A Provincial Prison Farm

PUBLIC AFFAIRS 131 A Provincial Prison Farm By S. H. PRINCE POR a long time county court judges the Province reveals that after deducting and other officials of the Province the 30-day group, the mental defectives, of Nova Scotia have deplored the ne the infirm, the old and those unfit for work, cessity of sending young offenders and the prospective number of employable first offenders to the penitentiary for inmates would vary between 200 and 250. lack of a suitable alternative, and many 'rhus only by the concentration of the of them have voiced from time to time, entire prison population in a central both as individuals and through their institution would there be a group of Provincial association, the need for an prisoners sufficiently large to secure the "intermediate" centre for commitment. best results. The recent announcement by the Honour The prevention of contamination able J. H. MacQua;rrie, Attorney-General is another principle at the root of the of Nova Scotia, that early efforts are to modern penal system, and this is only be directed towards the development of practicable where the institution is large a farm or forestry project to meet this enough for proper classification-a feature widely acknowledged need makes the of first importance in modern reformatory discussion of prison farm procedure timely work, and indeed the foundation upon at this juncture. which the success of the English prison It is safe to say that citizens generally system is based. who are aware of the unwholesome Again purposeful occupation is in features of the common jail system will dispensable to reformation. Experienced receive with gratification the news of penologists are agreed that the farm the coming of this long overdue reform. colony with outside labour and outside While there is room, perhaps, for a diver industries is the finest type of prison. sity of viewpoint as to the efficacy of Even were this not an accepted principle, one or another of the various types of the vital place which agriculture plays intermediate prisons, and their suitability in the Province would naturally suggest to Nova Scotian conditions, there are the industrial farm as the type of re certain underlying principles which have formatory most suited to Nova Scotia. a bearing upon public policy. The unique value of agricultural reform In the first place there is the principle atories lies in the fact that they meet all of economical concentration. I twas the requirements of successful prison this which led to the closing of the local employment. The work is productive, prisons and county jails of England and reducing the cost of maintenance; it is to the development of large "committal also healthful, improving the physical areas". This principle would indicate condition of the prisoner and thus laying the wisdom of a central institution for the foundation for moral improvement. Nova Scotia to serve all sections of the The farm further admits of much diver Province. Authorities consider that a sity of work which in itself is a valuable minimum of 200 inmates is necessary to auxiliarv to reformation. Farm duties admit of proper discipline, economy of bring ~en to their beds at night filled management, occupational diversity and with wholesome reactions which come educational services. An examination of from good hard work in the open air. the statistics of the penal population of It is the standard practice to select a large undeveloped tract of land. It EDITORIAL NOTE: S. H. Prince, Ph.D,. is Professor of Econom.ic. and Sociology at Dalhousi. University. should be a rough, rocky and wooded M.mber of the Royal Conuni..ion on Jaib and Chainnan of the N. S. Housing CornlT\ission. area of perhaps 500 acres, and of such 132 PUBLIC AFFAIRS a nature as would require long years of atory which is, in many respects, the reclamation work to clear, to grade leading example in the country. Located and to develop. Ample timberland for lum within easy distance of Guelph, it consists ber supplies and for instruction in forestry of 945 acres of farm, forest and quarry. is also an important consideration. A Provision is made for an extensive array quarry on the site would be desirable in . of industrial activities. There are kitch order to produce crushed limestone which ens, bake houses, wool mills, tailor shops, might be made available to the farmers machine sheds, a bed factory, a reed-work of the Province for soil improvement, or department, a laundry, a paint shop, crushed rock for the surfacing of highways. a tannery, a planing mill, an abattoir and To provide occupation for all weathers a creamery. There are in addition, and all seasons, and employment for school, hospital, gymnasium and chapel those not adapted to rural work, there features. The buildings themselves, built should be a set of shops where the men largely by the inmates, will house 800 could be encouraged to learn carpentry, men, and have an average population of masonry, bricklaying, plumbing, elec 568. trical work and other useful trades. Most of the other nine prison farms of At the outset the industrial section might Canada are constructed on the Guelph well be limited to laundries, canneries, model although they vary greatly in box-mills and other mechanical facilities size and capacity. One will be found which could be made available at little to specialize in live stock and dairy cost. cattle; another in lumbering operations Again a modern penal institution should and in diversified farming; in still another be either of the kind known as the open brick-making is given a large place. prison or at least of the medium secur- The institutions are as follows: Average Value of Provincial Prison Farms Acreage Population Farm Production Guelph, Ont . 945 568 335,055.78 Minieo. Onto _ . 125 208 13,653.63 Burwash, Onto . 35,000 461 70,145.63 Langstaff, Ont . 940 270 27,253.34 Headingly, Man . 560 345 8,382.24 Fort Saskatchewa.n, Alta _. 1,406 220 15,066.36 Lethbridge, Alta . 1,141 133 18,342.89 Prince Albert. Bask . 1,200 179 5,193.09 Regina, Bask . 940 5,248.81 Oakalla, B. C . 185 419 5,909.80 ity type. A measure of freedom is a The conviction one receives from an vital feature in the treatment of reform examination of prison farms in actual able prisoners. This the agricultural operation is that they are in no sense prison permits. Constant surveillance costly to establish. Indeed the chief may be largely done away with. Work and only preliminaries are the pur in open fields without armed guards chase of a site and the appointment provides the environment most favorable of an experienced prison farm construction to the rehabilitation of the men. For superintendent. With a place available some offenders such as pyromaniacs, and an appropriation for the superinten special areas may have to be enclosed dent's salary, for a sawmill and some and guarded. But in many places penal minor equipment, the work can well institutions are successfully conducted begin at once. The procedure is exceed ;without walls or bars. ingly simple. A group of healthy young These important features of a model prisoners with some aptitudes for con -prison farm have been successfully in struction are selected from various cen}res. corporated in most of the provincial They go out on a truck with a good farm prison farms in Canada. Special refer construction superintendent. Some rough ence may be made to the Guelph Reform- board barracks are thrown tog ethe PUBLIC AFFAIRS 133 as temporary quarters until the men are the Provincial Secretary. In Regina all trained and the materials secured for the farm work is under the supervision more permanent construction. of the Department of Agriculture. It is of interest to note that in nearly Experience all goes to show that once every case the development of prison under way the new prison community farms has heen begun on a small scale. will become largely self-supporting. All Bordentown was started with 39 men. necessary tasks will be performed, all Lorton was begun with 27. 'rhe Guelph produce will be grown and supplies bujlders set out with two officers and manufactured by the inmates themselves. 14 prisoners who quartered themselves As the institntion develops and industries in an old farm house. Then roads were are started, it will be found possible to made, land drained, trees cleared and install the "public use system" whereby within a year temporary structures were prjson-made goods can be used to supply housing 150 men. Fort William began furnishings and other needs for provincial in the summer with an encampment of hospitals, county homes, and public tents. An entire prison farm in the institutions. One of the outputs of prison State of Massachusetts did not cost as farms is not infrequently license plates much as was expended on one jail built for automobiles. in recent years in a Nova Scotia town. The dual principle in modern prison The wonder is that so great a reformation treatment is deterrence and reformation, of penal institutions can be accomplished the first to protect society and the second at so little public cost. to benefit man. But as the protection of As to the responsibility for develop society is best assured by the reformation ment and maintenance, central reform of the offender, all efforts are directed atories are from first to last provincial to this end. Once a prison farm is or state responsibilities. The Indiana established the doors will be open to plan has much to commend it.

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