The last expression of public opinion on the point is in the Report of the Committee of 1895. It was recognized that the purpose served by the System was to give a more deterrent character to the sentence of Penal Servitude. The practice of serving this period in Local Prisons was regarded with disfavour; and it was suggested that the severity of the System might be mitigated by a substantial reduction in the period of separation, and by the introduction of such reformatory influences as were brought to bear on convicts at Pentonville under the original system. Soon after that date, there was a reduction in the period for "Star" Class and "Intermediates," _viz_:--three and six months, respectively, but nine months still remained for men in the "Recidivist" Class. In 1909 the whole question of separate confinement again came under review, when it was agreed that a short period of separate confinement was a proper preliminary of a sentence of penal servitude, in the same way as it is of an ordinary sentence of imprisonment with "hard labour." It was regarded that to send convicts direct to Convict Prisons from the outer world, fresh from a criminal and disorderly life, to associate with those whom discipline had sobered, and, possibly, improved, would be fraught with evil; and that there would be a constant introduction of newcomers from the outer world with fresh news and incidents, causing general unrest in Convict Prisons. It would give to the "old lag" what he most desires,--a prompt renewal of association with his old companions, while to the less criminal man it would be an intolerable suffering to be placed at once in association at Public Works. After the fullest consideration, the Commissioners advised that a change be made both in the duration of the period of separate confinement for convicts, and in the method of its execution. The Commissioners recognised that the difference of the periods, three, six, and nine months served, respectively, by the "Star," "Intermediate," and "Recidivist" Classes under the Rules then in force, emphasized in a way which it might not be easy to defend, the penal or deterrent effect of Separate Confinement. It was thought simpler and more defensible to rest the Penal Servitude System on the analogy furnished by the Local Prison Code, where a month's cellular confinement precedes an ordinary sentence of Hard Labour, and that, by analogy, three months' cellular confinement might be deemed a fitting prelude to a sentence of Penal Servitude. Eventually, however, it was decided that three months should be the period for "Recidivists" only, and that the period for the convicts classed as "Star" and "Intermediate" should be for one month, subject, of course, in every case to medical advice, having regard to the convict's mental and physical condition.