5360], published since
the above was written, sets out the present views of the Authorities
on this important matter:--
'Out of the present inmates of convict prisons over 40 per
cent have been previously in penal servitude, viz. out of
3,046 male convicts in convict prisons, 1,253 had been
previously sentenced to penal servitude, 672 once, 271
twice, 196 three times, and 114 four times or more. Mr.
Secretary Churchill has referred to us the question whether,
and in what way, it would be possible to make any impression
on this roll of recidivism--this unyielding _corpus_ of
habitual crime. The problem is never absent from the minds
of those responsible for the administration of prisons and
the treatment of crime, and during recent years great
efforts have been made to improve the machinery of
assistance on discharge, fully impressed as we are with the
truth of the old French saying, "_Le difficile ce n'est pas
emprisoner un homme, c'est de le relacher_." We have tried
to avail ourselves fully of the resources offered by such
powerful agencies as the Church Army, Salvation Army, as
well as other societies who have for years operated in this
particular field of charitable effort.
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