Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1867-08-29

oEEDED--FAcTs AND FIGURES OF 23 YEARS
PRISON EXPERIENCE
From The Ne,p York Tribune.
THE TREATMENT OF coNvlcTs.
Next in Importance to popular education
as ciyilizing agency is the influence which
may be exerted for prevention Of crime by
prison system conducted on enlightened
principles. This is too little thought Of, in
part, because prisons are SO seldom visited
compared to schools. Not one person in a
thousand ever enters a prison IN the course
of his life, with view to examine the man
ncr in which offenders against law are treat
ed and the effects of that treatment. Almost
all that society knows about the secrets OF
the prison-house comes to us from the re-
ports of Commissioners, or Inspectors, or
similar official documents. Few benevolent
societies have done as much good as the Fri
son Association of New York. organized
twcnty-three years ago, and which has been
in operation ever since. Its efforts were di-
rected to the Improvement of the physical
and moral condition of conyicts, and to the
substitution, in their treatment, OF the prin-
ciple of kindness for the agency OF force.
This has often been set down as a sickly SEN
timentality, unjust and out of place, calcu-
lated to increase crime. by diminishing the
punishment that deters from it. If prison
is conducted so humanely that it is no lon
ger terror to eyil-doers, thousands, it is ar
gued, will be tempted to commit offenses in
order to escape from the destitution OF the
| street and the cellar to the comforts OF
civilized habitation This is a somewhat
plausible theory. Its truth and false
hood cannot be determined in the clo-
set we must look to facts-to the statis-
tics of crime and of prisons-for trust.
worthy answer. The successive reports of
the Association to which we referred supply
these, as regards the State Prisons and Peni-
tentiaries OF our own State, furnishing abun-
dant evidence that, some thirty or forty years
ago, the system of society was most effect
ually tried there. They show, also, the
sweeping changes that have been made to-
ward system of humanity, coupled with
reform and they exhibit the results OF these
changes.
Under the old system the lash was the
universal punishment. 1t was employed to
d frightfuI extent The record shows that,
in single prison, 800, 900 strokes were Civ
en- in single year. 1t was resorted to
for the most trihing offenscs. Prisoners
were frequently punished if they looked up
at q visitor. In one case poor young TEL
low was flogged because he turned his head
to look at his mother, who had Travelled hun
dreds of miles to see her convict son before
she died. There is a record of man who
committed suicide to escape flogging; and
of another, a negro, considered crazy, and
guilty of singing and shooting of nights SO
as to disturb his fellow prisoners, who ap-
pears to have died under the lash. The
statement in regard to this last, given on ap-
parently good authority in the first report of
the Association, discloses almost incredible
atrocity. He was lashed for an hour, first
with whip of eight cords as thick as
clothes lines, the ends for two inches being
bound with wire then with large raw and
twisted cow-hide.
. Every time the keeper struck with this
last instrument of torture, the whip ap-
"peared to adhere to the body, and long
F." strips of skin were drawn away with it,
He never spoke after he was taken down.
The clothes, hands, and even faces of the
keepers were sprinkled with his blood. LII
our day, these, like Slavery and its horrors,
, are only frightfu dreams of the past. The
, whipping OF prisoners is now prohibited by
, law. Under this system, though there were
various other punishments, there were no
rewards of any kind for good conduct, be it
, ever SO long continued or exemplary. There
was, in fact, no Indictment to reform. The
only influence brought to bear on the in
,, mates was fear Their lot was one of suf.
j fering, and was meant to be SO. Their food
|
disease. AT that time 0his is expressly
stated in the ReporD every child born in
the State Prison died from the effect of bad
food and air. There were no libraries
, books were considered luxury, and, as
,, such, they were forbidden. There was nc
, teaching of the iliteratc; instruction was
. regarded as a privilege, end therefore ex-
cluded The system did not terminate will
, death. The carpenter nailed up rough
| al hny Int ylafl lnn 1f rt,pt, m
; where it was deposited underground, il
tnat was its destination, none of the
! fellow-prisoners of the deceased even
knew. Funerals, with their human.
/ zing influence, were not permitted. =
, BE ii confessed that this was giving
the system of coercion-the old-fashioned
short cut of brute force-a very fair trial.
! What was the result Did the report o
i such severities, going out among the de
i praved portion of our population, suffice tt
: deter them from crime? Or did it awakcr
9 among them that defiant feeling which i!
! well known to prevail among the offender:
: | against lava feeling that society has actet
i the tyrant to them, and that they owe it q
: grudge which it would be cowardly not tc
I pay! The answer, SO far as statistics give
4 it, is that under that system of cruelty, OF
!, an average thirty per cent. of the prison
!. ers We're reconyicted and sent back Il
i prison.
;. Another system was tried, at the instance
of the Association referred to. Not onl,
! the lash, but "cruciying, bucking, tn
q ball-and-chain, and other tortures wer
:. abolished; confinement to the dark cell
4 privation of bed, diminution of food, ant
Il the showcr-bath remaining the only punish
,t mcnts, and those being sparingly inflicted
i. Conyicts were allowed to obtain, within th
:, prison walls, rewards for good conduct
:. | cnn,atirnoc in tho form, pf plpl.Sff1t N
~ money earned for themselves; sometimes il
= the shape of comutation of sentence. Hop
u was suffered to enter the prison, and goo
In habits were formed under IFS influence: Th
+, State eXpendrd $l5,O0n for books; ind
IN vidual contributions came in for the sam
# purpose. The libraries at Sing Sing an
i, Auburn lave each four thousand well
4, selected volumes, and convicts are nj
= lowed to read them freely. Hundreds VIII
:, came into prison unable to read or write hay
"a gone out able to do both. The children th;
= are born in our State Prisons have now til
n. same chance of life as others. Funerals al
iy lecently conducted the time to attend thes
~ 70 is not grudged to the convict; he finds hin
self one of q class who are treated, even a
of ter death, with humane consideration; an
r. r. the effect on his moral character is found I
ne be beneficial beyond expectation.
al Now what is the ultimate result of all this
m Have Sing Sing and Auburn and our penite
ga tiaries become so attractive that ofienses a
p committed to obtain lodgings there =? Or Ii
te Christian principle produced Christian r
,s suits? Are more, or less, than thirty p
~ cent. of all our convicts sent back to prist
re under this reformed system? The last II
MT port on our State Prisons published by Il
IL Association (page 45) supplies the answe
We Nearly ninc-tenths Of our prisoners never +
nv turn. Little more than ten per cent a
Ia committed the second time. In our tv
le largest prisons SO out of every 100 males,ai
ID. 94 out of every 100 females, are not again co
ali victed and returned to prison. The power
N reformation of the new system is nearly thr
~ times as great as that the old. What sh'
,ut , we say, then Is humanity to the Grimm
.u ,an mere sickly sentimentalty, encouraging vic
Nv Nv Or is it as sound in practice as it is noble
he theory?
! The baggage of a Fashionable Lady
loa U;i The Boston Traveller says:-
Iat The question has been frequently aske