussion 
 turned on the corrupting influence of outdoor work on the convict, and 
 whether this influence ought to exclude such work from prison occupations. 
 This discussion was ended in an unexpected manner by a statement made 
 by Professor J. J. Fomitzky, whose part in the congress had been most 
 active, and who declared to the assembly, in a calm and convincing 
 manner, that the more time the convict could pass outside of the prison 
 walls, during the term of his punishment, the more one could hope for 
 favorable results for him, and for society which has an interest in his 
 moral improvement. Such a point of view is perfectly just, inasmuch 
 as the question concerns the defects in our present-day prisons. 
 
 But the stigma of the punishment inflicted on the prisoner must be 
 taken into consideration in the question of outdoor labor, especially with 
 regard to its publicity. Everyone has seen prisoners in the street going 
 to a court of justice or inquiry, under a guard of armed soldiers, or 
 returning to prison in the same way after the trial. It would seem that 
 confining a convict for several months between four walls ought to have 
 the effect of making him enjoy the fresh air, of causing him to fill his 
 lungs with deep breaths, and be interested in the lilac blossom and 
 the green grass. Wherefore, tKen, do we see these morose figures in 
 their gray suits, walking with heads down, trying to conceal their dirty, 
 shaven faces, not daring to raise their eyes, which seem to fasten them- 
 selves to the step of the soldiers marching at the head of the group, with- 
 out casting a glance on the busy surroundings, all movement and life? 
 Is this an unfamiliar sight? It is very evident that they are ashamed 
 of their guard, their dress, and their situation as prisoners. Cast a glance 
 on the group of convicts occupied in cleaning the market-place. You 
 will see on the face of each only the impenetrable mask of perfect indif- 
 ference to all their surroundings, only the professional appearance of 
 
 118 
 
the prisoner with the characteristic sparkle of insolence and effrontery in 
 his eye, which marks the convict among a thousand free men. Do not, 
 then, forget that the disheartening aspect of the convicts of the market- 
 place is clue to these same labors carried on outside the prison walls, 
 which, instead of rescuing the prisoner from the gehenna of seclusion, 
 instead of bringing about the desired result, seem to attach him to the 
 prison class, stamping upon him such an official seal that not only the 
 will and the decreasing strength of the prisoner, but even time itself 
 cannot break it. 
 
 The cause of this condition evidently lies in the publicity of the work, 
 which, under different circumstances, would have produced different 
 results. The prisoner, exposed as in a pillory by work carried on out- 
 side the prison, who, before he committed the crime, was a merchant, 
 proprietor, or workman, from that moment ceases to exist as such for 
 his world, rural or urban, for the circle of his relatives and friends, among 
 whom he has lived, and who have known him, as they know others, to 
 be good or bad, drunkard, libertine, or simply unfortunate, but not as 
 prisoner. From this moment the prison engulfs him completely, as a 
 bog swallows up its prey. The man disappears, and in his place appears 
 the disagreeable figure of the convict, without personality or name. 
 
 This is sufficient to prove that an organization which prescribes out- 
 door work for convicts under the eyes of the public, ought to be sup- 
 pressed. But as most of the works of this kind are of a more or less 
 public character, a rigid application of the principle indicated would pre- 
 sent an obstacle injurious to the works themselves. We cannot feign 
 ignorance of this fact, for it is certain that the removal of goods from one 
 place to another, the loading of wagons at the railway stations, working 
 at the wharves, cleaning the market all these sources of profit from the 
 convict would necessarily disappear with the establishment in the prisons 
 of more appropriate methods ; would, in fact, become obsolete, as has 
 almsgiving, which was formerly practiced to swell the prison budget, the 
 request being made openly, in the streets, by the prisoners themselves, 
 chained together in groups. 
 
 It would seem inconsistent to demand that the work of convicts, carried 
 on within the prison and organized by the board of managers, should 
 conform more or less to the aim of the institution, while at the same time, 
 the organization of outdoor labor should be intrusted mainly to chance, 
 
 119 
 
the most thought being given to the lucrative side of the work. It is true 
 that convicts who are most worthy of confidence are chosen for the out- 
 door work, but it cannot be denied that among these, many ought to be 
 the object of a special moral cure by work, and also, that the work 
 assigned to them may not only be useless from the point of view of 
 corrective influence, but, moreover, absolutely injurious. 
 
 In the account given of the manufactured articles shown at the Rus- 
 sian exhibition in 1902, which would serve as patterns for prison work- 
 shops, we said that with a regulated prison system, based on the idea 
 of the reform of the prisoner, convicts ought to be surrounded constantly 
 by an atmosphere of labor, which would be strengthening even if obliga- 
 tory, but of labor remunerated, well directed and profitable, adapted to the 
 strength and capacity of each. Such work would not prove distasteful ; 
 on the contrary,, the prisoners would become accustomed to it insensibly, 
 would grow interested in it, and could return to their former home, not 
 as parasites, but as laborers transformed into useful citizens. 
 
 This elementary rule which sets forth in concise form the nature of 
 the system of penal labor, is perfectly applicable to outdoor convict labor, 
 in so far as this work is designed to bring about the moral regeneration 
 of the convict. But, at the same time, we have reason to say that, in 
 reality, among the works carried on outdoors, none of them, whether 
 private or governmental when organized exclusively on economic or 
 commercial grounds, meets the needs of the prison. The practice in peni- 
 tentiaries, in former times, was to pay 110 attention to the kind of work 
 carried on by the convicts outside the prison, an indispensable precaution 
 in reaching a rational solution of the question. Finding itself in this 
 dilemma either to refuse work which was materially advantageous, or 
 to allow it from the point of view of ordinary work without taking into 
 account its corrective influence the old prison system often preferred the 
 latter solution. 
 
 In speaking of the principle of the utility of open-air works, we must 
 not rely upon those whose organization attains a degree of perfection in 
 itself, and benefits the convicts who are in need of it. It is, indeed, more 
 simple and practical to go to the mountain following the example of 
 the Mohammedan prophet especially when it refuses to come to you ; 
 in other words, it would be necessary, on one's own initiative, to organize 
 the works required, according to rational principles, and also in accord- 
 
ance with an elaborated programme, in order that the convicts one has 
 in mind might be influenced in the desired way, taking into consideration 
 the needs of the situation. The desired result could be reached only in 
 this manner. The most serious obstacle which this method meets lies in 
 the physical impossibility for the managers simultaneously to direct 
 separated groups of convicts, who mutually exclude each other as do fire 
 and water, and who have nothing in common, either with respect to 
 occupation, or the discipline applied to each, and especially separated with 
 respect to topography, not only while working, but, what is more impor- 
 tant, at night. 
 
 It is true that the organization of an enterprise on a large scale, as, 
 for example, the working of a brickyard, or the construction of a rail- 
 road or a highway might involve, or render inevitable, as has recently 
 happened at Kief and Wilna, that different groups would have to be placed 
 in households separated and remote from the prison, under the special 
 direction of an officer or chief, who would be given absolute power. 
 But it is readily understood that such enterprises can only be carried 
 on by the largest prisons, which have a large administrative staff and 
 a great many prisoners, so that it is possible to set aside a hundred or 
 more for outdoor labor. But the majority of our houses of correction 
 (nineteen out of thirty-one) not having a daily average above three 
 hundred prisoners, would necessarily have to give up such an extended 
 system of works. In sending convicts out in small groups, one is often 
 obliged, whether he will or not, to intrust them to an insufficient number 
 of guards, and sometimes these are absolutely lacking. 
 
 It necessarily follows, therefore, that under such conditions we can 
 only consider an elementary organization of these works in a technical, 
 and restricted prison aspect, without granting to them a corrective impor- 
 tance, or one of simple utility, in taking them, so to speak, by the force 
 of circumstances, from the hands of the managers of the prison. For- 
 tunately, the law indicates for us the organ of prison administration, 
 which, without any doubt, ought to be recognized as perfectly competent ; 
 for by virtue of Art. 298 of our rules concerning prisons, it is established 
 categorically, that the immediate supervision of the reform of convicts and 
 the permanent adaptation of work is intrusted to the care of a special 
 board. We thus arrive at the following practical conclusions : 
 
 I. The possibility of obtaining positive results from outdoor convict 
 
 121 
 
labor depends not only on the complete separation of these prisoners from 
 others, but especially on trie absolute suppression of the publicity of the 
 work. 
 
 2. Considering, from the penal point of view, the defective organiza- 
 tion of work which is procured for convicts by private employers, who 
 have in mind only the economic and lucrative side, it is necessary to 
 .organize open-air labor so that it will be specially adapted to convicts, 
 and be based on principles conformable to this end. 
 
 3. Finally, considering the lack of means which the prison has to 
 expend in carrying on these works, it would be necessary, if serious 
 moral results were expected, to charge some persons or institutions, 
 capable of conducting them to this end, with their management; and it 
 is precisely the councils of direction of houses of correction, which 
 possess the necessary qualities in this respect. 
 
 Concerning the character of the organization of, and the means of 
 regulating, outdoor convict labor, attention must preferably be given to 
 work in the fields. 
 
 The most convincing arguments on the possibility and urgency of the 
 organization of the work in question have been uttered by one of the 
 most respected members of the above-mentioned congress, Count K. K. 
 de Pahlen, governor of Wilna, in his very original, and at the same time, 
 very practical report on the organization of an agricultural prison colony. 
 
