life that is possible, and they believe that much
of the crime with which all modern societies
are surrounded is to a large extent due to the
fact that in modern society as at present
arranged, there is not enough of the best of
life to go round.
Consequently their prisons, so far as they can manage it at present, are modelled on better lines than those of the old régime ; not at all so good as they hope they will be in the near future, but certainly better than under the Czardom. The fortress of Peter and Paul, with its hideous dungeons below the bed of the river in Petrograd has at last gone out of business. There is now no long trail of prisoners travelling the long weary road to Siberia and its horrible mines. What prisons are now used are reformative in their character, but all are based on the principle that prisons ought to have no place in modern society, because in modern society the inducement to do the right thing should outweigh the inducement to do the wrong.
I heard many stories of ill treatment of prisoners while in prison from various quarters and none of these do I wish to belittle. I believe it is absolutely true that in some prisons aliens have been badly treated. But when all is said and done, on every occasion I tried to track this kind of thing down, to find out its truth or otherwise, the final answer I
