The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-08-16
NEW HAVEN MORNING JOURNAL

reform advocates of this country are doing in the interest of society, ana TOT the benefit of the prisoner.
 "Comparatively few people reallZe what a great work for humanity has been accomplished along these lines, during the last few years. Beginning way back in the closing decades ot the seventeenth century with John How ards efforts to reform prison man. agements of Great Britain, the reform gradually spread throughout Europe and to this country, and finally 1eo lo an attempt at reforming the prisoner
 Many and various are the methous that have since been canvasseo, adopted. and in turn abandoned, with this object in view. The deportatlon' solitary. hard labor, and separate ana silent systems with their various moo- >ifcations, have all been tried and founu Ineffective because of the retllputlVe quality and lack of humanity that mas characterized them in the past.
 "But although they have failed or their principal object, great good MS resulted from these experiments, pe- cause they have educated and brought into prominence a class of practical, broad minded officials with advanced ideas, who have not hesitated to point out the defects of the old systems, and advocate more practical and humane methods in solving the problems. So to- day, as a result of their labors, we have the reformatory, and the graded sys- tens, with the indeterminate sentence and liberal parole law in operation in number of states.
 "These have borne such practical re- suits that the law makers of our own state have been induced to frame and pass similar laws for Connecticut These reforms with the liberal appro- priations for remodeling and improv- Ing the prison buildings-now rapidly nearing completion-mark the com mencement of a distinctly new era in penal administration in Connecticut, and places her OH record as one of the more advanced and progressive com monwealths of the Union in the man. agement of her delinquent classes
 That these reforms will result in great good to the community, and also | to the prisoner, there can be little ques- | ton. Henceforth every offender conn mitted to this institution-with the ex- ception of life prisoners-are essentially | prisoners of hope with an ample op- 1 portunity to make a record for them- selves and begin a new life while here. | This will result in a chance to prove Tn a more practical manner on the outside the thoroughness of their reform, While those who will not lead an orderly life at large. after a fair trial, will be re- turned for an indefinite period.
 l ''The underlying principle of this sys- 1 tenn Is to reform and teach the law breaker that 1t Is better to lead an honest life than a dishonest one, and to transform him into law-abidlns citizen. Also to demonstrate to those who are likely to persist In crime that such course will bring sure punish ment, not in spirit of vengeance as | formerly, but as protective measure for society, which has come to consider the reformation of the offender or vast lv greater importance than the lnfllc- tion of severe of extreme punishment.
 ''It is not so very long ago slnce all | who fell under the ban of the law were regarded as irreclaimable. But pubic 1 oninion has been educated to a more rational view of this question. Often- times the offender is the victim Of cir cumstances or of moments weakness or passion, rather than of downright viciousness, and it has come to be ac' knowledged that such cases should no' be classed as incorrigble. One writer says: If the true story of the prisoner
 was told it would be found that the great majority are first offenders; thai others had drifted into a life of crime
 without thought of the inevitable re suit. The last class and by far the mi
 nority would include the vicious ol habitual criminal. Eliminate the
 habitual type, who, biologists affirm
 are mentally diseased, and we have
 those who come within the scope o1 l moral teachings and are susceptible tc
 reformation' It Is for the purpose o1
 redeeming this numerous class of sal vable cases that the present system has
 been adopted. That Connecticut has ! reason to congratulate itself upon the advanced and liberal policy it has inau- gurated in dealing with the prisoner 4I,ara con bn no pI1petiOp n