A Congress on Prison Discipline is being held in London,
under the presidency of Lord Carnarvon, attended by representatives from almost all countries in the world. The discussion is as yet too badly reported for much comment, but the " angle of cleavage" seems to be the question of industry in prison. One section, in- cluding most Americans, maintain that prisons should be factories, and assert that, when they are, the prisoners cost nothing, become reformed, and do not return to crime. Another section, headed by Lord Carnarvon, aware that an industrial prison can never be sternly managed, object that all these advantages are purchased at the cost to society of a great deterrent influence, the prison ceasing to be feared. Some evidence is wanted about the effect of industry on recommittals, and it should not come from America, where every wan who can work can live, without reference to his antecedents.
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