Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1881-05-20
A Sensible Prison Reformer.
W. do not take much { took in i" Pl

We do not take much stock in Pris-
on Reform" not because we doubt the
necessity of reform, but because we
lack faith in the methods of most of the
reformers.' But Mr.. A. S. Meyrick
writes in the International Recitr on
Improvements in Prison Discipline"
like man of sense and sound pliLcl-
pie. He admits to the full the justice
of the punitive principle Of the Grim
insl law, and has no sympathy with the
milk-and water theory of crime-that
the criminal is diseased, not guilty, and
should be impris' ned only in order to
be reformed by u course Of moral by
giene. But he also insists that society
cannot afford to stop at the mere pun
ishment of crime; if possible, crime
must be eradicated, and not merely
restrained. The only eifectual way to
eradicate crime is to reform the erin
inal; or, if that cannot be done, 20
coptne him permanently.
1t ia agreed that our prisons are now
little more than scho OF vice. q e
who has once been incarcerAted in
them comes ont worse than he went in,
a more acute and desperate criminal
than before. More than this, he has
been Infatuated by the severity Of the
punishment, and sent out hardened aud
reckless to wage an unrelenting war
against society. Every criminal is
capable of being reformed or he is not.
In the former case he ought to he given
a fair chance to redeem himself; in the
latter he ought to be held fast. AS Mr..
Meyrick says:
1--WE do not turn loose the savage
beast because we have failed to tame
him; we do not release the victim of
acute mania whose paroxysms have
become cbronic-and we owe it to our
selves at all hazards and at any cost to
make the bonds of the confirmed Grim
inal sure and strong. 1t we're better a
thousand times to kill him. as our
fathers did, than to allow him to go
forth not only himself to prey upon
society, but to inoculate lie young, the
weak and the viciously inclined with
his abominable distemper. So long as
we let him live, we are worse than
weak if we fail to make him live where
him.
The practical step proposed is, snch a
reform in our criminal law as to make
the sentences of criminals indetermin-
ate or partially 80. A certain absolute
period of Imprisonment should be pre-
scribed as punishment for the crime;
but the convict should remain in prison
beyond that time if necessary. and I'M
til he has given as good evidence as
is possible of reform. A Board of
Examiners appointed for the purpose
should alone have the power to release
a criminal, on being satisfied that he
has shown real disposition to reform.
Then our prisons should be so re-organ-
lied as to keep separate different classes
of criminals, in order that ola and
hardened offenders might not be able TO
corrupt those younger and better dis.
posed t AN themselves. Beyond a
certain task, necessary for his own sup
port, prisoners should be encouraged
to earn money by extra labor, which
should be paid over to them on their
release.
There can be little doubt that some
such system would do much to dry
up the sonxces of crime and empty
our prisons. There can be as little
doubt that society will be obliged,
sooner or later, to strike at the root of
crime, instead of applying surface rem
edies which only aggravate the trouble.
- New York Examiner.