Middletown transcript., 1893-10-21

|
ian attitude Of the people in regard to prison
reform causes me to have to hold up to
your gaze again the same dark picture l
have hung out to you at every convention
for decade of years. 1t is the sad, sombre
II picture of common jail with its unfortu-
nate inmates, of both sexes of all ages, and
of every degree of crime mixed up indis-
criminately.
The hardened criminal and impression
able youth Of first offence are boon compan-
lens; the misguided youth, who, under
proper conditions, might become respecta-
BILE member of society, eagerly listening to
the story of crime and adventure as it falls
from the polluted lips Of the blackened and
DETAINED. The thought is stamped upon
his Very ssoul, more indelibly every day,
that ne, too, is on oufcast. The woman
drifts lower and lower every day, amid such
surroundings, until the last faint spark of
| womenhood goes out in the darkness Of
hopeless degradation.
Huddled together in idleness, neglected
by the world, despised and Stunned by
decent people, there they curse and plot
and scheme against the society they regard
as their enemy. This is the picture hold
up to you of what actually exists in your
midst, and shudder at, for know not how
long.
What is Jail work? Is it jail work for
the superintendent to visit the jails every
month? Is it jail work for the the w. G.
T. u women to visit the jails on June 8,
carrying flowers to the prisoners. singing,
praying and then never seeing them again
until the next year? Is it Jail work to talk
with them, and pity their condition on
those periodical visits and fold our hands,
while this blot on our escutcheon grows
blacker and blacker, viewed by comparison
with progressive states?
When these thoughts force themselves
upon me, thoughts of how little has been |
accomplished in our iails, have been |
almost ready to argue myself to the point
of laying down my weapons, but for the
voice of duty. Tread of improved methods |
being introduced in other states, bur do |
know of anything we could call reform in |
our prisons in Delaware2 The years go by, |
leaving their changes upon everything; |
manners, customs and laws change with |
time, but the jails of Delaware remain the |
same.
In Dover and Georgetown jails there |
are no books except those carried by |
friends. New Castle Jail is better in this
respect, having small library. But books |
only serve to relieve the monotony of a
very few in our iails. Our prisoners, as
class, are not readers of books. For them
jail life is nothing but an existence of alb |
solute idleness, sometimes for ten years,
Work would be a moral, as well as physical |
benefit to them, for. indeed, prison life in
Delaware is certain destroyer of both
morals and health
One man in Dover jail who has borne |
the enforced idleness for eight years, once
made his escape. but upon being captured |
and brought back, told me that he was
coming back anyhow as his feet were in
such condition, that he could not walk far,
nor could he use his hands at labor EN-
ployment is what they need. Employment |
that will keep them physically strong,
make them morally better, by dispelling |
gloomy thoughts; that will inculcate in
them habits of industry, which would be a
powerful factor in the reformation of even
the worst man, besides furnishing with
trades with which to begin life anew.
: All this argument is met with a. sneer
and frown of disapproval. Punishment
and nothing but punishment, is the popular
notion in Delaware. But this chief object |
of it all should be, to reform and reclaim
the fallen one, whose miserable environ
ment is resposible for his unfortunate posi-
ton. Our prisons are pointed at with scorn |
and derision by those living outside the
state
Not long ago the manager of an excur-
sion made New Castle Jail special feature
in his program of attractions, advertising
that the boat would stop at New Castle on
certain days, when the excursionists could
visit the Jail. view the prisoners, witness
the whippings and other punishments in
season. Sheriff Gould soon put stop to
this, but it only shows the light in which
we are viewed by outsiders.
was very much entertained and aston
ished little while ago, in Dover Jail, when
one of the prisoners told how heavily the |
fact of his being in Jail weighed upon him,
apart from being deprived of his liberty. |
He spoke of being away from his family |
and how hard it is to bear, and said he: |
at live to get out, who will ever notice
me again? feel ruined already
That was the point with him as it is with |!
all of them, not lost to all sense ofproper
manhood. They know discharged prison
ers have hard road to travel, and that |
they get the least sympathy of any class
of unfortunate people. Discharged without |
character, without credit, without cash. l
can imagine no darker life than that the
man has to face. who has served his time in
one of our jails.
In New Castle jail there are I25 of this
kind Of pitiable humanity; in Dover Jail,