THE TICKET - OF - LEAVE QUESTION.
16th November 1856.
Sni—I do not see my way to turning your suggestions to account. The Prison Reformers agree not only in the principles of the bill of 1853, but, with the exception of some provisions on which there is no difference of opinion, and which doubtless will be altered, we agree with the bill. What we do not agree in is the manner in which the act is administered. 1. The ticket-of-leave is no pledge of reformation, because the convict does not work his way out ; time does the work, subject to the condition that if the conduct of the prisoner is very bad, his ticket is withheld for a short period. 2. The condition as to good conduct indorsed on the ticket is uniformly disregarded by the Home Office, which requires a new conviction as the ground of revoking a ticket-of-leave. 3. The Home Office furnishes the Police with no list of ticket-of-leave men, nor with any means of identifying them. What is the consequence ? Clifton and Marley (the murderer) had both forfeited their tickets before their last offences ; but it is obvious that it was not until then that they were recognized. These are the main defects, and for these remedies have been pointed out; but they are defects, not of the system, but of its maladministration. Why then should we repudiate, or seem to repudiate, the system ? Would it not be dangerous ? Would it not aid the efforts of those who desire to discard encouragement in prison treatment, and who wish to return to fixed terms
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