The English Prison SystemRuggles-Brise, Evelyn, Sir
History
The English Prison System
Ruggles-Brise, Evelyn, Sir
Prisons -- Great Britain
Of what does this '_corpus_' consist? In the year before the war there
were, in round figures, 90,000 males and 32,000 females sent to prison
for periods of less than 6 months: about 7,000 of both sexes sent for
long periods over 6 months: about 1,000 sent to penal servitude: and
about 6,000 Juvenile-Adults came within the jurisdiction of the Prison
authority, either in Borstal Institutions or ordinary prisons. Of
these, the percentage of recidivism in Convict Prisons was no less than
87% for males and 70% for females. Of those sentenced to imprisonment,
63% of the males, and 79% of the females had been previously convicted,
while no less than 17% of the males and 31% of the females had incurred
eleven or more previous convictions. Amongst the young male prisoners,
16-21, sentenced to imprisonment, about 60% had incurred no previous
conviction. The system of classification to which all these are subject
in prison, is described in Chapter VII.
All are subject alike under general prison rules to the reforming
influences of religion. The Chaplain, Priest, or Minister walks
noiselessly among them all, gleaning wheat among the tares, and calling
back those who will come to the bidding of the divine Imperatives,
which if they have been imparted in youth, have, in many cases, almost
faded from memory; and who can tell how often in the silent communings
of the cell, the spark of life and regeneration may not light again
at the voice of the patient, pleading Minister of God. It is not
only by the call of the Chapel services, with the hymns and simple
prayers, but by the regular visitation of each in their cells, that
this spark latent, but not quite extinguished, may rekindle. Do not
let us undervalue the quiet, patient, and unwearying task of those who
minister spiritually to those in bondage in prison cells. The door is
wide open to all creeds and denominations who seek to enter in; and not
only to Ministers of religion, but to lay visitors and missionaries who
find their prompting to this work by their desire to realize the holy
precept "I was in prison and you visited me." Let us not forget the
gentle and comforting influence of our Lady Visitors, and the thousands
of forlorn and despairing women, young and old, who perhaps find, for
the first time, the voice of sympathy and encouragement, which, like a
ray of sunshine, lifts the gloom from off their souls.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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