1846.] Separate System in Europe. quence than the reformation of an offender. 133 Such a course is unworthy of the civilization of this age. The State has sacred duties towards the unfortunate men whom it takes into its custody. It must not only see that they receive no harm, but that they enjoy all the means of improvement consistent with their condition; that, while their bodies are clothed and fed, their souls and minds be not left naked and hungry. It assumes the place of a parent, and owes a parent's care and kindness; or rather, when we consider that the State itself is the child of the people, may we not say, that it should emulate the filial piety, which descended into the darkness of a Roman dungeon, to afford its exuberant, health-giving bosom to the exhausted being from which it drew its life. But it is not only on these general grounds that we recommend the Separate system. Notwithstanding the uncompromising hostility which it has encountered, it has won constant favor. Many prisons have been built on this plan, and experience now comes to confirm the suggestions of humanity and science. The Penitentiary at Philadelphia, which gives its name to the system, was followed in 1833 by one at Pittsburgh, and by a County Prison at Alleghany, in Pennsylvania; and in 1841, by another County Prison, on the same system, at Harrisburg. In 1834 New Jersey followed the example of her neighbor State, and established a Penitentiary on this system at Trenton. Various Commissions from foreign governments, after visiting the different prisons of the United States, have all reported emphatically in favor of the Separate system; as that of Beaumont and De Tocqueville, to the French Government, in 1831; of Mr. Crawford, to the English, in 1834; of Dr. Julius, to the Prussian Government, in 1835, after a most careful perambulation of all the prisons of the country; of Demetz and Blouet, to the French Government, in 1835,- being the second Commission from the same Government; and of Neilson and Mondolet, to the Canadian Government, in 1836. In accordance with these recommendations numerous prisons have been built or are building in Europe. In England, a model prison has been constructed at Pentonville, which is, perhaps, the best prison in the world. In 4TH S. VOL. V. NO. I. VOL. XL. 12 the late Report of the Surveyor General of Prisons, which was laid on the table of Parliament during its last session, it was expressly declared from the experience gained in the Pentonville Prison, " that the separation of one prisoner from another is indispensable as the basis of any sound system." As long ago as 1843, no less than seventeen prisons were built or building in different counties of England, and several in Scotland, on this principle. In France the whole subject has gone through a most thorough discussion by the press, and also in debate by the Chamber of Deputies. Among the works now before us is a volume of more than six hundred pages, which is filled by a report (with notes) of this debate, which ended in the passage of a law during the last summer, appropriating ninety millions of francs for the building of thirty prisons on the Separate system. Such is the testimony of France and England. Similar testimony comes from other quarters; - from Prussia, where five prisons on this system have been built; from Denmark, where ten are now building; from Sweden, where eight are now building, under the auspices of the monarch, who, when Prince Oscar, wrote ably in advocacy of the Separate system; from Norway, where one is now building in the neighborhood of Christiana; from Poland, where one has long been in existence, and three others are about to be completed; from Hungary, where a project has been submitted to the Diet for the erection of ten on the Separate system; from Holland, where one is about to be erected on the plan of that of Pentonville; from Belgium, which has yielded to the Separate system, and has ingrafted it even upon the famous Maison de Force at Ghent, which afforded the model to our Auburn Prison; from the Duchy of Nassau; from the Grand Duchy of Baden; from Frankfort-on-the-Maine; from Hamburgh; from Geneva in Switzerland; in all of which there are prisons on this system either built or building. From poor, distracted Spain also proceeds the same testimony. To this array of authorities and examples may be added two names of commanding weight in all matters of Prison Discipline, Edward Livingston and Miss Dix. The first, whose high fortune it was to refine jurisprudence by his philanthropy, as he had illumined it by his genius and 1846.] Prison Discipline Society. 135 strengthened it by his learning, in his Introductory Report to the Code of Prison Discipline, as long ago as 1827, urged with classical eloquence a system of "seclusion, accompanied by moral, religious, and scientific instruction and useful manual labor." Miss Dix, after an attentive survey of different systems throughout our country, enforces with fervor, as well in the publication now before us as in her Memorials, the merits of the Separate system, and of its administration in Pennsylvania. It might be said that the voices of all the civilized nations, by a rare harmony, concurred in sanctioning the Separate system, if the Boston Prison Discipline Society had not raised a most persevering note of discord, which has gone on with a most unmusical crescendo. As the solitary champion of an imperfect system which the world is renouncing, it has contended with an earnestness, which has often become prejudice, and with an insensibility to the real facts that were accumulating, which was injustice. It is with frankness, as it is with sorrow, that we allude to the sinister influence which it has exercised of late years over this question, particularly throughout the Northern