The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-10-29
PRISON REFORM AT ELMIRA
ADDRESS BY CH.fRLES DUDLEY
 WARNER AT UNITED CHURCH.

Idea rhere-Work Fouad for Every Man Who Leaves the Institutlon-s ubje jected
 toa Bodily and Mental Training.
 Charles Dudley Warner of Hartford spoke In the United church before u
 large audience last. evennig on tho
 subject, Prison Reform as Carried on
 at Elmira." To say that the large aud-
 fence were intensely interested in Mir.
 warmers discourse would be putting Id
 mildly. Dr. Munger introduced him
 with a few remarks. Mir. warner
 spoke in part as follows:
 The principal idea we now have In
 dealing with the criminal classes ia
 to punish them. That is about as far
 as We have got in civilization. In bar.
 barous time we used to do the punish.
 ing ourselves. Now we erect great
 1ails or prisons and establish courts
 and police departments. I don't know
 where we got this idea of punishing. It does not enter into the Elmira syss
 tenn at all. There they attempt to res form a man. When a man has cons
 mitted crime, has shown by his ac- tions that he is at war with society.
 they say to him that he shall be de- prived of his liberty, and shall be subs jected to bodily and mental discipline. He is placed there to be protected from
 himself, and where he can earn hts own living. The Elmira system says man shall be trained into a decent and respectable manner of living with the idea of making him law-abiding citizen. There Is not a criminal who iH confined in prison or penitentiary who does not come out a worse man than when he went in. This system takes man when he Is considered a hopeless case and tries to save him to society. So where a man commits a felonius action he is taken from his surroundings and put in place where his body shall be thoroughly attended to, and where he will be trained men-
 tally. He is not shut up with people
 as bad as himself, neither is he placed
 in solitary confinement. He is put through course of training which may be compared to the course a col- lege student takes for his diploma. "The New York state law at present is that man over sixteen years of age and under thirty years, convicted of
 crime for the first time-that is, a
 crime that would send him to Auburn
 or Sing Sing-shall be sent to the re-
 forrnatory at Elmira. When he ar- rives there he finds that he is at Ia great institution of compulsory indtfs- l trial education, They are confronted
 with the necessity of radically chang- ing the whole course of their lives. You must remember that the institu- tion does not have to deal with chil- dren or babies. It has to deal with hardened and abnormal youths anu men. All the men there are divided into three sections, widely distinguish ed by dress and privileges. The authorities thoroughly examine every man physically and mentally. They examine into his heredity and the cir- cumstances in which they have been placed. He is put in shop to do work for which he is best fitted, and in a school to study. He Is at first placed in the middle division, and the third thing with which he is confronted is line of conduct to which he must conform if he keeps in that division.
 "These boys have wills that are abso- lutely ungovernable and irruptlve and irresponsible passions. The will of ona of these fellows is like a will O tha wisp. It IS strongly impressed on him that he must display willingness and earnestness in his work and studies, no matter what he may be doing.
 "If one visits state prison he is im- pressed with this sullen air which all the prisoners have. They drag ,their feet as they walk. They have about them the air of utter hopelessness, as far as any reformation .is concerned. But if one visits the Elmira reforma- tory he is everywhere impressed with the alertness of the men. They movs about with willingness and alacrity. Here they are subjected to mora rigid system of marking than at any of our colleges. They are also given military drill which has proved very useful in disciplining the men. When 8 man has been for six months in the first division, he is a candidate for freedom. In some way or other he is always found job at which he cal1 earn his living. Without this no one is ever let go from the institution. And 1t has already become compara- lively easy to find places for them. When job Is found for them they are given 8 parole for six months, during which time monthly reports are sent by their employers to the reformatory authorities. If their record is satis- factory at the end of that time, they are given their freedom.
 Of all the institutions in the world which I have visited that at Elmira ia the most interesting for student of psychology. t.ts
 During the past six months MT. Broadway, the superintendent of the institution, has been attacked. Why, I am not prepared to to say. An at- tempt was made to remove the pres- ent board of managers and put the institution in line with Auburn and Sing Sing. have known Mr. Brock way for years. He is a man of strength, placid and equitable, a man who has devoted his whole life to this work of reforming. Within the limits prescribed by the law he has been able to turn out S2 per cent. of the men reformed and respectable citizens Ha has been attacked on account of cru~ A ~-