Sir Basil Thomson writes on. The Criminal (Hodder and Stoughtongrom
a great deal of experience. He has been gayer. nor of many prisons, Dartmoor among them. The book consists partly of-his own experiences and impressions of these prisons, of types of prisoners and- of particular individuals, and partly of his views on such subjects as capital punishment, after- care, Lombroso's theories, &c. It is interesting to read that the period of separate confinement which convicts had to undergo as part of their sentence was cut down from nine months to three months in consequence of Mr. Galsworthy's Justice. Nevertheless Mr. Galsworthy exaggerated his case.
A first offender, Sir Basil points out, would not even in those days have been sentenced to three years' penal servitude, and if any prisOner undergoing separate confinement had taken it so badly, the medical officer would have stopped the confinement at an early stage. * * * *
Previous page
