Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1883-09-27
Helena, Montana, Thursday September u, 1883.


lSan Francisco Alta
! A correspondent of an Eastern publica-
tiOn makes suggestion relative to prison
labor which is worthy Of consideration. II
is not exactly new idea, but it is holder
enunciation of an old one than has pre-.
viously obtained. In short, he proposes to
turn penitentiaries into industrial commu-
mites, not different from other establish
ments, save in the constraint of the laborers.
Instead of compelling them to work for the
State and making the State responsible fol
their support, he would permit them to en-
joy the proceeds of their own industry
and compel them to feed and clothe them
selves. They should all be given chance
to work and receive wages, or profit, in pro-
portion to their ability and industry, Ger
tain sum being kept back by the State to
pay the necessary expenses OF maintenance
of the prison. Beyond this the prisoners
should have all they could make and be per-
mitted to accumulate as much property as
they could. They should be permitted to
traffic with the outside world, under
proper precautions to prevent escape, and
possess as many privileges as could be allowed
consistent with the objects of the imprison-
ment
1t may be objected that this would not be
punishment for crime at all, and that by it
imprisonment would be robbed of its ter
rors. That could only be determined by
experiment. To say nothing of the disgrace
Of penal servitude, the deprivation of lib
erty is great punishment to most men,
and if every step toward making the con-
ditions of imprisonment less vigorous
diminishes, in corresponding degree, the
deterrent effects of punishment, we have
already gone too far in the direction of
ameliorating the condition of prisoners.
Humane treatment, cleanliness, improved
sanitary arrangements, good food, and
credits for good conduct necessarily abate
the terrors of the State Prison, and yet it is
not generally believed that, ON the whole,
these things tend to foster crime by making
men more ready to assume the risks of con-
viction and imprisonment. 1t is believed
that any influence Of this kind which they
might exert is more than counterbalanced
by their good effects in producing dispo-
sition favorable to reform in the minds of
the convicts.
1t is acknowledged that habits of industry
and the possession of skill enough to make
such habits remunerative, are among the
strongest inducements to reform, and no
system of prison labor seems so well calcu-
lated to teach these as that which the writer
we have quoted recommends. Where the
prisoner works for the State and receives for
his labor nothing but the necessary amount
of food and prison garments-which are
assured in any event-his labor is the most
odiOus form of task-work. He has no in
ducement to work with will, and instead
of acquiring habits of industry he STU lies
how to do as little work as possible. He
comes out of prison hating honest work more
than when he went in. But, above ALL he
comes out penniless and lacks that incentive
to honesty which comes from the possession
of property. This would be different under
the plan proposed. By extra diligence the
prisoner would be able to accumulate quite
a sum of money before his term expired,
and being thus ahead Of the world, he
would be more likely to array himself on
the side of honesty and good order. All
through his service in the prison he would
have personal interest in his work, from
the consciousness that he was working for
himself, and being less exposed to distrac-
tions of one kind and another men would
actually work better in prison than out of
it. If this plan of prison labor should be
combined with a system of discipline by
which each man, besides being responsible
for his own good conduct, should be charged
with some degree of responsibility for that
Of his fellows, we can conceive of no
arrangement better calculated to attain
the great desideration of convict reform.