THE FOURTH INTERNATIONAL PRISON CONGRESS, HELD IN ST. PETERSBURG, JUNE, 1890. PART I. PREVIOUS CONGRESSES AND PREPARATIONS FOR THE FOURTH. THE INVITATION AND THE CONGRESS. By invitation of the Emperor of Russia, the Fourth International Prison Congress was called to meet in St. Petersburg, in June, 1890, to be composed of official and non-official delegates, as were the congresses of London, Stockholm, and Rome. In these congresses the European nations have been represented as well as this country. With others, this country was invited to send a delegate and also to take part in the exposition of prison labor and construction. The congress is not of Russian, but of American origin, as will be shown in this paper. Its formation and management are with a permanent body known as the International Penitentiary Commission, composed of delegates from various nations. The articles of organization will be found herein. This commission holds stated sessions, makes preparations for the congresses, publishes the proceedings, and by the collection and dissemination of useful information labors for prison reform. This commission prescribes a programme, or list of questions, and appoints in various nations persons interested in social questions to write thereon. These reports from specialists, when received, are published in pamphlet form before the session of each congress, and serve as a basis for discussion; and out of these discussions come the resolutions adopted. These pamphlets are distributed to delegates in advance of the sessions. Some are a few pages in length, while others are a hundred or more, forming extended and able essays on the question sub mitted. The proceedings of the congresses are published in book form and in the French language, all discussions and publications being in that language. All questions of the programme are first discussed in one of the 9 three sections, preventive, reformatory, or penal, and afterwards in the general assembly, where the conclusions are adopted. The proceedings of the congress of London are in one large octavo volume in the English language. The congress of Stockholm occupies two large volumes, and that of Rome six, all of which are in French. These volumes form a unique and highly valuable literature, covering the various branches of penology. Among the speakers and writers are men of international reputation, scholars, statesmen, and specialists. These volumes on social questions would enrich any library. These congresses are held about five years apart. Marked interest has each time been shown by the governments in the purposes and labors of the congresses, and every courtesy, attention, and encouragement has been extended to the members. The object of this report is to call attention to what the International Prison Congress is doing for prison reform, to show the, interest taken therein by most of the nations, and to inform the general public concerning a subject of most vital importance, though seldom so considered. Other governments have been brought into this work through influences emanating from America, and they now very naturally expect that this country will continue its efforts in prison reform in these congresses. While the United States made appropriations to pay the expenses of representation in the congress in London and in Stockholm, where it was represented by the lamented Dr. Wines, it has not continued that material aid which other nations now uniformly extend. At the sessions of the commission in Geneva the following language appears in the proceedings: We should not pass in silence the letter addressed by our president to His Excellency General Harrison at the time of his accession to the Presidency of the United States, to present the congratulations of the Commission and to draw his attention to the future work of the congress. We hope that the country of Dr. Wines will be officially represented at the reunion at St. Petersburg. THE OBJECT OF THE CONGRESS-PRISON REFORM. At the opening session of the congress of Rome, his excellency Mr. Mancini, deputy of Parliament and minister of state, spoke as follows relative to prison reform: While I have the honor to address you I do not think it useless to add a word to dissipate an unfortunate prejudice which has generally arisen and to refute a profound error which attributes to the studies and discussions of our prison congresses, as well as to the reforms they promote, an end exclusively humane and philanthropic; as if we would protect malefactors and subject society to dangerous utopian experiments. No, gentlemen; we strongly protest against this dangerous error. We labor to discover a system of just and efficient repression, above all a sufficient safeguard to the peace, security, and good order of human society. This truly social and civilizing object requires the abandonment of every useless, dangerous, or corrupting penalty now in use. Gentlemen, this investigation is worthy of your efforts and worthy the coöperation of all men of heart. I hope your noble work in the Congress of Rome will be fruitful in useful and practical results. M. Ferdinand Désportes, the accomplished secretary of the "Société Générale des Prisons" and author of "La Science Pénitentiaire," in his preface to that work states the object of the congress as follows: Is it not necessary at least to investigate this terrible problem, how the reformation of the guilty can be secured without sacrificing the principle of punishment; to what extent the voice of humanity can be obeyed without weakening the act of correction and rendering it illusive by mitigation; how a just anxiety for the individual can be reconciled to the interests of society; how we can at the same time punish the malefactor and protect the community; by what means childhood and youth can be saved from the contagion of vice; in a word, the criminal from the first relapse to evil? Such questions are calculated to arouse the solicitude of the Christian, the moralist, the philosopher, and the constant consideration of statesmen worthy of the name, and if anything can aid in their solution it is the tried experience of civilized nations, the acquaintance with examples they furnish, and the counsels and suggestions of men who in different places have passed their lives in a profound study of these problems. This is why the International Prison Congress is of such high importance and practical scope. This is why it can be so useful in popularizing its results and extending its information and in calling public attention to the most formidable social evils and their proper remedies. At the conclusion of his work M. Désportes further says: Prison reform will succeed every where, because it will be everywhere desired. Our century, which has required and prepared for it, will see it accomplished. In a few years there will no longer be a people who do not comprehend that it is for their interest not only to arrest crime, but to dry up the source; not only to punish, but to render punishment useless; not only to construct prisons, but to empty them. And that to empty them two things are necessary: to make better those who have been brought there, and to divert to other ways those who have been led there by vice, abandonment, or poverty. The Congress of Stockholm has had in view the public good only, the security of society, its legitimate defense against crime, and it has found the secret of this defense in the equal development of two principles-reform and expiation. Concerning prison reform, the late venerable and distinguished Charles Lucas, member of the Institute of France, who for over sixty years had been the most intelligent and able advocate of prison reform, in his opening address at the formation of the "Société Générale des Prisons," said: For more than twenty centuries the problem of education in society and in the family has been discussed. Ah, well; this problem is discussed to-day. We always jabor for its solution. And it is only a half century since the problem of prison education was presented, and we have already seen the results. Can we say we have accomplished nothing? Without doubt we always seek a definite solution. But then, penitentiary reform has made its way, and the present should inspire hope for the future. We can not assuredly give a civilizing idea an impulse like the power of transmission by electricity. If man has to-day conquered space, he has not conquered the time it requires for the solution of all questions of reform, the gradual development of civilization, the softening of manners, and the advance of public intelligence. It is on this condition alone that reform advances surely to the future. But when such a reform as that of prison régime can so quickly secure such results we have the right to say with confidence that its future success is certain. |