 In Russia [says the author of this report] 90 per cent, of the entire population 
 is engaged in agriculture, and, in spite of the fact that the population of the cities 
 gives the greatest number of crimes, our prisoners are, neverthe'ess, incumbered 
 with criminals coming principally from the rural districts, to which they return 
 after leaving prison. In my opinion, it would be wrong to teach these people a 
 trade, with the idea of reforming them and accustoming them to useful labor. 
 This measure would lead them away from their natural surroundings, and if, after 
 leaving the prison, the trade which they have learned there (that of bookbinder 
 or weaver, for example), couM not procure for them immediate employment, the 
 natural consequence would be that they would necessarily fall into the way of 
 crime, in order to procure the means of living. The existing type of prisons does 
 not permit of the convenient organization of labor other than that which can be 
 carried on within the prison, that is to say, works of handicraft or manufacturing. 
 
 Taking this indispensable and indisputable condition as a basis as 
 long as our prisons remain outside the sphere of influence of institutions 
 
 IM 
 
of patronage, which, unfortunately, find few adherents among us, in 
 spite of the encouraging measures on the part of the government, the 
 respected author of the report gives us a complete plan for an agricultural 
 farm colony where the convicts who belong to the farmer class could 
 find work, and the kind of life to which they have been accustomed, and 
 would not be forced to depart from the routine of labor which they have 
 followed from childhood. The fundamental ideas of the colony proposed 
 by Count K. K. de Pahlen are the following: 
 
 The government places at the disposition of the prison department 
 an almost valueless piece of uncultivated ground, for example, a peat-bog, 
 where nothing combustible could be taken. Nearby might be found some 
 sand-pits, also worthless. In the north of Russia, and even within the 
 limits of the government of St. Petersburg, many such pieces of land 
 can be found. In order to transform the peat-bog into a productive 
 piece of land, it would be sufficient, as has been shown in a clear manner 
 by the experiments performed by the well-known agriculturist, Rimpon, 
 to drain it and then to cover it with sand. The prisoners ought to be 
 placed in small groups on the land and form separated small farms, whose 
 buildings, constructed after the style of the village house occupied by all 
 the Russian farming population, that is to say, "isba," would each be of 
 sufficient size to shelter a score of convicts. The colony would receive 
 only those prisoners who have begun to reform. At the head of the 
 institution would be placed the director of the colony, an agriculturist 
 sent from a large institution. Under his authority would be placed all the 
 other heads of the separate small farms, selected from the managers of 
 prisons. In addition to this, the persons composing the management of 
 the works and the guard of the colony ought to be able to meet emer- 
 gencies. The discipline of the colony would be like that of the prison. 
 The annual salary of the workmen would only amount to 20 rubles. 
 The work-day would last from sunrise to sunset, in conformity with the 
 habits of Russian farmers. 
 
 Let us add to what has been said, that, according to the calculations 
 of the author of this detailed report, who considers the question on all 
 sides, the amount of annual expenditure by the government for a colony 
 of 600 convicts, organized according to the principles stated above, would 
 amount to only 5,000 rubles, that is to say, about 9 rubles for each man. 
 "Comparing this amount," says Count K. K. de Pahlen, "with the cost 
 
 "3 
 
of maintaining the convicts in the prisons themselves, that is to siy 125 
 rubles, we save 116 rubles on each prisoner, and 70,000 rubles yearly on 
 the 600. With good crops, the colony would probably be self-support- 
 ing." The extreme elasticity of the system allows the carrying-out of the 
 plan in any desired proportions, without changing the nature of it, even 
 in organizing a large agricultural colony, which would be of great impor- 
 tance from the point of view of social economy, as in organizing a modest 
 small farm with few workmen. The organization of an agricultural 
 colony for convicts, following the plan of Count K. K. de Pahlen, seems 
 to offer a way of realizing, in a manner nearest to the ideal, the principles 
 which should serve as the basis of the prison system, inasmuch as it has 
 recourse to outdoor labor as an instrument for the improvement of the 
 prisoners who, before their imprisonment, had belonged to the agricul- 
 tural cla-ss, for which class it combines the most important conditions for 
 the success of this difficult work, which has only been adopted by us 
 in recent times. These conditions are : 
 
 1. The forming into groups of the above-mentioned convicts, separat- 
 ing them from the other classes of the prison population, so as to avoid 
 their demoralizing influence. 
 
 2. The suppression of the feeling of disgrace itself, which is the result 
 of it. 
 
 3. The complete suppression of the publicity of work carried on 
 outside of the prison ; and finally 
 
 4. The creation, about the convicts, of an atmosphere of work, 
 strengthening although obligatory, but of work compensated for, well 
 understood and profitable, adapted to the strength and capacity of each. 
 
 The organization of such colonies in our country naturally can only 
 be an achievement of the future ; but we should state that at this 
 moment, we are already, in a measure, trying some serious experiments in 
 outdoor labor for convicts in the sphere of rural economy, based on 
 principles in conformity with the conditions mentioned above. Thus, in 
 1898, in the province of Pskow, a field of about 50 arpents, of the type 
 recommended by Count K. K. de Pahlen, was leased, and the necessary 
 buildings erected. The general board of prisons appropriated a sum of 
 6,000 rubles for the colony. Likewise in Orel, in Tomsk, and in several 
 other provinces, thanks be to the activity of the local boards, whose plans 
 were approved by the general board, and to the aid furnished from the 
 
 124 
 
state funds provided for the opening of works for convicts, some agricul- 
 tural prison farms, very well organized, have taken rank for some time 
 among our institutions of public utility, providing, according to all 
 reports, both healthful and profitable work for the prisoners. We pass in 
 silence the system of brickyards, which are under prison control, which 
 extends all over Russia and also proves itself to be an organization which 
 works in a perfectly satisfactory manner. 
 
 We may state, at any rate, that if open-air works, organized by our 
 recently improved prison management have not yet given positive results, 
 they have, nevertheless, adopted methods calculated to lead to success. 
 
REPORT PRESENTED BY MME. THE COUNTESS EUGENIE 
 
 KAPNIST 
 
 [TRANSLATOR, JAMES J. WHITE] 
 I 
 
 The introduction of the open-air work regime is a duty of justice 
 toward the prisoner, all the more so when the sanitary conditions of the 
 prisons leave much to be desired. 
 
 I take the privilege of repeating here the admirable and just opinion 
 placed at the head of the report of Dr. Karl Hafner ; a report which does 
 honor to Switzerland, always generous and wise in its initiative: "The 
 penalty involving privation of liberty ought not to be a penalty that 
 involves injury to the health of the convict." It is from this point of view 
 that I wish to treat the question of the urgent necessity of authorizing 
 open-air work as a rule for the prisoners of Greece. 
 
 Though they are classified as corrective, penal, and penitentiary, the 
 Greek prisons are dirty, unhealthful, and totally lacking in organization, 
 especially in the rural districts. The hospitals of several penitentiaries 
 present a frightful spectacle. The hemistich of Andre Chenier can be 
 applied to nearly all these places of confinement: "Nothing is done 
 today/' 
 
 At Athens, nevertheless, the central prison for women, the Averoff 
 prison for young criminals, and that of Syngro are brilliant exceptions. 
 Her Majesty, Queen Olga, moved with compassion for the precarious 
 condition of criminal women, imprisoned in horrible country holes, 
 exploited often against every principle of human dignity, has done a 
 great work by causing the erection of a model prison, where all these 
 detained females are at present gathered. The Averoff prison for young 
 criminals, through its wise educational discipline, arouses the admira- 
 tion of all foreigners who visit it. Let me cite thirdly the Syngro prison, 
 in the outskirts of the capital. Unhappily, as I said before, the remaining 
 prisons do not come up to this description. The state of Hellenic finances 
 after the burdensome war of 1897 seems not to have permitted the com- 
 
 126 
 
plete reorganization of a penitentiary system in this young country, so 
 ready in other things to appropriate all improvements ; along a thousand 
 other lines it progresses along with nations that had less to sustain as a 
 result of foreign wars, and less to suffer from party spirit among them- 
 selves. But certain social questions are of very little interest to the 
 majority of Greek society. Hence their indifference and deplorable slow- 
 ness in changing bad into good. With a few exceptions, neither prison 
 nor prisoner enjoys a sympathetic interest, when the regeneration of the 
 individual is considered. This is, perhaps, due to a lack of thought upon 
 this grave point. Fear of escape is exaggerated ; the southern imagina- 
 tion paints for- itself the criminal under an inhuman aspect, and thinks 
 only of either suppressing him or being secure from him. This attitude 
 will arouse in the Greek public mind the greatest opposition against the 
 beneficial regime of the work of prisoners in the open air. 
 
 On the other hand, if this regime were well applied in Greece, it would 
 procure for it, more than anywhere else, inestimable benefits. The crimi- 
 nals would not be the only ones benefited, but the state, and society as well. 
 
 1. The state would find in the relatively inexpensive manual labor of 
 prisoners, something with which to face financial embarrassments ; also 
 in the reorganization of penitentiaries tne convicts could be of great 
 assistance in improving prison conditions ; and could render national serv- 
 ice in executing the most difficult public improvements, such as the 
 clearing and draining of lands, the correction of water courses and rivers, 
 the opening of roads, the conveying of water from Lake Stymphale, or 
 from the river Melos, and the construction of new penitentiaries with 
 hospital annexes. 
 
