St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-10-29
To PRISON SUNDAY EFFORT.
Paris Leads the World in SyS-
}, 81 tematic and Fife ctive
Va Prison Work.
CRIMINALS ALL GRADED.
7tfss
The Peoples Church Sunday
School Holds Its Annual
Rally Exercises.

experiences in the prisons of Paris to a
large and interested audience. He
prefaced his remarks by saying that sci
ence is today better informed in regard
to the lives and habits of the lower ami
mails than it is in regard to the life of
man, for the reason that man is a COM
pick combination Of the divine and dew
ilIsh, and is thus so difficult a problem.
''Six prisons of the great city of Paris
furnished the material for the expert.
enees that wish to relate. We are
accustomed to think of the French as a
volatile and individual race. but in truth
they are less changeabie at bottom than
the Teutonic people. The government
of France, so far as institutions are
concerned, has been long unchanged,
and revolution only changes the top
Of the State-Ihe foundation is un.
moved. For this reason the prisons
represent long continued historical
development of the idea of criminal
punishment.
s'The depot Of police is similar to our
police headquarters, and was the first
place visited. There are accommJa-
tions here for 600 prisoners. 25O of
whom were women, at that time.
Twenty-Five sisters of charity followed
their calling here, although kept out of
most of the other prisons. to the detri-
ment of good results, be it said.
1.-The prisoners are confined here but
a short time, and are allowed to wear
their own clothes when confined for
less period than six months. When
first arrested they are Dathed, their
clothing steamed and the drunken ones
put to bed to prepare them for exa nina
ton. For purposes OF Identification. the
prisoners are compelled to undergo the
BertillOn system of measurement and
examination. The head, right ear, fore
arm, middle finger, spine ana left foot
are measured, and in no instance yet
found have two cases with Identical
measurements appeared. The police
system of Paris is so perfect that On the
eve OF Carnot's funeral
...-t $40 Anarchists,
all who were known to be in the city,
were arrested in one hour and a half
fact not possible with police of any
other city.
"Another prison is that of st. Pelazie,
or journalists prison, where political
prisoners are confined whose Sentences
do not exceed one year. Sumo of these
men have been committed twenty times
for airing political beliefs.
"The Prison Roquette is the one from
which the guillotine executions occur,
and consists of building surrounded
with double wall containing $50
criminals. Little Rnquette Is prison
for boys Of from seven To twenty years
OF age. and holds about 500 of them in
solitary confinement. and who, it is
hoped. may be corrected
prison de la Saute is a building with
cells built on lines radiating from a
common center and contains thousand
criminals. half of whom are i'll solitary
confinement as being up for the first
time and perhaps corrigible, while the
rest are. Ill common. imprisoned as
liable to return again and hopeless.
1.-The last prison is that of st. LaZare,
which is for women and children. and is
really compulsory hospital. where the
many public women are sent for treat
ment. This was by far the most pItiable
and wretched of all Paris prisons.
''These are all short-term prisons, as
the lOng-term conyicts are transported
from the city to serve their sentences
The prisoners are fed twice day on
bread and vegetables, with meat but
once week. Restaurants are run
where the prisoner may spend the
money that he earns at labor in the
prison: but the regular fare is calcu-
lated to be the smallest amount that is
capable OF sustaining the life of man.
Fer the work done they receive from 6
to 80 cents Der daV
every imaginable kind of work is
performed i'll bronze, feathers. wire,
straw, etc., with something for each
and every one.
They administer there the hardest
discipline at first, aud II the prisoner
appears dOcile the rigor of his labor is
lightened until he reaches the class to
which he belongs. New cases are al
ways treated in solitary. and under no
circumstances are newspapers allowed.
1.-THE Criminals Are Made Up Of
Two Classes
the floating. made up of those whose
crimes are those of sudden impulse or
by accident, and Y no rarely reappear in
the courts, and the rixed, who consist of
the vagab0ndS or lazy ones, and the abb
solutely vicious.
The crimes against persons attain
their maximum of frequency in sum-
mer. while those against property are
most general in winter, which is certain
ly curious phenomenon. There are
more criminals Oh Mondays than OH
any other day in the week, which may
be one of the results of the Sunday holi-
day that precedes. offering such Oppor.
tunity for dissipation and excess. AS
to heredity. the offspring of hySterical,
epileptic and nervous people have Il
tendency to crime and most criminals
are possessed of some imperfectly
formed physical member and seem to
be, as rule. deficient in intellectual
ability and moral or religious senti.
ment.
Ss"The problems that arise are as to the
relation of punishment to the reSpon si-
biIity of the criminal. Whether an ire
sponsible man with inherited weak
nesses should be allowed TO roam at
large, a menace to the community or
not? Whether sentences should be in
proportion to the crime, or vary i'll &C.
cordance with the character and diSpO-
sition of the culprit? And then, in for
eignl countries the influence of the COM
pulsory military life Of two or three
years upon the young men of the land
Is of great sociological Importance, and
| is worthy of our consideration, by con-
| trast with our own system.
"Thefe is another question that
| should come to every one who has the
| interests of humanity at heart. aud that
| is The one of this physical training OF
| children who are born deficient in any
| way, as an exercise OF tile knowledge
| that crooked spine is not only family
| and individual misfortune, but a social
| danger, and the prevention by law of
marriages whose fruit would be disas-
| trous to social life."
SUNDAY SCHOOL RALLY.
Annual Event at the Peoples
Church.