The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-11-12
urge PRISON REFORM
State Charities Aid SoCiety's
Annual Meeting at
Taylor's Hotel.
CALL ON THE GOVERNOR TO ACT
Mrs. Ballington Booths Excellent
Work Among the Inmates of
the Trenton Prison.
CALL ON TIE GOVERNOR TO ACT

The State Charities Aid Society held its
annual meeting today in Taylor's Hotel,
this city. The meeting opened shortly be-
fore eleven o'clock. In the absence OF the
President, Charlton T. Lewis, the Rev
George c. Maddox presided. Mr. Lewis
arrived late and Mr. Maddox gave place
to him. Mrs. Emily E. Williamson, General
Secretary of the association read the re-
port of the Board of Managers, when
was follows
In behalf of the association we beg
respectfully to ask the attention OF Your
Excellency to the pressing necessity 1or
immediate and liberal appropriations 10
complete the State Reformatory. me
plans of this institution and the work al
ready done upon it have received the en-
thusiastic approval of those best quallheo
TO appreciate them. II finished ana put
in operation in accordance with these
plans and within a reasonable time, 1t
will contribute largely to bring our State
TO the front rank among civilized govern
mentS in its methods of dealing with the
criminal classes. Without rejecting on tne
management of the State Prison, which
We believe to be as efficient as IS pos
sible under existing laws, and with the
present building, it remains true that our
penal system, as a whole, is to. great
extent failure. The abuses and wrongs
practiced in connection with county jails
have often been emphasized in these re-
ports, and in spite of the faithful EFFORTS
of many officers administering these in
stitutions, they remain a standing re-
proach to the State. But the chief defects
in our methods of dealing with crime lie
fmbedded in the traditional codes of penal
law. These define particular acts as Of
fenses, and impose definite terms of i'm
prisonment as penalties. The result has
been to make the prisons schools for the
education of q criminal class, who there
become fitted to prey on society, and are
then set free, with little hope of restora-
tion to any better career. In other States
around US the reformatory system has
been adopted and gradually improved,
with results which are already beyond the
anticipations of its founders. No doubt
can exist in the minds of those familiar
with the subject that the establishment
of this system here, in the improved
form accepted by successive commissions
and legislatures. would ultimately save
the community many times the cost of
the institution. by checking the constant
recruiting of the criminal class from our
prisons and jails.
We also feel bound to ask the atten-
tion of Your Excelleney to the failure in
consequence of their non-engrossment at
the last session, after they had passed
both houses, of the bills establishing the
1ndeterminate sentence and the probation
system as integral parts of our penal
laws. Without repeating at length the
arguments which were presented in favor
of these bills, and which secured their
passage by nearly unanimous vote of both
Excellency'S attention to the principles
expressed in them as of the highest value
and Importance. Prison life is an unna-
tural and unsocial life, and should be inn
posed only as last resort upon any
person who is to be afterwards a mem
ber of civilized society. The only justi-
found in the fact that his freedom is
dangerous to his fellow men. If it is clear
that he cannot safely be allowed to go at
large, it is then equally clear that no pre-
else time can be fixed in advance at which
he will be fitted for freedom. If he is to
be confined at all he must be confined
until he shall have proved his fitness to
be released. These principles, which have
been applied with wonderful and constant
ly increasing success in the treatment of
criminals in several States of the Union
and which are finding in Massachusetts,
New York. Ohio, Illinois and elsewhere
ever widering application, with ever more
promising results, are. expressed simply
and clearly in the bills adopted by the
Legislature of our own State in 1897 The
same bills in substance will be presented
to>the Legislature at its next session, and
we respectfully request Your Excellency
to consider the subject with care and to
recommend to the Legislature such ac-
tion as may be necessary to embody in
our laws the best results of the penal
science of our age.
This was followed by the reports
of the various standing committees
The first important report read was that
of the Committee on Prisons and Peniten-
tiaries, which was presented by the Rev.
George G. Mott. 1t was as follows:-
This has been a year of patient waiting
end hoping for better things in the near
future. The intelligent, moral and philan-
thropic citizens of this State have hardly
begun to understand how deeply the order
of society and the diminution of the Grim
covered by the field of this society They
are subjects which are receiving the pro-
foundest thought of the most eminent
philanthropists of our time in all coun-
tries. The improvements in the State
Prison at Trenton, which have been con-
templated for many years and which have
been brought before our Legislatures
from time to time, have at last been Sc
cured. The old hospital has been con-
verted into a chapel capable of seating
800 persons; it has been comfortably fur
nished and arranged. A new hospital has
been constructed and is well equipped
with all necessary appliances. The new
wing is occupied. The new library is now
well stocked with suitable books, which
are greatly appreciated by the prisoners,
and we believe will conduce materially to
their mental and moral Improvement.
This committee in its report for 1896 ex-
pressed the hope that some measure
would be inaugurated during the year to
help and protect the discharged prisoner
as he steps forth into liberty. This ex-
pectation has not been realized. but the
visit of Mrs. Ballington Booth to the
prison and the efforts she is making for
the moral and spiritual welfare of the
prisoners generally, we believe will soon
result in the establishment of New Jer-
sey Hope Hail. Certainly an institution
of that character is greatly needed and
would become a valuable agency in the
prevention of crime. We call upon all
who are interested in such philanthropy
to give support to any such undertaking.
GEORGE S. MOTT,
Chairman of Committee.
The Rev. Mr.. Mott suggested that
resolution be passed commencing Mrs.
Booth for her excellent work in the
States Prison. Some one suggested that
the Rev. George G. Maddox chaplain of
the States Prison, explain more fully
what Mrs. Booth had accomplished.
Mrs Booth commenced her work y
Mr. Maddox said, "by forming volun-
teer Prisoners League, each member of
which received from her a certificate of
membership with her picture upon it, and
a small button on which were the letters
" p. L. Members of the Prisoners
League are taught: Obedience to all the
studying the word of God and engaging
In daily prayer. The movement in our
prison was received with great enthusi-
asm. In three months more men had