Pictures and Problems from London Police CourtsHolmes, Thomas
History
Pictures and Problems from London Police Courts
Holmes, Thomas
Crime -- England -- London; Poor -- England -- London
Briefly, then, I would suggest: Short sentences; abolition of
ticket-of-leave; interesting work and more of it; less time alone, and
more with the schoolmaster; gradual improvements in conditions as a
reward for industry and good behaviour; some relaxation at intervals,
such as lectures with magic lanterns, concerts, etc. The Home Secretary
now allows lay officers of religious organizations to conduct missions
in various prisons. I would go much further, for I would have lecturers
who can speak well and interestingly upon various subjects invited
to speak to the prisoners. I would have good singers and first-class
musicians invited occasionally to give the prisoners a concert. I would
have also the prisons supplied plentifully with books, and constant
additions made to the library. I would have a looking-glass in every
cell, that prisoners might at any time take knowledge of themselves. I
would have every warder master of a trade, or able to teach something
useful, for work that interests must be the great factor in the
reformation of intelligent prisoners.
I may be asked, ‘What kind of work would you suggest?’ I reply at
once, ‘Any kind of interesting work for which a market can be found.’
‘But you become a competitor in the labour market.’ This cry, I know,
would be raised, but it is a very stupid cry. See how the present
system works. Numbers of men and women are detained in prison for long
periods. During their detention they work at stale, uninteresting
tasks, upon which there is no profit; consequently the community
has to keep them. When released, numbers of them enter the ‘Arks,’
‘Elevators,’ or ‘Bridges’ of the Salvation Army, or the labour homes
of the Church Army, and proceed to work for nothing, becoming indeed
and truth very serious competitors in the labour market, as the
wood-cutters and mat-makers will tell you.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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