8 PRISONS AND PRISON DISCIPLINE still be sent beyond seas by order of the sec- retary of state. In 1807 transportation was altogether discontinued. Transportation to pe- nal 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. Trans- portation into penal colonies in Africa was adopted by Portugal in 1852, and is still prac- tised. Italy has agricultural penal colonies in the islands of Gorgona, Capraiu, 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 be- yond the Caucasus. The foundation of the separate system, as it is now practised in this country and in Europe, was laid in Philadel- phia in the latter part of the last century. The abuses attending the treatment of prison- ers had been strongly condemned by a num- ber of philanthropists in that city. Prison- ers 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 legisla- ture authorized the construction of the east- ern 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 publi- cists, 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 coun- tries. The distinguishing features of the sep- arate or cellular system are individual separa- tion of the prisoners day and night during the entire term of their imprisonment, com- munication with the officials, visits and cor- respondence with persons outside under pre- cribed 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 an- other. 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 pre- vent 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 at- tend 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 libera- tion, diminishes the chances of escape, admits )i variation of discipline by affording an oppor- tunity for the separate study and treatment of each prisoner, and in consequence of its re- pressive 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 com- pelled to pass only the first 10 years in separate confinement. In the eastern penitentiary in Philadelphia the prisoner is able by good con- duct to reduce his sentence one month in each of the first two years, two months in each suc- ceeding 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 ad- vocates. When adopted, it is generally applied in the case of short sentences with provision for abbreviation. It has received its best de- velopment in Belgium, where it prevails almost entirely, having been first tried in the prison of Ghent in 1885. The penitentiary of Lou- vain, which has about 600 cells, is regarded as the model cellular prison of Europe. The sys- tem 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 be- yond three years without the consent of the prisoner. The convict prison of Bruchsal is strictly cellular. Bavaria has one cellular pris- on for convicts and three for persons awaiting
