Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-08-27

him when he leaves the prison, The work ought
not to be left to voluntary organizations moreover
1t Is in our Judgment as much part OF the States
special work as the institution Of preventive es
tab ishments, such as Juvenile Reformatories,
Houses of Detention, and so forth. The State UNI
dertakes, in the interest OF Society," to reform the
criminal, in order that crime may be diminished.
What would be thought Of the management CT
hospital if, after curing man of typhus
fever, they were at once TO put him in ward where
the same disease abounded? Something very like
this however, is done by the State, when, after
devotIng time and capital TO the reformation of its
criminals it sends them forth upon society under
conditions which render it almost impossible for
them to gain their living honestly The methods
by which the discharged prisoners shall be aided
are OF course various, aud differ in different eoun-
tries. In some instances it has been found adyan.
tageous to have sort OF headquarters, where tenn.
porary employment and lodging could be furnished
applicants, but in the majority OF cases the endeav0r
is to find work for the prisoners at once. The
prisoners discharged from 'Mountjoy, in irea and,
where the Crofton system obtains said to be in
SO much demand that their services actually com.
mand steady premium, while the percentage OF
relapses among the graduates OF that system is so
small as to be scarcely worth calculating This is
the end to which all prison systems are or ought to
be working, though until American PRISONS are de-
livered from the body Of the political Death that
has thus far parayzed them, it will be useless to
tieipate the most satisfactory results.
The need OF more active efforts in this direction
IN CaiuOrDl4 Is SHOWN Dl Une large NUMBER OF con-
vics who sent back to the penitentiarY for repe
titions Of the same offense. We have before us
exhibit giving tie number of reeJmmitInents OF this
kind and 1t is melancholy proof of the monotonous
persistence OF criminal habits. The same man, for
instance has received five convictions for burglary
and housebreaking. Another has been in prison
six times for larceny and burglary. And the infiu-
of evil associations shown in the fact that in
many Of these cases the convict is only at liberty
two or three weeks between his sente ces Such a
gets two years for grand larceny. He serves it,
and less than month from the date of his release
he is back again, for the same offense. 1t looks
though many conviets went deliberately and repeat
ed the crime for which they were originally con.
victed, the moment they are discharged. As fact
there can be doubt that the majority OF hem
fall at once into the companionshp ii men of their
own proclivities, and there is reformatory in
luence in the State Prison system they have no
tive disposition to refrain from the courses which
they had been pursuing before ii the efforts OF the
California Prison Commission have not produced
the most encouraging results hitherto, the fact
must we think, be ascibed to the total absence Of
any reformatOry machinery at San Quentin. Indeed
all the tendencies OF that prison. or amo all, are
distinctly dem0ralizi1g, ard it is matter for real
surprise that a. Y man who has served term Of
imprisonment there should De capable of leading
honest life subsequently.
JUVENILE REFoRMAToRIEs.
No examination OF penal administration would be
complete without some consideration of the deter
rent agencies which are nav recognized as neces-
sary part of every reform system II is of course,
far easier to reclaim the young than the adult. If
this truth has not been developed by the experiences
of the juvenile reformatories which have been insi-
tuted in California, it is because the methods en-
poyed have been such as would have insured
failure under any conceivable circumstances.
The same system which has proved efficacious
when applied to adult criminals, viii assuredy cure
the younger offenders. These are doubtless more
mercurial, but they are also more impossible
than their seniors The habit OF idleness is not
Oh.
repusive vices are often little than limitations,
and do not indicate deep seated depravity.
By the exhibition of firmness, system, and emula
ton, they can b, yond doubt be ref rmed. Indeed,
when we reflect what has been done in this way
elsewhere we are tempted to dismiss with i'm
patience the gloomy declarations of our pessimists.
Take for example the Coonie Agricole at Mettray,
in France, and see what De,netz has accomplished
there. He has no Jail, no cells no dungeons no
punishment cells, no guards with loaded rifles and
mtrailleuses, methods OF coercion whatever.
The colony is merely collection of brick buildings,
surrounded by not high wall, situated in an open
agricultural country Yet there the gdHtiR OF
Paris nearly as corrupt and hopeless product Of
nineteenth century civilizat on the "hoodlum ;"
OF San Francseo-is effectively tanned and re-
claimed, and is converted into the honest bard
working ourTter, or the gallant and disciplined
soldier sailor. What has been done at Mettray
can be done anywhere. The system is capable OF
application here quite as well as there Human
nature is the same all over the world. 1t is by
stimulating their ambition, in cutivating their self
respect, in giving them something to hope for and
something to be proud OF that their characters are
changed and they are reformed.
