The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1890-11-27

mutual hostility, the ex- convict often lives
and moves and has his being as an outlaw;
his subsistence is by force. This feature of
Imprisonment. especially in its tendency to
make enmity to the world and lawlcs3ness
in the world the fixed habits of the eX-con.
vict, is a specific evil.
Imprisonment puts mark upon the pris-
oner, which is well nigh indeliblc The
stain of it Outlasts the longest sentence. and
is more severe than the severeSt penalty of
the law. Even after justice has cried.
''hold, enough" the punishment of re-
prOach goes on. Neither penitence, nor
forgiveness, nor exemplary conduct takes
away the stain. The transgreSSiOn may be
blOtted out, but scarcely ever is the remem
brance erased. Public sentiment rarely puts
more into its terms of fellowship with the
ex convict than. I'VE will forgive, but we
cannot forget" There are some compensa
tiOns to the prisoner for his endurance of
imprisonment. but it has no recompense for
its stain. The stigma of Imprisonment is
one of the evils of Imprisonment.
Many persons become prisoners by reason
OF their dependent natures and habits; they
are practically ignorant of the fact that
even the things for personal subsistence and
use are not free. that they can only prop
erly come into possession of these by earn
ing them; they have been unmindful of the
necessity and mercy of work. They have
all their lives long been disobedient to the
law for mans industrial. social. and moral
welfare, and the provision of great priv
ilege which is written: I'm the sweat of
thy face shalt thou eat bread. till thou re-
turn unto the ground" The aim of such
persons has been to get food and clothes
and shelter and things beside without earn
ing them. and without the expenditure of
any real toll or manual labor. The right
relation of earning and hav ng has not been
established in their minds or practice. AS
prisoners they hear precepts OF domestic
and social economy; but as prisoners they
are not called upon to take thought what
they shall eat, or what they shall drink. or
wherewithal they shall be clothed Nor do
prison life and treatment tend to correct or
eliminate the dependent characteristic of
the prisoner; they rather minister to its In
crease and fxedness as a habit. Three
times day the prison provides the prisoner
with food; it always clothes him, and daily
and nightly it shelters him; in sickness or in
health it cares tor him, he having no care
in any of these things. The industries of
the prison, be they ever so productive, do
not have that relation to the individual
prisoner which will give him to understand
that his living has anything directly to do
with his working, or that he has earned his
living by his own prison work. The sense
of having only through earning is not awak
ened or promoted by prison labor. Labor
is generally considered by the prisoner
part of his sentence. and is not. in his view,
the source of his maintenance Nor is it,
for he is maintained without reference to
his labor, or independent of it. The aid
which imprisonment gives to the spirit and
habit OF dependence is All evil-perhapS
necessary evil, but certainly one which can
not be easily separated from present meth
Ods of administration.
imprisonment to considerable degree,
fixes the status of the eX-prisOner in the
community. He is quite generally the com.
munity's dread. and it in turn is often his
antipathy. because of the i'll will of the one
to the other. which began the moment the
convict was sentenced. The great force of
a communitys disrust and mstrust is likely
to bear against and down upon an ex pris-
oner; albeit the unfriendlness of the world
to him is. on the whole, less to day than it
was in the past When the prisoner goes
free from Imprisonment, he generally goes
burdened with poverty and sense of dis
grace; he finds it hard to make his way in
the world; it frOwns upon him; it does not
open up its avenues of prosperity to him.
In order to pass unchallenged in conduct.
he must be more crcumspect than other
men are. for public opinion is more critical
concerning his walk and conversation than
concerning those who have never been con-
victs. Imprisonment handicaps the ex
prisoner for the new walk in life: the dis
tressing. depressing. hindering effect of i'm
prisOnment involves the after life position.
and opportunities of the prisoner, apart
from their involvement in his crime and
conviction. This carrying over of the un-
toward things of Imprisonment into the ex
prisoners life is one of the evils of impris-
onment.