Penitentiary science, or the system of detaining, punishing, and reforming criminals, is of modern origin. The Scriptures contain references to prison houses and to the punishment of offenders. In Greece and Rome punishments were inflicted by loss of caste, of citizenship, and of liberty, banishment, and penal labor, which was sometimes performed on public works, in quarries, mines, etc. In the Roman empire there were houses, called ergastula, used chiefly for the punishment of criminal and refractory slaves. In Rome there still remains a prison, known as the Mamertine caves, consisting of several vaults or apartments. (See Rome, vol. xiv., p. 411.) The feudal barons had towers in their castles called donjons, whence is derived dungeon, for the confinement of their captive foes or refractory retainers. Sometimes the prison vaults were cut in the solid rock below the surface of the earth. - A movement for the amelioration of the wretched condition of English prisons and prisoners was begun by John Howard, whose investigations led to the enactment of two laws by parliament in 1774, one abolishing prison fees (which up to that time had been exacted from all prisoners) and the protracted confinement of the prisoner until these were paid, the other providing for an improvement of the sanitary condition of jails.

In 1777 appeared the first work of Howard on prisons, "The State of the Prisons in England and Wales." The works of Beccaria on crime and punishment appeared about the same time on the continent; and in England Sir William Blackstone, Mr. Bentham, and Mr. Eden entered upon the work of prison reform in earnest. The prisons were found to be in the most wretched condition, while the treatment to which the prisoners were subjected was demoralizing in the highest degree. In 1776 a prison was built at Horsham by the duke of Richmond under Howard's advice and cooperation, and was a marked improvement upon any prison then existing. In 1778 an act for the establishment of penitentiary houses was passed through the efforts of Howard, Eden, and Blackstone. The leading principles of the new system were that "if any offenders convicted of crimes for which transportation has been usually inflicted were ordered to solitary imprisonment, accompanied by well regulated labor and religious instruction, it might be the means under Providence, not only of deterring others, but also of reforming the individuals and turning them to habits of industry." There was much delay in carrying out the proposed reforms.

In 1791 Jeremy Bentham published his "Panopticon, or the Inspection House," containing a plan for a model prison; but it was not till 1821 that the great penitentiary at Millbank on his model was completed, though it had been opened in 1817. It comprised six pentagonal structures radiating like the spokes of a wheel from a central hexagon, from which all the cells were visible. This prison was torn down in 1875. In 1842 was opened the cellular prison at Pentonville. Government convict prisons have also been established at Brixton, Portland, Chatham, Portsmouth, Parkhurst, Dartmoor, and Woking. The convict prison at Fulham is exclusively for females, who are also sent to Woking. Early in the present century Mrs. Elizabeth Fry commenced her mission to the female prisoners in Newgate; and in 1818 Mr. (afterward Sir T. F.) Buxton published an "Inquiry whether Crime and Misery are produced or prevented by the present System of Discipline." From this work it appears that, notwithstanding Howard's exposures, Mrs. Fry's revelations, and the developments made by the committee of aldermen of London in 1815, the abuses of Howard's time still continued, and had in many particulars increased, and that a radical and thorough change was needed.

The hulks of men-of-war were for a time used as prisons, but have been abandoned. In the United States, the work of reform was begun in Philadelphia in 1776, and has been steadily carried on by a large number of philanthro- pists and publicists. Chief among these have been Louis Dwight, Roberts Vaux, one of the founders of the cellular system, Edward Livingston, Francis Lieber, Elam Lynde, the founder of the Auburn system, Amos Pilsbu-ry, for 40 years the head of the Connecticut state prison and the Albany penitentiary, and John W. Edmonds, the founder of the New York prison association. These are no longer living; but the work is still carried on by Dr. E. C. Wines, whose extended labors in behalf of prison reform are well known throughout the civilized world, by Sanborn, Brockway, Richard Vaux, and many others. In Europe the subject of penitentiary reform has been earnestly discussed in recent years, and reforms have been urged in all countries. Prominent among the leaders have been Sir "Walter Crofton in Ireland; Mr. Crawford, Alexander Maconochie, Gen. Jebb, Matthew Davenport Hill, and Miss Mary Carpenter in England; Stevens in Belgium; Pols in Holland; De Metz, Bérenger (de la Drôme), Bonneville de Mar-sangy, and Loyson in France; Obermaier, Varrentrapp, and Holtzendorff in Germany; Guillaume in Switzerland; Count Sollohub in Russia; and Beltrani Scalia in Italy. Various prison congresses have been held in Europe since 1845, when the first, proposed by Ducpé-tiaux, then inspector general of prisons in Belgium, was convened at Frankfort. The most important of these was the international congress proposed by Dr. Wines and held in London in 1872. A second international congress is to be held in Europe in 1877. A permanent commission for the study of penitentiary reform, organized by the congress of London, held sessions in Brussels in 1874 and in Bruch-sal in 1875. Commissions for the revision of the penal code and prison reform have been at work recently in France, Italy, and Russia. In the United States national prison congresses were held in Cincinnati in 1870, Baltimore in 1872, and St. Louis in 1874. The leading principles which it is sought to introduce into prison management in all countries are thus epitomized by Dr. Wines: "Reformation of prisoners as a chief end to be kept in view; hope as the great regenerative force in prisons; work, education, and religion as other vital forces to the same end; abbreviation of sentence and participation in earnings as incentives to diligence, good conduct, and self-improvement; the enlisting of the will of the prisoner in the work of his own moral regeneration; the introduction of variety of trades into prisons, and the mastery by every convict of some handicraft as a means of support after discharge; the use of the law of love as an agent in prison discipline, to the exclusion, as far as may be, of the grosser forms of force; the utter worthlessness of short imprisonments, and the necessity of longer terms even for minor offences, when repeated; and the intellectual, moral, and industrial education of neglected, vagrant, and vicious children, this last being, in aim and essential features, an anticipation of the industrial school and juvenile reformatory of our day." The reformation of the prisoner is sought primarily for the protection of society.

