The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-03-17
THE FEMALE CRIMINAL
Is She SO Much Worse Than Her
Fallen Brother?
The state of New York Is Building a
Reformatory for the SheIterinE of
the had Members of the Gentle Sex
No Bars and No Prison Walls.

1t Is time-honored saying that
woman who is bad is worse than a bad
man, and harder to reform or restrain
There Is no doubt that 1t is far harder fer
such woman to regain a place in the re-
spectacle world again than for a man who
has been a criminal; but whether this Is
the fault of the woman the fault of
society is a question whose answer is not
altogether clear. 1t Is certainly true that
for ages past the woman criminal has
been left to the tender mercies of men en-
tirely, her jailers being all men, her
judges and prosecutors men, and her sis
tiers giving her up as an outcast with
whom they had no concern Not until
lately have women felt any measure Of
responsibility for the woman criminal; and
yet the result az women's work among
them, since the days of Elizabeth Fry, has
peen very great The newest form of this
modern idea is seen in the model Reforma-
tory for Women. which the state of New
York is now establishing at Bedford. and
where every officer and employee is to be a
woman
The new Reformatory will have many
interesting features. 1t stands in large
grounds. and its buildings. six in number.
surround campus like that of a college.
indeed, the idea of the college is promi-
neut everywhere. Four cottages. with ma
irons in charge, will receive the prison.
ers after they have been detained for a
short time in the general reception
house and their cases classified Each
prisoner will have her own room, neatly
and comfortably furnished, and each cot
tage, in addition, is to have common
sitting room, with piano. bookcases, etc.
There will be bathtub to every four in
mates. which should certainly exercise a
reforming influence. There are to be no
bars, except in the reception house, and
no prison walls-only fence of wire
netting.
Only those women criminals between the
ages of fifteen and thirty are to be ad-
mitted to the Bedford Reformatory. and
the general character of the commitments
will be for vagrancy, petty larceny, dis
orderly. and The commitment Is
for three years the least term, although
the officers of the reforEatory, at their
discretion, can release any woman on
parole after year. a special parole officer
being provided to visit and keep watch
over such cases. DIR. Katherine Bement
Davis. the superintendent, intends to make
industrial work the leading feature of the
training. so that each prisoner, before she
leaves, will be capable of self-support in
the outside world. Gardening and the
raising of small fruits will be taught, as
well as cooking, sewing. and laundry
work. There will be no uniform, no
marching in squads.
The aim of the new institution-to
build up in every inmate those qualities
of character for lack of which she has
gone astray-may seem trffe utopian,
but the experiment Is an honest, earnest,
and most interesting one, and should COM
mand the attention of every woman. If 1t
succeeds. it will give hard blow TO the
sombre theories of Lombroso concerning
the woman criminal-Harper's Bazaar.