A mark system is a penal system that allows prisoners to earn privileges and early release by accumulating "marks" through good behavior, achievement, and thrift. As devised by Alexander Maconochie, the goal of a mark system was to encourage reform by placing prisoners in control of their own destinies. The mark system sought to limit official discretion to the greatest extent possible and to make the release process transparent for prisoners. It was a determinate sentencing scheme in that the number of marks prisoners needed to earn, tabulated according to the seriousness of their offense, would be disclosed to them upfront.