 2. Society would be benefited through the general improvement in 
 hygienic conditions ; for the well-organized regime of open-air work for 
 the detained is called upon to render more than one important service. 
 The progress of tuberculosis and other pulmonary diseases is noticeable 
 among both city and country populations. The Hellenes, these noble 
 representatives of one of the oldest and most admirable races, these sons 
 of Pallas, every child of whom, though the most miserable and the most 
 wretched, yet has a noble desire for instruction, are unfortunately not 
 very numerous. When one considers the fact that in free Greece they 
 number only about 2,400,000, one feels genuine anguish at the thought of 
 the ravages which this scourge produces. 
 
 127 
 
The two great factors contributing to tuberculosis in all its forms are 
 filth and the lack of nourishing and healthful food; others are damp 
 streets and dwellings, the latter badly aired; lack of a system of canals 
 and of bathing establishments within the reach of the purse of the poor ; 
 the absence of a habit of constant watchfulness over the needs of the body. 
 As a consequence of these bad conditions, the individuals, if the organ- 
 ism is not strong, are weakened and easily become the victims of 
 contagion. Now nowhere do these deplorable conditions obtain to s 11 ^ 
 an extreme as in the primitive prisons of Greece, and in the families oj 
 prisoners, deprived of their natural support. But this is not all ; when the 
 term of imprisonment has expired, the prisoner who has lost his he Hh 
 in the dark caves, infected with nauseating odors that proceed frc 
 the sewers in such prisons as the Rhion, Ithaca, the Pylos, the Chalcis 01 
 Miltiades, St. Andrew at Palamede, and the Palaio-Stratones in the very 
 center of Athens, returns to his family, demoralized by an inhuman 
 seclusion, not capable of work, ready to impart the disease of tuberculo- 
 sis. According to the statistics of Dr. Manoussis, 10 per cent, of the 
 convicts suffer from it. Think of the danger to sentinels and prison 
 employees! Truly the entire population is threatened with this terrible 
 evil, which extends its ramifications even through the generations to 
 come. 
 
 Since the embarrassment of Hellenic finances, and the insufficiency of 
 bequests (excepting the generous bequest of Dr. Syngro, to the cen- 
 tral prison, amounting to 1,500,000 drachmas) leave us uncertain as 
 to how near the new penitentiary era may be, which would be marked by 
 the establishment of open-air work, it becomes a part of the public 
 duty to demand of the state officials that they assist in promoting effective 
 measures that would assure, at least partially, hygienic conditions in the 
 old prisons. 
 
 The Hellenic law made labor in prisons an essential obligation. To 
 our great astonishment, this law is not enforced, except in a very small 
 number of prisons (in four, out of the thirty-six prisons in Greece). On 
 the other hand, the constitution, dating from a time when the questions 
 that occupy us where only in their infancy, did not foresee the necessity 
 of open-air work. But the forms of hard labor which existed, and have 
 been abolished by a decree of Parliament, well arranged and well under- 
 stood, contained in the germ the idea and the sanction of open-air work. 
 
 128 
 
Let us add that recently, this work-regime, outside the precincts of 
 prisons has been quietly applied, and with evident success a happy ante- 
 cedent which facilitates the regular introduction of this duty and of this 
 benefit both to prisoners and to society. 
 
 II 
 
 The first beginning of the employment of Greek prisoners at work in 
 the open air was due to Her Majesty, Queen Olga, whose generous soul 
 
 ches for all that can mitigate the conditions of the unfortunate. Mr. 
 N. Snylliopoulos, ex-director of the Syngro prisons, and now director of 
 the Averoff prison, has found a way of successfully applying a system of 
 c outside the precincts of the penitentiary. We cannot congratulate 
 v im ei ough upon that. I owe it to the very detailed notes which he 
 kindly furnished me, that I am able to draw a concise picture of the 
 organization of the four best penitentiary establishments of Greece. On 
 the basis of the principle of compulsory work, which is here applied, while 
 it is not effective in the remaining Hellenic prisons, it is clear that it 
 would be easy gradually to extend this principle, and bring about in 
 Greece the same humanitarian, regenerating, and economical results that 
 have been obtained through the open-air work at Witzwil (Berne), in 
 Prussia, at Graz, and in Siberia during the construction of the Siberian 
 railway. I do not mention America 1 and Hungary for the sole reason 
 that the prisoners there are often hired to private contractors. Now, as 
 Professor Simeon Baldwin so justly says: "The convict must not be 
 employed at open-air work except by the government the fact is 
 undeniable." 
 
 Following is a. brief sketch of the four best penitentiaries of Greece: 
 
 I. THE PRISON AT CORFU 
 
 At the time of the cession of the Ionic Islands to the Greek govern- 
 ment by the English government, the prison of Corfu was completely 
 organized, and continued to do well after the annexation. Several 
 industries are carried on. Horticulture produces some revenue for the 
 state. Though there is not in Greece a special law authorizing work 
 outside the precincts of prisons, it happens that, either tacitly or by minis- 
 terial order, the prisoners are taken out into the neighborhood in order 
 to carry on necessary works. At Corfu some prisoners manufacture tiles 
 
 *Not now general. C. R. H. 
 
 129 
 
outside prison limits, while others are sent quite a long distance in order 
 to cut fuel for cooking. Among these are the quiet prisoners, and those 
 who have served the greater part of their sentence. 
 
 It is only a question, therefore,, of widening the field of action in order 
 to undertake agricultural work; and then, thanks to the fertility of the 
 island, through intelligence and zeal, land culture would return the most 
 signal benefits. A model penitentiary farm could be used for two pur- 
 poses : ( I ) for the lucrative production of oils, wines, and raisins, which 
 enjoyed a high reputation after the Venetian domination, but now do not 
 produce a third of what they once did ; (2) for a perfect sanitary station, 
 for the prisoners in poor health, and those threatened with tuberculosis. 
 
 The prison of Corfu is regulated by the decree of 1836, which intro- 
 duced the Auburn system. Besides the - director, who has immediate 
 oversight, there is a board of directors, composed of the president, the 
 attorney of the lower court, and the prefect. This committee watches 
 over the prison and decides the various questions that present themselves. 
 The minister of justice, who has the general direction of all the prisons 
 of the state, decides in the last resort. It depends then upon the deputies 
 of Corfu to interest the board of directors to such an extent that the 
 open-air work outside the prison should be regularly resorted to instead 
 of being casual ; while in turn, the board could present to Parliament the 
 question of a penitentiary model farm that would foster vine culture and 
 other agricultural works on the island. 
 
 II. THE SYNGRO PRISON 
 
 This prison, named after its benefactor (who bequeathed 1,500,000 
 drachmas for the construction, not yet begun, of a central model prison), 
 and built at his expense, was the first Greek penitentiary organized after 
 a European system in so far as building is concerned. Mr. N. Spyllio- 
 poulos was its organizer and first director; he gave me the following 
 details : Since the first year, 241 prisoners were taught various branches 
 of labor which produced a profit of 19,942 drachmas, 16 leptas, divided 
 as follows : 9,987 dr. 77 leptas for the prisoners ; the same amount, less 
 a few francs, for the state. The trades taught are the following: shoe- 
 making, 47 workers ; cutting, 42 ; carpentry, 45 ; making Venetian lan- 
 terns, 49; brush-making, 12; agriculture, 8; while 38 prisoners were 
 employed at domestic work and at cleaning. Though the prisoners used 
 
 130 
 
hammers and knives for work on leather and other articles, not only did 
 no mishap occur, but it was rarely the case that the rules were violated. 
 The workers showed themselves very obedient. The entire number 
 (241 prisoners) were condemned to heavy penalties. Forty-four were 
 sentenced to perpetual hard labor; of these thirty were originally sen- 
 tenced to decapitation but the penalty had been commuted. This proves 
 that though crimes, especially attempts against life, are very numerous 
 the perpetrators of these crimes are not criminals by nature, but by 
 occasion. In Greece, one cannot attribute crime to perversion except in 
 rare cases ; generally it is due to the irritable character of the southern 
 nations or to the non-application of the law against carrying arms; on 
 account of Turkish domination, nearly everyone, especially those who 
 live on the frontiers, is accustomed to being armed. Soon after com- 
 mitting the crime the assassin repents sincerely, works quietly, and fre- 
 quently offers proofs of his mildness and his devotion to his superiors. 
 It is a characteristic of the Greek proletarian that after having suffered his 
 penalty he returns to society to pass the remainder of his life honestly. 
 "The habitual criminals are rare in Greece, compared to the rest of 
 Europe." If anyone supposes that in respect to Greece Mr. Spylliopoulos 
 is drawing on his imagination as to his compatriots, I am here to testify 
 that he utters only the strict truth. The type of assassin with a 
 depressed head or depraved expression is almost undiscoverable in 
 Hellenic prisons. This being established, it becomes a duty, incumbent 
 upon both justice and society, to watch over the preservation of health, 
 and the moral regeneration of the prisoner. Let us, for instance, in con- 
 nection with workshops, introduce agricultural labor into the Syngro 
 prison, where, out of 241 prisoners, 8 only were so employed in 1897. 
 Instead of pale and emaciated men we should see companies full of action 
 and energy working for the welfare of the public. The report of Mr. 
 Jules Kiraly is very instructive as to the indoor work in crowded prisons. 
 He gives frightful figures of mortality. The resort to open-air work 
 relieves the crowded condition of the workshops, thus letting more 
 respirable air into the interior of the penitentiary, while at the same time 
 the lungs of the agriculturist convict are abundantly filled with oxygen. 
 The Syngro prison is situated on the outskirts of Athens, and not far 
 from it extend marshy lands and uncultivated hills that belong to the 
 state. The prisoners would have to walk only a little distance, avoiding 
 
the city, in order to reach these marshes, at the foot of the elevation of 
 Hymettus. The drainage of these lands would assure a fall in the 
 mortality of the city, and to the state magnificent fields suitable for gar- 
 dens near the capital. On the other side, behind Athens, the bushes 
 of the hills surrounding Lycabettus could be replaced by vineyards, or the 
 ground could be used for general agricultural purposes. The bed of the 
 Ilissus, nearly always dried, presents an open sewer, full of filth. Sup- 
 pose the outskirts of Athens should extend in some places as far as its 
 banks ; it is not difficult to imagine the resulting infection. To clean these 
 Augean stables would be the greatest benefit to society. Thus the 
 prisoner, through service of public usefulness, would wipe out his moral 
 debt, and receive forgiveness from those who fear him and condemn him 
 without mercy, not knowing him nor the fruit of his reformation. 
 