A marked tendency of advanced American opinion on the subject of penal treatment is the centralization and unification of control of all the prisons of a state, and their correlation for preventive and reformatory ends. Under the law of 1873, all prisoners in Maine, except the boys in the state reformatory, are practically under one board of control. There is also a growing tendency toward the recognition of prenatal influences producing the criminal impulse and transmitting it from one generation to another, and of the existence of physical causes of disease and degeneracy. The prevalence of these views frequently induces great caution in inflicting retributive punishment. Indeed, in some states the abolition of definite term sentences is urged, as being necessarily vindictive in some degree, and the substitution of indefinite committal to custody until such observable modifications of character are wrought as give good hope of the criminal's reform. - The association of convicts day and night was formerly much practised, and still prevails to a limited extent in some prisons of Europe; but this plan is now generally condemned.

Three systems are in use: 1, the separate or cellular, known also as the Pennsylvania or "individual treatment;" 2, the associate or congregate, also called the Auburn; 3, the Irish convict, or Crofton. Transportation was practised in Great Britain as early as 1619, when 100 convicts were sent to Virginia, and afterward small numbers were occasionally sent out and sold to the planters for 7 to 14 years, a practice often alluded to by Defoe and other writers; but the business was not conducted systematically till after 1718, when for a number of years as many as 2,000 convicts were annually transported. In 1786 it was determined to establish a penal colony in Australia, and the first cargo, of 850 convicts, was sent out in 1787, to Port Jackson, near Sydney. The convicts died by hundreds of fever on the passage out; or if they arrived they were unable to earn a subsistence, and perished of famine, or, to preserve life, adopted the savage habits of the native bush rangers. At length the influx of free settlers, the extensive sheep culture, and the building up of large towns, made their condition tolerable; while the grants of lands to the emancipists, as those who had served their time were called, and the plan of allowing tickets of leave, which in some cases shortened their term of punishment almost one half, soon gave to the convict settlers a predominating influence in the colony.

This led to the organization among the free settlers of a party opposed to the system, and in 1840 transportation to South Australia ceased. It was maintained in Tasmania till 1853. In 1857 an act was passed abolishing transportation entirely as a means of punishment; but convicts sentenced to penal servitude might still be sent beyond seas by order of the secretary of state. In 1867 transportation was altogether discontinued. Transportation to penal colonies in Guiana and New Caledonia is now a part of the penal code of France, which has also agricultural penitentiaries in the island of Corsica. Under the penal laws of Spain the punishment of fetters for life is undergone with labor in designated places in Africa, in the Canary islands, or beyond the seas. Transportation into penal colonies in Africa was adopted by Portugal in 1852, and is still practised. Italy has agricultural penal colonies in the islands of Gorgona, Capraia, and Piano-sa, in the Tuscan archipelago, and also in the island of Sardinia. The penal code of Russia prescribes transportation with hard labor for life, or from 4 to 20 years, to Siberia, and beyond the Caucasus. - The foundation of the separate system, as it is now practised in this country and in Europe, was laid in Philadelphia in the latter part of the last century.

The abuses attending the treatment of prisoners had been strongly condemned by a number of philanthropists in that city. Prisoners were associated together day and night, and made to work in the public streets. In 1790 a law was passed by the legislature to try the system of "solitary confinement to hard labor," which was soon after adopted in the Walnut street jail. In 1821 the legislature authorized the construction of the eastern penitentiary there, which was opened in 1829. The western penitentiary had been opened in Pittsburgh in 1827, and in both the separate system was adopted. It has been discontinued in the western, but in the eastern it is still maintained. This prison was visited by De Tocqueville, Beaumont, Demetz, Blou-et, Mr. Crawford, inspector general of the prisons of England, and other foreign publicists, and was taken as the model of the great English prison of Pentonville, and of other prisons in Paris, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and other countries. The distinguishing features of the separate or cellular system are individual separation of the prisoners day and night during the entire term of their imprisonment, communication with the officials, visits and correspondence with persons outside under prescribed restrictions, individual walks in the open air, obligatory and remunerated work for the prisoners, and mental, moral, religious, and technical individual instruction.

Not only is the association of convicts prevented, but even the opportunity of seeing one another. Each is kept in a separate cell, where he eats, sleeps, works, and passes the entire term of his imprisonment, except the time spent in exercise in the small yard attached to his cell. When he leaves his cell his face, except the eyes, is covered with a cap to prevent recognition. When religious services are held, the convicts in many prisons remain in their cells. In the Belgian prisons they can see the priest, but not one another; in the eastern penitentiary they hear but do not see the preacher. In the cellular prison at Bruchsal, Baden, they leave their cells to attend religious services and to receive secular instruction, but with their faces covered; visitors are seen in a room assigned for that purpose. The advantages claimed for this system are that it prevents mutual corruption and other evil influences of the association of convicts, promotes the manhood and self-respect of the prisoner, especially after liberation, diminishes the chances of escape, admits a variation of discipline by affording an opportunity for the separate study and treatment of each prisoner, and in consequence of its repressive and reformatory efficiency permits a diminution of the period of imprisonment.

Thus by the Belgian law of 1870 a sentence of one year, if to cellular imprisonment, may be reduced to 9 months, of 5 years to 3 years and 5 months, of 10 years to 6 years and 3 months, of 15 years to 8 years and 5 months, and of 20 years to 9 years and 8 months. Those sentenced to imprisonment for life can be compelled to pass only the first 10 years in separate confinement. In the eastern penitentiary in Philadelphia the prisoner is able by good conduct to reduce his sentence one month in each of the first two years, two months in each succeeding year to the fifth, three months in each following year to the tenth, and four months in each remaining year of the sentence. Chief among the objections urged against the system are that it wars against the social instinct in men, producing a morbid state of mind and increasing the percentage of insanity, and that it is more costly than the congregate system. In reply it is maintained that the first of these objections is not supported by statistics, while the increase in cost is balanced by the decrease in the duration of imprisonment. In the United States the separate system has met with little favor outside of Pennsylvania; in every other state the congregate plan has been adopted. In Europe, however, the former has many advocates.

