The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1902-08-13
SCHOOLS FOR CRIME.
Fault Found With Jail System Of
the United States.
Mixing OF Prisoners
ureeds a Vicious Class-OHr County
Jails the Worst Institut1ons
In tho World.

It is to be hoped that the perloo
of self-examination upon which we
have entered will lead to true ap-
probation of other social menaces
than that threatening from the an
archists' camp. If the suppression
of those who incite to violence
against government be a necessity
what shall be said Of measures to
prevent the multiplication OF the
brood of ordinary criminals who
threaten the life and property Of the
common man throughout the land!
asks the Boston Transcript. Our toll
Grafton of anarchistic prora Zanda IS
hardly more culpable than the gem
eral Indifference to conditions which
directly foster criminahty in the o.
d;narv sense of the word. We are
reminded of this by the severe con-
demnation of orr prison system ny
the Howard association Of E2Sand
in its latest utterances. AFTER
thorough examination Of reports
from majority Of our states the ex-
perts Of this association pronounce
our county iai!S the worst institu-
tons of the kind in the world and
the conclusion is based upon studies
at first hand by men qualified for the
work.
The chief Indictment which the
English experts find against our
county iails (and it should be re-
membered that the Overwhelming
number of prisoners are housed in
them) is the indiscriminate kerding
of inmates Of all ages and grades
and their enforced idleness. In 9TH
er words, the county jails supply the
very besl conditions for the culti-
vation of criminal instincts and the
graduation Of resourceful crooks.
This is an oft told tale which could
easily be elaborated, yet the county
jeil, in charge of en- appointee whose
chief qualification is OF political ma
ture, remains as monument to pub
lie Indifference about g vital subject.
There is small comfort in the rehec-
ton that the county jails of this COM
monwealth are on higher level
than some others, or that the worst
hotbeds of immortality and crime are
to be found in some benighted south
ern state. An abundance of recent
evidence has been published showing
local shortcomings
It is not to be wondered at that the
picion our general methods Of treat
ing wrongdoers as tending to in
crease rather than to diminish crime,
although it seems questionable how
attributable to the so-called severe
although it seems questionable how
Justice of British punitive measures" !"
At all events our critics are more
than justified in pointing to the
need of prison reform in the United
States if it be our aim to diminish
crime. This is said with full
knowledge of the progress already
made. In reformatory work we have
set some notable examples, and IN
the wider field Of penal reform we
have hit upon some discoveries Of in
estimable value, such as the indeter-
inmate sentence and the probation
system. Yet, as whole, our prison
system is bad.
Even Japan shames US. According
to Kiego Kiyoura, ex-minister Of JUS
tice, Japan has realized some ideals
In prison administration which we
still hold merely as theories. 1t has
centralized it's prison administration
securing the advantages of uniform
ity and economy which centralization
affords. 1t has established school
for the training of higher prison Off
cials, with programme in pencil
ogy, prison hygiene, criminal psy-
chology, statistics, anthropometry.
the maintenance of ex-convicts, meth
DDS Of reformation and practical
drill in prison management. 1t has
an association with more than 10000
members for the purpose of improv-
ing persons, not to mention local
committees and societies for the aid
Of discharged convicts. Some of the
things we most need little Japan has
already realized-foremost among
them what corresponds to state con-
troll as opposed to county control
and higher training of prison Off
cials whose tenure of Office IS di-
vorced from local politics.
An Expensive Telegram,