“A good prison chief,” Herr Krohne continues, “is not matured or educated, but discovered.  On this account, the selection of persons ought not to be narrowed down to any definite class or profession.  Experience has shown that able prison governors have been drawn from all callings; from the law, from public offices, from the army, from medicine, from the Church, from trade, from agriculture, from merchants and manufacturers.  From each of these occupations a man may bring knowledge and ability which makes him suitable for the position.  His preparatory studies will teach him much, but he will learn most from actual practice, and he will never finish learning, however experienced he may become.  But the root of the matter which can never be taught is a heart for the miserable; a determination in spite of failures and disappointments to despair of no man and nothing."[46]

    [46] Lehrbuch der Gefaengnishunde von K. Krohne
    Strafanstalts-director, pp. 534-6.

Italy up to the present time is almost the only country in which prison officers receive any preliminary training for their duties.  As a result of this, it not infrequently happens, as Mr. Clay has shown, that an inexperienced person suddenly placed in absolute charge of a number of prisoners will in a few days destroy almost all the reformative work of months and perhaps years.  The late Baron von Holtzendorff was of a similar opinion, holding that one man can in a short time undo the work of ten.  So much has this been felt, that Dr. von Jageman and several other eminent prison authorities on the Continent maintain that no man should be placed in charge of prisoners till he has had some previous training in the nature of his duties.  It has been truly pointed out that the value of imprisonment depends to an enormous extent on the qualifications of the person placed in immediate charge of the convicted men.  Others are with them occasionally, he is with them all day long, and unless he comes to his task with a full knowledge of the delicate and difficult nature of the duties he has to perform, he will probably exercise a mischievous and irritating influence on the prisoners committed to his charge.  On the other hand, a well-instructed officer can work wonders in the way of good, while insisting with inflexible firmness on the rules of discipline, he is able at the same time by tact and kindliness to diffuse a moralising atmosphere around him.  Some men can do this by instinct, but the majority require to be taught; it is therefore most essential that every person entrusted with the control of prisoners should have some previous theoretical instruction in his duties.  After all, those who can do most real good to prisoners are the warders immediately in charge of them.  Visits from persons outside who take an interest in the outcast and fallen, are, according to French experience, comparatively worthless.[47] These visits are well meant, but they are not paid by the class of people to which the prisoner