IMPRISONMENT is one of the three classes of punishment for crime, death and penal servitude being the other two. It has always been a power inherent in courts of justice to imprison for contempt of their au thority, and under certain conditions for non payment of debt. In criminal proceedings a person may, by a warrant of a justice of peace or magistrate, be imprisoned before trial, pro vided the justice considers it is not a proper case for allowing bail; and though in minor offenses an accused person may insist on being discharged on tendering sufficient bail, yet in more serious crimes it is in the discretion of the justice to accept or refuse the bail tendered, and on his refusal application may be made to judges of the common-law courts to accept bail. Imprisonment may be with or without hard labor, or it may be solitary. Penal serv itude may be inflicted for life, or any shorter term, but in the case both of imprisonment and penal servitude the convict can at any time apply for commutation or remission. In the case of misdemeanors and other petty offenses tried summarily at common law and under a variety of statutes, imprisonment is usually awarded with the option of a fine. In the case of juve
niles they are often said to be in a reformatory. Serious crimes as burglary, murderous assault, rape, counterfeiting, etc., receive long terms of imprisonment varying according to the laws of the States. The dura tion of term of imprisonment is usually partially in the discretion of the judge who sentences, and various laws specifying °imprisonment for not less than (so many) years and not more than (so many)." Provision is made for re duction of term in prison by reason of good behavior, and prison terms may be reduced by commutation of sentences or by subsequent pardon. In New York State one-year term means but 8 months and 20 days, if behavior is uniformly good, while a 10-year term can thus be reduced to 6 years, 1 month and 20 days and a 60-year term to 22 years, 8 months and 10 days. The unlawful detention of the person by any one, or (false imprisonment,' constitutes a personal injury, and may be treated as a criminal or as a civil offense. See Dear; PENOLOGY.