The San Francisco call., 1905-01-15
LIFE
i'm Sing Sing Prison

6EfS l0UO is the sinister tltie
A that appears upon the barred
and guled cover of a book recently
published. And a remarkably readable
book is this, not only because of the
intimate view of prison life that it
gives; but also from the fact that some
Of the fallacies of prison reform and
the theories Of penology are herein
given an effective coup de grace. An
intelligent and observing man who had
sinned against society and was forced
to suffer the penalties imposed by the
social order employed the time of his
durance not unprofitably, as this rec
ord Of his observations attests.
There is nothing of the hysterical or
the sensational In this anonymous wri-
ter's review Of conditions at New
York's great prison. nor is there any
attempt to represent the prisoner as one
unduly weighted down by the revenge
full disapproyal of society. Number
1900 merely attempts an unimpassioned
discussion of the faults and merits
of prison methods, seeks to reflect the
prisoners attitude toward his life in
confinement, and essays an analysis of
the mentality ands the moral sense of
the average man in stripes. According
to his thinking, there exists in the out
side world great deal of misconcep-
tion on all these points; misconception
fostered by amateur penologists, ire
sponsible newspapers and the mislead-
ing statements of prison officers them
selves. II am not so presumptuous,"
says the writer, "as to range myself
with the people who. having grasped a
theory or two, call themselves penolo-
gists; nor have been able to conceive
a practical plan to be applied in the
management of prisons by which the
convict shall enter tainted to the core
with crime and emerge with complete
outfit of good citizenship. And yet
something of that kind is the expecta-
ton Of every group of reformers who
pass on to make room for the next ex-
perimental novelty. too much amazed
or disgusted with their failure to look
for the real reason"
One feature Of prison management
which No. 1900 emphasizes Is that
which the public Of this State became
intimately acquainted few years back
graft. Many are thesattempts to re-
form the convict, says the writer, and
never in his experience have these at
tempts brought any satisfactory frui-
tion. this because the wrong man Is the
object against which they are leveled.
From the turnkeys up through the
ramifications of officialdom such condi-
tions exist that the convict's keeper,
rather, should be made the object of
reformation. Everywhere there exists
an unwritten code of business which
recognizes graft as the legitimate
province Of the keepers-and of those
higher in authority even than the keep
ers. Thus does the writer characterize
the impulse underlying this regime:
After a man has been prison officer
for a little time he loses his perception
of ownership. and particularly of that
which is owned by the State. He is
not sure whether a thing is his or be-
longs to the department, but the in
clination of his belief is that it is his.
If the article considered is small enough
to carry away there is no doubt about
it, it is his; although the fact that 1t is
not easily removed doesn't affect un-
favorably this decision. There are old
officers in Sing Sing prison living In
rented houses in the village. which they
have furnished with tables, chairs, bed
steads, cutlery and tinware from the
prison: the soap with which their week
ly washing is done is similarly OBJ
tanned. and the oil which they burn is
obtained in the same way"
Not only does this system of graft
react against the prison finances, but
1t invades the ranks of the prisoners