 III. CENTRAL PRISON FOR WOMEN 
 
 A suitable prison for women was lacking in Greece. The govern- 
 ment formerly rented, in rural districts, premises for housing both accused 
 and sentenced, but matters were not well regulated in these houses. Her 
 Majesty, Queen Olga, made a donation sufficient to erect in Athens a 
 very beautiful central establishment. This penitentiary enforces the rule 
 of isolating the prisoners during the night, and of working them in 
 common during the day. Every female prisoner sentenced to no less than 
 six months in prison, and the women sentenced by the tribunals of Athens, 
 are conveyed here from the interior. The prisoners are now 74 in num- 
 ber. In all Greece, the number of female offenders does not exceed 130. 
 The immense difference between the penitentiary statistics of the two 
 sexes proceeds from the fact that drunkenness is an unknown vice among 
 Greek women. The prison is organized according to the Auburn system. 
 There is a "directress," a head female guard, four female guards, and 
 three women for industrial instruction. Textile workshops were installed ; 
 also those for lace-making, sewing, and washing and ironing. The only 
 condition of welfare which is lacking to these prisoners is the open-air 
 work. The women of the cities of Greece are rarely accustomed to going 
 out, especially those belonging to the middle classes. But the women of 
 the villages are, on the contrary, used to an outdoor life, hence seclusion 
 must have a weakening effect upon them. It would be easy to employ 
 them at gardening or fruit culture. Flower culture would prove profit- 
 
 132 
 
able, the shops of Athens being always quite poorly supplied. I believe that 
 a piece of land could be ceded by the state to the model prison, a prison 
 which is an honor to Greece, and cost it nothing. Not far from the 
 penitentiary there are uncultivated lands belonging to the government, 
 which could be made to serve this purpose. A piece could be cleared 
 out and surrounded by walls by the labor of the prisoners of the Syngro 
 prison, after which the women of the central prison, accustomed to agri- 
 culture, could continue the cultivation, under their female guards having 
 dogs trained for this purpose. Soldiers should be stationed outside the 
 walls as sentries ; and the women could wear masks to avoid the curious 
 gaze of onlookers. 
 
 IV. AVEROFF PRISON 
 
 This establishment was erected at the expense of the Greek philanthro- 
 pist, George Averoff. It is designed for young men who commit a mis- 
 demeanor or crime, between the ages of 14 and 18 years. They are 
 brought to it from all parts of the kingdom, if the sentence exceeds one 
 month. Those sentenced by the tribunals of Athens, 18 to 21 years of 
 age, undergo their penalty at this prison if the term for which they are 
 committed does not exceed three years. After young criminals have 
 reached the age of 19, they are taken to special quarters. This was not 
 possible in the original building; they were subjected to being crowded 
 in such terrible holes of idleness and infection as those of which I have 
 already spoken. Her Majesty, Queen Olga, touched by these unnatural 
 conditions, erected at her own expense, in the inclosure of the Averoff 
 prison, an annex building, which can accommodate 105 prisoners. This 
 building is constructed in such a manner as to satisfy the requirements 
 of isolation at night and work in common during the day. The opera- 
 tion of the Averoff prison dates from 1897. This establishment is under 
 special regulations. In addition to the superintendent, there is a board 
 of directors, composed of the attorney, the vice-president of the Court of 
 Cassation, the attorney of the Court of Appeal, the general secretary of 
 the minister of justice, the prefect, and a representative of Her Majesty, 
 Queen Olga. In addition, a commission of patronesses gives attention 
 to prison interests, in Her Majesty's name. This commission keeps her 
 informed in respect to conditions, and proposes measures for the improve- 
 ment of the establishment, for the installation and development of new 
 
industries, and for the protection of the prisoners. No measure is taken 
 up by the ministry of justice until the board of directors, presided over 
 by the attorney of the Court of Cassation, has submitted a proposition. 
 In 1898, upon the request of the board of directors, the government con- 
 fided the establishment to Mr. N. Spylliopoulos, who was selected for the 
 position because of his ability, his energy, and his special studies, carried 
 on for three years in the prisons of England, France, and Germany. His 
 knowledge was thus practical as well as theoretical. Though the arrange- 
 ment of the buildings was defective and presented some serious obstacles 
 during the first four years, thanks to the experience and zeal of Mr. 
 Spylliopoulos, the establishment is now in admirable condition, according 
 to reports by Greek and foreign visitors. The German minister, Mr. V. 
 Plessen, who visited it repeatedly, studied its organization, examined its 
 workshops, its schools and its chapels, congratulated the superintendent, 
 and expressed his astonishment at having found in Greece a prison work- 
 ing so well that he thought he was inspecting a German penitentiary. 
 Following is a summary of the rules of the management of the Averoff 
 prison : 
 
 As soon as the convicted man enters the prison, he is registered, 
 shaved, washed, clothed with the penitentiary uniform, and, after the 
 doctor's visit, is placed in his cell. The rules concerning his duties are 
 read to him and he then remains confined in his cell for five days. Dur- 
 ing this time he receives visits from the director, doctor, and chaplain. 
 Each of these notes his observations as to his characteristics, his mental 
 and physical condition, his antecedents, and inclinations, and the extent of 
 the prisoner's instruction. The five days being past, the prisoner takes his 
 place in the school and workshop. The young men are up ten minutes 
 before sunrise ; half an hour is given them for making their beds, clean- 
 ing their cells, and performing ablutions. After that they stand in line, 
 in brigades of 30 men each. They enter the church and say their morn- 
 ing prayers. Singing a hymn, they enter the yard where they walk from 
 half an hour to an hour, following closely, one behind the other, at a dis- 
 tance of two or three meters, and not uttering a word, as in the prison of 
 Pentonville, at London. They then pass to the dining-room, engage in 
 prayer, and take breakfast. After a quarter of an hour they go to the 
 workshops, and work until noon. Once more they wash, stand in line, 
 and by brigades enter the dining-room, dine, pray together, leave, rest 
 
for an hour, resume their work which is continued until five o'clock, 
 according to the season of the year. After finishing work, they are again 
 required to wash, they then rest in the yard for an hour, enter the dining- 
 room, whence, after the meal, they pass to the school, where they follow 
 an elementary course of study and are given lessons in singing. These 
 occupations ended, the evening prayer is said, and closely, one behind 
 the other, they return to their cells. After a quarter of an hour the bell 
 rings for retiring. From that moment the most complete silence reigns 
 everywhere. In the morning, two or three times a week, gymnastics are 
 substituted for walking. On Sundays and other holidays religious duties, 
 religious instruction, reading, school, walking and gymnastics replace the 
 regular work. Smoking is forbidden. The following industries have 
 been introduced in the workshops : shoemaking, sewing, carpentry, brush- 
 making, forging, the molding of spoons, forks, etc., in bronze and 
 other metals. Work in textiles, instruction in which is due to the efforts 
 of Her Majesty, furnishes occupation for a considerable number of the 
 prisoners. The financial returns from this industry are such as to assure 
 the development of new industries in the prison. Cloth is manufactured 
 for use in the penitentiary, for making sails, and for the market. Garden- 
 ing is not neglected, while the shoe shop supplies shoes for both army 
 and navy. 
 
 Now we come to the principal point. From this detailed account of 
 the system in force in the Averoff prison it is easy to see in it the model 
 prison of Greece. Nothing is wanting except the inauguration of open- 
 air work for the prisoners. And here let us see under what circum- 
 stances this was rt least put in practice if not theoretically provided for, 
 for the first time in Greece. This fact is of extreme importance ; it 
 awakens the hope, and shows the legal possibility, of introducing this 
 salutary innovation, and of applying it extensively, in order to save the 
 rest of the Greek prisoners from tuberculosis and other diseases. 
 
