The San Francisco call., 1897-10-23
A BOWER OF BEAUTY And EASE.
Many Criminals Find Life So
Easy There That They
Hasten to Return.
HOW OTHER PRISOsS ARE RULED.
Systems Where Rational Punishme Mt
Reforms the Best and Alarms
the Worst Convicts.

The further one studies the prison sys-
tenn OF California the mora glaring % its
defects appear. Nobody blame. the
wardens of either penitentiary for the fact
that both prisons are conducted in an an.
tiquated and unscientifc way. and no.
! body is more keenly aware of the defects
| of the system than the men who have to
com bat daily with their evils.
So long ago as the administration of
Governor Perkins there was pathological
inquiry by com mission OF prominent
citizens, of which W. H. Mills wa. chair
man, and their recommendations were
scientific and far-reaching. but they were
| pIgeon-holed along with other data OF
| character not pleasing 20 the politician.
The comm ssion soon discovered that
many OF the evils OF the system were due
TO perverted politics, and that some of the
men IN power were as wicked as the con-
victs in their charge.
Several national conventions of chari-
ties and corrections have discussed the
prevalence OF crime and marveled at the
extent OF the defective, deinQuent and
dependent classes in California. 1t was
shown so long ago as the national con-
vention of that body in 1883 that while
there is one such derelict to each 100 rer-
sons IL the United States at large here Is
one to each seventy-one in this State. 1t
has been estimated by conservative
authorities since that time that the num-
Der is now much greater than in the past
so that the last decade would make far
worse showing, especially in the criminal
classes.
Sheriff Cunningham of Stockton and
Detective ID ume of the Wells Far sys-
tenn say they can see the handiwork OF the
graduates OF California penitentiaries in
many OF the more recent crimes, such as
robbery, burglary and stage-robbing.
There have been numerous cases where
| criminals have escaped from San Quentin
| aid hasIened to commit a r.me again 20
! be returned, preferring the food con-
venlences and protection OF that shelter
| ing home to the trials and trIbulations of
| life on the outside. In welI-conducted
penal institutions the criminals grow so
| weary OF the discipline and mono tony
that the memory OF their Incarceration is
sufficiently deterrent to work benefits in
reformation.
One OF the great prisons of the United
States is at Eimira, n. y, where the dis
| clpllne Is so trm, vet gentle, that it works
great benefits. 1t does not follow the
harsh Calvinistic torture of the great Mill
bank prison in London, nor is IL as severe
as the Pentonville regime nor as the Eng
llsh Brixton penltentiary, yet It's effects
are most salutary. The punishment is in
the monotony and regularity of the dis
cipline ra her than in its severity and
Keen anguish. 1t has been found that The
criminal mind suffers under the restraints
OF law and dlScl pine, hence nothing curbs
and disgusts +, beilious spirits with prison
lie so much as the continuity of fixed
discipline. At Elmira there is plenty of
good food and exercise. but there is also a
vast amount of work, military drill, GYM
nastics and general discipline.
Some such isolation OF prisoners as is
seen in miniature way in the Froebel
system OF punishment in kindergartens
has always proved successful in severer
form in prisons. Ii recognizes the growth
OF the race from the era of primitive pun
ishment, with retributive justice and tor
ture in harsh forms, to tho present period
OF reformatory penology, with punish
ment no severer than necessary to arouse
the prisoners desire to escape sim liar
experience, and 10 deter others from
| crime by the awful example OF conse-
quences.
1t has been the experience of nearly all
students of penoIogy that the system of
Sir William Crawford and that of Sir Wal
ter Crofton, the Irish authority, are two
OF the best ever invented. They are alike
IN many OF their essential details. Many
OF their points could be adopted with
much benefit at San Quentin. Among
other features, convicts are allowed to see
their friends from the outside world but
twice year. There are distinctions in
| diet for prisoners, according 10 their con-
| duct. Added to this, some of them are
restricted much more than others in their
| exercise, correspondence and general
| privileges. The worst have quite bleak
rooms, and sleep on hard board, while
| each grade has separate prison garb
according to the infamy of the crime and
the conduct OF the prisoner within the
] penitentiarv.
The Crofton, or Irish, system, is seen in
| Its perfection and full development IN but
one great prison in the world and that IS
| at Lepoglaya, Hungary, under the super-
vision OF TaUffer. The gradation of
| prisoners there is specific and very scien-
| the. The first sage EN- braces a strict
| cellular regime, with isolation under
| strict rules for about nine months subject
| TO shortening OF the time By good con-
| duct. From this stage the prisoner is
| allowed association with his fellows, with
more rules to obey. The third stage en-
| braces life IL cottages within the prison
district, while the fourth and last stage
EN- brace conditional Liberation. This
plan has been very strongly indorsed bv
such American penoloSists as Theodore
Dwight, the well-known law writer and
r. b. San born of Boston. but the influence
| OF politics has been so corrupting in nearly
all the states that it mas been I'm possible
| TO have all the features of the plan
adopted In any American penitentiary
The Eimira system is little like IT, Al
Elmlra the prisoners edit paper and
JOIN In weekly debate after they have
reached certain degree OF advance
ment.
The great defect of the California svs-
tenn is that there is far too much liberty
Tor all the conv CTS and an entire absence
OF systematic classitica io:, systematic
punishment 10 Tit the crime,' as SCI forth
In the IN Ikadc." Prisoners are treated,
dressed, exercised and disci plined sub
siantially in the same way, regardless OF
the TACT that some are hardened criminals
guilty OF heinous crimes. Without some