An interesting and exceedingly important social experiment is being carried out in Belgium, the reorganization of the penal institutions in accord with modern, scientific concepts of the nature of the criminal and the aim of punishment. Because of the considerable part which American experience and influence has played in the orientation of this reform it might be valuable to outline the background, the present attainment, and the future scope of the new order. In doing this the writer proposes to avoid any detailed discussion of technique and machinery, a task which would require considerable space. The prison system before the war represented the life work of one man and the triumph of one idea. The man was Pdouard Ducpetiaux (1804-1868) who, in 1830, became inspector general of the prisons of the country. This brilliant young lawyer, who had already won a fair amount of political fame when he accepted his new post, became, like many of his contemporaries, an ardent supporter of the Pennsylvania system, which was just beginning its triumphant conquest of Europe. Due to his ability and influence he succeeded in introducing this system in Belgium, in prisons specially built or converted for the purpose. The seemingly judicious use of constant cellular confinement brought apparently good results and until the Great War these prisons were known far and wide as models of their kind. According to the adversaries of the cell used for solitary confinement over long periods, the success was chimerical. "The most absolute empiricism, ruled in the treatment of the inmates," says Vervaeck, "those who succeeded in penetrating the numerous doors for a visit of the establishment marvelled at the perfect, rigid, impeccable mechanism, which reigned, the order, the cleanliness, the calm, the automatic methodicity governing the administration. The management by devoted and intelligent officials, assisted by a personnel under military discipline, gave a reassuring impression of security and comfort, permitting the visitor to leave convinced that society could not be better defended or the criminals better treated than in the Belgian prisons."' In the course of time certain mitigations had been introduced. The sick received special care, of course, and mental examinations