When adopted, it is generally applied in the case of short sentences with provision for abbreviation. It has received its best development in Belgium, where it prevails almost entirely, having been first tried in the prison of Ghent in 1835. The penitentiary of Lou-vain, which has about 600 cells, is regarded as the model cellular prison of Europe. The system prevails in a few of the French, Prussian, Austrian, Norwegian, Swedish, and Italian prisons. Denmark has one cellular prison for male convicts in Seeland; no person can be kept in isolation longer than three years and a half. In Baden sentences to hard labor and to imprisonment are served in cellular prisons, but such confinement cannot be extended beyond three years without the consent of the prisoner. The convict prison of Bruchsal is strictly cellular. Bavaria has one cellular prison for convicts and three for persons awaiting trial; the former is at Nuremberg, and has a capacity for 400 men. In Holland the judge may sentence to separate or associated imprisonment, but the former must not exceed two years.

The three great cellular prisons are in Amsterdam, with 208 cells, Utrecht, 186, and Rotterdam, 344. Many of the local prisons are also on the separate plan. - The congregate system was first adopted in the United States in the state prison of New York at Auburn. This, however, was not the origin of the system; for it had been practised as early as 1703 at the prison of San Michele in Rome, on the portals of which was inscribed: Pa-rum est improbos coercere poena nisi probos ef-ficias disciplina ("It is useless to punish the bad without improving them by discipline"). An excellent prison of this kind was also opened at Ghent in 1775. Industrial labor, religious and scholastic education, abbreviation of sentence, participation in earnings, etc, were found by Howard in this prison when he visited it in 1775-'6, and again in 1781. But soon afterward the plan of conducting the prison was changed by the emperor Joseph II., and its reputation for excellence was lost. The construction of the Auburn prison was begun in 1816. The plan of idle seclusion in separate cells was at first adopted, and it was not till 1824 that the congregate system was fully established by Capt. Elam Lynde. Under this system the prisoners labor in association during the day, take their meals either together or in their cells, and attend religious exercises in a body.

Strict silence is enjoined upon the convicts. Communication may be held with the officers of the prison, and with visitors when permission is granted. The night is passed by the prisoners in solitary confinement in a small cell. It is asserted that this system is more economical than the separate, both because the original cost of construction is much less in consequence of the cells being smaller, and because associated labor is attended with greater profit. It is also said to be better adapted to the mental and bodily condition of the convict. It prevails extensively in Europe, and exclusively in the United States except in Philadelphia. - The distinguishing features of the separate and congregate systems are united in the Irish convict or Crofton system, which was introduced by Sir Walter Crofton into Ireland in 1854, where it has since prevailed with the most successful results; and it has been accepted by many, and especially American penologists, as the best penal system yet devised. Its origin is attributed to Alexander Maconochie, who had expounded and advocated the fundamental principles of the system before putting them into practice in 1840 at the penal colony under his charge on Norfolk island.

Maconochie was recalled in 1844, and the former system of cruelty was reestablished there. M. Bonneville de Marsangy of France also proposed and published as early as 1846 a plan of penitentiary treatment embodying the main features of this system. In perfecting a plan of penal treatment, Sir Walter Crofton had to deal with the three principles of secondary punishment (i. e., by terminable imprisonment) generally recognized by penologists: 1, the deterrent principle, which by the application of pain is intended to impress the convict, as well as the community, with the belief that the profits of crime are overbalanced by its losses, thus subduing by fear the desire of the criminal to do wrong; 2, the principle styled by Bentham that of " incapacitation," which is designed to render the culprit incapable of committing crime by removing him from society to the prison; 3, the reformatory principle, by which the desire of the convict to do wrong is overcome. The union of these principles into one plan of treatment in order to attain the "twofold end of punishment, amendment and example," is the basis of the Crofton system.

The term of imprisonment is divided into three stages, and is passed in three different prisons: Mount-joy prison in Dublin, which has a capacity for about 500 convicts; Spike island, in the harbor of Queenstown, which will accommodate 700; and Lusk, about 12 m. from Dublin, with accommodations for 100. The first stage continues eight or nine months in separate imprisonment in a cellular prison. The treatment here is made penal by a very reduced dietary during the first four months, meat being entirely withheld, and by the absence of interesting employment during the first three months, the convicts being occupied chiefly in picking oakum. Much time is spent in receiving religious and secular instruction, and each convict is taught the entire scope of the system of imprisonment he is undergoing, and how much depends upon himself. The controlling feature of the second stage is the system of marks, by which the classification is governed and the abbreviation of the sentence determined. There are four classes in the second stage, and the time spent by a convict in each class is determined, within certain limits, by the number of marks gained. The maximum number to be attained is nine a month, three each for good conduct, attention to school duties, and industry at work.

Skill is not rewarded by marks. The convict must gain 18 marks in the third class to pass to the second, 54 in the second for promotion to the first, and 108 in the first before entering the advanced class. Thus, as he can acquire only nine marks a month, he must spend at least 2 months in the first class, 6 in the second, and 12 in the first. The time passed in the advanced class depends upon the length of the sentence. It must be at least 13 months when the sentence is five years, 53 when it is 10, and 93 when it is 15 years. During the second stage the convicts are employed in association, chiefly on public works. They do not receive any portion of their earnings, but are allowed certain gratuities, which are received on release. The chief punishments are loss of marks, forfeiture of gratuities, withdrawal of privileges, and remanding to a lower class or to the cellular prison at Mountjoy. The most remarkable feature of the Crofton system is the third or "intermediate" stage, passed at Lusk. Here are no walls, or bars, or police, or armed watchmen. There is no physical restraint, no check on conversation, no prison garb. The prisoner is here in a condition of semi-freedom, a state of probation before liberation.

The convicts are employed in groups upon the farm under the supervision of a half dozen unarmed warders, who generally work with them. There is nothing to prevent escape by day or night; but the desire to escape has been manifested very rarely. The mark system is discontinued. There are no punishments, but the convict may be remanded back to separate and solitary confinement at Mountjoy. The convicts hear frequent lectures, and attend the parish church in a body. The period of detention here varies with the length of the sentence; it is 6 months on a sentence of 5 years, 11 months on one of 10 years, and 16 months on one of 15 years. The object of the treatment is threefold: 1, by exposing the criminal to the ordinary temptations and trials of the world, to test his reform; 2, to afford a guarantee to the public that the reform is real, and that the convict may be trusted; 3, to supplement the previous discipline with a more natural training, and so by partial freedom to prepare the prisoner gradually for full liberty.

