Alexander Maconochie was born in Edinburg, Scotland on February 11, 1787. He joined the Royal Navy in 1803, and as a shipman saw active in Napoleon's war rising to the rank of Lieutenant. In 1811, he was serving on the Brig HMS Grasshopper which was captured on the Christmas eve off the coast of the Dutch Coast. He was taken as a prisoner of war at Verdum and was released upon Napoleon’s abdication in 1884.
In 1836, as a private secretary to his friend, Lieutenant Governor Sir John Franklin Alexander left England for the convict settlement at Hobart in Van Diemen's Land. Maconochie wrote a Report on the State of Prison Discipline in Van Diemen's Land … (London, 1838), at the request of the English Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline, and with the approval of the British authorities. The report was sent by Franklin (who was aware that it was condemnatory of the system) to the Colonial Office, which transmitted it to the Home Office (Barry, 1967). With accompanying documents, the report was published as a parliamentary paper and used by the Molesworth committee on transportation (1837-38). In the report, he described the convict system as being fixated on punishment alone, with the offenders been released back into the society, crushed, resentful and bitter experiences in which the spark of enterprise and hope was dead. The report drew a lot of criticism that led to a storm in Hobart that left Franklin little alternative but to dismiss him. Maconochie's report can be said to mark the peak and incipient of the decline of transportation to Australia (Hughes, 1988).
According to Barry (1967), Maconochie was a deeply religious man, of generous and compassionate temperament and convinced of the dignity of man. His two basic principles of penology were that:
• As cruelty debases both the victims and society, punishment should not be vindictive but should aim at the reform of the convict to observe social constraints.
72 • A convict's imprisonment should be a task and not time sentences with release depending on the performance of a measurable amount of labour (Barry, 1967).
Following the Molesworth committee report, transportation to the New Wales was abolished in 1840, although it continued in other colonies. Disturbed by the reports of the condition of Norfolk Island, Secretary of State for colonies suggested that the new system should be used, and the superintendent gave order to officers to be deeply concerned with the moral welfare of convicts. At the suggestion of the Moleworth's committee, Maconochie was appointed a superintendent of the penal system at Norfolk Island and took up his duties in March 1804. He was recalled by the Colonial office, he left the Island in 1844. During his stay at Norfolk, he formulated and applied most of the principles on which modern penology is based.
Maconochie’s notion of ‘penal science’ rested on the beliefs that cruelty debases both victim and society inflicting it and the punishment for crime should not be vindictive but designed to strengthen a prisoner’s desire and capacity to observe social constraints. According to him, criminal punishment of imprisonment should consist of task and not time sentence; instead of being sentenced to fixed periods of imprisonment, an offender should be sentenced to be imprisoned until he had performed an ascertainable period of labor which should be measured by the number of ‘marks of commendation’ he earned, the marks of being devised to encourage habits of industry and vulgarity. A sentence should be served in progressive stages, one of which involved members of a working party where each was held responsible for the conduct of others. Cruel punishment and degrading condition should not be imposed and convicts should not be deprived of self- respect.
Contrary to what is often asserted, the period of his administration was peaceful, on an unexpected visit to the Island in March 1843 Governor George Gripps found ‘good order
everywhere to prevail’ (Historical Review of Australia, series 1 vol,2 :612).
Maconochie was appointed in 1847 to carry out his own proposal for using convict to construct a harbour at Weymouth. Maconochie expounded his theories in many pamphlets and in 1846 he published a book ‘Crime and Punishment, The Mark System, Framed to Mix Persuasion with Punishment’ and Make Their Effect Improving, Yet Their Operation Severe’ which has exercised an immense influence on the development of penology (Bary,1967)
Maconochie’s achievements included eliminating the brutal punishments such a shipping and confinement in irons; he built two churches, established schools, obtained books for Jewish
73 convicts and encouraged reading. He allowed convicts to use forks and knives for eating instead of using their hands. Most importantly, he spoke to inmates openly and treated them with dignity. He managed the institution by walking around. Maconochie developed what is known as today in most countries, including South Africa as the parole system. This concept became popular amongst several reformers The concept of parole was adopted by Ireland and later by the American system. His concept and many of his practical measures form the basis of the Western penal system and they were largely adopted in the Declaration of principles of Cincinnati, United States of America in 1870 embodying the fundamental of modern penology. His approach to treating convicts could have stemmed from personal experience as a prisoner (Barry, 1967).