The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-09-13
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looked over the 'hepOrJ Oh lilsOhs ana he
formatories in the United States and Canada, ;
made to the Legislature Of this State, in Janu
ary last, by Drs. Wines ana Dwight, and
recently published in volume OF 100 pages
must have found abundant material fol
thought.
In matter so vital as prison reform we dc
well to take note, from time to time, of our
advance. and to inquire in what direction lies
future progress. In the volume above men,
toned while there is much to encourage,
there is more to call forth renewed exerti0n,
More enlightened ideas, better system than
auy vet to be found among us, are impera-
lively needed. We are in a transition state
from the cruel, the repressive, the deterrent.
to the humane, the hope-inspiring, the reform
atory.
The Hindoo code says, Punishment is the
inspirer of terror; with black aspect and red
eye it terrifes the guilty" We are beginning
to doubt whether the criminal is best reformed
by the red eye and the black aspect. Six
Northern States only still employ the lash as
a reclaiming agency-COnnecticu Kentucky.
Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, sometimes Yer
mont. Canada lags behind in this; her war
dens still believe in the cat. They probably
never heard a remark made by convict to his
chaplain, who was urging him to a better
spirit: "Sir," said the man, ''siX years ago
was fogged in this prison; have the marks
of the lash still on my body; when these
marks wear out l shall forget and forgive it,"
Punishments by the crucifx, bucking, shay
ing the head, the ball and chain, and other
remnants of barbarism, still linger among u.s.
but day by day they diminish, fall into disre-
pute, and are discarded.
Another terrible abuse is working itself
out, scarcely to be found indeed, as recog-
nized principle, except in Philadelphia. We
mean the separate or solitary system, strictly
carried out and continued for years. Our
neighbors in New Jersey tried it etfectually
twenty years ago. DR.. Coleman, the prison
physician at Trenton. reported that it ''is most
efectual to drive the convict mad or to reduce
him to imbeoility," and the Legislature abo-
lished it. The experience of Rhode Island
was similar DR.. Cleaveland, warden of her
State prison, describes the system as ga slow.
oOrrOding process, carrying its subjects to the
arrangement or destruction both of body and
mind" and he AYERS that ''of the forty
prisoners committed while the strictly soil
tary system was in operation, ten, or one
fourth OF the whole number, manifested de-
cided symptoms Of arrangement" 1t was
speedily abandoned.
Besides this correction of old abuses, posi-
tive progress in the right direction has been
made. In nine States, including our own, the
Communication system has been introduced; the
prisoners, being allowed to earn, by their good
conduct, diminution of their term of service
usually about one-sixth; but in our State, in
some cases, as high as one-fourth. In some
States, also, the convict has a com paratively
short days work, and is credited for extra
labor-in the Ohio State prison to the amount
OF One-ffth OF his earnings when he does full
days work. Again. as it is found by expe-
rience that four-ffths or more of all convicts.
when committed, are without trades, it is
gradually becoming the practice to teach these.
In the Wisconsin State Prison every convict
having as much as two years and a half to
serve is taught a full trade.
Better still, the schoelmaster is gradually
penetrating into our prisons. The first law
ever enacted in the United States for prison
instruction was passed by the Kentucky Legis-
!ature in 1879. 1t provided for four hours
instruction to convicts on Sundays. In 1852
instruction for prisoners was provided for in
our own State; but the salary was so small
only 500 year-as to afford but one hours
instruction daily. Canada has given more
attention to this matter than we.
thus much has been done in the right
direction. The reign OF terror in our prison
administration is passing away. Christian
principles are superseding the old idea of the
laws OF vengeance. And the practical result
Is satisfactory. Under the cruelty coercive
system which prevailed in this State twenty
I'VE or thlrty years ago, when one prisoner
ueo under the lash and another committed
suicide 10 escape fogging, the average number
OF recommitments was thirty per cent. Under
the present mild administration of our State
prisons, III which corporal punishment is
ap0hshed by law, and crucifying buoking,
anu the like are foTbidden-the number of
m IfN1nsa &c L. L
per cent. '0-'
This is the bright side: but there Is the
reverse of the shield. The report we are CON
sluerlng declares, as the result of observations
Iecehtiy extended by them throughout thir-
Teen Northern States, that 'they are con-
sIIahed TO aVow the opinion that there is not
a state Prison in America in which the refor-
nation OF the prisoners is the one supreme
OBJECT OF the discipline" But until this is
maze ~ tne one object, we have reached but the
'hreshOld OF prison reform.
.,,1, a country which, in days past, has been
SUBJECTED by its rulers to terrible oppression
has recently had established for the Govern
nent ofsuch of its conviots as were sentenced for
nYe years or more system of prison discipline
Unmatched In the world. We must look To Ire
tSnu now as the pioneer in this matter Tn
tHe year 1894 certain Sir Walter Crofton a
M Lnan Oh christian temper, energy. perseve-
a, a@noG, anu rare administrative ability. was
Sgcipno 81 chairman OF the directors of prison
~ Piino III ireland. lie found the prisons
OF that country in a deplorable condition. the
prisoners morally and physically prostrate.
no hope, no education, no insitements ~
good conduct. In thirteen wears he has
ehected among Irish convicts an industrial
ana social revolution which is one of the most
noteworthy events of our time. He started
with the great principle that a prison should