The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1905-11-03
Revocation Of Five Paroles
This Week Establishes a
New Order in the State.
FIVE CASES ON RECORD
HEREAFTER THE COURT MAY
NOT ONLY DECIDE WHO SHALL
BE RELEASED. BUT WHAT
PARoLED PRISONERS SHALL
BE RETURNED TO JAIL.
Special to ''The Jersey city News.s>

special to THE Jersey city News.'>
TRENTON, Nov. 3. 19O5.--The action
of the Court Of Pardons, which revoked
the paroles of five prisoners released from
the State prison at the meeting this
week, may be regarded as the opening
/ of another chapter in the history of New
Jerseys treatment of its criminal classes.
| It is the first time that the Court Of Par
dons has been called upon to exercise
| this power, the enforcement of which is
provided for under the act of last winter,
which authorized the head keeper of the
| State prison TO appoint parole officer
whose duty it should be 10 keep strict
tabs on paroled prisoners to see that they
| did not violate the terms of their paroles.
| Hereafter the Court Of Pardons may he
| expected TO perform the dual function of
deciding what prisoners shall be released
from prison and who Of those at large
on parole shall be returned to serve out
| their original sentence.
Heretofore, under the parole system.
the State has exercised only an indiffer-
ent supervision of released prisoners, up
on whom certain restrictions were plae-
ed. and then very little attention paid to
| whether they were lived up to or not.
| OF course, when a man on parole got
into trouble and was arrested while the
parole was in force, his conviction of an
! offense was looked upon as prima faeie
| evidence that he had forfeited his parole
privilege and was liable to serve out not
only the unexpired original sentence. but
any additional sentence which might be
imposed. This practice, despite all that
has been said and written in favor of
the parole system in the abstract, was
found to be unsatisfactory as applied to
some of those released, who abused the
confidence reposed in them and fell into
bad habits again.
Under the old plan convict when pa
rolled was compelled to write at stated
intervals, making a report as to his con-
duct and occupation, but there was no as
surance that the letters were actually
written by the purported writer, or that
he was in the place from which they
We're supposed to be mailed. The loose
ness of the system of supervision opened
the doors to abuses of which, as appears
from reports made to the Court of Par
| dons, several at least were not slow to
/ avail themselves. Under the new law
Head Keeper Osborne appointed as parole
officer Henry K. Shaley, one of the
prison deputies. Mr.. Straley has been
kept pretty busy following the where,
| abouts of some of his wards, and his, re-
ports to the head keeper indicate that
some of them have wandered far aield
from the straight andt narrow path Of rec
titude Drink, disposition to idleness
and thieyingS seem to be the besetting sins
of those who have violated their paroles,
but in number of instances a word of
warning has proved sufficient to change
the mode of living of those who showed
a tendency to wander, yet who had COM
mitted no serious breach since their re-
lease from prison.
The records of the Court of Pardons
have not been mad e public. as regards
the revoked paroles. This IS because the
men arc still at large and it is consider
ed advisable that they be taken into Gus
tody before receiving notice that they
are wanted There is some doubt as to
what procedure will be necessary to do
| this under the new law. and the attorney
general has been asked to prepare a form
of warrant which will be delivered to The
sheriffs Of the counties in which the men
are living. They will then be arrested
SiA oiStit sti4Si ittuNltett " ttie oteitS pliS-
on without further ceremony.
The court adopted new rule this
week relative TO the pardoning or parol-
ing Of prisoners. In future .all appli-
cations will be considered by two mem-
bers Of the court before they are even
considered by the special investigating
committee of the court. The Inie that
an application when once rejected viii
not be again considered, except in the
light of new evidence, will be strictly ad-
hered to, and all applications in viola
ton Of this rule viii be thrown out al
thesstart. For the present Judges Green.
and Yroom will serve as the preliminary
investigators Of applications,