The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1888-06-13

in: and don't know but ought to make
you skip the town, anyway"
Now. l had not done any crooked work
up to that time and | was earning an honest
living and had given my employers entire
satisfaction. OF course l did not tell
them | was an eX-cOnvict, nor did give my
right name, but handled their goods, col
lected money for them, and, as | say, had
given good satisfaction for the three weeks
| had been at work. Now, l might moi
have continued honest, but | should have
had the benefit of the doubt if there was
any. Well, l didn't wait for another in
vite." to skip the town. | lett that same
night and have made many man dance
to my music since that same night. l am
satisfied from what | know now, that had
stayed in town, and any of the houses in my
part of the city had been entered and robbed,
would have been sent here again merely
on bad record. | was drifting around al
that time without any object in life. | was
thinking life hugh joke then, and l did
not consider it worth a serious thought,
but l have learned a good deal since then.
II have sinned and have suffered,
Yet the world will never know
How l tried to do my duty.
In the long, the long ago.
Well, now for our subject again. Society
has tried the clubbing process for reform.
ing criminals for two or three thousand
years, and what is the result? Nothing, .Ol
worse than nothing. l believe that wher
society gets hold of criminal it should keep
him in prison until it improves or cerrects
him, or else it should kill him. This may
sound harsh, but if you will think it over
in all its bearings you will see l am right
S,o ;o<x, ho, ,;orl,% {~ ifcn1f h,,&
has the criminal. for had society or the
state done its duty by him he might moi
have been criminal.
Under the present regina neither society
nor the criminal gets its rights. Society is
not protected under the present order OF
things, and the criminal is made worse by
his treatment in prison; therefore, / say il
is better for society and the criminal that he
should die rather than live and grow old anC
hardened in crime.
hold it better for man to believe thai
he will die while young in crime. for the
positive knowledge Of death will do more
to start man in the straight and narrow
path than so years OF prison discipline so
called-I call it prison tyranny. prison
filth. prison degradation and everything elst
that's low and mean, place where all the
natural impulses are held in check, and {
man is held in mental and physical slavery
II man had some little philosophy to start
with when entering prison he might be able
to add to it, and get some good out Of hi:
prison life. but philosophers don't usually
get into prison. The difficulty in the way
of prison reform is that society, as a whole
no considerable portion of it-gives the
subject no consideration.
When somebody's friend gets into prison
then that somebody is liable to give the
matter more serious thought. We will sup
pose that prisons are what they should be
and that most every man who was sem
there came out with an education-I dOn't
mean crooked education. What do you
suppose certain elements of society wOulC
say? They would very likely say mar
might better commit some crime and 90 tC
prison and be educated. The first thing tC
do is to reform the prison officials. You
must do this before you can reform the con-
vict There is no kind of punishment that
will of itself reform a man, but disci
plne, just strict [enough to maintain good
order, coupled with good system of moral
and industrial training, would undoubtedly
remedy the thing SO far as possible. The
industrial part of the prison should be man
aged so that each convict should have all he
earned to pay for his education and the ex.
pense OF his keeping. If there was any
more than this it should 60 to the man he
robbed. A man should be allowed to use
all his resources toward money making and
self-imprOvement. No rules should be
made by prison officials. The rules should
be made as the common law is. by the whole
legislature. 1t is giving little too much