The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1889-03-28
Views of DIR. WineA.

views OF DIR. Wines.
DR.. Fred H. Wines. gentleman of ma
tional reputation as an authority on prison
matters. delivered a lecture at Nashville.
Tennessee last month, in which he gave a
clear exposition of the prison question.
The lecture embodied the fruits of careful
study and extended research among the
prisons of this country and Europe. The
following is portion of his lecture as pub
lished in the Nashville Daily American:
A refOrmatOry discipline in prison in
cludeS proper system of labor, of educa-
ton and OF religious influence
Labor in prison should be productive.
The crank. the treadnill and the cannon
ball drill, as the speaker has seen them in
operation in English prisons, are of little or
no value. He cited the opinion of DR.. Felix
Adler in the favor of the good effect of
manual training in the development OF char
acter. and the reasons given by him. namely,
that it not only strengthens weak will,
but turns the will into right channels.
The controversy over systems of labor is
OF no Importance, compared with that OF
labor under some system. The lessee does
not exist in any Northern State. with the
possible exception of Nebraska, where,
however, the prison is the property of the
State. The debate there relates exclusively
to the "cOntract' system, to which there
are weighty objections. Among them may
be mentioned the weakness shown by the
Government which. instead of meeting its
own responsibilities, delegates its proper
and inalienable function to some other
agent; the pecuniary interest of contractor
in the work performed by his men; the dan
ger of conflict OF authority between the
contractor and the prison officials; the temp
tatiOn to introduce free labor into the prison.
and to work uncOnvicted men side by side
with prisoners; the facilities afforded, by the
coming and going of the contractors men,
for communication between prisoners and
their friends on the outside; the increased
liability to political control of the prison,
through the political influence of the con-
tractors: the almost inevitable tendency to
subordinate the reformatory ends of prison
discipline to the desire to show large earn
ings. etc. Some, of these objections are
more weighty than others. But the con-
tract system is wrong in theory, and can
be justified only on the ground of it's practi-
cal convenience. The tendency of the age
is toward its abolition.
He then proceeded to discuss the import
ance of education and the religious in>truc-
ton in prison. If ignorance is cause of
crime, the Inference is plain that the ignO-
rance OF the convict ought to be overcome,
In order that he may be freed from the Oper-
alton of this cause when released. There
should be schoolmaster and chaplain in
every prison, and the chaplain should re-
ceive moral support from the officers in
charge: they themselves should be persons
OF high character, actuated by religious
motives.
He concluded by remarking upon two
popular falIacieS: First, that a prison
should be made to pay; and second, that
prison may be lawfully regarded and used
as part of the political machine. The
cost of the prison is but small part of the
cost of crime; we may save expenses at this
point, and yet. by so managing and govern
ing prisons as to promote, rather than to
check the growth of crime. we may in the
end lose money, instead of making it. The
aim of prison is to make prisoners better,
and there is no more reason why prison
should pay than an insane hospital.