 Another direction in which the labor of the Averoff prisoners was utilized 
 [Mr. Spylliopoulos writes me] was the construction of central prisons for women, 
 erected at the expense of Her Majesty, Queen Olga, and the construction of the 
 Averoff annex for inmates who have attained the age of nineteen. It was also 
 Her Majesty who provided funds for this. Thirty prisoners worked on the erection 
 of the prison for women. Each wore a ring around his ankle, attached to which 
 was a chain, connected with his belt, the whole weighing 1,600 grams. This did 
 
 135 
 
not offer any obstacle to the work, but it impeded rapid walking and flight. The 
 thirty prisoners worked in the country, and were guarded by a watchman and 
 three soldiers, who stood at a distance of 100 meters from the convicts. From 
 forty to fifty prisoners aided in the erection of the Averoff annex. The person 
 appointed by Her Majesty to oversee this work assures me that the task of the 
 prisoners was as carefully done, and the result as great as would have been those 
 of free workers who receive from three to four francs a day. The pay of the 
 prisoners was only one drachma, of which half goes to the state and only 50 leptas 
 (10 cents) are paid to the prisoner. Her Majesty added from her own purse 20 
 leptas (4 cents) for each prisoner, to add to the food furnished by the state. All 
 the work of the erection of the annex of the Averoff prison was accom- 
 plished by the prisoners, under the guidance of a master carpenter, a smith, and 
 twelve masons. This is one of the most interesting examples of economical build- 
 ing. This building, the material of which is good and the workmanship substantial, 
 cost only 105,000 drachmas. If the state should ever think of undertaking great 
 works of public usefulness, or the erection of a model central prison, it should 
 recall the result of the first attempt at having prisoners work in the open air an 
 attempt which was crowned with a brilliant success, and which entailed not a 
 single escape. 
 
 Ill 
 
 In examining the operation of the four best prisons of Greece, the 
 conclusion is forced upon us that open-air work could be authorized for 
 the inmates of all the penitentiaries of Greece, and the introduction of 
 the system should not suffer any delay. The question of chains will per- 
 haps be a live subject of discussion in Greece ; some citizens see in them 
 an insult to liberty. "No Greek," say they, "must carry the chain; not 
 even the criminal ; decapitation is preferable." I think I am able to declare 
 that this phrase is an euphemism from the fact that now there are a 
 thousand prisoners asking to wear chains two or three times heavier 
 (1,000 grams is the usual weight), on condition that they be allowed to 
 go out and work in the country. The prisoner who has served three- 
 fourths of his sentence desires the chain, so that he will not be tempted 
 to try to escape. The law does not authorize gangs of enchained prison- 
 ers to go out to work in the country. But that was practiced in the 
 Averoff and Syngro prisons, with the consent of the prisoners them- 
 selves. As chains are not provided by law (except for those sentenced to 
 hard labor, which is tacitly falling into disuse), the superintendent of the 
 prison, in co-operation with the armed guard, can omit the chains, if he 
 
 136 
 
thinks there is no danger of escape. It is right to consult the self-respect 
 of the prisoner, but gentle intentions must not be allowed to override the 
 brutality of facts. The shame caused by wearing a chain is exaggerated, 
 when compared with the crime of leaving an inmate to become infected 
 with tuberculosis, in caves oozing humidity, in such prisons as the 
 Miltiades, or the St. Andrew of Nauplie. Among the inmates there, I 
 found some nearly blind, others suffering with their eyes. What kind 
 of air have these inmates breathed for the last twenty years ? What kind 
 of light have they seen? This den is surrounded by enormous walls, 
 leaving but a narrow strip of sky to be seen. It is the yard of the prison, 
 the only place for walking, and recreation ! There asphyxiation comes on 
 more slowly. At night it is more rapid, for 37 individuals are thrown in 
 confusion in a cavern without a single window. I shall ever remember 
 the expression of a group of men, apparently still young, herded together 
 by an old buttress, used as a precinct wall, by the prison of St. Andrew. 
 It was being repaired, and they stood looking out to the country from 
 afar in order to breathe the air of the fields, in order to catch again 
 the thread of normal life among the furrows of the plough. These poor 
 men would have worn with joy the ball of the galley slave to say 
 nothing of the light chain of regenerative work, they themselves have 
 told me! 
 
 We have seen, on the other hand, that the Greek criminal is rarely an 
 assassin by birth ; that the habitual criminal is very rare. Three-fourths 
 of the inmates are either herdsmen, or tillers of the soil. Mr. Spylliopou- 
 los, whose experience in this matter cannot be questioned, writes : "Our 
 prisoners are mild, easy to manage and obedient when well directed." 
 The state can perfectly well employ the criminals sentenced to the heaviest 
 penalties, to carry on agricultural or building operations. They can be 
 put to work without considering the great expense of watching them, 
 which will be amply covered by profits accruing to the state. The gov- 
 ernment pays the prison workers 50 leptas, instead of three or four 
 drachmas, the usual daily wage paid to the free laborer. What better 
 conditions could one find for introducing the system of open-air work 
 for prisoners? 
 
 As to the field of work, not only is it not lacking, but it is perhaps the 
 largest in Europe. In Greece, agriculture has been sacrificed too much 
 to commerce, and to urban activities. In vain did Capo of Istria attempt 
 
to interest the Greeks in land culture. The blade was dried up by the 
 hand of Demeter. The agricultural establishments, begun by the first 
 president of independent Greece, did not work well. But a return to the 
 country is now beginning once more ; and the state will gain thereby. 
 Penitentiary farms would encourage this movement. A part of Elis and 
 the whole of Thessalia must be cleared and rendered healthful before 
 being cultivated. The course of the Peneus presents on a large scale what 
 is needed for improving other rivers of simular importance. Several 
 marshes must be drained. Generally soldiers are sent out to erect tele- 
 graph poles and open roads ; these same soldiers, reduced in numbers, 
 could guard the public works executed by the prisoners. Even the 
 capital itseff, beautiful and poetic Athens, needs a supply of water either 
 from Lake Stymphale or the river Milos. The state cannot provide the 
 required sum for the work, but laborers are ready and willing to regain 
 public esteem, and accept a modest wage, in order to obtain necessary 
 clothing. The climate of Greece is favorable to the cultivation of medical 
 herbs and spices. Roses, whose oil is in great demand, need only to be 
 opened. Bee and fish culture are almost unknown to the Greeks. There 
 are many useful and lucrative occupations that can be introduced into the 
 penitentiaries. Hands are not wanting, for the prisoners are many. Out 
 of an aggregate of six thousand, five thousand at least are absolutely idle. 
 The following statistics show eloquently that these prisoners are of the 
 category of those who would be employed in America or Europe in agri- 
 cultural or public works throughout their long sentences. 
 
 In each of the provinces, where there is a primary tribunal, there exists a 
 house of correction, divided in two parts, of which one is for the accused, and 
 the other for those who are sentenced. In these prisons, those sentenced to less 
 than three years of prison life undergo their penalty. Those sentenced to more 
 than three years, or those sentenced to solitary confinement, or hard labor, or 
 those sentenced for from five to ten years, or from ten to twenty years, or for life, 
 serve their sentence in penal prisons or in penitentiaries ; these two prison systems 
 differ only in regulations. There are in the whole kingdom, 21 correctional prisons, 
 7 penal prisons, and 6 penitentiaries. On December I, 1904, 5,750 prisoners, accused 
 or sentenced, were behind the bars. They were classified thus: 413 for life; 
 1,368 temporarily (from 10 to 20 years) ; 1,509 to close confinement (5 to 10 years) ; 
 933 to ordinary imprisonment (2 to 5 years), and 1,527 for less than two years 
 Of those sentenced for life, 152 were originally sentenced to be decapitated but 
 
 138 
 
had obtained a commutation of sentence. At the same time there are now eleven 
 sentenced to die, whose cases are before the Court of Cassation. 
 
 Let us add that an institution long forgotten in older European 
 countries is still in existence in Greece ; I refer to the debtors' prison. The 
 prisoner who cannot pay the expenses of his suit and support in prison, 
 at the expiration of sentence, passes one or more years in the prison 
 for debtors. This time he is punished for being poor, but the punishment 
 is a loss to the state ! What a cruel anomaly, when the prisoner, reformed 
 by the educative influence of the Averoff prison, is shut up with vaga- 
 bonds after his regeneration ! For the sum of twenty-five or fifty francs 
 due the state he is incarcerated a whole year ; at the end of which period 
 the prison has had enough of him and he is released, whether he pay his 
 debt or not. I have often seen these poor folk, walled inside pestilential 
 premises; they lower a small basket attached to a string through a 
 barred window and in this the pitying passers-by deposit their offering. 
 How can the prisoner in debt, inclosed and without work, hope to reim- 
 burse the state? We have already said that the law of compulsory labor 
 exists for all prisoners. But in thirty-two prisons of Greece, out of the 
 thirty-six, implements, workshops, light and places for benches do not 
 exist ! So long as a central prison of a new type is lacking, I see only 
 one remedy for so many ills and disorders: open-air work that aids both 
 the prisoner and the state. 
 
 IV 
 
 The open-air work, the means of benefiting the largest number of 
 prisoners, should oe agricultural or horticultural, since three-fourths of 
 the prisoners have led country lives. The best system of supervision, 
 since chains do not trouble the worker, is that introduced during the 
 drainage of the marshes of the "Tre Fontane," near Rome. Mr. Alex. 
 Skouzes gives its circumstantial details in his very interesting booklet, 
 written on the occasion of the fifth penitentiary congress at Rome. Let 
 us hope that this excellent work will be the first good seed from which to 
 reap in Greece a large harvest of beautiful results of open-air work. Mr. 
 Spylliopoulos agrees in thinking that the supervision of Greek prisoners 
 should not differ from that in operation in other countries quite as uneven 
 of surface, such as Italy, Switzerland, and Austria. If agricultural works 
 are to be undertaken on a large scale, it will be necessary to select lands 
 
 139 
 
that are level and adjoining, in order to simplify the services of the guards. 
 A classification should also be made of the prisoners, and those of quiet 
 disposition should be chosen, or those who have served the larger part 
 of their sentence. 
 