The same principles of progressive classification are applied to females, for whom there is a separate prison during the first stage at Mountjoy, and provision for the associated labor of the second stage in the same prison; while the intermediate or final stage is passed in " refuges." The amount of reduction which a convict may effect in the duration of his imprisonment is determined by his conduct and industry at Spike island. Suppose he is sentenced for five years: what is the maximum reduction within his reach ? He must pass 8 months at Mountjoy, 33 months at Spike island (2 months in the 3d class, 6 in the 2d, 12 in the 1st, and 13 in the advanced) and 6 months at Lusk, making 41 months in ordinary imprisonment, and 6 in semi-confinement. His period of detention therefore is 3 years and 11 months, and he is restored to liberty on a ticket of license 13 months before the expiration of his sentenced term. In like manner he may reduce a sentence of 10 years to 7 years and 8 months, and one of 15 years to 11 years and 5 months. When the convict has passed through the system of penal treatment above described, and secured an abbreviation of his term of imprisonment, he is not restored to unconditional freedom, but is liberated upon a ticket of license.

He is subject to the supervision of the constabulary, to whom be must report at regular intervals for registration; and if he fails to perform the conditions of the license, he may be remanded to prison for the remainder of his term of sentence. The nearest approach to the Crofton system outside of Ireland is found in England, but without its crowning feature in the intermediate stage. It is regarded with favor in Switzerland, where some of its features have already been adopted. Its introduction into the United States, with certain modifications, is recommended by high authorities, but is opposed by others as not being adapted to a government composed of separate states. The number of inmates in the Irish convict prisons during the year ending March 31, 1874, with the average cost of their support, was as follows:

In the United States there are as many systems of prison management as there are states. There is no national institution for the confinement of offenders against the national laws, who are consequently sentenced to the prisons of the several states. All places of confinement in the United States may be divided, according to their management, into municipal (town and city), county, and state prisons; and according to the grade of offence, into juvenile reformatories, houses of correction, and state prisons. In general each county has one, and some of them two or three jails. These as well as the city prisons are generally houses of detention, though in some of the county prisons a system of industrial labor, instruction, etc, is established. The county prisons are generally considered unsatisfactory either for detention before trial or for the imprisonment of offenders after conviction, and it is earnestly sought to provide something better in place of them. This want has given rise to the class of prisons called houses of correction, workhouses, and sometimes penitentiaries. Each of the 37 states has a state prison, except Delaware, which uses the coun-ty jails for the confinement of convicted felons.

New York and Indiana (including that for women) have three each, and Pennsylvania and Iowa two each, making 43 state prisons in the United States, exclusive of the convict prisons in the territories. The chief prison officers are usually appointed by the governor to hold office during good behavior; in New York they are appointed by the elective board of three prison inspectors. Most of the states have such boards, generally appointed by the governor. The New York prison association is also authorized to inspect all the prisons of the state. Many of the prisons contain from 300 to 500 cells. The largest are in New York, that at Auburn having 1,292 cells, and Sing Sing 1,200. The Ohio penitentiary at Columbus has 1,110 cells, and that of Illinois at Joliet 1,000. These institutions, however, as well as those in other states, frequently receive a greater number of convicts than they have cells. The total number of cells in all the state prisons is about 16,000. Some of them are intended for two or more prisoners. Their average dimensions are 8 ft. long, 4 1/2 ft. wide, and 7 1/4 ft. high, giving for the average contents of each about 240 cubic ft.

Those in the Pennsylvania prisons and the prison for women in Indianapolis are much larger; in those of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts (a portion), New York, Ohio, and some other states, they are smaller. Penal or "hard" labor, as by the treadmill, the crank, the shot drill, etc., which has been so common in English prisons, hardly exists in the United States. Here the labor is industrial, of which almost every kind is practised, according to the requirements and opportunities of the locality. The contract system of labor prevails exclusively in 19 of the state prisons, the leasing system in 6, state management exclusively in 9, and a mixed system in 7. Under the contract system the labor of the convicts is generally let at a fixed sum per day, which is often very small. Penologists find objections to this system on reformatory grounds, but it is generally less expensive to the government than the management of prison labor by the officers. In large prisons it is regarded by many as indispensable; but it is thought that it can be safely dispensed with in prisons containing fewer than 200 convicts.

According to the report of the national prison association, the total income of 29 convict prisons in 1873 was $1,413,073, including $1,328,882 earnings from labor and $84,191 from other sources, chiefly for the board of United States prisoners. The average earnings for each of the entire prison population amounted to $121; for each engaged in productive labor, $173. The average per capita cost of the convicts was $172. Of the 29 states that reported, 12 showed an excess of earnings over the total current expenses, including salaries, as follows:

The total excess of earnings over expenditures in these states was $85,588; total number engaged in productive labor, 6,544. The state prisons of Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, and New Jersey are also self-sustaining. Since 1873 the expenses have exceeded the earnings in the Massachusetts prison. The total ordinary expenditures of all the state prisons were reported at $3,045,789. The most economically administered prisons were those in North Carolina, where the average cost per capita was $89; Virginia, $99; and Rhode Island, $101. The most expensive were Nebraska, $454; Nevada, $383; South Carolina, $376; Minnesota, $352; Wisconsin, $313; Oregon, $312; Florida, $302; and Arkansas, $300. In Connecticut it was $128; Indiana, Michigan City $140, Jefferson-ville$170; Maine, $200; Massachusetts, $193; New York, Auburn $161, Sing Sing $274; Ohio, $167. - Disciplinary agencies in prison management may be divided into two classes, deterrent and reformatory, the former comprising punishments and the latter rewards, secular and religious instruction, industrial training, etc. Extreme physical punishments, by the lash, rod, strait jacket, stocks, shackles, handcuffs, ball and chain, and shower bath, are still found in the codes, if not the practice, of many states.

