Report of the governor general of the Philippine Islands. [1908]

REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF PBISONS.

paratively small expense, become possessed of a profitable hacienda, while
hundreds of Filipinos are taught improved habits of farming and industry, a
great deal will have been accomplished.
After some uncertainty during the first years of the colony's institution, it
has now been decided that prisoners should be sent to it only after a preparatory confinement varying from one-third of sentence, in case of short
term men, to three-fourths or more of sentence in case of long term men; life
or very long sentence men to be sent only on account of old age or with their
families. No prisoners who have committed heinous crimes or who are recidivists to be sent, while all must have earned high good-conduct records at
Bilibid.
As the chief object of penal treatment is to accomplish the reform of the
prisoner while deterring others from crime, it would seem that this colony
may well occupy a prominent place in the insular prison scheme. It is
realized that jail must be made a very real and awful thing to the criminal
classes, and the ameliorations of prison life must never be such as to publicly
palliate crime. The long detention period in Bilibid, where the offender is
habituated to habits of industry and discipline, is believed to be a sufficient
deterrent; while for the common run of culprits a year or two at Iwahig in
a semifree, hard-working, and disciplined agricultural community should have
and does have an excellent moral and physical effect. Observation has shown
that time-expired men leave here thoroughly rehabilitated and ready to take
up the duties of citizenship once more.
Consequent upon the unsettled status of the colony in its earlier days there
are a number of life and long sentence men now there. Some few of these
have married and settled down at the colony; many were confined for postinsurrectionary offenses and are gradually being pardoned by the executive.
Those who are not embraced in the above two classes should, it is believed, be
later given special consideration after some length of service at the colony,
especially as most of them were among the pioneers at Iwahig and suffered
from the terribly unhealthy condition of the same at that time.
The question of the actual control of several hundred convicts without guards
or other than moral restraints must rest upon certain basic principles, which
to the writer seem the following:
1. Absolute and unquestioned authority of the superintendent over all
prisoners and employees, with the power to return the former to Bilibid or to
discharge the latter.
2. Considerate and sympathetic treatment of the Filipino employees and
prisoners, encouraging them to do their best work by patient explanation rather
than by hurried driving, but letting it be very apparent to all that patience
and consideration are not synonymous with weakness.
3. The building up of the authority of Filipino assistant overseers and
prisoner foremen, and through them controlling the bulk of the prisoners.
Important features making for control by the above methods are the goodconduct time to be gained, the possibility of return to Bilibid, the absence of
firearms at the colony, the practical impossibility of escape from Palawan, and
the presence of troops at Puerto Princesa, a few miles away.
That the present method of administration is feasible would seem to be
fairly well proved by a record for the colony of two years without losing a
prisoner and without any serious disturbance.
Attention is invited to the following appendices to this report: a
A. Order No. 39 of the superintendent of the Iwahig penal colony, governing
forestry work.
B. Proposed rules and regulations.
C. Statement of forestry products produced at colony during year. Total
value, P15,232.53.
D. Statement of construction work performed during year.
E. Statement of farm products during year.
F. Map of the colony (not received in Washington).
Respectfully submitted.
JOHN R. WHITE,
Superintendent Iwahig Penal Colony.
The DIRECTOR OF PRISONS,
Manila, P. I.
aAll of these have been omitted and filed in the Bureau of Insular Affairs,
War Department.