factory condition of affairs was the diversity shown in the several localities in their supply of food, clothing, and bedding, as well as their treatment of prisoners, with a consequent lack of uniformity in administration. Thereupon the Government determined to remedy the conditions which had prevailed for twenty years, and by Law No. 14, passed in 1900, took the support of prisons from the control of the local purse and gave it into the hands of the National Treasury once more. This change was the signal for general activity in prison administration reforms, and various improvements have since been effected in the treatment of prisoners. It is hoped that still further reforms will be instituted in the near future.
The present expenditure and revenue are as follows. The total amount of this revenue is 25 per cent. of the ordinary expenditure.
| Expenditure.
|
|
Yen.
|
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
|
|
5,620,164
|
Extraordinary expenditure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
|
|
402,280
|
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
|
|
6,022,444
|
Note.—Extraordinary expenditure covers the whole amount of expenses of building and repairs.
| Revenue.
|
|
Yen.
|
Profits from the labour of prisoners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
|
|
1,424,856
|
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
|
|
86,434
|
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
|
|
1,511,290
|
For a long time prison statistics in Japan reported only a part of the facts respecting prison administration, owing to imperfect compilation, with the consequent failure to supply accurate information. But of late years the method of compilation has, to a large extent, been improved. Meantime we have had tables furnished us giving almost all the minute details regarding prison affairs, and these statistics have shown a gradual improvement. Every effort is made to secure accuracy and perfection of detail for these tables, and to this end minute inquiries are made into the personal characters and circumstances of prisoners by means of card-recording, which method was first adopted in 1900. These inquiries are made in the various prisons under the system of local separate investigation, each prison having a statistical reporter specially appointed for that purpose.
We are convinced that prison reform is probably coextensive