The Red Cloud chief., 1888-04-13
AN uNcONSIDEREO EVIL.
Dangers Growing Out Of h Return .
Criminals FROM the GaOls.

Dangers Growing Out at the Return o
Criminals FROM the Caol~.
While we are 50 %nervcuSly anxious
to limit physical sickness We deliber
atelv continue year after year to sprra,
and to %perpetuate another sort Of dis
ease which is eating ut the very vital:
of society. Vice and crime not only
prey upon society. they poison it. And
what we do is this: Over and Ove
again we return again into the com
munity all the crime that finds its way
into our jails. The fever hospitals. the
smallpox hospitals do not send their
patients out till they are cured. till
there is no risk Of spreading the conta-
gion Of their several diseases. The in.
mates Of u jails. or \ vast number 81
them. are never cured. They are in
durable. They are either born crimi-
nalS-Of which. in the nature Of things.
there must be very many thousands in
a population like that of Ensland-or
they have become infected with crime
and hardened in it. as may easily hap
pen. considering the condition in which
n nan finds himself after imprisonment
for even one serious Offense. 1t is a
common belief that our prisons. our
convict establishments. are little better
than huge factories for receiving crimi-
nails at n end and turning them out
at the other with their original deprav-
ity confirmed and intensified. Some of
those who have the most intimate
knowledge oil these things tell us that
almost every one Of the poor wretches
whom We shut up in order to let loose
again leaves the prison more dangerous
to society than when he entered it. 1t
is extremely likely. In one mans case
the brand of crime is where it was not
before; in anOther's it is deepened.
The shame which so often passes into
desperation seizes Oh the less guilty;
the hardened criminal is vet more
hardened now. Yet we, knowing what
these men and wOmen are. knowing
that they are not only vicious in them
selves, but centcrs Of cOntagion and
breeders and perpetrators of crime.
constantly turn them back from Jail
into the community Of which they arc
the dregs and the poison. This is done
~methodically. W. do it Over and over
again with the same men and ome
and. after a generation or two of what
in the precisely similar case Of the hos
pitfalls would be thought downright
madness. We are startled by the extra
ordinary nImbcr of ''rOughs" that we
seem to possess.
How many Of us ever give a thought
to this extraordinary system of con
stantly returning criminal offenders
from the gaOls. where they are too
often exasperated and hardened. into
the general community. where nine
tenths of them can do nothing but con-
tinue in their old courses? Very few.
we imagine. And the public Indifference
to what really is not a law Of nature
is the more remarkable because the
problem of criminal discipline is Of the
very essence of that cOnditiOn-Of-tle-
question which. for all sorts of
.curiously compounded and c~ontras,ed
reasons. has SO closely and painfully
engaged attention of late. The misery
Of the unemployed. the poor estate Of
The half-employed. the gnawins ankle
ties Of many who yet contrive to find
regular work and wages-these
are topics that are found in the mouths
IF many who would be very sorry to
pose as philanthrOpists merely because
hey acknOwled &c the common instincts
If humanity. But while they worry the
,usk they refuse to probe the kernel
At the heart Of the evil lies this peren-
rally prolific mass Of hopeless vice and
rhine. and with it we shall have to
leal if we mean to do anything worth
he doing. If the thing is in any
way practicable we ought to change
he present system and take meas
res for moving out of the COM .
the worst members of the crim-
nal classes. Ever rs a factor in the ,
of pauperism and restitution 3,
his matter peremptOrily claims atten- ,
ion. 1t would be very cruel and very /;
bsurd to say that want is in every !
ase the result Of misconduct; but it is v
ruet that the inherited repugnance Of !,
urge numbers of our fellOw-men 70 :,
industry alone makes distress :
nmanageble. Thousands of the '.un- !,
mployed' earn no wages because they
o not want to work. They do odd jobs. 1.
ley loaf. they tramp. they pilfer. they b
.eal. and 50 on through the whole :.
.mut of laziness and vice. Why is y
lis? We have already said Human .
ature is far from perfect yet. Many =.
,gues are born; many others arc easily :"
lrned into rOgues by circumstance. Il :,
likely enough that the insti:.ct Of "
I'll living is transmitted; it is certain =.
the contamination Of vicious sur "
'undinSs has its natural effect Neces-
ty holds the born felon in q pitiless !,
lip. Birth gives theinfant the fatal bent :.
develops it. The unwiedly r
llk Of modern society is traversed by ..
lrd lines Of moral as well rs IF social "
eavage. Crime runs into pockets like +
e in the mine. The Ishmaelitcs dwell :,