The evening light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1881-1883, 1883-02-22
PLAN FoRPRIsON REFORM.

then the proposition has received general en-
dorsement and Governor Ireland, in his mes
sage to the Legislature, took occasion to speak
thus: at would seem that experience has
taught us that there are blu. few 'penitentS
and but few reforms accomplished in the peni-
Tertiary, and, therefore, that it is probably
misnamed. 1t will be for the wisdom OF the
law-making power to prescribe the proper
management. do not doubt but there are
numbers sent to that institution for petty
offenses who should be punished in some
other way; and for youths house of correc-
ton or other place of confinement and pun
ishment should be devised. l doubt the
proprie,y of sending any, no matter what the
age, to. the penitentiary for short periods OF
time"
Having thus met with appreciation in its
course regarding a house of correction the
LIGHT now requests the attention of the public
generally and the State Legislature particu-
larly to plan urged some six months ago for
establishing "Texas Prison Homes"
Those are the reformatories required,
and of Texas at the present time.
Texas has the area of the whole of New
England, and is therefore as fit field for the
experiment suggested as the whole of New
England would be if it were one State. In
few years this vast empire may turn out to
have been a mother of States, and will afford
no filter bounds than any other for the initia-
ton of this great prison reform which the
writer is, satisfied Texas can successfully in
troduce into the Union and the world. All
good men read the daily statistics of crime
with shudder for the depravity of the human
race and, whatever blame may attach on &C
count of the vices and moral inadequacy of
the social fabric in general, large part is due
to faults in prison treatment and to the inver-
sion of all reformatory elements in our PRISON
systems.
The State. of Texas by its legislation should
provide reformatory school for all its GRIM
iuals on the following plan, or one embracing
its elementary features: Determine by the
extent of crime what should be the space &C.
cupied and, whether 1000 or 5000 acres, pro-
cure it in some central county and surround it
with walls high enough, and in all respects
secure enough. to make prison.
Construct, Within, such buildings as
may be necessary for all prisoners to learn
and work in at all trades. Construct such
apartments as will keep the degrees of guilt
each in its own, to be known by the character
of the crime committed. Let official and all
the lighter duties be conferred on the most
deserving of the milder classes of offenders.
Keep accurate accounts with prisoners and
allow each say S or 10 per cent. upon the
value of his work, to be paid to him at the end
Of his term, subject, however, to partial for
fixture for reprehensible conduct while it
lasts. Let kind words and gentle ways be
exercised and inculcated, and over all let
Justice preside. There should be no idleness
tolerated excepting such as natural rest de-
mands and, during all proper hours, labor
should be incessant and unremittent and,
when ended each day, there should be moral
instruction in every department awaiting all, at
which there should be no involuntary attend
ance. The same rule should attach to religious
exercises on the Sabbath. Over this grand
institution let there be found philanthropist,
not politician, to preside.
For youths let there be an apartment,
walled from the rest, where instruction, educa-
tional, moral and religious, should be insisted
upon under forfeiture of benefits. There
should be in all departments and in the treat
ment of all men, women and children no
scourging or corporal punishments, but close
and closer confinement as the subject is shown
to be obdurate or insensible to kind treatment.
There may, in rare cases, be some who, even
when their toll is sweetened with kind words,
will refuse to labor. The remedy is close
confinement, but not in darkness nor in dun
geons, and while they endure it, even if till the
end Of their sentences, let them do so and &c
free. The purpose is TO try mercy and human,
Ity with all classes Of criminals which, in some
instances may fail, equally. Cruelty and bru.
tally have long enough been tried in vain
They fail in all instances. In vast institu,
ton of this kind great diligence will be re-
quired to guard against the abuses o
officials, and the Legislature might make
this more easy by providing summary
! trials and severe punishment for any charged