 It would be absolutely harmful and immoral in Greece to attempt to 
 follow the example set by Hungary, Austria, and America, in hiring out 
 prisoners, whether at reduced price or not, to private interests. This 
 system seems to me very precarious in countries that have attained the 
 highest degree of penitentiary development. Such a system would bring 
 about political abuses or reprisals in Greece. As to the state, everything 
 invites and encourages it to profit by the labor of the prisoners. Let 
 both the nation and the criminal himself be benefited by it! It is only a 
 question of regulating the profit the state should enjoy, and the part the 
 prisoner should receive. If the pay is divided in two parts, that due the 
 state and that due the prisoner, it will be necessary also to form other 
 sub-divisions, in order to create a savings account, to be given to the 
 prisoner, at the expiration of his penalty. "They must have constantly 
 in view the return of the prisoner to an existence assured by honest 
 work/' writes M. Veillier, director of Fresne. 
 
 It is also very necessary to organize a fund to assist the families of 
 prisoners. To this end a part of the pay should be retained, and every 
 quarter the prisoner should send the sum to his family, by postal-order, 
 in order to avoid abuses. The moral effect of this regulation would be 
 certain. Instead of the desperate prospect that, deprived of liberty and 
 work, he cannot help his family ; instead of intrusting them to some cal- 
 culating agent or indifferently leaving them alone to depend upon his 
 wife or mother for support, by this arrangement the prisoner is enabled 
 to watch over their welfare from the very depths of the prison. This 
 would be am encouragement to work and a moral incentive to most of the 
 prisoners. 
 
 The government should undertake to furnish clothing and shoes to the 
 prisoners ; these are furnished in other countries. I have already spoken 
 of the nakedness of the prisoners at Nauplie, Patras, Trikala, and else- 
 where. One would think, from their aspect that the population was a 
 "court of miracles." How could they work in open air half naked ? 
 
 In order to introduce workshops into the thirty-two idle prisons of 
 Greece, and organize permanent open-air works, the state should devote 
 
 140 
 
large sums to the purpose. But the sums required for obligatory labor 
 and works of public utility would be quickly and more than fully repaid. 
 We see stock companies paying high wages in Greece, clearing enormous 
 profits. A surplus would not long be wanting. This capital should be 
 used for founding new penitentiaries and hospitals in connection with 
 prisons ; it should help to incre'ase the legacy of 1,500,000 francs, for the 
 central establishment. The fund accruing to the penitentiary organization 
 from the profit on the inexpensive labor of the prisoners should be 
 deposited in the national bank, under the control of a special commission. 
 It would be a happy consummation if we could see as president of this com- 
 mission either Her Majesty, Queen Olga, or Her Highness, the royal 
 princess. The president of ministers, the ministers of the interior and 
 of finance and of justice should be members of this commission, as well 
 as persons in the country who have occupied themselves with penitentiary 
 questions, and have published some valuable work upon these questions. 
 This would be the best means of obtaining quick results, and would at the 
 same time assure the economical and profitable use of the penitentiary 
 funds. But this state of things should not be necessary except for a 
 limited time a time of great reform. At the end of some years of regular 
 operation of workshop and open-air industries the state would come to 
 consider the penitentiary as a kind of fraternity, existing and sustaining 
 itself by work, submitting only to the control of the government. Is it 
 logical that these establishments should be founded, sustained, and 
 operated at public cost? Is the honest citizen under obligation to enter- 
 tain by his efforts (eloquently represented by the tax figures) the male- 
 factor who is lodged and fed by the state without labor on his part? 
 After offending against society, he then feeds on it, without giving any 
 profit in return. 
 
 But if this anomaly is apparent, it is not less important to perform 
 our duties toward the criminal himself. His health is precious, for when 
 he returns to society, after his reformation, it means no less to the human 
 race than the life of any free citizen. The prison is a place of torture 
 and not of moral education, when it becomes a breeding place for microbes ! 
 It is only the healthy workman that can execute the work confided to 
 him. It is for this reason, that along with the workshop we should also 
 introduce the open-air system. 
 
 With only a few exceptions Jwrites Mr. Jules Kiraly] the work of the prisoners in 
 
 141 
 
the prison is very harmful to health. This is due to the number of men in the 
 workshops, and the lack of pure air. If one considers, at present, that the departure 
 of a number of the indoor convicts to agricultural industries improves the hygienic 
 condition of those remaining in the penitentiary, then from a sanitary point of view, 
 outdoor labor constitutes the most precious factor in the health of the prisoners. 
 
 Here we are then back to our point of departure: open-air work for 
 prisoners constitutes the solution of the grave problem of fighting the 
 threatening progress of tuberculosis in prisons : 
 
 1. By its hygienic results. 
 
 2. By its moral influence upon the prisoner. 
 
 3. By the profits, which the great works of public utility would assure, 
 giving to the government the means of erecting a central prison of a per- 
 fect type, and of bettering, from all points of view, the condition of the 
 prisoner. 
 
 4. By the possibility of erecting hospitals in the penitentiaries, and 
 also a central hospital, where contagious diseases can be separated from 
 those that are easily cured. 
 
 5. Finally by the sanitary guarantee which is ofTered by open-air 
 work, preserving the prisoner outside the prison precincts; while at the 
 same time those in the workshops are benefited through the decrease in 
 numbers during the day. After the prisoner leaves the prison this 
 guarantee would be extended to his home, his family, and his neighbors, 
 preserving them from a contagion which he has escaped. 
 
 It remains, then, after enumerating all these benefits, which are so 
 important to the Greek nation, to wish with all ardor of thought and 
 act that this system be introduced immediately in all prisons. 
 
 In an early part of this report, I have cited the hemistich of Andre 
 Chenier so applicable to the thirty-two Greek prisons where idleness and 
 disorder reign : 
 
 Nothing is done today. 
 
 We hope we may be able to add to it shortly the conclusion of the same 
 stanza, by this great poet, who knew all the bitterness of prisons : 
 All will be done tomorrow. 
 
 142 
 
REPORT OF THE VAGRANCY COMMITTEE 
 
 ADOPTED BY THE COURT OF QUARTER SESSIONS FOR THE PARTS OF LINDSEY 
 LINCOLNSHIRE, ENGLAND 
 
 [ABSTRACT BY HARVEY P. BITTNER] 
 
 Pursuant to a resolution adopted at the Michaelmas Quarter Sessions 
 for the parts of Lindsey, on October 23, 1903, a committee was appointed 
 "to consider and report upon the present methods of dealing with offenses 
 against the Vagrancy Acts, with a view to ascertaining whether any 
 changes are necessary, and especially, ( I ) whether it is desirable that any 
 system of labor colonies should be established to which the courts should 
 have power to sentence habitual offenders, and, (2) whether any joint 
 action between the magistrate and the boards of guardians throughout the 
 country is possible to secure the establishment of such colonies." 
 
 The report of the Vagrancy Committee ( I ) reviews the unsatisfactory 
 present method of dealing with vagrants, and (2) recommends as a sub- 
 stitute for the present system of short-term sentences for vagrants penal 
 labor colonies to be modeled after the Belgian labor colonies. A detailed 
 report on the latter system with particular respect to the colony at Merx- 
 plas made by two members of the committee is attached. 
 
 The present method of short-term sentences is unsatisfactory because 
 
 1 I ) the effect is neither deterrent nor reformatory on the habitual vagrant 
 (who in England forms a very large proportion of the vagrant class) ; 
 
 (2) because no provision is made for the inefficient employee without 
 work, who as a result often finds his way into prison, being unable to 
 establish his bona fide character, and (3) because of the immense cost of 
 the vagrant class to the community. 
 
 The failure of the present method as a deterrent or reformer is partly 
 due to the changes in the form of hard labor since the hours of labor and 
 the severity of work bear no comparison with many kinds of free labor 
 outside. The law provides for periods of long imprisonment but the com- 
 mittee does not recommend this step, which, although it would decrease 
 the number of vagrants, would cause a corresponding increase in the 
 
criminal class. The cost alone should warrant a change, for the vagrants 
 produce nothing, necessitate large additions to workhouses, overload 
 prisons, form ready recruits to the criminal classes, are a nuisance to rich 
 and poor, and leave behind families. 
 
 To strengthen their argument against short-term sentences prison- 
 record statistics are quoted which show that the increase in the number 
 of vagrants has been material and constant. The records of two men 
 sentenced at Lincoln are given to further substantiate their assertions. 
 The first man began his tramp career with a sentence of seven days which 
 constantly recurred (with increased* vigor, often), year after year, until 
 the last year cited he was sentenced three times for a total of nine months 
 and seven days. The second man also began with a seven-day sentence 
 and after ten years, in 1902, three sentences kept him confined in differ- 
 ent prisons for three hundred and sixty days. In 1903 on a charge of 
 felony he was given twelve months. The average traveling expenses of 
 the two prisoners and escorts, exclusive of subsistence charges for the 
 latter, amounted approximately to ($69.40) sixty ^nine dollars and forty 
 cents. 1 
 
 The committee recommends a system of penal labor colonies similar to 
 that of the Belgian colonies as a new method of dealing with the vagrants 
 in England. In the penal labor colony (i) the workman out of employ- 
 ment is treated as a patient and with care, and not as a criminal with 
 imprisonment. His downward career is arrested before his technical 
 skill is lost; (2) the whole vagrant class is subjected to the steadying 
 influence of regular life and regular work for long periods of time, and, 
 while the colony may be unable to re-establish him in independent life, 
 yet his life will be made pleasant and he will be prevented from recruit- 
 ing the criminal class; (3) the cost of maintaining a vagrant is less than 
 in prison, for in the colony he is self-supporting. As he must be taken 
 care of, the committee recommends a more economical as well as a more 
 corrective method. 
 
