icy of crushing out the terrorists, no mercy to be shown. This brought in especial force the administrative process-a military trial with no jury. In all other cases the accused has in court the right of trial by jury. If banished he may be sent as a colonist, his family allowed to go with him, and he is furnished with a house, with land and seeds, and a year's subsistence. He can not return. The country he goes to is quite similar in climate to the one he leaves, and it is not so deadly as the colony for French exiles. In most American States we send the man to prison for a term of years and allow him no part of his earnings by which he might contribute to the support of his family, who often become destitute, and the children find their way into the almshouses and reformatories. Though we can not approve of transportation in any way, yet, so far as it affects family relations, it is in some respects superior to our general prison system. Since the assassination of Alexander II the administrative process for politicals has been in the nature of a military trial, a court martial. While as Americans we can not sanction a return to the star-chamber days of England, yet we can hope that if the Emperor succeeds in stamping out terrorism with an iron hand, he will, when he finds he can control the situation, reissue the great proclamation his august father prepared for the liberation of all his people, and in that way establish a representative government and guarantee trial by jury in all cases. In general prison administration Russia claims a great advance in the last 10 years, under Mr. Wraskoy's management. This gentleman has recently published a report of the work for the period of 10 years 1879-1889, which appeared in St. Petersburg in 1890, in the French and Russian languages. Copies were presented to members of the congress. This work covers 210 royal octavo pages, and treats of the following subjects: 1. State of prison régime towards the end of the year 1870. 2. Measures relative to the constructive service of prison buildings. 3. Measures relative to prison administrations. 4. Measures relative to the economic service of prisons. 5. Measures destined to regulate the treatment of prisoners and the organization of prison work. 6. Measures relative to the régime of forced labor and transportation. 7. Measures relative to the transport service. 8. Measures relative to the sanitary service. 9. Measures relative to the expense of prison service and general considerations of the subject of such expenses. 10. Views of the future of the general administration of prisons. This work shows in detail the new prisons constructed and the old ones repaired, claiming that all has been done that was possible in the financial condition of Russia succeeding the eastern wars of 1877 and 1879. During the 10 years there has been expended, as stated in this report If converted into American dollars this would be about $8,250,000. The following appeared in the Journal de St. Petersburg at the time of the meeting of the congress, and it may be interesting to some to see how the press treats such subjects in that country: La Gazette de St. Petersbourg [Russian] has inaugurated a series of articles on the International Prison Congress. Our colleague remarks that the Jurisprudence Society of our capital has, in view of the congress, elaborated many questions raised in the former congresses and presented here again. This is very interesting, not only in a theoretical but also in a practical view. Such, for example, is the report of M. Yadrintsew upon the substitution of imprisonment for transportation. This question was the order of the day with us for two years when our prison administration thought of abolishing transportation to Siberia. This project, elaborated at that time, was poorly received by the press, which extolled the humane character of transportation, and it ended by being put aside. The Jurisprudence Society has not the less declared resolutely against transportation. The basis of the contemporary system of punishments is detention. The report of M. Yadrintsew presents the conditions upon which imprisonment should rest to give it a reformatory character. Imprisonment, with the severity of its régime and forced labor, should not destroy human individuality nor deprive the prisoner of a hope for a better future. Social science also resolutely declares against imprisonment for life. It excludes all hope for the recovery of liberty at some future day. The prisoner is looked upon as a pupil capable of improvement, who may pass through several grades of confinement, more or less severe, according to the advancement shown in good behavior and skill in the work assigned him. In a contemporary social science point of view the ideal organization of imprisonment for a long term presents itself as follows: First, cellular confinement is imposed upon the prisoner when only punishment and not reformation is considered. This is to be followed by a period of congregate detention with labor in the shops, and prayers and lessons in common. In a sanitary point of view, work in the open air is recommended. When the prisoner shows moral improvement the greatest possible extension of open-air work should be given. After this, the cultivation of a lot set apart for his use should be given him near the prison. This might end by his liberation before the end of his term or a transfer to some philanthropic institution. In such a state of things, to maintain that transportation is humane, and the prison not, is to confound two ideas which have nothing in common between them. Transportation may be exemption from punishment disguised, while imprisonment, considered as a necessary result of the violation of law, may be beneficial in reviving in the meantime in the prisoner sentiments of goodness from which he has departed. Whatever in the end the result may be, we can not deny the elevated and humane aspirations of the contemporary penitentiary system. We are often charged with being too benevolent when the welfare enjoyed by the criminal is compared with the laborious poverty of the poor who have never committed crime. We can also discover that the educational character of existing prisons, mitigates too much the influences that should have a deterrent effect on the criminal. The congress of St. Petersburg will have more than one opportunity to discuss these questions. Mr. Yadrintsew, in his report above named, sets forth strongly the views of the Jurisprudence Society on the subject of imprisonment for offenses requiring a long time in place of exile, and completes his essay with the following conclusions: 1. Imprisonment for a long term should include a system of reformatory education adapted to the persons to whom it is applied and the time for which they are confined. Consequently, in its organization it is necessary to conform to the general principles and details of education. 2. Prisoners condemned for life should be placed in the same prisons with those condemned for a long term, and should undergo the same régime, being always allowed the hope of liberation at some time in the future. 3. The progressive system is preferable for prisoners condemned for a long term. 4. The tendency to sedentary work appears to us to be exaggerated. Outside work ought to be introduced, especially for prisoners for a long term. Such work is entirely compatible with the interests of reformatory discipline, provided that the work be not public. 5. Private patronage for prisoners who are discharged after a long term, being insufficient, should be completed by official patronage. The review of this report in the Gazette of St. Petersburg and again in the Journal of the same city, the discussion of the subject by the Society of Jurisprudence, through one of its members, is proof that the Russian people still discuss the merits of transportation and express opinions against it, as this distinguished society has. Like all countries, Russia will work out its own great problems. The great transcontinental railway which is now under construction will reach from the capitals of the empire to the Pacific. Railroads, com. merce, trade, civilization, and general progress introduced into the vast territory of Siberia, so unlimited in its agricultural and mineral resources, so diversified in soil, productions, and climate, will soon become too prosperous to be longer a penal colony. Such influences, if no other, will plant Siberia with homes instead of prisons. SOME RUSSIAN PRISON STATISTICS. The following is a list of Russian prisons and their average population in 1888: Prisons for short punishments; average population, 77,799; annual admissions, Establishments for detention, prevention, and for transportation. SIBERIA. Establishments for a long term; average population. Central prisons: Alexandrovsk (Tobolsk No. 1653, No. 2299) Mines of Nertchinsk: Algatchine and Pakrovsk Zerentoni, Kadainsk, and Kontoniarsk. Kara Forced labor prisons, factories: Irkootsk... Nikalaifsk Oustkoutsk. Island of Saghalien. Special quarters for forced labor: Irkootsk Nikalaifsk Oustkoutsk Algatchine Zerewtoni Kara. Tymon Korsakew Hospital for convicts and exiles incapable of work: Tobolsk Tomsk ..... Prisoners of short duration; average population, 7, 801. Establishment for transfer service: Tomsk, average population, 1, 729. RUSSIAN EUROPE. Prison population. Central prisons for men.. Reformatories for men Prisous for short term.. Preventive prisons for men and women Depots of transfers.......... Establishments for young boys and young girls: Girls-agricultural colonies.... Industrial asylums....... Young girls-industrial asylums SIBERIA. Men. 1,387 460 850 1,198 83 29 16 5,713 Women. 61 14 15 14 37 477 252 66 Men. 200 Women. 289 858 10, 645 79,462 1,050 3,295 428 372 52 |