These punishments are applied only as a last resort, and in many of the states mentioned are rarely, and in some perhaps never, put into practice. In many of the other states they are expressly forbidden by law. Public whipping still exists in Delaware. The most common punishments are the dark cell with reduced rations, deprivation of privileges, etc. The rewards are usually petty privileges, as the use of tobacco, a light in the cell, and better food. In a few prisons the convict is allowed a share of his earnings, and in many by good conduct may abbreviate the term of his imprisonment. By recent laws of Ohio and some other western states, the convict will be restored to citizenship if he passes the entire period of his sentence without violating the rules of the prison. The pardoning power is generally vested in the governor; civil rights are usually restored by pardon. The percentage of prisoners pardoned in 1873, exclusive of those discharged by commutation, was 5 1/3. Most of the prisons have chaplains; in nearly all weekly religious services are held, and many have Sunday schools and frequent prayer meetings. The provisions for the intellectual improvement of prisoners are very inadequate, but have been considerably enlarged in recent years.

Libraries are common, 33 prisons in 1873 reporting 50,663 volumes, an average of 1,535 to each; and in some prisons the convicts have the benefit of schools, individual instruction in their cells, and lectures. Secular instruction is regularly afforded in the prisons of California, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. In some of these states a school is held once a week; in others two to five evenings a week. The regulations concerning correspondence and visits to prisoners vary greatly in different prisons. In some the frequency of both is optional with the warden; in others the convict is allowed a letter and a visit only once in three months. Little has been done in the United States toward establishing special prisons for women. The best institution of this class was opened in Indianapolis in 1873; it is a state institution, and has penal and reformatory departments. New York has a prison for females at Sing Sing, under the same administration with the male prison, and the legislature of Massachusetts has authorized the construction of a reformatory prison for women.

The state prisons of the United States, with the number of cells and average number of prisoners in 1873, as reported by the national prison association, were as follows:

There is a class of prisons in the United States, generally called houses of correction, workhouses, and sometimes penitentiaries, which hold a middle place between the municipal or county jail and the state prison, and are intended for the treatment of those convicted of lighter offences, though felons are sometimes confined in them. These institutions form an important link in any true prison system, and from them have sprung many of the practical reforms of prison administration wrought in America. They are preventive of crime by their wise and thorough treatment of misdemeants who are as a rule developing into felons. They are commonly managed and maintained by the county or city, but some receive state convicts. Most of them have systems of discipline, labor, instruction, etc, similar and sometimes superior to those of higher prisons. Institutions of this kind are maintained in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Missouri, California, and perhaps some other states. New York has six under the title of penitentiaries.

The most noted and best managed of these institutions are the Albany and the Monroe county penitentiaries in New York, the former brought to its high degree of excellence by Amos Pils-bury; the Detroit (Mich.) house of correction, organized and conducted during the first ten years of its existence by Z. E. Brockway; and the Allegheny county.(Pa.) workhouse at Clare-mont, under the superintendence of Henry Cordier. In each of these there is an excess of earnings from the labor of the prisoners over the expenses of the institution; and each has excellent schools. The house of correction in Boston, Mass., is sometimes self-sustaining. Another prison of this class, called the state house of correction, is in process of construction (1875) at Ionia, Mich.; also one at El-mira, called the New York state reformatory. The Albany penitentiary is one of the principal places of confinement for United States prisoners. For institutions for the treatment of juvenile offenders, see Reformatories. - The system of penal treatment in England in many respects is similar to that of Ireland. The intermediate or probationary stage, which forms so important a feature in the Irish system, is not found in the English, except in the treatment of female convicts.

All convicts sentenced to penal servitude are required to pass through three principal stages. The first is passed at Pentonville, and continues for nine months, during which the prisoner spends his entire time, excepting that devoted to prayer and exercise, alone in his cell, working at some industrial or remunerative employment. The treatment here, especially the diet, is sternly penal; but the convicts have the use of books, and, besides receiving religious instruction, are taught reading, writing, etc. From here the prisoner is removed to one of the other convict prisons, where he works in association, but spends the rest of his time in a separate cell. The prisoners are chiefly employed on public works, farming, clearing and reclaiming land, etc.; but in some of the prisons boot making, tailoring, and other indoor employments are carried on. The convicts are divided into four classes, the higher classes having privileges not found in the lower. Promotion is determined by marks, which are given not for good conduct, but for industry alone. In addition to the privileges acquired by promotion to a higher class, the prisoner may gain a remission of about one fourth of his sentence, or if a female, about one third.

The chief advantages offered by the higher classes are more frequent communications by visit or letter with friends, more freedom for exercise on Sundays, and higher gratuities of money to be paid on the prisoner's discharge. Convicts receive no share of their earnings, but each is allowed sufficient money on discharge to maintain himself while seeking employment. There is no extra reward for good conduct; but bad conduct is punished by degradation to a lower class and the loss of privileges gained by industry, as well as by solitary confinement, reduction in diet, and corporal punishment. Only the governor and director have the power to punish, under limits defined by the secretary of state. Unusual punish-ishments are prohibited; but whipping is practised, and chains, handcuffs, or means of special restraint may be used in certain defined circumstances and under strict regulations. The privilege of petitioning the secretary of state is given to every convict. When the prisoner has secured a remission of a portion of his sentence, he is liberated on a ticket of license. He is now subject to police surveillance, and will be remanded to prison for a violation of the conditions of the license.

