The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1890-01-30
Female COnYictS.

subject of crime and its cure, so little atten-
ton is given to means by which female
criminals may be reclaimed.
Women. as rule, form very small per-
centage of our convicted criminal pOpula-
ton. 1t may truly be said that if men were
in any slight proportion as honest and up
right as the weaker sex, crime would not
be such an all-inportant torment to thinking
people of this age.
Upon looking over the records of the
crimes of which most female prisoners are
convicted it will be found that the percent
age of regulation robbers such as burglars
pickpOckets, etc.. are very small. The Of
lenses generally attributed to women are,
in nearly every case. the result of unsound
social conditions. While these Offenses are
very often of an extremely heinOus nature.
still, if the whole truth were known in
many cases, it would be found that the
circumstances of the cOmmlttal of such
crimes are not lacking in eXtenuating con.
ditiOns. Very often the brutal and inhuman
conduct of husbands leads women to the
cOmmittaJ of crimes the very thought of
which would send them into Mysteries I'M
DER ordinary conditions
1t must be remembered that women are
practically defenseless when domineerng
man so loses his sense of manliness as to
trample on their natural rights and make
them his slaves; and in such cases when
woman. in her just anger, seeks retaliation
it must be decisive. 1t is generally severe
strain upon woman to make the effort that
will rescue her from an unbearable tyranny,
and if not successful when she makes the
attempt, must ever afterward succumb to
her enforced serfdOm.
When woman is convicted of any speci-
fic crime, society gives her secondary
trial and usually finds her guilty of all
other crimes it is possible for the most de-
graded woman to commit. She is charged
with being immoral and is Stunned by the
most intimate friends of her own sex. 1t
matters not what the original charge may
have been, the elongated-visaged scandal
mOngers will prove to you that it is not the
only crime she has committed. Let us con-
slider a moment what the result would be if
society dealt in an equally harsh manner
with male criminals Certain it is that the
latter have no path of roses to traverse after
serving term in prison. Still their lot is
an enviable one when compared to that of
the female eX convict. In her case all legiti-
mate means of employment are denied her
wherever her record is known or limited at
Men and women who go to church every
Sunday and pray for 1.-THE poor benighted
souls that are following in the path of wick
edness," shudder at the sight of the woman
whom society has branded as an Outcast.
and chaSeS her away from their door. fear
ing that even the sight of her will faint
them. The only door that is freely opened
to the discharged female prisoner. and the
one to which she is constantly drawn, is
the portal that opens to a life of misery and
shame.
1t seems to make no difference what the
nature of a crime is that woman is I'M
prisoned for-tie world will always con
slider her guilty of special additional
crime. even though there is not one iota of
actual evidence to substantiate the belief.
And even though it were really true that
these women are guilty of the additional
crime alleged does that make them any
worse than the male prisoner, or to go still
further. does it make them any worse than
very large percentage of the average men
of to-day? If the writer was offered
choice between the acceptance of one cent
for every impure man found, and $40. 90 for
every one who could cOnScientiOusly' throw
the first stOne," he would choose the former
if his intention was to accumulate wealth
rapidly. In dealing with many serious
subjects of every day life society's written
and unwritten laws are a mass of rancid
rottenness. the only excuse for the existence
of which is the tissue paper covering of pro-
priety that prevents such DEGREES from en-
velOping the makers in their nOxiOuS exhala-
tons.
Women are the preservers of the purity
of the world and it is the greatest injustice
to shun one who has fallen by the waysde
as though she were lOathSOme l6per. IT