BAGNES, the convict-prisons of France. In ancient times, the severest punishment, next to death, was that of the galleys (q.v.). In 1748, these were abolished, and the convictswere employed in hard labor in arsenals and other public works; and the prisons in which they were lodged were called bagnes, from the Italian bagno, literally, a bath— a name supposed to have originated in the fact, that the slave-prisons at Constantinople contained baths, or because they stood near the baths of the seraglio. The constituent assembly of 1791 and 1792 mitigated the sufferings of convicts, and substituted for the detested name galeres, that of travaux publics, to which succeeded the traram forces, of the code Napoleon. The practice of branding criminals with a hot iron was not abolished till 1832. The latest existing institutions of this class were at Toulon, Brest, and Rochefort, at which the number of convicts, in 1,850, was respectively 3873, 2831, and 986. In these establishments, the labor of the convicts was turned to profitable account, and the various handicrafts were taught in the prison under the direction of overseers. The industrious and clever were enabled to earn small wages, and good behavior was rewarded with a gradual relaxation of restraint. Formerly the punish ment of the galleys was inflicted for comparatively slight offenses, such as removing landmarks, begging, poaching, etc., but hard labor in the B. was reserved exclusively
for such as commit crimeswhich seriously menace the public peace and personal safety. The number of these, however, is not less than 51. Of 7689 convicts (forcats) in 1850, 3070 were condemned to 5 to 10 years; 2239 to 11 to 20 years; 282 to 20 to 30 years; 41 to 30 to 40; 23 to 40 to 50; .9 to above 50; and 1965 for life. The principal crime was theft, for which 4750 had been condemned; for murder, 1027. The greater proportion of the criminals, viz. 4595, were from the rural districts; from towns, 2452; foreigners, 643; most of them were of the age between 20 and 40; and 3902 were unable to read or write. The most numerous class were busbandmen, threshers, gardeners, 1278; next, day laborers, and terrassiers (navvies?) 1078. The number of pardons to convicts in 1848 was 90; in 1849, 52. In 1852, the imperial government decreed the suppression of the B., and substituted in their place deportation to Guiana. But in case any of the prisoners then in the B. might have considered deportation a greater punishment than what they were condemned to, it was resolved to give them the choice of remaining in prison or of being transported: 3000 chose transportatioii.