The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-02-05
SUBJECT EXRAU STIVELY uIsCU SIN
AT The ASSOCIATED CHARITIES
PARIOR CONFERENCE.
MRS. NEWPORT AND DIR. RrssEt.
"s"" variable Papers on the Sub
Ject-Supt. HOuItOn on .|What
the RefOrmatory Thinks,

GATED charities at the Commercial
cluo last evening. Rev. S. G. Smith
presided
Inc subject is one which is very
oroad IN its scope. Minnesota has not
yet reached such a state of maturity
that, IL is claimed, it cannot profit by
the lessons of sister states in this line.
one thing which was very plainly
Drought out at the meeting last even
ing was the necessity of a separate in
stltution for women. On the same line az
the reformatory for boys and young
men who commit offenses which are
lesser In their gravity than those car
Tying states prison sentence It
was SHOWN that the reformatory for
poys was working a great good, but
lhdl the provisions made for the refor-
hatlon of young women were sadly
neglected, although the state Iegisla
lure mad been importuned for nearly
ten years to make sufficient appropria-
lions TO maintain an institution for
women. The paper Of Supt. w. HI.
Houlton on this matter is interesting.
warden Henry Wolfer of the Mime
SOFA state prison at Saltwater, was ex-
pecled 10 speak upon "The Relation Of
ne Frlson to the Reformation Of
women but the warden was detained
at home =
Inc first paper Of the evening was nv
MRS r. M. Newport upon a "Woman.s
Idea of the Reformatorv Ouestior - rbo
SAID in part:
10 a sure index of the Character NJ i+ o SCaIe
ment d slsnlncant revealer of it's enIiehten
Of its aIo OF the degree of the development
per. A barbarous nation fre Snsist !ta tenn
K u eahers narbareusly. We do NOT evnec+
s Hg Menelek Of Abyssinia, to deal as con-
car OF Russia, nor do we look to tbe S tne
We pitSon REFORM associations in Snafn FOR
so o1LuaoIe suggestions and guidance in the
In our cou ure serious problems of penology
ADDS III country during the last three dec
heen' G%aueSpread interest in this cause has
a o6en developed; and rapid and gratifying Ing
rational on 1dV ese Deen made along the EnA of
iiilHhlstrauon of our prisons, and in the astah-
rIsHlnent and management of reform o+orio
the law, - 0A0iuels against
IN our own state, which Is ALWAYS ro-
nponSlve 70 the demand for what is best and
nae UuitIIsnteneo, we have in the main kept
pace win the wisest and most approved NH
clPies and methods Of public administrator
DuC no provision whatever has as vet been
girls He ab bor t retormatory for and for
wears. q U0
Deen guilty Of offenses which render them
SUBJECT to imprisonment eAA
8 mere is now no place to which women nf
lenders can be sent, except to worlhousee
county 1ails and our penitentiarv and i
none on these institutions are there suitable
separate accommodations, where thew can
attained. ~ D0'' lesulIs
l have said there is no place in which
women Offenders can be properly dealt with
vet eA0 he cue case or young girl who has not
confirmed oriI hoL.
associations, but who has made an unfortu-
nate slip, and has succumbed to temntation
W. WHICH CT, was stronger than she had the power
10 resist. She is arrested and brought into
Ine ponce court. The judge passes Sentence
upon her and suspends it. She is brought
c oeror 6a MN IN aga5n for second ofense. What
can ne 90! He is either obliged to again
suspend s,lp sentence and bring her to the atten
ton of philanthropic people. as he often
goes 6o or send her to the workhouse, which
ne does reluctantly, because he knows that
such course will only further humiliate and
uegraoe ner' with no possible compensation
t IN tne way OF warning advice and sympa-
women prisoners should be thrust into the
BLACK Maria, perhaps alone, with half a
oozen or more degraded men, subject to their
vie association, and thus deposited in the
workhouSe. 40 '10
The instant the state lays it's hand upon an
oHenoer ana assumes control Of his person
u is pound to see. that he is SO cared for
that he can receive no further moral in
jury or degradation, and to administer dis
cipline, that when his liberty is restored
he will be morally and physically stronger
and better than when the period of incarcera-
ton began If this is the correct view how
lamentably the state Of Minnesota falls short
OF It's duty in caring for it's women Criminals
All the machinery Of our penal institutions
mere seems to have been designed for men
ana the time has arrived, in the Judgment of
large numbers OF our most thoughtful cit
lzens, TO take steps for the establishment
Dy the state OF separate prison and re-
formatory for women and girls
the demand for separate institution for
women is based fundamentally upon the
natural differences arising from sex; upon
the characteristics, temperament environ
ment and needs of women, distinguished
from men. You cannot treat them as you
do men, in their punishments and attempted
reform any more than you treat them like
men in the ordinary or usual relations of
life. Legally. of course, they are aInenabIe
to law, but in the application Of the punish
ments and restraints of the law thew should
be dealt with differently. These propositions
do not require elaboration; their soundness
must be admitted by all who give the sub
ject careful consideration.
1t must be obvious. too, that such an in
stitution should be managed by women in
order to make it successful Women know
best the needs of their own sex, and how
to control, educate and reform the mis-
guided and erring unfortunates who come
under the ban of society. 1t is to the inspEra-
ton and mighty power OF the love and
sympathy of women, which impels and slls-
tains her in her tireless enterprises of mercy
some influences which shall inspire with new
hope and bring spiritual help and physical
healing to these social outcasts
No considerations of apparent economy
should be considered to promote the location
Of a refcrmatory for women remote from
that Of men, if thereby the chief purpose Of
its establishment should be defeated
| would have 1t where the inmates could
spend a. large proportion Of their time in the
open air. and IN the raising OF vegetables:
flowers, poultry in the case CT dairy, and
of the stock on the farm thus giving them
healthful employment and contributing to
the support Of the institution by their own
labor. 1 would make this one OF the prin-
cipal methods. Of employing the time OF the
inmates. There would probably be less OBJ
lection the part Of the people at large to
employing them in farm work than in any
thing else.
1 would introduce and maintain such a sys-
would be of practical value to them in earn
ing livelihood, after their discharge
would give them much Of Gods free
air and sunshine as possible consistent with
their proper restraint and discipline.
l would by all means advocate the indie
terminate sentence to be shortened in the
discretion of managers in case Of good con-
duct and in every case that the sentence be
long enough to give sufficient time for moral
and physical regeneration.
The main object of punishment is that 1t
tends to the prevention and cure of crime by
the means of salutary warning and reform
atory processes. That the short term effects
neither Is shown by the nterminable pro-
cession passing in and out Of our jails
outlined. can be established at a consider
ably less relative cost than one which would
accommodate an equal number Of men.
Women prisoners do not need to be sur
which must be constructed with unusual
solidity and expense to prevent escape.
Statistics prove that women prisoners do
not make the. attempts to escape that the
ShY