The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1884-03-05
The Model Prison.

on The Convict Lease System in
the Southern States, is printed in
the February Century. tie intro
duces his powerful array of facts
with the following clever statement
of what prison ought to be:
Here and there in the United
States a penal institution may be
found that fairly earns the pride
with which IL is pointed out by the
surrounding community. In the
whole country there may be four or
five such. The visitor to them
admires the fitness of architecture. :"
Yes" the warden replies, this
i. not house of pleasure, and so
we have not made it pretty. 1t is
not an abode OF crime, and so We
have not made it ugly. 1t is not a
place where men seek justice, and
therefore we have not made it
grandiose and majestic. But it is
the house of chastisement-of chas-
tening punishment-and so it is
made solemn, severe and calm"
The visitor praises the grave
and silsnt decency of all the internal
appointments.
Yes, y responds the warden 'the
peace and dignity of the State are
here asserting themselves over the
prisoner who has violated them
there is no more room here for mer-
riment or confusion than for
strife"
The visitor extols the perfection
of the sanitary arrangements.
Yes" says the warden; " when
the criminal was free and hi. life at
his own disposal, he took no such
care of it as this. He probably
lived 4 sort of daily suicide. If he
shortened his days the State was,
presumably, not to blame. But II
we by malice or neglect shorten his
DAYS here, where he is our captive,
we bring upon the State both blame
and shame. For his life i. in our
custody, just as the clothing is with
which he came here; the State,
through its courts, has distinctly
declined to tamper with it, and
holds it subject to be returned to
his own keeping, at the expiration
of his confinement, in as good order
as that in which it was received,
the inevitable wear and tear of time
alone excepted. Can State main
tain its peace and dignity as it
should that commits breaches
of trust inside of its very pris-
ons ?n
The visitor remarks that wise
benevolencs is necessary even toward
bad men.
But" says the other, it is not
merely benevolence to bad men that
puts in these elaborate sanitary ap-
pllances :; it i. the necessity of hold
ing the integrity and honor OF the
State
"The visitor shows his surprise at
the absence of all the traditional aD-
piances for the correction of the re-
fractory. Yet be certain is the
rejoinder, "a discipline, sure, prompt,
and effectusl, meets every infraction
of rules. How else could we have
this perfection OF order? But it is
a discipline whose punishments are
free from brutalizing tendencies, in
creasing dispassionately as the cul-
prit's passions increase, and
relenting only when he has repented.'
The visitor is impressed with the
educative value of the labor perform
ed by theinmates.
Yes, says the warden serd
man out from here WITH knowledge
of a trade, and may be he will come
back, but the chances are he will
not. Send him away without a
trade, and may be he will not come
back, but the chances are he will.
So. for society's sake,-in the com
munity's interest and for its safety,
these men are taught certain
trades that they cannot turn to bad
account. We do not teach burglars
locksmithing.
Yet the visitor takes a momen-
tary alarm.
" You put the housebreaker and
the robber, the sneak-thief and the
pickpocket into open competition
with honest men in the community
around them.
Exactly responds the other
trying to live without competing in
tbs fields of productive labor is just
the essence of the crimes fer which
thew were sent here. We make a
short end of that
The visiter looks with pleased
interest at the statistical records Of
the clerks Office.
1--WE could not call our duty done
without these, is the warden's re-
sponse. These are the keys to the
study of the cause and prevention
of crime. By these we weigh our
own results. By these we uncover
not only the convict and his crime,
but society's and the States own
sins Of omission and commission,
whose fruits are these crimes and
these criminals
After all, at length the visitor
saws. tell me ene thing more. Hsre
where a prisoner is safe from fire
and plague and oppression and
temptation and evil companionship,
and is taught thrift and skill, and
has only to submit to justice and
obey right rules, where. where is his
punishment? How il this punish
ment at all p
And the warden makes answer
with question for question Had
YOU a deformea foot, and an iron
mold were made to close around it
and press it into symmetrical shape
and hold it so, would you ask where