Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-11-14

convicts were engaged upon tunnel and
other railroad work. The lessee fur
nishes food, shelter, clothing, medical at
tendance, warden and guards. state in
spector is supposed to reside at the camp
to care for the interests of the convicts,
but he had been absent for several weeks.
The warden, Capt. Mundy, young man
of magnificent physique twenty-five
years old, had as much power as
the captain of man Of war.
His guards were paid fifteen dollars per
month and armed with shot guns and dis
cretionary power. Captain Mundy in
formed me that he chad lost four hun
dred and fifty dollars worth of prisoners"
within the past few weeks--a statement
which l understood better when I learned
that the contractor forfeits fifty dollars to
the state for every escaped convict or fifty
dollars reward for every one recapturej.
Fortunately for the helpless convicts, the
warden was apparently humane man,
who did what he could for their comfort.
The possible advantage OF such board as
this was seen in his evident anxiety as
to what might publish, and in the fact
that he came up four miles to the nearest
village to inform me that lack of cloth
ing upon which I had remarked had been
supplied.
The strictest discipline and the most
thorough organization which I observed
was at the Illinois state prison at Joliet.
The ''Reformatory and House of Correc-
tion," at Ion;a, Michigan, is mis-named.
The reformatory idea has been abandoned
except by the chaplain. The
warden, after reading my COM
mission said, courteously, "Mr. Hart,
I do not know that I can be of much
| use to you. The truth is, 1 was appointed
to this position, not on account of any
special fitness or experience, but on the
ground of general character and political
| influence"
| My visit to the Ohio state prison at
Columbus was a hurried one. The new
cell room there is the best I saw, except
for imperfect ventilation. By the simple
expedient of having the bars set with their
edges instead of their fiat sides toward the
| inside of the prison, the amount of light
| is greatly increased.
The reformatory prison, at Elmira, New
York, for young men sentenced for their
| first ofense, was the most interesting in
| sti:ution which I visited. Mr.. Brockway,
| the warden, is sharply criticised by his OPP
ponents, and by many prison men. I'M
| reasonably, it seems to me. Much of his
| work is necessarily experimental, since he
| treads unbeaten paths. Some of his expert
ments fail. How could it be otherwise?
But the fact is indisputable that many
young men are being made over in that
institution. The system is practically an
extension of the we'll tried reform school
system to boys of little larger growth;
with such notifications as are
demanded by the greater fxedness
of character and habits in these convicts.
To this end, it is necessary, as Mr.. Brock
way puts it, ''to dig new channels of
thought in the minds of these Bowery
boys and incipient roughs. 81 believe"
he said, shat can practically determine
what most of these young men shall think
about, from the moment they awake in
the morning until they go to sleep at
night" Eight hours per day is spent in
the shops. Though the discipline is less
severe, the men work as well as those of g.
similar class at Joliet. Four-ffths OF an
ordinary ten hours work outside is exact
cd, aud accomplished by most of them.
Morning and evening they have their Ii
brary books, selected by wise librarian.
Two hours each evening are spent either
in school or in study, and rigid written ex-
|
which depends the prospect OF release.
went through the school rooms and was
astonished at the degree of attention and
| enthusiasm in the classes. The instructors
| keen, bright men from Elmira) are paid
from $3.50 to S. per night; and the pupils
were engaged, some of them, on reading,
writing and arithmetic; but others,
1 found, to my establishment, listening with
| CD Hn11 Ia int n aofr1
United States history, and the science or
| government; each man with printed
| syllabus before him by which he is to re-
fresh his memory and prepare for exam
ination, Here is where Mr.. Brockway is
laughed at, and yet here is where he is
doing his best work, teaching these men to
think and giving them material for
| thought. The men are divided into three
| grades. New corners are placed in the
| second grade from which they can go up
or down. They wear citizens dress, have
either full beard or else clean shave, as
they choose, march by twos, without mill
| tary precision under sergeants of the
first grade, and eat in their cells. The
! third grade men wear red clothing, go
clean shaver, march in single file, lock-
| step, under keepers, and also eat in their
cells. The first grade men wear neat
blue uniform. They wear their beard as
they choose. They march by tours, in
military style, under captains of their own
choosing, They eat in common dining
hall, where they talk freely OF hear the
daily news from an appointed epitomizer.
| Their diet has some extras. Thsir cells
are larger and pleasanter. When q first
grade man has had perfect marks for
six months, and is adjudged
| fit for freedom by the board of managers
| he is set free on "ticket of leavs," subject
to return without new trial if he goes
into evil ways. All grades work in the
same shops and mingle in the school
rooms according to scholarship One
| hundred men work in one shop with
single guard, while, in one or two smaller
shops, there is absolutely no guard; the
first grade man being trusted without fear
to see the rules observed. A man who has
| nearly reached the point of release cannot
afford to incur years added imprison-
ment by breaking rules. Mr.. Brockway's
estimate of so per cent. reclaimed
from the ranks of crime to habits of in
dustry may be too large, but if even so
per cent. are reformed, the work is with
out parallel.
The city warehouses, or houses of cor
! rection of Cincinnati, Detroit and CIeve-
land ara sirnDIv ualI ad-nipisfa.ad ,-:,on-