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Quebec we have institutions for the reformation of women, presided over by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd and doing in their quiet and unostentatious way most successful work. I had an excellent opportunity of observing the work done in the Fulton Street Gaol in Montreal. Here the Sisters have charge of all Catholic prisoners committed, while the Protestants are in care of a matron. There was the greatest sympathy and admiration between the matron and the Sisters. Each recognized the good work and ability of the other. The number in charge of the matron was small, and but little was undertaken in the way of industries beyond the necessary sewing and knitting for their own needs. The large population cared for by the Sisters runs a very extensive and successful public laundry, and throughout the institution, as might be expected, was the greatest order, complete surveillance and the greatest economy in management. In one branch of the building two cells opened out into a square corridor well lighted and heated (it was in the winter time when I visited this institution), and a couple of inmates were sitting there with an elderly Sister doing some patch work that seemed to interest them greatly-two inmates who would have been governed with a great deal of difficulty in association with other prisoners. Under the influence of this gentle old nun they responded willingly and gratefully to her kindly solicitude. In an institution governed by seculars, where salary forms a large part of the charge for maintenance, how could such a desirable combination exist? Those two inmates would have upset the discipline of any class and would have spent the greater part of their sentences rebellious and in a refractory ward.

To my surprise I found the dormitory system made use of, and I learned from the Sisters that they had no serious trouble or abuse of the condition. There was, of course, most careful surveillance during the night as well as the day, and as I noted above, there are separate cells where any for whom the dormitories would be inadvisable might be confined.

Offenders in Canada differ in no way from offenders in other countries; in the case of women offenders there are found the same causes existing, the same conditions contributing to the product. Here, too, is recognized the wisdom of a paternal legis

lation that strives to embody in its acts the belief that prevention of crime is worth far more than all attempts to cure the offender. Efforts are made through the Children's Aid Act to give to every child the chance of a wholesome up-bringing. Homes are generously provided for those unable to help themselves; industrial schools are founded for such young people as need a more careful restraint and stricter discipline than can be found in their own family, and sheltering homes are provided where young women who have been led astray may voluntarily enter and be protected for the remainder of their lives or strengthened to resist successfully the dangers awaiting them on their return to the world to struggle for their existence. And yet we have still the female offender amongst us, not in the aggregate a large percentage of the population, but individually the propagating center of infamy.

And now to speak of the offenders in whom I am especially interested. There comes to us the residue of the female population-what material remained unadaptable in the homes provided for young people by the Children's Aid Society, the failures of our industrial schools, and the poor unfortunate lured by the wicked or tempted through poverty or seeking the fool's relief from sorrow in drugs or drink. The first two are young in years only. They seem steeped in vice and, humanly speaking, more difficult to restore to decent living than the older victims of sin. A separate class is formed of them and a distinctly different uniform is worn, but it is difficult to vary the monotony of prison life in an institution no longer out in the fields but surrounded on all sides by the city. Outdoor work and gardening, both outside and under glass, is what should be given them, but in only a very limited way have I been able to do this. Another class is formed of keepers of houses of ill fame. These are in a corridor by themselves and take their airing in the yard in a separate body, but are employed with the others in laundry and workshop, of course under careful supervision.

Two kinds of cells are used in the institution-one class opening out into a well lighted and ventilated corridor, the others with windows opening into the enclosure or airing yard. A fairly well equipped laundry employs at least fifteen inmates, and

we are looking forward to extending this branch of work. the sewing and knitting rooms improvements are contemplated which will enable us to train up better skilled workwomen and to produce a better revenue in this direction than we have been able to do hitherto. Entertainments are given occasionally by friends interested in the work of the institution, and each time the good effect of such recreation is a fresh surprise to me. The women are encouraged to sing and recite. This I find stimulating for them. A teacher is supplied by the Prisoners' Aid Association for an hour four evenings each week to teach the illiterate, and we have of course a much patronized library. Our privileges in the matter of religious instruction and services are many, and we have further, in addition to a large, handsome chapel for the Protestants, a chapel which, though small, is complete in every detail, for such Catholics, usually one-third of the population, as may be confined in the reformatory. For these the familiar surroundings have often awakened a faith that had seemed absolutely dead.

