ABSTRACT
Walter Frederick Crofton (1815–1897) was educated at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, and joined the Royal Artillery in 1833, retiring in 1845. In 1854, he became chairman of the directors of Irish convict prisons, a position he held until 1862. Crofton introduced into the Irish convict prisons, a ‘progressive stages’ system, first developed by Alexander Maconochie, which rewarded prisoners’ labour and good conduct with marks, and put prisoners through a series of stages, according to moral improvement. Crofton added the ‘intermediate stage,’ which was a final preparation for release, testing their fitness for freedom. Crofton’s penal policy was based on how he understood the ‘criminal classes.’ Crofton’s influence went wider than the Irish convict system.