 The committee is of the opinion that joint action between the magis- 
 trates and the boards of guardians throughout the country could be 
 advantageously taken, which would result in the establishment of penal 
 labor colonies. It was found after communicating with all the boards of 
 guardians that many favored labor colonies, while the majority contended 
 
 1 This is a familiar story in Chicago and other American cities. C. R. H. 
 
 144 
 
that further measures were necessary for dealing with the vagrant 
 difficulty. 
 
 THE BELGIAN LABOR COLONIES 
 
 An investigation of the Belgian labor colonies by two members of the 
 committee disclosed the following facts which are appended to the fore- 
 going report of the Vagrancy Committee: 
 
 The Belgian labor colonies deal with inefficients and undesirables who 
 cannot or will not conduct themselves in accordance with the recognized 
 standards of life and with- criminals who, having completed their sentences 
 not exceeding one year, are detained for some time in a colony. Simple 
 and first offenders are detained at Wortel and Hoogstraeten, known as 
 maison de refuge ("house of refuge") for a period not exceeding one 
 year, or until the colonist has earned ($2.90) two dollars and ninety cents. 
 For a second or more grave offense the vagrant is sent to Merxplas, styled 
 a depot de mendicite ("institution for vagrants"), for a period of from 
 two to seven years. All cases must be disposed of within twenty-four 
 hours of arrest. All records are kept at Brussels, and information is for- 
 warded by telegraph. The five colonies two at Bruges for women and 
 the three for men at Wortel, Hoogstraeten, and Merxplas are under the 
 direct control of the minister of justice who has power to revise all sen- 
 tences and to liberate men on the advice of the colony director. A broad 
 interpretation of the Belgian law which regards vagrancy and begging, 
 not as criminal offenses, but as a social danger requiring treatment, is 
 made, and modifications are freely permitted where the rigid enforcement 
 of the law would mar the effect. 
 
 Merxplas is situated near Antwerp in a cultivated country with occa- 
 sional stretches of pine plantations. The sandy heath around Merxplas 
 has been transformed by the colonists into excellent agricultural land, 
 with fields and gardens and avenues of pines and oak. The buildings are 
 large and handsome and excellently built. The main block consists 
 of a large quadrangle on the western side of which are the offices of 
 administration centered around the principal gate, dining-halls with a 
 seating capacity of 1,500 at a time, reception rooms, baths, fire-engine 
 house, etc. ; on the east side is the hospital which is directly opposite the 
 main gate, two wings on both sides ( I ) for infirmes, who are still capable 
 of light work, and (2) for incurables, who are unfit for labor; on the 
 north side are long galleries, for use in inclement weather, lavatories, 
 
 us 
 
II! 
 
 I I I 
 
 ' 
 
 . 
 
 QHbi 
 
canteen, library; on the south side are the barracks for 150 soldiers, the 
 prison for refractory colonists, and the exercise grounds. In front of the 
 quadrangle are the four dormitory buildings, and in front of these the 
 church recently erected by the colonists. The church has a standing 
 capacity of 1,500 men. Adjoining are the farm buildings on a lavish 
 scale and of modern construction. To the northeast from the quadrangle 
 are the workshops, brick and cement yards, stone yards, pottery works, 
 tannery, and stores. 
 
 The industries of Merxplas are carefully divided and carried on in 
 separate buildings, each shop being under a trade instructor. The shops 
 are airy, and as it is a privilege to work there, wages are naturally higher. 
 The industries include (i) an iron foundry where the colonists make 
 their own patterns and do their own casting, turning and finishing in 
 metal, (2) a mat-making shop of the ordinary kind, but on a large scale, 
 where every description of mats are made; (3) a shop for cement tiles, 
 where remunerative work is done for outside firms ; (4) a weaving-shop 
 where yarn is made of cowhair and afterward worked into carpets, where 
 thread is spun for the warp of the cloth used for the colonists' clothes, 
 and where cloth is woven by hand-looms; (5) a button shop, for making 
 mother of pearl buttons for the outside trade (none of the lathes in this 
 shop are made at Merxplas, which is the exception) ; (6) a carpenter's 
 shop where window frames, chairs, traveling trunks, furniture, and cabi- 
 net work are made; (7) a shoe shop where boots are made by hand for 
 the army and where hospital shoes are made from the selvage of cloth 
 wovfti on a block ; (8) a printing-shop ; (9) a shop where fine chains of 
 imitation jewelry are made; (10) large brick works where 36 men are 
 employed at brick-making with an output of 70,000 bricks daily, the men 
 being paid 3 cents per 1,000; (n) a factory where cement conduit pipes 
 are made on a large scale; (12) stonemason and sculptor's shops; (13) a 
 pottery ; and ( 14) a tannery, where the bark from the trees of the estate 
 is used. There are also stores for iron and clothing. 
 
 The farm is carried on on the same extensive principle as the work- 
 shops. The fields are highly cultivated, crops of maize and hemp being 
 grown. The cowhouse and piggeries are kept clean and the buildings are 
 of excellent design and well built. As little spade cultivation is done 
 there are naturally many horses and oxen for farm work. There are also 
 many cattle and sheep. Very little machinery is used, and the whole of 
 
 147 
 
the products is consumed in the colony. Much labor is employed tilling 
 new ground. 
 
 Three principles are observed in the organization of labor in the work- 
 shops, on the farm, and in housework: (i) as little machinery as possible 
 
 GROUND PLAN OF MERXPLAS. 
 
 i. Main Entrance 
 
 . Colony Prison and Barracks 
 
 3. Quarters of Class 5 
 
 4. Lavatories and Exercise Wings 
 
 5. Dining-Hall 
 
 6. Hospital 
 7. Dormitories 
 8. Farm 
 p. Church 
 10. Director's House 
 
 1 1 . Workshops 
 
 1 2 . Stores 
 
 13. Stone and Cement Works 
 
 14. Brickyards and Tannery 
 
 Is used, thus employing large numbers of men. The grinding is done by 
 a large capstan wheel worked by sixty men at a time, and one hundred and 
 twenty men are thus kept occupied. The lathes in the shops are worked 
 by driving wheels, each turned by from two to four men. The hand 
 
 148 
 
looms give employment to the unskilled and semi-infirm. (2) All pro- 
 cesses of manufacture are begun as close to the raw material as possible. 
 Tobacco, flax, and chicory are grown on the farm. Thread is spun from 
 the hair of colony cattle, cloth and carpet are woven, and leather comes 
 from the cattle on the farm. (3) The buildings and everything used in 
 the colony are made, so far as possible, by the colonists. All the products 
 are consumed by the colony and no trade is had with the outside. 
 
 Discipline is maintained by a small staff consisting of a director-in- 
 chief at Hoogstraeten, who exercises a general financial supervision 
 over all the colonies ; a director at Wortel and at Merxplas, and at Merx- 
 plas two deputy directors, one doctor, two priests, five teachers, nineteen 
 clerks, one manufacturing manager, eighty-one warders, six sisters-of- 
 mercy and one hundred and fifty soldiers who have never yet been called 
 upon to act except to assist in the ordinary control of gangs of field 
 laborers on the outskirts of the farm. Offenses against the colony are 
 summarily dealt with by the director who has full power (i) to transfer 
 men from one class to another or from more to a less remunerative form 
 of work, and (2) to award imprisonment and bread-and-water diet for 
 sixty days in the colony cells. 
 
 The maintenance of discipline is further helped by the privilege of 
 earning wages and spending them directly on beer and tobacco. Another 
 help is the tolerance with which escapes are treated. The colony is entirely 
 oblivious of an escaped colonist for he will be found again if he is riot 
 maintaining himself legitimately on the outside. Escape, however, may 
 be punished with imprisonment. 
 
 There are 804 colonists employed in domestic service at Merxplas, 
 1,460 in the industries and 1,484 as farm laborers. There are twice as 
 many brickworkers as of any other industry. The inmates at Merxplas 
 are divided into seven classes: 
 
 Class I. Men sentenced for offenses against morality and for arson. 
 
 Class 2. Men sentenced to colony life after a term of imprisonment 
 of less than one year. 
 
 Class 3. Dangerous colonists. 
 
 Class 4. Habitual vagabonds, medicants, and inebriates. 
 
 Class 5. Men under tweny-one years of age. 
 
 Class 6. The infirm and incurable. 
 
 Class 7. First offenders. 
 
 149 
 
Classes I and 2 have special quarters, special work, special super- 
 vision, and are never allowed to mix with the other colonists or to leave 
 their own quarters. Classes 3 and 4 are similar, only Class 5 gets school 
 instead of labor. Class 6 does light work. The incurables do none and 
 are allowed freedom, and about I cent a day. They have better diet and 
 are allowed to play games, smoke, and read. 
 
 Merxplas is concerned mainly with Classes 3, 7 and those in 6 who 
 can do light work. These are required to do nine hours of work a day 
 of a character suited to their capacity. They are paid in board and lod- 
 ging and receive in addition from 3-5 of a cent to 6 cents a day. On the 
 normal summer day the colonists rise at 4 130 A. M., get their rations 
 of i*/2 Ibs. of bread and all the (chicory) coffee they want, go to the 
 shops at 6 :oo, and rest from 8 :oo until 8 130. They eat dinner at 1 1 130 
 and go back to work at 1 130 p. M. At 4 :oo they are allowed another 
 half-hour for rest and smoking, and at 6 :oo they eat supper, retiring 
 immediately thereafter. In the winter the farm hands go to bed early. 
 Shopworkers begin at 7 130 A. M., and work after dusk by light. 
 
