The New York herald., 1876-10-04
state Prison mismnnagcment.

made, and disclosed q state of things no bet
ter, nor different from that now reported. At
that time convict, whose long residence In
Sing Sing gave to his conclusions the force
of experience, stated it as his sworn opinion
that on the whole the most respectable men
in the prison were the convicts; and the other
evidence taken showed that he did not unduly
favor his own side. But the present report
Of Messrs Tousey, Niven and Pillsbury
proves that, unless the character of the con-
victs has deteriorated from intimate associa-
ton with the people in authority over them,
the conditions are unchanged.
These are harsh words, but the report
fully bears them out. The officers in charge
Of convicts and State prisons occupy pecu-
liar position of trust. They are charged
not only to keep securely the unfortunate
prisoners, but to exercise over them whole
some moral influences, such as will tend to
their reclamation to honest and moral lives
Modern Christian society confines men in
prisons not merely to punish them for
wrongdoing. Punishment is but one, and,
on the whole, the least of the objects Of i'm
prisonment, especially in the higher class
of prisons, such rs Sing Sing and Auburn.
These are also reformatory institutions. The
culprits there confined are secluded by
society with the expectation that under
careful training, with prolonged alb
sence of the temptations of evil
society, and by the examples as we'll as les
sons of honor and good conduct shown by
hose charged with their safe keeping, the
moral nature of these unfortunates will be
strengthened, their evil propensties
checked, their powers of self-restraint in
creased, and their purposes turned from
wrong to good. The ideal State Prison
would receive weak and wicked culprits, and
set them free, after period Of detention,
stronger and better men and women. That
tions, and where they are fairly
well managed. both here and in Europe,
good results, reformed lives, are obtained.
But what can be expected when such
things can be said of prison officers as this
report asserts? "The investigation thus far
made shows that business affairs have been
very loosely conducted in regard to pur-
chases, both as to prices paid and quantities
bought; great carelessness and false entries
in the accounts; books have been altered,
mutilated and lost; property of the State
loaned to private persons without charge or
any account thereof being made and never
returned moneys have been obtained from
the State Treasury by fraudulent vouchers
property stolen tools and materials belong
ing to the State not cared for" These are
the terrible words in which the Com
missioners describe the. management
Of two of our chief prisons The
officers of these institutions ought,
from the highest to the lowest, to be
picked men-men of the most conscientious
honesty, of the highest moral principles.
Their characters and daily lives cannot help
but influence the convicts in their charge
very decidedly, for good or evil. We find
them openly and officially charged with
fraud, with theft, with criminal neglect of
their trusts, with insubordination. The
Commissioners say justly These evils not
only cause the prisons to fall behind fnan-
cially, but also utterly destroy all hope of
reforming the convicts, who, seeing the care
lessness and too often the dishonesty Of
those in places of trust, become more dis
honest themselves, and, instead of being
better men on leaving prison, are often
made worse, and set free to exercise the
same dishonesty they saw practised in
prison by men who should have, by ex-
ample, taught them better.
1t is impossible to read such words with
out a sense of horror and disgust. 1t does
not matter that the system whose results
are thus exposed has been going on for
years and under various State administra-
tions. Indeed, this only makes it worse.
Society, which goes to church on Sunday
and pretends to be Christian, has failed
in its duty to its weaker brethren. We
are not of the class of soft-fbred humanita-
rians who would coddle o criminal on the
contrary, we demand rigorous and faithful
execution Of the laws. But when the State,
composed of Christian men and women, by
its appointed judges locks up thief or
burglar or q murderer, has it no further
duties toward him? Is it not disgraced by
such report as this? Ought not all good
men and women to unite in demand that
there shall be instant, thorough and lasting
reform of such monstrous evils? that the
system which has produced such demoral-
izing results, and which, as the Commits
sioners justly say, can produce none
other, shall disappear forever? Here
is picture of that system :--''Men
are appointed to positions in the pris-
ons without any regard to fitness, but solely
as rewards for political party services, and
with every change of party majority new
men take the places of those whose party
was defeated at the last previous election,
scarcely one of whom had been in Office long
c.