Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-03-24
CONDITIONAL PAnpONs.

The recent act OF the Virginia Generai
Assembly authorizing the granting of con-
| ditional pardons Is in the interest OF
reformation upon the part of penitentiary
| convicts.
1t permits any prisoner who has served
out half OF his term to file an application
with the Board of Directors OF that In
3titution praying for its recommendation
To the Governor for Executive clemency.
The Governor may either grant or re-
fuse such application IL he grants 1t
he may impose such conditions as he
pleases Whether the four days per
month abatement Of sentence now al
lowed for good conduct in prison Is 10
be or not To be included in the half OF
the sentence required to be served out
does not appear. and may have to be the
subject of judicial construction; but I'm
either event, any man under sentence
will have ample incentive so to conduct
himself as 10 win the favor OF the prison
authorities.
We take IL that IL will be required that
the applicant who hopes for success shall
not only show that he has been obedicnt.
well behaved and Industrious, but that
he has evidenced determination to re-
form. Furthermore, we should think 1t
would be necessary for the applicant 10
furnish some guarantee of his ability TO
secure honest employment when released
No doubt this viii! be one of the things
the board and the Governor will enquire
into very closely.
In most cases it would be dangerous to
release a convict who is altogether with
out means of support or promise Of en-
ployment. He would but return TO the
world TO find the world against him.
and the odds would be about three to one
that he would have to resort to crime
again 10 secure the means OF livelihood
And so, in the States where conditional
pardons are allowed, the pardoning power
is very careful to require evidence of
the petitioners ability to support him
self should he be pardoned.
There has been a difference of opinion
among the gentlemen who have filled the
gubernatorial chair Of Virginia as to
their right to grant conditional pardons.
Some have taken a favorable and some
an unfavorable view OF the question, but
so far as we know no case in point !
has ever been brought before our courts. |
Governor Walker, who was our first Gov |
ernor under the present constitution, |
granted several conditional pardons. And !
the late Attorney-General, r. Taylor
Scott Esq, gave as his opinion that
conditional pardon was within the scope
IF the Executive authority. We may
expect good many such pardons to be
n case any recipient of them is rear
ested for violation of his parole, a test
'ase may be at once carried to our Su-
IRENE Court Of Appeals, upon a writ of
labeas corpus. But we heartily hope
hat the law may be able to withstand
III the tests to which it may be sub
ected.
AS we have said, it is in the interest
f reforming criminals. Confinement i'm
he pententiary is not merely intended
D restrain dangerous persons of their
berry and get certain amount of work
ut of them, but is meant to reform
1em-to turn them from crime into the
aths of honesty. In the disgracefully
'owded condition of our State Peniten-
airy, it is not 10 be expected that the
ork of reformation will be very success !
II, but whenever a germ of reforma- |
on displays itself there, it should be
'stered and encouraged. And that is
lie intention of the new law, for whose {
listence the public is very largely in
'bted to the intelligent and Industrious !
forts of Frank 4. Glasgow, Esq, of
edmond, and Senator Lowry, of Bed b
I'd. ?