The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-10-19
The STATES LOST SHEEP
RECLAIM ITION or DELIN0 VENTS Is Z
NEJyGRIDTNG PLAN IN PRISONS.
New xork's Methods Criticised-issues
Between state Policy and Pure Penal
Science.

New XorIS,s Methods Criticised-issue
Between state Policy and Pure pena
Science.
criminal anthropologists, said {
| noted French criminOlogist OF the new
| school, after a recent tour OF the lead'
ing prisons of the eastern ana west
ern states, divide criminals into many
categories. Science aids literally II
the determination of the malefactor'
class. In the famous penitentlarles OF
New York state, at Sing sing, Au'
| burn, and Dannemora, graded SyS-
tenn is now in operation. which Is at
! tracing the attention of crimlnoloSl6ts
| and penologists the world over.
| Experimental penology, as persist
emily practised for the past quarter
| century at the state reformatory at El-
mira, is largely responsible for the in
| novation. The system is broadly sci
entific in it's original conception, but
| is not yet permitted to be regulated or
| developed by science Conflicting views
of state policy and the absence of sci
| entific training among the manage
ment are the clogs in the wheels of
progress.
''Three grades have been established.
A change has been wrought in the
striped pattern of the usual habillment
of shame, to indicate the grade Of each
prisoner, and incidentally, to fasten
upon the recidivist still deeper brand
of infamy. Heretofore all inmates of
the state prisons were CARRIED in a
close bodied, unadorned suit of ciner-
GUS gray shoddy, marked at intervals
of three inches by single black stripe,
three-fourths of an inch wide and run
ming parallel in a horizontal direction.
This uniform is now solely devoted to
the first grade. The dress of the sec
ond grade Is marked by double inky
black stripe. A triple deep-black stripe
serves to distinguish the third division.
In other details the three uniforms are
identical.
What grade a convict shall enter,
on naturalization, is mechanically de-
termined from the number of terms
for felony it is ascertained he has pre-
viously served in any of the state pris-
ons of the county. First offenedrs-
those against whom no .record of a
previous penal experience can be prov
ed-are at once clad in the mario sim
gle stripe. Second offenders don the
heavy double stripe. Third and more
frequent offenders assume the huge
triple stripe
ut is now the aim to include all
prisoners of one grade. as nearly as
may be practicable, In one prison. Sing
Sing has been set aside for 'tirst-tim-
ers,' Auburn for second timers, and
Clinton prison cat Dannemora) for
third timers AS the law divides the
state into three prison districts, and
compels the sentencing judges to COM
NIT felons to the state prison within
the boundaries of their district, an in
terchange of prisoners between the
three penitentiaries is frequently re-
sorted to in order to obtain the desir-
ed status.
Auburn and Clinton have thus far
been unable to withdraw their first
grade contingents to Sing Sing. The
overcroWded condition of Sing Sing
prison is the cause. But in course of
time, when the innovation will have
gathered more momentum, this diff
Guilty will probably be obviated. Sing
Sing prison domicies nearly three
hundred convicts who wear the double
stripe. These might easily be ex-
changed for like number of Auburn
prisons surplus single-stripers.
each penitentiary, it will thus be
seen, does not yet exclusively domicile
convicts of its appointed grade. The |
effect of the interchange of prisoners
thus far effected, however, has been |
to make the populace of each prison |
conform in the main to the grade de-
signated for it.
1.-The discipline at each prison is
aimed to suit the class of criminals it |
harbors At Sing Sing the rules are |
lax. Impounding in dark |
CELL in which a plank of pine wood Is
furnished for sleeping purposes. for
period of from twenty-four to seventy |
two hours, Is the extreme mode of re-
straint resorted to. AT Auburn the |
discipline is very strict The punish |
ment for recalcitrant convicts in
cludes gives and immuring in dark
cell OF solid steel, bereft of all furni-
ture, for a period of from one to seven
days on a. scant diet of bread and wa
ter. Incorrigibles are accorded cellu-
lar treatment for indefinite periods AT /
Clinton the discipline is rigorous in |
the extreme. The authorities there
are presumed to treat every derelic-
lion of prison rules with the utmost
severity
''In most respects this system does
the principle of retribution
out explanation of the crime is not the
1nly end of penal law. Expurgation
If the criminal is another object The
luty, nay, the best policy, of society is
o reclaim as we'll as to warn. Crime
breeds crime, and If criminals can be
within the penitentiary walls,
instead of, as now, being turned loose
lpon the public after a lengthy term,
more depraved than when they enter
ID, to further prey upon the commun
ty, the gain to the state is, of course,
The advanced school of
holds that retribution per Sc
S very narrow and very bad state pol
cy. Punishment, is is held, is posi-
lie of attainment indirectly through |
he Intelligent measures that may be
primarily for reformation.
Witness the Elmira experiment There
eformation is the goal, and the I'M
measures by which the Gull
rit'S restoration to probity is finally
onsumated are of such drastic and
oWerful nature that they appear to