The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1893-03-16

this country are changed materially.
The jails of our country are not places
Of punishment but of detention, and we
frequently see the innocent boy and the
most hardened criminal huddled togeth-
er in them. The surroundings do not
tend to elevate the boy, and the con-
Eliminating influences of the hardened
criminal too often have the opposite eff
feet. We in Ohio are building jails on
the central corridor plan, where each
prisoner will be kept separate. We have
a law in force that makes it unlawful
for prisoners to associate together in
jailS, where the construction of the jailS
will permit of their being kept separate.
We now have about forty of these new
jails, and will soon have great many
more The work house system, which
is the next grade above the Jail, is bad
ly managed in all parts of the United
States. They are absolutely useless. A
large majority of the men sent to the
work houses, are chronic drunkards, who
stay there just long enough to get sober
and then go out. and in a few days
come back for like dose. l have seen
men in the Cleveland and Cincinnati
work houses that have served from so
to 100 terms, and not long ago met a
man in the Deer Island work house in
Boston serving his 165th term. Sending
such men as these to work house is
only creating an expense for the commu-
nifty, from which no good follows. We
have bill pending in the Legislature,
and think it will pass, where a person
is sent to the work house at the discre-
ton of the court. That is the Judge
can give him 10 days or 80 days or per-
haps more if he sees fit. The next time
he is sent up his sentence is doubled,
and the next time trebled. If it should
happen that the same person is convict
ed fourth time we send him to the re-
formatory as incorrigible on indefinite
sentence subject to parole. 1 think this
system of handling chronic drunkards
will have tendency to reform a great
many of them, and if not it will at least
make the prisoner earn something for
the support of his family. Penologists
in all part of the United States are
pretty we'll agreed upon this as the
proper plan. We are now building a
reformatory in Ohio at cost of more
than 81 ,OOO,O 600, and when we get it ready
we will have one of the best reforma-
tories in the world. The prison at Co.
lumbus will then be used as a prison
for incorrigibles, and persons who COM
nit capital crimes. We have law in
Ohio which provides that the first term
man shall be sent to the refOrmatory
until cured and then discharged, or pa
rolled. If it so happens that he again
drifts back into the old rut, he is sent
up for longer time, and the third time
entities him to imprisonment for life.
What is the use of sending an habitual
criminal up for term of years, and
then letting him go again? The prison
is the place for him, and | am satisfied
that a greater number of our people
will bear me up in this assertion. Aft
er criminal is given all the chance in
the world to lead a better life, and then
doesn't, he becomes dangerous to a
community, and should be taken care
of. Your prison here is one of the best
regulated prisons 1 have ever seen, and
l think that in the course of few years
the people of Minnesota will see large
benefits arising from the reform meas
ures adopted here within the last year
or two. Your state board of corrections
and charities is one of the best in the
United States, and Secretary Hart is
one of the hardest workers have ever
met.
LORD DELIVER TTC FROM CTTNrJ