But I do not wish to enter into details regarding the workings or teachings of our institution. My words regarding our work are more in the nature of an appeal to you to bring to bear the influence of this great Association upon the efforts that are being made to change the method of commitment to the reformatory.

Short sentences militate against success. Nearly all inmates in the reformatory are sentenced under the vagrancy act. The sentence limit is six months or a fine not exceeding fifty dollars, or both. This vagrancy act is most comprehensive, as out of the 109 women sentenced during 1907 to the reformatory 85 were sentenced under this act. The following extracts from the definition of vagrancy in the act may be of interest. "Section 207: Every one is a loose, idle or disorderly person who

(a) not having any visible means of maintaining himself lives without employment;

(f) causes a disturbance in or near any street, road, highway or public place by screaming, swearing or singing, or by being drunk or by impeding or incommoding peaceable passengers;

(i) being a common prostitute or night walker, wanders in the fields, public streets or highways, lanes or places of public meeting or gathering of people, and does not give a satisfactory account of herself;

(j) is a keeper or inmate of a disorderly house, bawdy-house or house of ill-fame, or house for the resort of prostitutes;

(k) is in the habit of frequenting such houses and does not give a satisfactory account of himself or herself.

208. Every loose, idle or disorderly person or vagrant is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty dollars or to imprisonment, with or without hard labor, for any term not exceeding six months, or to both. Can. R. S. 1886, c. 157, sec. 8.

One passage in the above relating to keepers of disorderly houses, etc., may be read with a paragraph from the act relating to nuisances, where a disorderly house is declared a nuisance and the keeper of the same or any one behaving as master or mistress is liable to one year's imprisonment.

An exception to this rule of short sentencing is found in the case of offenders whose age does not exceed sixteen years, and is contained in the following section:

"Section 956. The court or person before whom any offender whose age at the time of his trial does not, in the opinion of the court, exceed sixteen years, is convicted, whether summarily or otherwise, of any offense punishable by imprisonment, may sentence such offender to imprisonment in any reformatory prison in the province in which such conviction takes place, subject to the provisions of any act respecting imprisonment in such reformatory; and such imprisonment shall be substituted in such case for the imprisonment in the penitentiary or other place of confinement by which the offender would otherwise be punishable under any act or law relating thereto: Provided, That in no case shall the sentence be less than two years' or more than five years' confinement in such reformatory prison; and in every case where the term of imprisonment is fixed by law to be more than five years, then such imprisonment shall be in the penitentiary."

Laws for the protection of women and children are many and

wise, and so well met does every possible case seem to be that one cannot conceive the formation and growth of the female offender so far as offenses against morality are concerned, and yet we do have them. Alas! there are pages of the saddest truths in this sentence from a letter received by one of our young women from a relative: "I pray for you as I hope some one will pray for my own little girl if devils lead her astray when I am gone."

DISCUSSION.

Mrs. Maud Ballington Booth, New York--I have been very closely in touch with Auburn Prison since the plan of employing women prisoners in the gardens there has been put in force, and I want to say for the able superintendent of that prison that splendid work is done. I think that it will be conceded by most that it is a little more difficult to discipline women than it is to discipline men. It is a little easier for women to quarrel and fall out with those with whom they have to work in the close confinement of work rooms. Then it should be remembered that almost all women who are in our state prisons are women who have led lives of the very worst character. If you could see the poor, needy, miserable looking creatures that come into the prison you would understand what it means to hear them say when they come out that they thank God they went there. I want to say that Mrs. Welshe has done splendid work in Auburn. I have seen women who were most difficult to manage and most often in trouble pull themselves together when put out on the soil and given good fresh air. In every woman's prison some piece of land could be acquired on which the women could work. It would raise their ideals as well as strengthen them physically, and every one knows one can do more with the women morally, mentally and spiritually when they are in good physical condition.

Mrs. Deborah Leeds, Pennsylvania-Every state in the Union should have a woman's reformatory. I have worked, I have taught and I have prayed that the State of Pennsylvania should have such a reformatory, and I believe the time is coming when

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