Formerly it was the custom to transport convicts thus conditionally liberated on a ticket of leave; but since 1867 this practice has been discontinued. The same course of treatment is applied to females; but they may earn a larger proportion of remission, viz., one third; while those whose reform appears to be complete may pass the last six months of their imprisonment in "refuges" established and managed by private effort, assisted by contributions from the government. Of these there are three the Carlisle memorial at Winchester, the Eagle house at Hammersmith for Roman Catholics, and the Westminster memorial at Streatham. The number of inmates of the English convict prisons during the year 1873 was as follows: Brixton, 504; Chatham, 1,682; Dartmoor, 939; Fulham (females), 277; Mill-bank, 1,122 (908 males, 214 females); Park-hurst, 552; Pentonville, 911; Portland, 1,586; Portsmouth, 1,282; Woking, 1,390 (718 males, 672 females); total, 10,245. The gross annual expenses were £342,158, and the net earnings of the convicts £220,490; balance, £121,668, making the net cost of supporting each convict during the year £11 14s. 6d. The earnings of the convicts exceeded the expenditures at Chatham and Portsmouth, and very nearly equalled them at Portland. The extensive government works at these points, the sea walls, docks, etc, including both the skilled and unskilled labor, have been constructed by convicts. - France has six classes of prisons: 1, the penal colonies of Cayenne (Guiana) and New Caledonia; 2, central prisons (maisons de force et de correction), of which there are 16 for men and 7 for women, corresponding to the state prisons in the United States; 3, departmental prisons, about 400 in number, designated also as houses of arrest, of justice, and of correction; 4, establishments for the correctional education of juvenile delinquents; 5, chambers and depots of safe keeping; and 6, prisons for the army and navy.

The chief sentences, besides death, are hard labor for life or for a term of 5 to 20 years, reclusion for 5 to 10 years, and simple imprisonment for from 6 days to 10 years. Sentence to hard labor is attended with civil degradation and civil death, the property of the culprit being under the control of a guardian. After the expiration of a sentence to a limited term of hard labor, the criminal during the remainder of his life is under the supervision of the police. Except women and men 60 years of age and over, who undergo imprisonment in the central prisons, persons sentenced to hard labor are transported to one of the penal colonies. If the sentence is for less than eight years, the convict must remain in the colony after the expiration of his punishment during a period equal to the length of his sentence; if the sentence is eight years or more, such residence is made perpetual. The transportation of women is authorized by law in view of marriages to be contracted with the convicts in the colony after liberation; some women have been thus sent to Cayenne, but a majority undergo imprisonment in the central prisons of France. A sentence to the punishment of reclusion deprives the criminal of civil rights.

Every person so sentenced is confined in a central prison and employed in labor, which may be in part applied to his own benefit. Simple imprisonment is a correctional punishment, which however may work partial or entire loss of civil rights. In case of relapse, the duration of the punishment may be doubled. If the sentence is for more than a year, the culprit is sent to a central prison; if a year or less, to a departmental prison. The product of the prisoner's labor goes partly to the prison and partly to secure for himself, if deserving, certain privileges, or to form a fund to be used when discharged. Houses of arrest, of justice, and of correction are usually three departments of the same prison. Besides the punishments here described, the penal code recognizes that of deportation, or transportation for life to a place without the continental territory of the republic, upon pain of sentence to hard labor if the offender return; and detention for from 5 to 20 years in one of the French continental fortresses. The cellular system does not prevail in any of the central prisons; the convicts are here employed together in workshops during the day, with cellular separation at night. A few of the departmental prisons are cellular, but even in these the strict separate system is not practised.

Three prisons in Paris, however, are constructed and conducted on the cellular plan: Mazas, a part of La Santé, and La Petite Roquette; the last named is a prison for persons under 16 years of age and persons sentenced to an imprisonment not exceeding six months. The law of May, 1875, provides that persons awaiting trial shall be confined in separate cells, subjects those sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment or less to solitary confinement, and gives those with longer sentences the privilege of choosing separate confinement. Penal as distinguished from industrial labor does not exist in the prisons of France. Industrial labor is obligatory upon those serving sentences, and optional with the arrested and the accused. Extensive workshops are organized in the central prisons. In the male central prisons about 50 or 60 industries are carried on, the principal of which are weaving, tanning, and the manufacture of boots and shoes, buttons, hosiery, locks, and hardware. Three of the central prisons are "agricultural penitentiaries," or colonies in the island of Corsica where the convicts are employed in agricultural work. Sewing is the chief industry in the central prisons for females.

The contract system of labor prevails in most of the prisons, but in several important establishments the industries are managed directly by the state. Convicts are allowed a portion of their earnings, being in the central prisons from three tenths to five tenths, according to the grade of the sentence. A portion may be used by the convict while in prison, and the balance is reserved till his discharge. The prisoners contribute about 50 per cent. of the cost of maintenance in the central, and about 17 per cent. in the departmental prisons. A few of the central prisons are self-sustaining or nearly so. The more important prisons are generally provided with chaplains, schools, and libraries; but only about 12 to 15 per cent. of the population in the prisons for males, and 5 to 8 per cent. in those for females, are admitted to the schools. Corporal punishment is prohibited in all prisons. - All the prisons of Belgium are under the jurisdiction of the minister of justice, and are subject to the supervision and inspection of commissions. Nearly all are conducted on the separate plan. There are three general classes: houses of correction, houses of reclusion, and convict prisons.

In the first are confined prisoners sentenced to simple imprisonment for terms of 8 days to 5 years; in the second, those sentenced for from 5 to 10 years; and in the third, those sentenced to hard labor for life, from 10 to 15 years, or from 15 to 20 years. Industrial labor prevails in all prisons, penal in none. The labor is directed in part by the government, and in part is awarded to special contractors, preference being given to the latter plan. A system of apprenticeship prevails, by which prisoners are taught various trades. The prison industries are varied and extensive. The prisoners receive a portion of their earnings, and rewards for good conduct, including reduction of sentence. Every prison with 50 or more inmates is provided with a school or a teacher, and school attendance is generally obligatory. Libraries are found in all prisons. The three great central or convict prisons of Belgium are those of Louvain, Ghent, and Antwerp. - All the prisons of Prussia are subject to a central authority, the large penitentiary establishments or central prisons being under the minister of the interior. There are 29 prisons exclusively for hard labor, 15 for' imprisonment and simple detention, and 11 of a mixed character.