States. But the truth which has been proclaimed abroad need not be delicately minced at home. We do not join with the recent English writer, who, among many harsher suggestions, speaks of the "misrepresentation," ""the trickery," "the imposture" of the Society or its agent; nor with Moreau-Christophe, who says, "La Société des prisons à Boston a juré haine à mort au systeme de Philadelphie;" for we know well the honesty and sincere interest in the welfare of convicts which animate its Secretary, and we feel persuaded that he will gladly abandon the deadly war which he has waged against the Separate system, when he shall see it in the light in which it is now regarded by the science and humanity of the civilized world. But we feel that his exertions, which in some departments of Prison Discipline have been productive of incalculable good, for which his memory will be blessed, yet on this important question have done much harm. In his Reports he has never failed to present all the evil that had been said of the Separate system, particularly as administered in Adshead. p. 129. + Revue Pénitentiaire. Tom. II. p. 589. Philadelphia, sometimes even drawing upon his imagination for his facts, while he has carefully withheld the testimony in its favor. This truly beneficent system, and its meritorious supporters, have been held up to obloquy, and the wide circle who confided implicitly in his Reports, consigned to a state of darkness with regard to its true character and its general reception abroad. One of the most strenuous advocates of the Separate system at the present moment, whose work of elaborate argument and details is now before us, is Suringar, who has been called the Howard of Holland, and who had signalized himself by a previous opposition to it. He says, "I am now completely emancipated from my former error. This error I do not blush to confess openly. The same change has been wrought in the opinions of Julius in Prussia, of Crawford in England, of Bérenger and Demetz in France, and of all men of good faith, who are moved, in their researches, only by the suggestions of conscience, unswayed by prejudice or pride of opinion." Perhaps in these changes of opinion the Secretary of the Boston Prison Discipline Society may find an example, which he will not be unwilling to follow; and it may be reserved to us to welcome him as a cordial fellow-laborer in the conscientious support of what he has for a long period most conscientiously attacked. From this rapid survey, it will be seen that our convictions and sympathies earnestly sustain the Separate system. To us, there is no axiom in Prison Discipline more stringent, than the duty of removing prisoners from the corrupting influences of association, even though in silence. But we are not insensible to the encouragement and succor, which prisoners might derive, in the march of improvement, from companionship with those who are struggling like themselves. It was a wise remark of the English Professor, "that students are the best professors to each other;" and the experience of Mrs. Farnum, the matron of the Female Convicts at Sing-Sing, whom we cannot name without a tribute of admiration, shows that this same principle is not without its effect even among classes of convicts. Perhaps the Separate system might be modified, so as to admit of instruction and labor together, in a small class, who may be selected after a probationary period of separation, as 1846.] New Jail in Boston. 137 worthy of this indulgence and confidence. Such a modification was contemplated and recommended by Mr. Livingston, and it would seem to find favor with Von Raumer in his recent work on America. This privilege can only be imparted to those who have shown themselves so exemplary in character and conduct, that their society will cease to be contaminating. But it remains to be seen, whether there is any subtle alchemy, by which their purity may be determined, so as to justify a departure from the general rule of separation. Finally, we would commend this subject to the attention of all. In the language of Sir Michael Foster, a judge of eminence, "No rank or condition of life, no uprightness of heart, no prudence or circumspection of conduct, should teach any man to conclude that he may not one day be deeply interested in these researches." Thus there are considerations of self-interest, which may move those who do not incline to labor for others, except for some ultimate advantage to themselves. But all who confess a true benevolence, and a just appreciation of the duties of the State, will join in efforts for the benefit of the poor prisoner, deriving from his abject condition new motives to action, that it may be true of the State, as of law, that "the very least feels its care, as the greatest is not exempt from its power." In the progress of an enlightened Prison Discipline, it may be hoped, that our Penitentiaries will become in reality, if not in name, Houses of Reformation, and that the convicts will be treated with a scrupulous and extreme regard, alike to their physical, moral and intellectual well-being, to the end, that when they are allowed again to mingle with society, they may feel the precious sympathy with virtue and the detestation of vice, and that, though sadder, they may be better men. In the promotion of this cause, the city of Boston at this moment occupies a position of signal advantage. It has determined to erect a new County Jail, the plans of which are still under consideration. It is easy to perceive that the plan which it shall adopt, and the system of discipline which it shall recognise, will become an example throughout the country. We trust that no narrow prejudice, and no unworthy economy will prevent the example from being such as becomes a city, of the wealth, refinement |
