h good. The fault of the system was one which could not
well be remedied, which was, that there was degradation attached to it.
Could punishment undergone for crime be viewed in the same way as
repentance was by the Almighty, and a man, after suffering for his
fault, re-appear in the world with clean hands, and be admitted into
society as before, it would be attended with the very best effects; but
there was no working out the degradation. When he was released from his
former imprisonment, he had been obliged to fly from the place where he
was known. He was pursued by the harshness of the world, not only in
himself, but in his children. No one would allow that his punishment
had wiped away his crime, and this was the reason why people, inclined
to be honest, were driven again into guilt. Not only would the world
not encourage them, but it would not permit them to become honest; the
finger of scorn was pointed wherever they were known, or found out, and
the punishment after release was infinitely greater than that of the
prison itself.

Miss Martineau observes, "I was favoured with the confidence of a great
number of the prisoners in the Philadelphia Penitentiary, where absolute
seclusion is the principle of punishment. Every one of these prisoners
(none of them being aware of the existence of any other) told me that he
was under obligations to those who had charge of him for treating him
`with respect.'"

No 3--a very intelligent, but not educated man: imprisoned three years
for stealing. He had only been a few months in the penitentiary, but
had been confined for ten years in Sing Sing prison for picking pockets.
I asked him his opinion as to the difference of treatment in the two
establishments. He replied, "In Sing Sing the punishment is corporal--
here it is more mental. In Sing Sing there was little chance of a
person's reformation, as the treatment was harsh and brutal, and the
feelings of the prisoners were those of indignation and resentment."

Their whole time was occupied in trying how they could deceive their
keepers, and communicate with each other by every variety of stratagem.
Here a man was left to his own reflections, and at the same time he was
treated like a _man_. Here he was his own tormentor; at Sing Sing he
was tormented by others. A man was sent to Sing Sing for doing wrong to
others; when there, he was quite as much wronged himself. Two wrongs
never made a right. Again, at Sing Sin