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tentiaries there, and holders of tickets-of-leave. The freedom with which one or two of the female prisoners of that class spoke to some of the Inspectors in this city proved that they were ticket of-leave women, and their case was so similar in all respects to some other convicts, that there could be no doubt that they were all graduates of one school, if not all classmates of the same institution.

If the class of " ticket-of-leave" immigrants mentioned above, that crowd the cells of our prisons, do not swell the percentage of re-commitments at the Penitentiary, increasing the count, their leaving Europe to ply their calling here certainly diminishes the percentage of re commitments in Ireland or Great Britain, whence they came.

The leading feature, the grand point in the Irish convict system, is what is called the "mark system, devised, it is said, by Captain Alexander Machowochie. This mark system consists in keeping an exact account of the conduct of the convict, and allowing him a certain number of marks, "good for every day's good conduct," and placing against his name "bad marks" for violation of rules; and these marks are also used with reference to the labor of the prisoner, and the time of his imprisonment is shortened definitely by the amount of the good marks, or he is detained to or towards the full term of his sentence in proportion as his bad marks balance the whole or part of the good. This general principle is exactly that which pervades certain schools, academies and colleges in this country. In this city the merits of pupils are proclaimed by the number and

character of their "marks," and in the public schools these constitute the claim, or the evidences of the claim for candidateship to the High School. Undoubtedly this mode of noting the conduct and labor of prisoners—that is, the adaptation of the mark system to Penitentiariesis good, and is productive of good; it holds up hope, and it satisfies not merely the officers of the prison, but the prisoner himself, that he is capable of good.

We ought to add, also, that on examining the report of the large prisons and penitentiaries of Scotland, we find mention made of the use of the mark system as applied to labor, but not to conduct. Yet it appears that bad conduct diminishes the value of good marks for labor. In the large prisons of both England and Scotland there seems to be only a partial adoption of the great principle of the Irish Convict System, and hence the administration of that system in these prisons is defective, and the good effects diminished. It is true also that in England and Scotland most of the prisons are remains of buildings erected for some other uses, or on the old (want of) plan; and here the adaptation of the house to the new purpose is very incomplete, and we may as well add that almost every system in Great Britain, however beneficial its object, and how new may be the views of the author, is, in its application, made to retain a portion of the antecedents of the place, and thus to perpetuate so much error; and, in our opinion, the Irish Convict System is obnoxious to the charge of being only a partial improvement, and what is considered as its success in diminishing the number of convictions, is less due to its power to improve the convict, and return him to society as a

useful member, than to the peculiar circumstances of Ireland and other countries, which induce the ticket-ofleave man that passed through all the stages of the Irish Convict System to leave that home where a repetition of felony might subject him to additional discipline, to find another home, where there are fewer chances of detection, and where punishment consequent upon conviction would be modified by the consideration of the first offence.

We approve of much of the Irish Convict System of discipline. But we say again, that the advantages thereof would be doubled to the prisoner if the "marks" and "gradations" were used in an institution where each prisoner could be kept separate from every other convict, and made to modify his punishment by the character of his conduct and the result of his labor. We see a great difficulty in carrying out this plan with perfect impartiality, but it can be done; if it is done in Dublin, it can be done in Philadelphia. But in the name of humanity, in the name of public security, in the name of religion, pure and undefiled, let not the tenants of our penitentiary cells be sent forth, even though credited with thousands of marks for good conduct and good work, to meet the allurements of prison companions, or to live in the hourly apprehension of detection and exposure. The pride of the man in his newly-established credit may be to some of less consideration, inasmuch as he was a felon, but the pride of the man, with the pride, character and prospects of his children, appeals to the best feelings of the human heart. Let the door of the Penitentiary, as it closes upon the convicted felon, shut

him close from all association with bad companions. Let the door of the Penitentiary, as it opens to send forth the repentant and reformed man, permit no knowledge of repented errors to follow him-no fellow-prisoner to haunt his steps and destroy his plans of good.

Give us the Pennsylvania system, and all the aids of philanthropy and religion with which the Irish system is supplied, and it appears to us that nothing need be added but those future improvements which success shall from time to time suggest.

And may a good Providence deliver us from the evil of attempting to coin money out of the crimes of our fellow beings, by sacrificing the moral and religious interests of our prisoners to the desire of making a prison a source of pecuniary profit. In this matter at least we cannot serve God and Mammon."

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FOREIGN REPORTS.

We have received the Prison Reports from Great Britain. They contain the usual details, and show that whatever is done has with it a system, and the reports are all so connected and so correspondent, that a single glance at the tables shows what has been done in every prison in England and Scotland.

England, perhaps more than any country, is wedded to the past. She considers many habits as privileges, and is cautious how she disturbs them. A great pressure is required to change any plan, and even the new

scheme may be ruined by the large amount of elements which love for the past brought over from the predecessor. In prison matters England seems much more inclined to try to make existing means do the work which new discoveries suggest, and adaptation rather than full change is the cause of the slow progress of prison improvement in Great Britain.

The Committees of Parliament report what the Governors and Inspectors of "Gaols" and Penitentiaries declare, viz., that just in proportion to the isolation of a prisoner from his fellow convicts are the chances and hopes of his improvement. Let us rather say that isolation is the means of improvement. The local authorities, induced by the cost in the changes of structure, and the deficiency in the buildings for variety in occupation for the inmates, adhere to most of their old system, and express confidence in some which lack the very ingredients upon which hope of success was proclaimed. The truth is, that people see and feel the cost of maintaining and punishing the violators of the laws, and they think that the remedy for all the evil is to keep down the cost, whatever may become of the culprit. The influence of reformation on society at large must of course be remote, and what is remote yields to the pressure of the present; and the consideration of how the convict may be punished at the least expense to society, takes the place of the idea of how he may be improved to the greatest moral good of society.

The expenses of the prison are diminished by the congregated labor of the convicts, and the future injury of society secured by the plans of future mischief which

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