The capacity of all is about 26,500. In 47 there is an aggregate of 3,247 cells for solitary imprisonment by day and night; but in only one of these is the separate system exclusively adopted; in the other 46 the cellular and the congregate systems both exist. The punishments prescribed by the penal code are hard labor, simple imprisonment, imprisonment in a fortress, and detention for minor offences. Sentence to hard labor may be for life or from one to 15 years. It subjects the prisoner to compulsory labor without restriction, both inside and outside the prison, and disqualifies him from serving in the army or navy, or in any public office. The judge may add civil degradation. In simple imprisonment, limited to five years, the convict cannot be compelled to work outside of the prison, or at occupations not in accord with his capacity or previous social condition. If the sentence is for three months or more, the judge may add civil degradation. Prisoners sentenced to hard labor or to imprisonment may be liberated provisionally at the expiration of three fourths of their sentence, provided they have been at least a year in confinement. Imprisonment in a fortress may be for life or for a term of years, not exceeding 15. The punishment is simply privation of liberty.

The chief classification of prisoners in Prussia is the separation of the young from the old. Penal labor does not exist. Industrial labor comprises not less than 50 different trades carried on by men and 10 by women. The contract system prevails almost exclusively; the labor of the prisoners being let out, not to a few general contractors, but each industry to a special contractor. Prisoners are allowed a variable portion, not exceeding one sixth, of the product of their labor, to be used partly while in confinement and the balance after release. Among the punishments permitted is castigation in the case of men, limited to 30 lashes, and only when authorized by the director of the prison at the request of the superior officers, including the chaplain and surgeon. Chaplains, all forms of worship, schools, and libraries exist in all important prisons. About 15 per cent. of all the prisoners receive scholastic instruction; those without trades must serve an apprenticeship. The prison libraries comprise upward of 150,000 volumes, about one half religious. - In Cisleithan Austria all prisons are under the jurisdiction of the ministry of justice; matters of minor importance, however, are intrusted to the local and intermediate authorities.

Since 1867 there has been an inspector general of prisons. There are 18 prisons (12 for males, having in 1872 about 9,000 inmates, and 6 for females, with 1,500 inmates) for persons sentenced to more than one year of imprisonment; 62 for those sentenced to less than one year, which are also used for persons convicted of lighter offences; and prisons of the district courts for minor offences. Separate prisons are used for men and women. Until recently only the associated system of imprisonment existed, and it now prevails in nearly all the prisons. The convicts are classified in groups of 6 to 30, day and night, and are allowed to converse together except when at work. All prisons constructed since 1867 have been so arranged that associated imprisonment may be combined with cellular. Provisions for cellular treatment are found in the prisons of Gratz, Stein, Karthaus, and Pilsen. By the law of April 1, 1872, cellular imprisonment is limited to three years, with the provision that after three months of isolation two days passed in a cell are to be reckoned as three in the term of the sentence.

In all prisons where the collective system prevails, a classification of prisoners is maintained in the dormitories, based on the age, education, state of mind, and former life of the convict, and the kind of crime committed. There is no way in which a convict may secure an abbreviation of his sentence except by being recommended for pardon to the emperor. Penal labor does not exist; a wide range of industries are carried on within, and some without, the prisons. The contract system is preferred where suitable contractors can be found; otherwise the industries are managed directly by the state. Convicts are entitled to a share of their earnings, to be used partly while in prison and partly after release. If the prisoner has property, it is liable for the cost of his imprisonment. Trades are taught to the unskilled. Corporal punishment is not practised. The severest punishments are chains, diminution of food, hard bed, isolated confinement, and dark cell. Banishment after the expiration of the sentence is recognized by the penal code. The prisons are generally provided with chaplains, schools, and libraries, though the last are of recent origin. School attendance is obligatory upon convicts of a suitable age.

Political prisoners are absolved from compulsory labor and from wearing prison clothes. - In Switzerland most of the cantons prescribe three kinds of imprisonment: re-clusion, perpetual or temporary detention in a house of correction, and simple imprisonment. Many of the cantons are introducing important reforms into their prison systems, including progressive classification and provisional liberation. In the penitentiary of Neuf-châtel, which has an average of 80 inmates, many of the features of the Crofton system have been adopted. The excellent system of discipline, labor, rewards, education, privileges, etc, adopted here by Dr. Guillaume, the director, has made this one of the model prisons of Europe. - The penal system of Italy is in a state of transition. The new code retains the death penalty, and prescribes as secondary punishments the bagnio for life (ergastolo), reclusion, and relegation. As a general rule ergastolo must be passed in one of the islands in continual separation for the first ten years, and afterward in congregate imprisonment. Sentences to reclusion and relegation, which are penalties of temporary duration, are to be served upon the congregate plan.

Not fewer than 3,000 convicts are engaged in agricultural work, and 1,500 employed by private contractors or municipal bodies in the construction of ports and roads, in collecting and transporting salt from the mines of Cagliari and Portoferrajo, in working iron mines, in masonry, and in other outdoor occupations. At the penal settlement of Cagliari much attention is given to the rearing of the silkworm, and at Alghero the culture of tobacco is a prominent industry. More than 1,000 prisoners are employed at the three agricultural colonies on the islands of Pia-nosa, Gorgona, and Capraia, in the Tuscan archipelago, chiefly in the cultivation of vines, olives, and cereals. The prisoner is entitled to a share of the product of his labor. He is required to attend school, where among other things he is taught the science of agriculture. The agricultural colonies are intended for those convicts who have been sentenced to reclusion, relegation, or simple imprisonment, and who have distinguished themselves in the penal establishments by good conduct. - In nearly all the countries of Europe efforts are made to aid liberated prisoners by securing for them employment and protection. This work is generally done by prisoners' aid or patronage societies, aided sometimes by the government.

In some instances direct efforts are made by the government in behalf of discharged convicts. The Netherlands society for the moral amelioration of prisoners, both before and after discharge, has its seat in Amsterdam, with as many as 40 branches in different parts of the country. Denmark has prisoners' aid associations in the vicinity of each of its four great prisons. In England much importance is given to aiding convicts after discharge, and 34 societies have been established for this purpose. A semi-official character is given to them by the fact that they hold in trust the gratuities allowed by law to discharged convicts. Prisoners are also placed for a limited time after discharge under the surveillance of the police. More than half of the male convicts discharged in 1873 applied to prisoners' aid societies, and more than three fourths of the females went to such societies or refuges. In the United States the organizations for aiding liberated prisoners are few. Massachusetts' has an official agency. The other most efficient organizations are the New York prison association, the Philadelphia prison society, the Maryland prisoners' aid society, and the California prison commission.

