The prison at Auburn, in the State of New York, represents the 'congregate' or 'silent' sys tem, which now prevails throughout the United States. Prisoners sleep in separate cells, but are brought together during the day in large work shops; separation between them, the necessity for which was acknowledged, is secured by a rule for bidding them to communicate with one another or with visitors. The difficulty of enforcing this rule has lcd to its relaxation. The Eastern Peni tentiary in Philadelphia was intended to be a strictly cellular prison for convicts of the higher grades in the United States, but it has long since ceased to be such, because of its seriously. over crowded condition. Among the causes which have contributed to the general adoption of the Auburn system are: The comparative cheapness of con struction and maintenance of congregated pris ons: the ease with which profitable labor may be introduced into them, especially in connection with machinery of all sorts; the facilities which they afford for contracting out the labor of con victs, thus relieving the administration of finan cial responsibilty.
The Irish system was, in its origin, an out growth of the experience of Captain Maconochie as governor of the penal settlement of Norfolk Island. \laeonochie devised the 'mark system,' which is added to the 'ticket of leave' system, or conditional liberation (also an Australian inven tion), and the 'progressive' classification and the `intermediate' prison, to constitute the four ele ments of the Crofton system. Briefly described, this system consists of four stages, of which the first is not less than eight months of strictly cel lular confinement in the Alountjoy Prison, Dublin, with short rations and no employment but pick ing oakum for the first half of the time. The sec ond is an indefinite period, not less than one year, of associated imprisonment, at Spike Island, where the prisoners are divided into four classes, and are promoted from one to the other according to their demeanor, labor, and study—an account being kept with them by the use of marks, and their promotion depending upon their record. The third is a short period of probationary deten tion in a condition intermediate between imprison ment and freedom, at Lusk. where the men are trained for entire freedom, and their capacity for it is tested prior to their liberation; the fourth is conditional liberation with police supervision. This system is supplemented by a scheme for ob taining employment for liberated prisoners.
The first American institution managed along these lines is the Elmira Reformatory (q.v.) opened in 1876 in the State of New York, and known as the New York State Reformatory. Pris oners received here are such as are convicted of their first offense for felony, and are held under what is known as the indefinite or indeterminate sentence; that is, they are not sentenced for a specific period of time, but may be held for the maximum period for which they might have been sentenced for the crime committed, and cannot be discharged until they have served the minimum period provided by statute for such offense. Hav
ing served such minimum period, they may be allowed by the Board of Managers to leave the prison on parole, but must remain while on parole under the control of the Board and sub ject to be taken back to the institution.
Concerning the 'indeterminate sentence,' it should be noted that eminent penologists have favored this device on the ground that it is im possible for courts of justice to know just how long a period of incarceration is necessary to pro dnce the desired effect upon an offender. Of two erhninals sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment, one may be at the expiration of this period en tirely unfit to be released. while another may have become reach• and willing to assume the duties and responsibilities of citizenship. The fixed sentence, they claim, is as absurd as it would he for a physician to prescribe medicine for a period of ten days, and then omit to inquire what effect this treatment has produced in the patient at the expiration thereof. With an inde terminate sentence the prisoner is virtually his own custodian. When he understands this, his reformation—assuming him to be a reformable person and not a criminal by instinct—is ren dered far more probable. The hope of freedom is the one stimulus to which he may be depended upon to respond. When the criminal in convinced that this hope is to be realized, not through some vague chance of pardon or escape, but whenever by his conduct in prison he makes it apparent to those in charge that society has nothing to fear from him, the work of his reformers is compara tively easy. Most penologists, therefore, see in this almost certain means of securing the cooper ation of the eriminal—a principle of reform of the greatest importance.
By means of the indeterminate sentence, a pris oner may be liberated conditionally, on parole. It is this actual experience with the outside world which establishes a man's powers and intentions. Within the prison walls he cannot steal or mur der or forge signatures, or otherwise menace the life or property of his fellow-man.
The indeterminate sentence has been tried in more than a quarter of the American common wealths since 1576, hut it has met with much op position from the courts, judges very generally regarding it as an infringement of their preroga tive of sentence, and finding constitutional objec tions to it unless the statute creating it is drawn with extreme care to fix a definite period for the expiration of sentence, and in some cases unless the release on parole is specifically described as a commutation for good behavior.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. Wines. Reformation and PunBibliography. Wines. Reformation and Pun- ishment (New' York. 1895) : Henderson, Depen dent. Defective. and Delinquent Classes (Boston. 1901) ; Tallack, Penological and Prerentire Prin ciples (London, ]S89) ; Driihms, The Criminal (New York, 1900). See CRIMINOLOGY; JUVENILE OFFENDERS PRISONS; PUNISHMENT; REFORMA TORIES RECIDIVISTS.