The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-09-17
PAROLES AND GRADING.
Systems Which Tend to De-
crease the Population
of JailS.
CONTRACT LABOR NOT PROPER.
Warden Hale Insisted That Money
Making Was Not the Object
of Punishment.

DENVER, Colo, Sept. 16.-The first
business session of the National Prison
Congress was held this morning in Unity
Church Warden r. S. Allen of Joliet,
ILL.,, read a paper describing the merits and
advantages of the State account system OF
employment of convicts, which elected
lively debate.
In the debate which followed the read
ing of the paper Warden George of Ken
lucky Endorsed the plan. Kentucky has
had the system in vogue two years and
has found it successful. About HOO men
are employed on Estate account" and about
forty on contract. The contract men give
more trouble than the 1000 or more men
employed by the other system.
Warden Chambers of Michigan did not
agree. 1t had not been successful i'll his
State. By question from Warden Hale
of California it came out that the Illinois
institution has a number of statesmen on
the road, selling all over the country to
jobbers only, and not at cut prices. Hale
insisted that systems for making money
were not the end and aim of prisons.
Warden French of the United States
Prison at Leavenworth, Kans., made an
impassioned appeal for an application to
prisons of the principles set in action at
Elmira, n. Y, by Mr.. Brockway. He
pleaded for humanitarianism and charity,
and not for money making.
In reply to questions Warden Allen said
that convicts produce less than free
men; their hours are shorter and their
tasks lighter, so that in his State there was
no complaint from laboring men. The op-
position to this system in Illinois comes
not from labor organizations, but from the
contractors.
In paper on reformed prison methods
Henry Wolfner, Warden of the Minnesota
Penitentiary at Saltwater, said:
THE object of prison government is to
protect society. Any system which does
not do this is failure. The parole system
will raise the tone of prison life. 1t
teaches the prisoner self.taught lessons
of discipline and order. ii he cannot re-
form he ought to remain in prison.
'1he parole and the indeterminate SEN
tence will certainly bring a great reform
in the conduct of prisons. We are coming
to believe that crime, like insanity, may be
cured. Men who follow crime because
they hke@&3islike paroles and grading.
Show theA en that the parole system,
grading, the indeterminate sentence and
the Bertillon system have come to stay,
and you decrease prison population one
half. That is something to accomplish"
A paper on the parole system prepared
by the Hon. w. F. Spaulding of Massa-
chusetts was read by his colleague, Mr..
Bailey.
The prison chaplains held session in
the afternoon. Papers were read by the
president, Rev. G. H. Hickox of Jackson,
Mich; Rev. ). H. Albert of Saltwater,
Mimi, and Rev. w. J. Bott of Concord,
Mass.
At the evening session OF the Prison Con-
gress paper, prepared by Professor A. G.
Warner of the Leland Stanford University
on the subject of Politics and Crime, 4"
was read by delegate. 1t was marked by
a frankness of assertion and positiveness
of conviction which created a sensation.
Many delegates discussed the paper, but
could not deny its statements.
Warden Hale of San Quentin Peniten-
tiary objected strongly to the statements
contained in the paper and intimated
clearly that much of it was not well
founded in fact.
In this paper Professor Warner held
that the young of a community look upon
the police officers, justices, constables and
other officers of the law as successful men,
and their standard of morality is copied
by the admiring youth. Thus political
corruption begets crime. The wealthy and
influential citizen OF such a community,
even church members, in order to secure
profitable prison contracts, municipal
franchises and the like are not averse to
using corrupt methods to gain their selfish
ends. They also set examples to the young
which lead to crime, and political methods
which are consequently vicious.
Warden Nichols of the Federal Prison at
Fort Leavenworth made statement of
the inferior condition of that institution
and of its needs, closing by stating that if
he did not hold his position there but three
weeks he would be boss and politics should
not influence his work