In Russian and French Prisons | Page 4

reliable information as to where we
stand. Then we all, Colonel P., Mr. A., and Ya., and the mining
authorities also--will help you. We will discuss everything in detail
with people having practical knowledge of the matter; but gather, first,
the data--prepare material for discussion."
So I became secretary to the local committee for the reform of prisons.
Needless to say how happy I was to accept the task: I set to work with
all the energy of youth. The circular of the Ministry filled me with joy.
It was couched in the most elegant style, and the Ministry incisively
pointed out the chief defects of Russian prisons. The Government was
ready to undertake the most thorough reform of the whole system in a
most humane spirit. The circular went on to mention the penitentiary
systems in use in Western Europe; but none of them satisfied the
Ministry, and it advocated a return "to the great principles laid down by

the illustrious grandmother and grandfather of the now happily reigning
Emperor." For a Russian mind this allusion to the famous instructions
of Catherine II., written under the influence of the Encyclopedists, and
to the humanitarian tendencies professed during the earlier years of
Alexander I.'s reign, conveyed a whole programme. My enthusiasm
was simply doubled by the reading of the circular.
Things did not go, however, so smoothly. The mining authorities under
whom the exiles are working in the Nertchinsk mines did not care so
much about the great principles of Catherine II. and were, I am afraid,
of the opinion that the less things were reformed, the better. The
repeated demands for information issued by the Governor left them
quite unmoved--they depend directly upon the Cabinet of the Emperor
at St. Petersburg, not upon the Governor. Obstinate silence, was their
answer until they finally sent in a pile of papers, covered with figures,
from which nothing could be obtained, not even the cost of
maintenance of convicts, nor the value of their labour.
Still, at Tchita there were plenty of men thoroughly acquainted with the
hard-labour prisons, and some information was gladly supplied by
several mining officers. It appeared that none of the silver-mines where
exiles were kept could be worked with any semblance of profit. So also
with many gold-mines. The Mining authorities were anxious to
abandon most of them. The arbitrary despotism of the directors of
prisons had no limits, and the dreadful tales which circulated in
Transbaikalia about one of them--Razghildeeff--were fully confirmed.
Terrible epidemics of scurvy swept away the prisoners by hundreds
each year, that a more active extraction of gold was ordered from St.
Petersburg, and the underfed convicts were compelled to overwork. As
to the buildings and their rotten condition, the overcrowding therein,
and the filth accumulated by generations of overcrowded prisoners, the
reports were really heartbreaking. No repairs would do, the whole had
to undergo a thorough reform. I visited a few prisons, and could but
confirm the reports. The Transbaikalian authorities insisted, therefore,
on limiting the number of convicts sent to the province; they pointed
out the material impossibility of providing them not only with work,
but even with shelter.

Things were no better with regard to the transport of exiles. This
service was in the most deplorable condition. An engineer, a honest
young man, was sent to visit all tapes--the prisons where the convicts
stop to rest during the journey--and reported that all ought to be rebuilt;
many were rotten to the foundation; none could afford shelter for the
mass of convicts sometimes gathered there. I visited several of them,
saw the parties of convicts on their journeys, and could but warmly
advocate the complete suppression of this terrific punishment inflicted
on thousands of men, women, and children.
As to the local prisons, destinated to be lock-ups, or houses of detention
for the local prisoners, we found them overcrowded to the last extent in
ordinary times, and still more so when parties of convicts were stopped
on the journey by inundations or frosts--Siberian frosts. They all
answered literally to the wellknown description of Dostoievsky in his
"Buried Alive."
A small committee, composed of well-intentioned men whom the
Governor convoked from time to time at his house, busily discussed
what could be done to improve affairs without imposing a new and
heavy burden on the budget of the State and the province. The
conclusions unanimously arrived at were: that exile, as it is, is a
disgrace to humanity; that it is a quite needless burden for Siberia; and
that Russia herself must take care of her own prisoners, instead of
sending them thither. For that purpose not only the penal code and the
judicial procedure ought to be revised at once, as promised in the
Ministerial circulars, but also within Russia herself some new