The Juvenile reformatories of this State can be
converted into real deterrent agencies whenever
the people ready to make the change. The con-
dition of their trans ormation not hard one. 1t
is simply the complete separation OF these insiitu-
tions from politics. They must be given over to
penal science. They must be governed in accordance
with advanced ideas. Their inmates must at once
be taught to recognize the weight OF authority and
to appreciate its goodwill and breadth of purpose
And to them, to the adult penitentiaries, must
be applied the natural system the methods which
most resemble the course OF events in the out
side world. But when the people are ready
for reform it will come, and not until they declare
their determination to have it will the evil influences
which have baffied all attempts in that direction,
both in Juvenile and adult pri ons be overcome
and removed.
NEED OF WIDER JURISDICTION.
The Constitutional Convention appears to have
| taken the provision concerning the government Of
the State Prisons almost entirely from the article
drawn by the New York Prison Association for in
sertion in the Constitution Of that State, in Is s.
The language is in fact Identical and the ideas Of
| the New York society have been reproduced with
scarcely a change in new Constitution.
The New York plan created Board OF
| Prison Managers" organized precisely SIS our
Board of Prison Directors is and it did not limit
the jurisdiction of this Board to the State Prisons
/
the charge and superintendent of the State Prisons
| aud shall possess such poteers aud perform such
duties IN respect to the county jajlS, the local
| district peniteltidTlcS, and other penal and re-
foTmdtoTy institutions, toithiR tie State, as the
| Legislature may by law impose upon them" Here
was an enlightened endeavor to remedy one OF the
most serious evils to which prison administration in
| the United States has hitherto been expose ; an
evil which its effects is only less disastrous thar
political interference and greed. For vital defec,
| Of all American prison systems is the absence
OF central authority Not only is there nations
prison system, but the State systems in nearly
every instance frsgmentary and disconnected. The
| California Constitutional Convention followed the
New York idea with little alteration, but the State
Legislature has failed to extend the jurisdiction Of
the Board of State Prison Directors the County
| Jails municipal prisons and reformatory instItu
| tons. This is omission which can be remedied
and which the Legislature in our opinion should
supply at the earliest opportunity.
Ii shou be apparent TO all that 1t is impossible
to have really effective reformatory prison system
unless the whole subject Of criminal administration
| is regulated in accordance with definite and har.
nonious scheme. 1t is necessary 10 take crime at
its beginnings and to follow it to its end The rys.
tematlc supervision of the juvenile reformatores
OF the county as OF the city prisons, of the houses
OF detention and correction, is indispensable as
| the proper management of the State prisons. In
the county ails of the interior inquiries show
that there is attempt made to employ the prison.
ers that they permitted to associate freely
that they in fact simply and solely restrained OF
| they choose Witnesses and unexamned accused
persons locked up in company with convicted
prisoners in all these establishments, and there Is
pretense of system in any OF them.
Ii follows from these facts that the County Jails,
so far they exercise any influence, exercise a
vicious one; that they do not do anything to
abate or prevent crime, while they afford immense
opportunities for the propagation of criminal ideas
| and habits and that in some respects they tend
positively to corrupt the innocent the presumably
innocent. The Board of Prison Directors however
| possess no authority in the matter They cannot
interfere with the counties the cities in any way
! The result IS that the State Government is COM
PEELED TO coDfue its attention to the pententiaries,
and can do nothing to abate the criminal prose-
lytism which is being carried on through the Coun-
ty Jails and municipal prisons and places of deten
ton. Ii is we submit evident that what is needed
| here is n wider ju isdiction for the Board OF
| Prison Directors II we are to have penal reform
we must put all our prisoners under one manage
ment, and give the central authority ample power
| 70 regulate and control them. Hitherto we have
should undertake to establish University without
| first providing public school system. commu
nifty which should attempt to depend upon casual
instruction, or such private schools might
grow up, or upon public schools conducted without
any 81 stem, and each upon its peculiar basis,
would soon find that education under such con-
ditiops was impractcahe. Yet it is education with
which penology deals, and there is quite as much
necessity for system and harmony in the prison adj
ministration Of community in that of its schools
and colleges.
A CENTRAL AUTHORITY.
The new Constitution, following the New York
example gave us Board Of Prison Directors As
this report demonstrates, the workings OF that body