The times., 1899-10-15

mon restraint also unites the inmates
against the officers of the house, and
makes the younger ones willing and ready
to follow the counsel Of those old in sin.
The few officers have scarcely a chance to
hold their own against this mass of deter
mined hostility; they are sometimes forced
to use severe methods merely for the pur-
pose of preserving theirEIIower from day to
day, without reference 70 the ultimate good
of anybody; and taeseehnethods increase
the hatred of the victims and occasionally
arouse the sympathy of the public. And
the result of it all is as bad as it can be
in a civilized land.
In the first place, then, some method of
grading and separating prisoners is abso-
lutely necessary in every reformatory in
stitution. This should be self-evident 1t
is according to the natural impulse OF
society, which always sorts out its mem-
bers in such way that, if possible, the
young and unframed may not come in di-
rect contact with undesirable Influences,
and those who wish TO behave properly
may not be forced into the company of
eral law in dealing with almost any human
beings, and to remember that the criminal
is not entirely unlike other people because
he happens to be in prison
One other fruitful cause of trouble IN
prisons and reform schools, particularly
the latter. is that the inmates are given
no incentive to good behavior. The only
thing wh &c lad nm IN nrQ Or-
der is the fear of punishment, and to most
people this is not as strong a force as the
hope of reward. The best plan is judi
cious combination of the two. Massa
chusetts penal institution uses rather
clever and original method of punishment,
which has the merit of following natural
law absolutely. 1t is used on prisoners who
refuse to work. The old plan was to put
such men in dark cells and feed them on
bread and water This produced an en-
feebled and sluggish condition of the sys-
TEN, and conduced TO sleep. In this mod
ern reformatory the lazy man is put in
skylighted cell with whitewashed walls
which reflect the light, and he is fed on
stimulating and energy producing foods.
his attention, and it is impossible for him
to sleep in the daytime. In very short
time he asks to go back to work-any kind
of work. This is scientific method. The
man is put into a bodily condition which
reforms him in spite Of himself. and, as
most people know, human usefulness de-
pends largely on physical conditions. What
we need in dealing with human nature is
punishment that will reform. The other
sort has been tried long enough.
Given sensible methods OF punishment,
then, the prison should be so arranged that
the criminal who really desires to behave
himself and be of use to the world should
be given the fullest possible opportunity
to do SO. Whatever talents he has should
be brought into play, and the money that
he earns should be given to the support of
his family, if he has one. Last, but not
least, he should begiven an opportunity to
earn an honest living when he has served
his sentence. The prejudice Of the COM
munity against the Jail bird has proba-
bly, made as many hahitual criminals as
any other one thing. The man who has
been in trouble once may reform if he has
had a relapse it is much harder to cure
him. 9rstfEsef