The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1888-07-25

1--WE Are All Prisoners,

1--WE Are All PftSOners.''
The annual sermon before the National
Prison congress, in session in Boston last
week, was preached by Rev. DR.. Phillips
Brooks. at Trinity church. on Sunday July
, Is, before an unusually large audience. DIR.
Brooks took for his text: Il was in prison
and We came unto me-" Among other
things he said:
Such meeting as this would have been
impossible few years ago, before the
National Prison association was organized.
which is significant of the broadening and
deepening of human sentiments. This
association has a sure foundation. All
genuine reform and progress in civilization
must be made by return to primitive
ideas. to those fundamental principles that
lie at the base of human life. Prison
reform implies the knowledge OF what a
prison is. We must turn to Christ'S words
to find the real meaning of this, as OF other
human institutions. Il was in prison and
We came unto me-" But Christ Himself
was never in prison. The crucitixion
followed close upon the trial and sentence,
and the Son of Man was never behind pris-
on bars. But Christ as the type of the uni
versal man, has been and still is in prison.
Every man in prison is His brother. for
every prisoner is man. You visit Christ
when you visit prisoner.
We are all prisoners. There is restraint
everywhere. The bird does not feel the
air nor the ship the water but they are
held and restrained. We call ourselves
free. but who is free? We are all held by
the law. We do not want to steal but 1t
is good for all of us that the law says,
Thou shalt not steal" We all live in
Gods prison, held in the open hand Of
necessity.
Sometimes human law is unrighteous,
and holds the man in proportion to his
righteousness. But if the man is evil he
must suffer the consequences. he must
be brought into harmony with the
law. Where does society get its right to
punish? Why should it have the power to
shut up a portion of its members? The
reason clearly lies in self-protection. There
should be no vengeance in our punishment
of evildoers. vengeance is mine, saith
the Lord, will repay" Only the Eternal
can absolutely judge OF human hearts and
motives. Society has sometimes dealt only
with Inconvenience. sweeping them away
out of it's sight when they were too trouble
some. 1t was an easy way OF dealing with
what was simply incOnvenient But this
is not the basis of the penal code in modern
society. Imprisonment now presuppOSeS
wrong doing in the prisoner.
The great problem that confrOnts you is
how best to deal with prisoners There
are three possible ways of treating crimi-
mails. The first is to take their lives, put
ting them out of the way forever. The
second is to imprison them for life, putting
them where they can do no more harm, and
ignoring their human rights. The third is
N onOfina thQm r.AfOrm then and fit them
for citizenship and manhood. All prisons
should be only reformatories.
Healthy and normal Imprisonment should
be combination Of the natural and the I'M
natural. Both. of these elements must be
considered in the treatment of prisoners.
A convict is still a man. and all his natural
instincts and tastes and habits should be
regarded. But he is a man under unnatural
restraint for his crimes. He is undergoing
a course of instruction. Both horror and
hope must be in the prisoners cell-hOrror
for his past evil doings, and hope for a bet
ter heart and life. That which is the pris-
Oner's pain should grow to be his gain. His
Sutferings and privatiOnS should make him
noble and pure, just as our sorrows should
chasten us.
Goodness and happiness, wickedness and
unhappineSs go together. Reason as you
may. there is nothing truer than that the
good man is happy and the bad man miser-
able. The prison is the hard, stony con-
science OF the turbulent town. Its walls
preach to us ever the fact that sin brings
misery. No man of fine feelings can pass
by prison without a shudder of horror
coming over him.
The impersOnalness of the punishment is
one of its greatest safeguards. A private
person would be abOminable. The prisoner
is no mans slave. If he is angry with any
one he must be angry with the state. 1t is
the state. and not the individual, that pun
ishes him. Prison discipline should not be
too machine-like. Jailers must not forget