 There are about 5,500 men in Merxplas, with practically no charge to 
 the state. At the outset the state bought some old buildings from a 
 benevolent society, and since then a daily subvention of $0.24125 or 
 $0.2995 f r the infirm and $0.1320 for the able-bodied has been granted 
 annually The state, province, and parish each pay one-third of this. No 
 other outside help is received, and the colony is self-supporting. The 
 cost per head under the English prison system, after deducting the value 
 of work done is ($109.80.2) one hundred and nine dollars and eighty 
 and one-fifth cents in local, and ($136.14.8) one hundred and thirty-six 
 dollars and fourteen and four-fifth cents in convict prisons, exclusive of 
 all charges for buildings. At the Lincoln workhouse, on the same basis, 
 the cost is about ($78.76) seventy-eight dollars and seventy-six cents. 
 At Merxplas for the able-bodied it is less than ($48.00) forty-eight 
 dollars, including the entire cost of the buildings and of the farm improve- 
 ments, and nearly half of this small sum is paid in wages to the colonists. 
 
 More important than the economy of the system is the effect on the 
 colonists, for the men have retained whatever manual or technical skill 
 they possessed when they began to slip out of employment in the outside 
 world. The opportunity of practicing their trades has prevented them 
 from rapid deterioration. Coercion is dispensed with. Only one foreman 
 
 150 
 
and one warder are stationed in each shop. While the effect on the 
 colonists is not permanent, since 90 per cent, are habituals and addicted to 
 drink, yet further deterioration is prevented by thrusting them into a 
 wholesome environment. Besides being prevented from sinking lower, 
 the colonists are prevented from propagating their kind. They lead a 
 decent, largely self-supporting life. The colonies deal largely with the 
 inefficient, more than with the temporarily unemployed. 
 
 Another good effect is that the colony sifts the good from the bad, 
 which accounts for the fact that 90 per cent, of those now in colonies are 
 habituals. 
 
 The principal argument for the colony is that it arrests the man's 
 deterioration, places him in surroundings where his technical skill may 
 not be lost, and helps him to live a legitimate life, dependent only on 
 his own industry. 
 
 A sketch of the ground-plan and of the central buildings at Merxplas 
 accompanies the description of the Belgian labor colonies. 
 
FARM PRISONS OF LOUISIANA 
 
 DR. F. H. WINES 
 
 After a careful and prolonged study of most of the prisons of Louisi- 
 ana, at the invitation of persons interested in the improvement of methods 
 there, Dr. F. H. Wines, expert in this field, made an instructive report in 
 the spring of 1906. Of the parish (county) system he writes : 
 
 Some parishes only two, so far as ascertained provide employment for 
 prisoners. Sporadically and intermittently they may be utilized elsewhere as laborers 
 upon the public roads. The parish of Caddo has had two portable prisons or "jail 
 wagons" built, and men sentenced to hard labor are delivered by the sheriff to the 
 overseers of roads, who receipt for them and become responsible for their safe- 
 keeping. The experience of that parish has not encouraged any other state to 
 follow its example. A year or two ago, the condition and treatment of these men 
 gave rise to a serious local newspaper scandal, which resulted in the resignation 
 or removal of one of the officers in charge ; and the character of the work done by 
 them is said to be a poor return for the outlay of money and trouble. The parish 
 of Calcasien has entered into contract with a turpentine distiller to take such men 
 as may be sentenced to imprisonment with labor. The outdoor life in the forest, 
 the regular and healthy occupation, the greater variety and abundance of food, and 
 the comparative freedom the men enjoy, are no doubt better for them than seclu- 
 sion in a steel cage, but their condition and treatment will not compare with that 
 of prisoners on state farms. 
 
 If a man with a short sentence can be sent away from the parish seat to a farm 
 within the parish limits, and thn be compelled to earn the cost of his own main- 
 tenance until discharged, under the control of a lessee, why might he not be sent 
 farther away, to a state farm, and then do the same thing under the direct control 
 of the state officials? This would be simply the assimilation of sentences and the 
 abolition of a distinction resting on custom and prejudice rather than on common 
 sense. 
 
 Of the state system Dr. Wines writes: 
 
 All state prisoners are now sent' to "The Walls," as the state penitentiary at 
 Baton Rouge is commonly called. Thi is the old and out-of-date estab ishment, 
 and reminds one forcibly in its interior construction of the old state prison at 
 Sing Sing, New York. The cells are practically of the same size, and equally 
 deserving of condemnation. The industries here formerly carried on have been 
 pretty much abandoned, part of the shop having been torn down, and it is now not 
 
 152 
 
much more than a receiving and distributing depot for convicts. If the plan of the 
 Prison Commission is approved, as it probably will be, by the legislature, this 
 prison is to be abandoned, the ground on which it stands sold, and the materials 
 removed to St. Gabriel, fifteen miles nearer New Orleans, where a new and better 
 receiving station will be erected. 
 
 From 'The Walls" convicts are forwarded to one of the plantations owned by 
 the state and cultivated by convict labor, under the control and direction of state 
 officials. The largest of these is at Angola, across the Mississippi River from 
 Torras. It is a cotton plantation, made up of six plantations contiguous to each 
 other, and contains 9,000 acres, of which one-half is under cultivation, and the 
 rest heavily timbered swamp. This is rapidly being cleared by the prisoners. The 
 logs are brought down upon a narrow-gauge railway operated by mule-power to 
 the riverside, where there is a combined sawmill and cotton gin. The river is 
 here a mile or more in width, and it surrounds the place on three sides, leaving a 
 swampy neck of land as the only other available chance of escape from custody. 
 The other two plantations are not so large, and they are devoted to the raising of 
 cane and the making of sugar. That at Jeanette was first acquired, and it is in a 
 more advanced state of development than that at St. Gabriel. A few gangs of 
 state convicts are employed in rebuilding and repairing of levees. 
 
 It is difficult to conceive of a more ideal method of dealing with prisoners, 
 especially negro prisoners, than this. The negro does not thrive in the close con- 
 finement of an ordinary prison, and there are several good reasons for not 
 employing him in the manufacturing industries while in a state of incarceration. 
 He loves outdoor life and he is naturally adapted to farm labor in the hot climate. 
 His life on the state farms is almost identical with that he would lead if working 
 for wages. It is indeed more moral, more regular, and more sanitary. He is well 
 housed, well fed, and well cared for in sickness and in health. He is not over- 
 worked. He is deprived of the opportunity to gratify his appetite for whiskey 
 and for sensual indulgence. He is easily controlled, but is liable to punishment 
 by strapping for insurbordination or persistent laziness. He will not often run 
 from an armed overseer, and if he does, unless he is more than ordinarily capable 
 and fortunate, he runs but a short distance before he is treed by the dogs. The 
 labor which he performs, while it is not excessive, is more profitable than that of 
 a free laborer, because he takes his breakfast before going to the field at daylight, 
 thus saving an hour a day, and he has not the privilege of loafing as many days in 
 the week as he chooses, but works six days in every week in the year. There is 
 another consideration which recommends the agricultural prison : the character of 
 the work done is not a source of irritation to the labor unions. The one criticism 
 to be made on the system is that, except in so far as it involves compulsory labor, 
 regularity of life, and discipline, it is not reformatory. 
 
 153 
 
THE MISSISSIPPI STATE CONVICT FARM 
 
 Rev. E. T. Mobberly, Leland, Miss., gives this account of the state 
 farm prison: 
 
 It was opened entirely by prison labor. It consists of 14,000 acres, of which 
 8,000 are now open land. Financially it was a splendid investment, having cost but 
 $5.72 per acre, and being worth now at least $50.00; much of it would bring $75.00. 
 
 There are now nine (9) camps or stockades, where on an average 80 prisoners 
 are kept. These are mostly mere temporary barracks, to be replaced later by more 
 substantial buildings. At each of these camps is located a sergeant and several 
 guards The main building is divided into two compartments, each con- 
 taining 40 iron cots. The beds are fairly clean. They are replaced by new ones 
 twice a year. The rough dining-hall is a separate building. Meals are served in 
 tin pans, six or eight inches wide and two inches deep. The fare is a liberal 
 strip of bacon, rice, and corn bread, with coffee. No knives or forks are supplied 
 lest they be used as weapons. All the prisoners at this farm are negroes except 
 
 twenty white men who run the saw mHl They are required to retire at 
 
 eight and to rise at four. I was assured that there was little or no likelihood 
 
 of mutiny, which is equally true among negroes everywhere I am inclined 
 
 to think that little thought has been given to the reformation of prisoners. The 
 provision for religious instruction is inadequate. Partisan political influences 
 offset the appointments and disturb discipline and progress. Prisoners rarely return 
 a second time ; they are mostly young and impulsive negroes, and with one lesson 
 they usually learn to obey the laws. They learn to work, and easily secure 
 employment upon discharge. They are much improved in physical condition. The 
 prison physician reported last year that 60 per cent, of the prisoners of this farm 
 were syphilitics. They are helped by discipline and medical care. There was 
 much agitation for employment of this labor upon public roads, but it is impractical 
 and agitators of such use of labor have seen its impracticability, among whom is 
 the present governor. 
 
 It will be noted how this well-informed southern observer agrees with 
 the testimony of Dr. F. H. Wines.