The English Prison System

by Sir Evelyn Ruggles-Brise

3. The system of awarding marks to indicate progress through and out of the Grade will be discontinued. The award of gratuity will also be abolished, but a sum of £1 will be paid to the Borstal Association for each inmate released, for the purpose of providing assistance to inmates on discharge. The inmates will be divided into Divisions, and a Tutor will be allocated to each.

He will act, so to speak, as the Headmaster of a Division, and will be responsible for advising the Governor as to the conduct, character, and progress of each individual lad. No lad will be passed out of the Ordinary Grade unless the Governor is satisfied, after consultation with the Tutor, the Principal and the Party Officers, that his conduct and industry are such as to merit advancement. The conduct will be recorded weekly in a Register kept for the purpose, for which the Principal Officer of the Division will be responsible. The Instructor or Party Officer will be supplied with pocket registers in which notes will be made containing anything of importance concerning the character, demeanour, and industry of the lad. These will be collected by the Principal Officer of the Division and brought before the Tutor or head of the Division, and will, as stated, furnish the Governor with the opportunity of making his decision as to the advancement of the lad out of the Ordinary Grade.

4. A lad on passing out of the Ordinary Grade will pass into the Intermediate Grade 'A'. He will then have the privilege of meals in association, and he may associate on Saturday afternoons and Sundays, during which time talking may be allowed, and games, such as chess and draughts, may be played in the corridor. After remaining for three months in this Grade, he will pass into the Intermediate Grade 'B,' where he will be allowed to play games in the open air.

5. After completing three months in Intermediate Grade 'B', inmates should be eligible for the Probationary Grade, but no inmate will be passed into the Probationary Grade except after formal consideration of his case by the Institution Board. No inmate will pass out of the Probationary Grade except on special certificate of the Institution Board that he has profited by his training and can safely be trusted with the liberties and privileges of the Special Grade. There will be no automatic passage to the Special Grade, which will consist only of those who have proved their fitness for consideration and distinction, and in whose case a reasonable hope exists that they may be fit subjects for conditional release. Release will be regulated by Instruction No. 22.

6. The Division under the leadership of the Tutor will be organized in such a way that competition between Sections may stimulate a healthy rivalry and competition, which can be proved in different ways, e.g. by proficiency on parade, or by games in the open air, or by literary or artistic competitions, or any other way that may be devised. The object of this organization is to furnish means for dividing the Establishment into separate sections and promoting healthy rivalry between each, and to establish a close personal relation between the head of the Division and every individual in it.

7. The Penal Class will be separately located and clothed in ordinary prison dress. They will be specially employed on hard manual or bodily labour. Failing such employment on the land in any capacity, they will be employed on the penal forms of labour already in existence, i.e., grain-grinding or stonebreaking.

8. In order to furnish a still further stimulus, a Star Special Grade will be introduced. To this could be admitted lads who had shown special proficiency as Captains of Companies or as Monitors in the Halls. It is proposed to introduce gradually the monitorial system by which lads would be placed in charge of sections both in the Halls and on the Parade Ground, and at games. Specially proficient lads might even supervise parties at labour, &c. Where this character and proficiency is shown, promotion will be made to the Star Special Grade. A distinctive article of dress will be worn, but these details will be worked out by each Governor on the spot, after observing the general operation of the System.

9. Labour parties, and numbers assignable to each, will be strictly and definitely prescribed. Selection will be made for instruction in special trades, and for distribution of the remaining strength, as shall be arranged by the Governor.

It will be clearly understood that there will be no casual distribution of labour in unauthorized parties. Every lad assigned to a definite employment for due observation will be maintained in that employment until specially removed, and will not be employed on any other. For any incidental work which may become necessary, labour and staff will be provided by special arrangement from one of the existing parties. One of the principal complaints against the System has been that the parties and officers have been constantly shifted. This will no longer be the case.