Sunday Washington globe., 1902-01-26

I
or flushing with modification as he passes
the lady visitors who from under the am
cieut sycamore, watch him march past in,
the small park within the enelospre; es-
pecially as he wears a neat fitting suit Of
quiet color Shakespeare never penned a
truer line than "the apparel oft proclaims
the man." If he wears a suit of molly, he
will feel like fool; clad in stripes, will feel
debased respectfully clad, will feel respect
able. Before the abolition of stripes and
lockstep, the prisoner walked with downcast
eye and detected or defiant mien now he
bears himself like a man. Once he cared
nothing for his personal appearance, and
indeed, If he wore anecktie it might be con-
hscated and the wearer coarsely ridi-
culed as a flaming dude, by-whom does
the reader suppose2-a former high official,
who seemed to have got the idea into his
knotty head that prisoner must be made
to resemble a man outwardly as little as
possible. But as Governor Bushnell has
said, in speaking Of our present officials we
ought TO be thankful they are humane and
intelligent, in a word-gentlemen.
1t is we'll to bear in mind that these re
forms have had the sanction of the entire
board of managers, Two of whom are peulo-
Gratis, the remaining three are Republicans
But humanity and philanthropy are not
monopolized by any one political party
These gentlemen are actuated solely by
Consideration for the we'll being Of society
through the reduction of crime and the
betterment of the condition of the prisoner
They work together forthe common good
bringing their trained minds and experience
to the examination Of problems than which
there are none greater nor any that are more
fruitful or far-reaching-in their effect on the
social fabric, of which human life and
character are the warp and woof They
and the warden have a responsibility
cast upon them by the people of Ohio
that is, probably, not borne by the managers
of any other state prison in this country;
responsibility, however, that gives them
happily a greater latitude of innovation
than is enjoyed by others. In most of the
states the managers wardens or directors
have a system laid down by law that they
must follow without deviation; its metes
and bounds being rigidly specified and en-
acted, such as the reformatory systems Of
New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania
and Illinois Those states have adopted
certain rules and specifications pre-
sented by some writer on the subject, ia all
their rigidity, as if wisdom had spoken its
last and highest word in their terms. Other
things may change, but these systems are
superior to the mutations of time and cir
cumstance. They are like the laws Of the
Medes and Persians; managers cannot alter
them at their discretion
The legislature of Ohio, while making full
provision for the adoption of reformahve
methods, has wisely considered that crimi-
nology, as a science is as yet in its in
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experiment. 1t looked abroad, and being
satisfied that something better than man
had known was yet to come in this regard
! judiciously gave the managers carte blanche
to adopt any system that might commend
itself to their judgment, subject to the APP
proval of the governor of the state This
provision in its depth of thought in its
comprehensive appreciation of the status
Of the great sociological problems involved
| in the subject, has placed Ohio distinctly
in advance Of every other state in the
I Union and, doubtless, of every other coun
/ try in the world, in her attitude toward this
great question. Warden Coffin was known
to have plan thought out and worked out,
the fruit of many years experience and re-
/ dection that had been tried and proved sue
cessful, in some of its features, during
former period of four years, and the mama
! gers gave it their support and the assistance
/ of their own thought and experience. The
law referred to is that Of May a, 1891 Sec
ton says:
"The Board OF Managers shall, subject to
the,approval of the governor, make such
| rules and regulations for the government of
/ prisoners as shall best promote their reGor-
nation and, generally, as may from time to
time appear to be necessary or promotive of
the purpose of this act They shall make
! provision for the separation or classification
of prisoners, their division into different
/ grades with promotion or degradation ac-
/ cording to merit their employment and in
struetion in industry, their education, etc"
The Board Of Managers and warden hav.
ing tried to eifectuate the will of the people,
as expressed in the foregoing law, Il is
right that the people and the General AS
sembly should know what success has at.
tended the effort, and what is the promise
of its future.
An early visitor one morning in
the chapel of the institution heard
shrieks of apparent agony coming up
through the floor, accompanying the sound
of blows "What is that" he asked, as ais
face blanched "Oh, that's punishment GO
ing on down IN the cellar" was the indif-
ferent reply. The visitor looked at the pull
pit stand, at the portly and gilded Bible
that rested serenely upon II, glanced at the
face of the pitful Saviour pictured upon
! the wall, stopped his ears and stepped out
side. He had heard enough to satisfy him
for the remainder of his life It may be
| presumed that as soon as he got an oppor-
tunity he looked at a calendar to assure
himself that he was really living in the last
decade of the nineteenth century. If so his
/ .Jdf dc Siecie reflections must have been edi-
/ flying as we'll as saddeuing.
It was formerly the Gus ON to take the pris-
/ ouers who had been reported down to the
cellar, make them strip shacke their hands
/ behind them, blindfold them, read the
charge, bend them over wooden horse,
dip wooden paddle in hot water, aud beat
the tense skin of the victim severely, until
frequently the blood ran down to his heels.
/ This punishment was not administered in
extreme, but in ordinary cases. Probably
/ the reason why no lightning ever struck
| the place was that neither the batterer nor
batteree was responsible for the cruelty.
| The fault was in the system of penalties
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