The prison association of New York was incorporated by the legislature in 1844; it is authorized to visit and inspect all the prisons of the state, and makes annual reports to the legislature. It has agents in all parts of the state to look after the interests of prisoners in confinement, and to aid them after discharge with money, board, clothing, tools, transportation, employment, etc. About 1,500 discharged convicts were aided by this association in 1874. - The marked lack of uniformity in the returns made by different countries renders their criminal statistics only approxi-matively useful for purposes of comparison. A computation made by Beltrani Scalia, on returns from Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Italy, Saxony, and Sweden, shows about one half of the entire prison population of those countries to be illiterate. According to recent returns, the percentage of those who could not read on entering prison was 56 in Austria, 49 in Belgium, 57 in France, 4 in Baden, 12 in Bavaria, 17 in Prussia, 60 to 92 in Italy, about 40 in the Netherlands, and 30 in Switzerland. In Ireland 22 per cent. both of males and females were illiterate.

In Austria 8 per cent. of the male and 24 per cent. of the female convicts had no trade on entering prison; in Belgium the percentage for both sexes was 60 to 70; in France, 5 per cent. among males and 12 per cent. among females; Baden, 40 per cent.; Bavaria, 3; Prussia, 5; the Netherlands, 25; Sweden, 90; Switzerland, 50; Ireland, 35. In Belgium and England, about 12 per cent. of the prison population are females; in Baden, 15; in Bavaria, 20; in France, 19; in the Netherlands, Prussia, and Sweden, about 18; in Norway, 24; in Russia, 10; in Switzerland, 20. The proportion of recidivists, or those who after imprisonment relapse into crime and are returned to prison, is reported at about 59 per cent. among men and 54 per cent. among women in Austria, 78 per cent. in Belgium, 20 in Baden, 30 in Bavaria, 42 1/2 in France, 18 to 28 in Italy, 25 to 28 in the Netherlands, 60 to 70 in Prussia, 19 to 45 in Sweden, and 36 in Wür-temberg. More than 18 per cent. of the sentences to penal servitude in England, Wales, and Scotland during the four years ending Jan. 1,1874, were reconvictions. It is stated that nearly 70 per cent. of the recidivists in Belgium were those who had been confined in the congregate prisons.

Of those committed to convict prisons in the United States in 1873, 21 per cent. were minors and 67 per cent. under 30 years of age; 75 per cent. were of native and 25 of foreign birth. Thus, while about 17 per cent. of the total population of the United States are foreigners, not less than a fourth of the criminal population are foreigners. In the northern and especially the eastern states, where there is a larger foreign element in the population, the percentage of foreign convicts is much larger than that given above. Thus in Massachusetts it was 55 per cent., Minnesota 42, New York 39.5, California 39, New Jersey 37, Indiana (males) 32, and Michigan 30. About one sixth of the prison population are women. In the southern states a large proportion of the convicts are colored; 48 per cent. were illiterate, and 70 per cent. had not learned a trade; 40 per cent. admitted intemperate habits, and 39 per cent. more claimed to be moderate drinkers, but acknowledged occasional intoxication, leaving only 21 per cent. claiming to be strictly temperate. - The most satisfactory information on the penal systems of Europe and the United States may be found in the volume of transactions of the London congress (London, 1873), and in the three reports of proceedings of the three congresses held by the national prison association of the United States. Annual reports have been issued by the prison association of New York since 1844, and valuable information and statistics relating to crime and the treatment of criminals are contained in the "American Journal of Social Science," of which seven numbers had been issued in 1874; in the reports of state boards of charities, which are organized in several of the states; and in the reports published by the various penal and reformatory institutions of the United States. The general principles of penal treatment and legislation are expounded in the works of Howard, Beccaria, Bentham, Edward Livingston, Francis Lieber, and others.

Among more recent publications are: "Crime, its Amount, Causes, and Remedies," by Frederic Hill (London, 1855); "Suggestions for the Repression of Crime," by M. D. Hill (London, 1857); "On Cellular Separation," by W. Parker Foulke (Philadelphia, 1861); "Our Convicts," by Mary Carpenter (2 vols., London, 1864); De Vamélioration de la loi crimi-nelle, by Bonneville de Marsangy (2 vols., Paris, 1864); Kritische Untersuchungen über die Grundsätze und Ergebnisse der irischen Gefängnisskunde, by Baron von Holtzendorff (Berlin, 1865); Des progrès et de létat actuel de la reforme pénitentiare, et des institutions preventives aux États- Unis, en France, en Suisse, en Angleterre et en Belgique, by Ducpétiaux (3 vols. 18mo, with plates, Paris and Brussels, 1867); "History of the Albany Penitentiary," by David Dyer (Albany, 1867); Sul governo e sulla riforma delle carceri in Italia, by Martino Beltrani Scalia (Turin, 1867); "Brief Sketch of the Origin and History of the State Penitentiary for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia," by Richard Vaux (Philadelphia, 1872); "The Crofton Prison System," by Mary Carpenter (London, 1872); La question pénitentiaire, by Robin (Paris, 1873); "Causes of Criminal Recommittals and their Means of Prevention," by Olivacrona (Stockholm, 1873); "Penitentiary Studies," by Don P. Armengol y Cornet (Barcelona, 1873); "Swiss Prison Discipline," by J. K. Kühne (St. Gall, 1873); "Works of Edward Livingston on Criminal Jurisprudence" (2 vols., New York, 1873); "Report on the Working of the Separate System of Imprisonment in Holland," by De Vries (the Hague, 1874); "National Education and Punishments," by C. B. Adderly (London, 1874); Les établissements pénitentiaires en France et aux colonies, by Viscount d'Haussonville (Paris, 1875); and "Memorials of Millbank and Chapters in Prison History," by Arthur Griffiths (2 vols., London, 1875). The Rivista di discipline, edited by Beltrani Scalia, inspector general of Italian prisons, and devoted to penitentiary science, is published monthly in Rome.

* Large dormitory. † Recently constructed.