Falling on stony ground : importing the penal practices of Europe into the prisons of colonial Natal (Part 2)

Abstract

This article will trace the attempts by colonial authorities to implement policies based on these two principles in the prisons of colonial Natal. The Digest stressed the importance of the deterrent effect of strictly penal labour. Although strictly penal labour, that is, a regime of regular, strenuous, punitive labour, was not directly remunerative, it was believed that, in the long run, costs would be saved through a reduction in the prison population.