Maconochie's Gentlemen

Norval Morris tells the story of Alexander Maconochie, one of the outstanding early pioneers in penal reform. Maconochie's life and efforts on Norfolk Island provide a model with profound relevance for the running of correctional establishments today. In the era of the Super-Max and a construction boom in prisons that rivals that of the settlement of Australia, Morris injects the question of humane treatment back into the debate over prison reform. What could a new prison system focused on rehabilitation as much as punishment look like? Morris looks for the answer in the story of Maconochie's success working with one of the most brutal convict settlements in history. Maconochie devised a system on Norfolk Island that created a humane environment and achieved a high success rate in the discharges who became known, upon release, as "Maconochie's Gentlemen". Maconochie and his "Marks system" of rehabilitation played a very influential role in the early development of prisons.