Observations on the Treatment of Convicts in Ireland: With Some Remarks on the Same in England by Four Visiting Justices of the West Riding Prison at Wakefield

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Simpkin, Marshall, and Company Stationers'-Hall Court, 1862 - Crime - 146 pages
Informative account of Irish and English systems set up to deal with convicts formerly sentenced to transportation to Australia. The English justices recommend certain Irish practices to combat recidivism in the enlightened but not entirely effectual system in operation at the prison at Wakefield, which was modelled on Pentonville and its system of separate confinement.

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Page 130 - 3. To produce a forfeiture of the License it is by no means necessary that the holder should be convicted of any new offence. If he associates with notoriously bad characters, leads an idle and dissolute life, or has no visible means of obtaining an honest livelihood, <&c. , it will be assumed that he is about to relapse into crime, and he will be at once apprehended, and recommitted to prison under his original sentence...
Page xxi - To produce a forfeiture of the License it is by no means necessary that the holder should be convicted of any new offence. If he associates with notoriously bad characters, leads an idle and dissolute life, or has no visible means of obtaining an honest livelihood, <&c., it will be assumed that he is about to relapse into crime, and he will be at once apprehended, and recommitted to prison under his original sentence.
Page 87 - He did not like its being broke with so much ease, and therefore, to secure it from the like accident, he made it a-new, and fenced it with thin plates of iron, which he fixed on the inside of it so artificially, that at last he had reason to be satisfied with the solidity of the work; and so, without any further experiment, he resolved it should pass to all intents and purposes for a full and sufficient helmet.
Page 130 - 1. The power of revoking or altering the License of a Convict will most certainly be exercised in case of his misconduct. " 2. If, therefore, he wishes to retain the privilege, which by his good behaviour under Penal Discipline he has obtained, he must prove by his subsequent conduct that he is really worthy of Her Majesty's clemency. " 3. To produce a forfeiture of the License it is by no means necessary that the holder should be convicted of any new offence. If he associates with notoriously bad...
Page 72 - It is worthy the observing, that there is no passion in the mind of man so weak, but it mates and masters the fear of death : and therefore death is no such terrible enemy, when a man hath so many attendants about him, that can win the combat of him. Revenge triumphs over death ; love slights it ; honour aspireth to it; grief flieth to it...
Page 129 - ... to be at large from the day of his liberation under this order during the remaining portion of his said term of penal servitude, unless the said shall before the expiration of the said term be convicted...
Page 32 - We are of opinion that the employment of convicts, selected on account of their general good character, &c., in small bodies on public works in various localities, under circumstances of exposure to the ordinary temptations and trials of the world, when the reality and sincerity of their reformation may be fairly and publicly tested, will present the most favourable chances for their gradual absorption into the body of the community.
Page 130 - The conditions are as follows : — " 1. The power of revoking or altering the license of a convict will most certainly be exercised in case of his misconduct.
Page 129 - Felony, and, being convicted thereof, shall be liable, at the Discretion of the Court, to be transported beyond the Seas for the Term of Seven Years, or to be imprisoned for any Term not exceeding Two Years ; and, if a Male, to be once, twice, or thrice publicly or privately whipped ( if the Court shall so think fit ), in addition to such Imprisonment.
Page 37 - The men sleep in hammocks in the hut, and all that one can say is, that while they are inside it, they have shelter ; but the moment they leave it, they are exposed to every wind of heaven, and to all the rain of that humid climate. In point of mere physical comfort, the advantage is altogether on the side of an ordinary prison, to say nothing of a well-warmed cell at Wakefield or Pentonville. We found most of the men, at the time of our visit, working up to the middle in drains, than which few employments...

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