River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1904-06-02
TAKE INFANTS TO PRISON..
Carried Into Penal Institutions in
Their Mothers Arms-Arouse
Sympathy.

In passing sentence upon Mrs. Alta
Peltier. who was sentenced to Auburn
prison, convicted of misleading young
and innocent girls. Judge Newburger
publicly announced that he would have
given the woman the full extent of the
law-fve years-if it had not been for
the five-months-old baby she carried
into court in her arms. 1t was the hap
DIV little face at the mothers breast and
her innocent cooling as the judgment of
the law was pronounced that moved the
Judge to mercy, says the New York
Times. Mrs Peltier was sent to prison
for an indeterminate sentence, not less
than eighteen months nor more than
two and a half years; and her innocent
babe was sent there with her.
The child is seven months old If its
mother serves only the minimum term
of sentence the little one will be one
month more than two years old before
| it leaves prison. The prosecuting au-
! thorities say there are damaging cir
cumstances connected with the case
| that make the chances of leniency on
| the part of the prison authorities very
remote.
| If the maximum term is imposed Baby
| Peltier will be almost three years old
before she and her mother are released
| from the prison, unless the prison au-
thorities say the child must be taken
away after she has passed her second
year. Until the expiration of that time
the state law cannot separate mother
and child. Under the city law, for peni-
Tertiary offense, the age limit is one
wear. although a child is seldom taken
from it's mother until after it is IS
months old.
According to Lord Brougham, famous
English philosopher who gave good
deal of attention to the early influences
of childhood and the prison problem, a
child learns more of the material world,
of it's own powers, of its own mind and
other minds, between the ages of 10 and
80 months than it does during all the
rest of it's life.
There is in New York large proper
ton of children whose babyhood is al
ways associated with the TOmbs, the
penitentiary, the workhouse or some
place of temporary confinement in one
of the borough prisons. The baby life
of the Tombs is as much a matter of
daily routine as it's continuous process
sion of thieves and thugs. Scarcely q
day passes but Matron O'Brien has not
two or more of them to take care of. But
the baby Peltier is the first one, in Mrs.
O'Brien's recollection, to be sent di-
rectly from there to state prison
''The prison baby is a peculiar prob
lem to deal with" said Francis ]. Lam
! try, commissioner of correction. 1--WE
are obliged to ignore the strict letter of
| the law sometimes and deal with indi-
vidual circumstances. If a woman is
convicted of crime it is an extremely
fortunate thing for her if she happens to
have an infant in her arms. Judges are
always merciful under those circum-
stances. They give the minimum in
stead of the maximum sentence, no mat
| ter how much the mother may deserve
the extreme penalty. I may say, from
long experience, that with those who
administer, as well as with those who
carry out the law, there is extreme re-
pugnance to anything approaching
harshness to woman with an infant,
no matter how much she deserves it,
Some women make a great fuss about
being separated from their children. In
most cases we find that this is done in
nope OF lettering their own condition.
Women who weep Historically at part
Ing from Johnny or Jennie at the Tom BIS
gate were very sadly lacking in anything
approaching maternalism before they
reached the .Tombs
THE number of babies born in prison
S not so large as one might suppose
not more than four or five year at any
of our borough penitentiaries We can
deal with them easily enough. The
trouble is with outside babies constantly
brought within the sphere of prison in
fuence through law-breaking mothers
I'm my opinion it is sad that it should
be necessary to send a baby to prison.
The awakening of the child's mind to
the surroundings of its earliest years is
a curious phenomenon. Babies differ
Some make rapid strides in conscious
ness during their first year. | should
say that child three or even two years
old who had been brought up in prison
surroundings would have quite a good
recollection of them in after life How
far this remembrance would affect it
morally cannot undertake to say. But
believe in removing baby from
prison influences at the earliest possible
moment"