Sunday Washington globe., 1902-01-26

] tNN--y tAaa ANNN uAkEM Hl with court IOOn
and cells Tor the solitary confinement Of
hagrant offenders against the rules Soli-
tary confinement, as conducted here is the
most humane yet effective, punishment
/ that has been tried II may be said to be
self-iuaicted, because if the offender ex
/ presses contrihon he will be released from
its dark restraint without needless delay.
Allthat IS required of him is repentance
! and the promise of amendment. There is
no assault and battery, arousing a fierce de.
\ sire for vengeance, or lighting a shoulder.
ering ire that will burst into flame some
/ day (or night and consume somebody's
! earnings. We can manage children better
4 through Kindness than harshuess, hv a firm
but undeRrading discipline than by brutal
ity administering penalties that impress
the mind rather than the body Every
body knows this nowadays and the training
Of the young is generally supposed to pro-
-ceed on that basis. Men are but children
Of larger growth the poet said, and, this
being true, the same intellectual forces
should operate upon them in disciplinary
matters
II solitary confinement loss Of marks and
grade should prove inadequate, there re-
mains the severest punishment OF all-the
loss Of portion Of the good time allowed
By law to be deducted from a prisoners
sentence as a reward for good behavior.
The orderly prisoner sentenced to serve
one year In the Ohio pententiary will be
discharged when he has served ten months.
under the law of 1901 already cited one
whose sentence is for two years need serve
only nineteen months and six days, and SO
on reducing the time to BY served in a
greater ratio as the sentence becomes
longer so that prisoner under sentence Of
six years win gain eleven days per month,
serving only three years, nine months
and eighteen days All men love their
freedom
Elis liberty alone
That gives the flower Of heeting life
Its luster and perfume,
And we are weeds without it,
The reflection by the prisoner that mis-
conduct may lengthen his term Of imprisou-
ment is corrective and preventive Of mis-
conduct to a high degree.
There is too much reason 10 fear that, at
one time under the regime that held all
prisoners, the world over, iH teg4OreW the
courtesles of language were not always OBJ
served toward pris They were in
suited, reviled, often cursed by some officer
OF foreman who was a slangist profanist
and obscenist of the lowest order being
too often selected for his eminent brutality:
even among the brutal. He would take
advantage of his power to vent his wrath
upon the unofiending head Of some poor
wretch upon whom society had placed her
ban. by pouring upon him the choicest
expressions in his repertory of foulness
What protection could his victim have?
Too often immured within walls so long
that former friends had ceased to care for,
or, possibly, even to remember him, "The
world forgetting, by the world forgot, he
could do nothing but meekly
Stoop his head to take the curse,
Grateful it were nothing worse.
Coming down to our own time and place
the same abuse has been known. but there
is little opportunity for its exercise now.
/ The orders are stringent that every official
and guard shall be chaste in his language.
especially in his dealing with prisoners.
nnA that hasahness toward them shan De
unknown, hectoring and bullying tones un-
heard In addition 10 this rule the warden
/ addresses the prisoners almost every Sun
day In the chapel with encouraging words
/ that show the interest he takes in their
welfare. If kind words are more than
| coronets they are certainly afluent in the
wealth of good counsel and inspirting ad-
dresses. They show their appreciation of
him, his words and his works, by the heart
lest applause whenever he rises to his feet.
This may not seem great matter to out
siders, but to the boy who has made a mis-
take and been torn from his mother's FIRE
side to do penance in az cell; to the father
who has been tripped by criminal misfor-
tune and taken from wife and children,
who are perhaps cast upon the fatherhood
/ of Providence and the chill charities of the
world, "a word spoken in season, how good
/ il isl" There is double force in sympa-
thetic remark at such time that makes the
| sufferer feel that he has at least one friend
/ and well-wisher
/ The department Of food supplies is. in a
/ sense, the most important in an institution
that houses and supports so many men, and
the question of nutrition enters more large
| ly into the subject of crminology than
many people think. Imperfect alimenta-
tion IS an unmitigated evil fraught with
the gravest consequences TO the physical
man, and also exercising a distinctly i'm.
moral influence Hunger makes the tiger
fierce and blood-thirsty, il renders a man
| spiteful and resentful, and draws him
nearer to animal relationship with the tiger
and farther away from the intellectual and
moral relationships that make up his man
liness. When the people hunger they
begin to plot, was said of the rebellious
masses when famine was imminent, aud
imperfect nutrition at all times turns the
thoughts in the direction of insubordina-
\ tion. But it does more than this. The
/ illfed nerves demand aliment, and, when
| disappointed, will crave stimulants can
empty plate makes a full bottle" says the
| adage; meaning that lack OF nourishmeut
creates thirst for iutoxicants. II has been
asserted that the frying pan Is responsible
| for much drinking, but it is more probable
| that If there were more active and energetic
| frying pans in our kitchens as well as
other cooking utensils there would be
| fewer TASKS in hip pockets.
| In the Ohio penitentiary three meals each
/ day are served the prisoners, OF which one
| is a substantial meat dinner. Food in suf-
/ hcient quantity and Of wholesome quality
/ is supplied, and on this score there can be
no reasonable complaint by men who re-