The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1890-03-13
saltwater, Minn. Thursday, March 13, 1890
improvement as of primary importance, will

| be the most successful.
The improvement, in some way, of every
man sheltered within penal institution for
term of years. should be obligatory; and
each man should be required to show, from
time to time, that he is improving he has
any intellect at all-and make himself
better man than when he entered the prison.
If he cannot show that he is better morally,
he should be able to show that he is being
made better in point of useful qualifications
| there can be no deception about that, as
there is too likely to be in regard to moral
| improvement. IT man enters a prison
ignorant of the fundamental rules of arith-
metic and in three or five years is discharged
with good practical knowledge of it. he has
| been made better man, and is better quail
| flied to be a useful citizen. He is fitted to
| fill hundred good positions in the busy
world at large that he would have been
worthless for without his newly acquired
knowledge; and l would take more ''stock''
in him as a reformed man than [ would in
| the man leaving prison with Bible in one
hand and prayer book in the other, and
with nothing more to show in the line of
SelfimprOvement than to whimper his res
OlutiOnS to lead an honest. upright life
there is nothing tangible in that-but when
you see man who entered prison ignorant
in everything useful, departing strong in the
confidence of acquired knowledge that will
enable him to hold up his head among men
and compete with them where only men are
desired, you can feel little degree of as
surance that you will not see him return to
the prison after few weeks absence.
The only idea that many prisoners seem
to have of reformation of character is that
it implies nothing but religious change OF
heart and life. Such change is good and
desirable; but, if a prisoner is ignorant, the
best preliminary steps he can take toward
reform is to store his mind with all the
sound, practical, everyday knowledge he
can, and to commit the multiplication table
to memory will prove longer step toward
| reform and usefulness than the same time
spent in reading the Bible. A man in prison
can engage in moral reflections enough at
night, after the lights are out, to serve every
purpose that the most radical reformation
of character demands, and such reflections
when INDUCED in the light of general mental
improvement. will enable him to preserve
we'll balanced condition of mind and all
will work together for his good.
| There are numerous useful studies that
prisoners can engage in that do not require
a costly outfit of books or instruments: and
under present conditions in all the peni-
tentarieS in the northern and western
states, there is hardly warden or chaplain
who will not supply the inmates with the
requisites if they apply for them. 1t is to
be hoped that the time will come when the
expensive requisites for the higher branches
of study, whether of books or instruments.
of all kinds, may be provided by the state,
and supplied to prisoners while they are
able to show that they are making due use
of them.
The percentage of prisoners to whom
Ignorance is bliss" is small, and their g
nOrance would be less blissful if they were
compelled to show a wholesome degree of
improvement as justification of their ear
lier discharge than without it. The more
general apathy with prisoners toward their
improvement in useful knowledge is owing
to inconsiderate thoughtlessness of what
is for their best interests. If they could be
duly aroused, stimulated and encouraged by
their whilOm guardians, and a systematic
course pursued to ascertain their noble
! tastes and lnclinatiOnS, and then aided to
their fullest development, there would be
ten men who would 60 from prison to be-
come respected and useful where there is
now hardly one, and the criminal problem
would find its best and most effectual So
| luton.
Until the adoption of such system in
the management of PRISONS we should in
dvidually anticipate it by voluntarily en-
gag III Jul Improvement ny every HcdnS
accessible. 1t spites no one but ourselves
if we abandon ourselves because we wear,
for time. the brand and disgrace of fallen
men; it were better to make it our object
to refute the stigma that ''Once criminal
always criminal" and our efforts to that
end, II properly directed. will be our gain
even While in prison. as it will give pleaSur
able employment to our minds; brighten
the hours of our solitude, and give us more
cheerful anticipations of life when we shall
have entered the world again. A..
Charlestown. Mass, Feb 1890.