St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-12-24
REFORM THE IAILS.

When the millennium shall come there
will be no prisons. The mission of Christi
anity, as proclaimed by its Founder, is t.
bring about that happy condition on eartl.
when broken hearts shall be bound up an
the prison doors shall be opened to the cap
tives. The progress of prison reform may
therefore, be taken as an evidence that the
world is approaching its millenial period.
and is a matter that should enlist the active
support of all Christian people. While
this is true, it is well to remember that /
will not do to indulge too much SEN
timentality in the treatment OF this ques
ton. 1t is still c practical subject and
must be handled in a practical way, Ii
the world is approaching IFS millenial stage
it is not there yet. In fact, it is good
ways off. only having fairly started on the
Journey. There is still a great deal Oi
wichedness in this old world of ours, and
as long as crime exists there must be means
to restrain it. In dealing with human
nature in its unregenerate state, the mos
effective means for restraining crime is t.
punish the Grimm ais. The old doctrine OF
retaliation, with its requirements of an eye
for an eye and a tooth for tooth, has
passed away under the Christian dispense
ton, and yet we have seen forms of bar
barOus severity established in prison dis
cipline in modern days scarcely less revolt
ing than the requirements of the old Mosaic
criminal code. Consequently the problem
to-day is. how much of the severity of prison
discipline must be retained in order to exert
deterrent influence upon those on the out
side of the prisons. and at the same time to
introduce sufficient ameliOrating conditions
to divest our prison system of its barbar0us
features? During the late session of the
national convention OF correction and char
tiles held in this city, one of the most inter
esting. as it was one of the most valuable
contributions to the reformatOry literature
of the day, was paper read by Gen. BRIN
KERH0FF. of Ohio. in which he took the
ground that in the reformation of prisoners
the most important requirement. is
classification. 1t is just as he said.
So long as old offenders are retained
in association with other prisoners, not
much of value can be accomplished by any
kind of treatment. He denominates the old
are the teachers. the organizers, of crime.
and their separation from other prisoners is
the imperative beginning of all reformaton
measures. Nowhere does the old offender
or captain OF crime' have better oppor-
tunity to organize his school OF crime than
in the jails where offenders of all grades
are brought into prOmiscuOus cOmmingling.
1t is there the hardened criminal is brought
in contact with the youthful offender and
most successfully eXerts his pernciOus in
fiuence Therefore in any reformatory
system which the state should embark i
does seem that the first thing to be con
sidered is some plan to reform the manage
ment of the county Jails. Another reform
ImperatiyelY demanded in jail management
in regard To the Treatment of female pris
oneTs. Men and women are often crowded
into jails like so many brutes, without re-
gard to the distinctions of sex. This is an
outrage that blights our civilization. Every
county jail should have its matren, whose
special duty it should be to have exclusive
control OF female prisoners.
There is no necessity for the establish
ment of reformatOry state prison as an
experiment only. Prison reform has passed
beyond the experimental stage. Penology
is an established science. All state prisons
should be conducted upon the reformatOry
methods and principles which have already
been demonstrated to be correct. In the
establishment of the new state prison we
take it for granted that the next legislature
will be progressive enough to discard the
fossilized iniquities of pagan past. and t0
construct the institution on the new era
basis. In addition to this we want to see
the legislature dig down deeper aud get al