The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1888-10-03
SOcfety,S Grimm a Is.

that the shadow of the gibbet will not al
will come when we will know too much to
raise criminals-knOw too much to crowd
those who labor into dens and dungeons
that we call tenementS. while the idle live
in palaces. The time will come when men
will know that real progress means enfran-
chisement of the whole human race, and
that our interests are SO united, so inter-
woven, that the few can not be happy while
the many suffer; so that the many can not
be happy while the few suffer; so that
none can be happy while one suffers. In
other words it will be found that the hui
man race is interested in each individual.
When that time comes. we will stop prOduc-
ing failures; we will not leave the next gen.
Grafton to chance: we will not regard the
gutter as proper nursery for posterty.
People imagine that if the thieves are
sent to the penitentiary that it is the last of
the thieves; that if those who kill others are
hanged, society is on a safe and enduring
basis But the trouble is here: A man
comes to your front door and you drive him
away. You have an idea that that mans
case is settled. You are mistaken. He
is again driven away. But the case is not
yet settled. The next thing you know he
enters at night. He is burglar He is
caught; he Is convicted; he is sent to the
penitentary. and you imagine that the case
is settled. But it is not You must re-
member that you have to keep all the agen-
cies alive for the purpose of taking care of
these people. You have to build and main
tain your penitentiaries, your courts of JUS
q fn InH,r
district attorneys, your juries, your witness
es. your detectives. your police-ail these
people must be paid So that. after all. it
is very expensive way of settling this
question.
THE BURGLARS BEGINNING.
You could have done it more cheaply had
you found this burglar when he was child
had you taken his father and mother from
the tenement-hOuse, or had you compelled
the owners to keep the tenement clean: or
if you had wdened the streets. if you had
planted a few trees, if you had plenty of
baths. if you had school in the neghbor-
hood. If you had taken some interest in
this fanlily-sOme interest in this child in
stead of breaking into houses he might have
been builder of houses.
There is, and it can not be said too often.
no reforming influence in punishment: no
reforming power in revenge. Only the best
of men should be in charge of pentent-
aries; only the noblest minds and the ten
derest hearts should have the care of crimi
mails. Criminals should see from the first
moment that they enter a penitentiary that
it is filled with the air of kindness. full of
the light of hope. The object should be to
convince every criminal that he has made
mistake: that he has taken the wrong way.
and that the path of crime never did nor
never can lead to the path of happiness;
that that idea is a mistake and that the
government wishes to convince him that he
has made a mistake: wishes TO open his intel
lectual eyes. wishes to SO educate him, to so
elevate him. that he will look back upon
what he has done only with horror.
LIKE A WILD BEAST.
This is reformation. Punishment is not
When the convict is taken to Sing Sing or
to Auburn. and when a striped suit of
clothes is put upon him-that is to say
when he is made to feel the degradation of
his pOsitiOn-nO step has been taken toward
reformation. You have simply filled his
heart with hatred. Then. when he has
been abused for several years. treated like a
wild beast and finally turned out again in
the community, he has no thought, in
majority of cases. except to get even"
with those who have prosecuted him. He
feels that it is persecution.
AnOtner view or THIS SUBJECT is this:
have read that of fifty criminals who had
been executed it was found. | believe. in
nearly all the cases. that the shape of the
skull was abnormal Whether this is true
or not don't know. but that some men lave
tendency toward what we call crime l
believe. Where this has been ascertained.
then. it seems to me such men should be
placed where they can not multiply their
kind. Women who have criminal ten
dency should be placed where they can not
increase their kind. For hardened crimi-
nals-that is to say, for the people who
make crime business-it would be better