Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1906-04-13
pRATTLEBoRo, FRIDAY, APR. Is, 1905,
The Prison Report.

gated state prison eondltiohs' siNeh ~
summary elsewhere, will be n disap'
pointment to the general public,
The testimony offered at the hear
ings during this investigation was pub
lished in the state newspapers and
showed n condition Of things which
called for the placing of responsibility
in some answerable and punishable
ouartcr, The committee, however, al
though noting a great many deplorable
conditions and things which "should
not have been DONE" find the direc'
tors and superintendent efficient and
faithful; and have almost unmixed
commentator for everybody above
Warden Harpin who, although quail
fed as efficient and a good discipiin'
arian. is declared 10 have been guilty
of personal conduct "of character
that cannot be too severely censnred'
This is the high tide of the commit
tees denunciation of the doors and
permitters of evil at the state prison,
whose record is already familiar to the
public. They content themselves with
throwing the responsibility for I'M
morality disclosed upon doors, locks,
wash rooms and other inanimate OBJ
iects.
With so many abuses and errors adj
mitted, the public might reasonably ex-
meet that attentive directors and an
efficient and conscientious superintend-
ent, together with financial surplus OF
over $1,000, should have ensured ire
proachable doors, locks, stairways and
wash rooms and thus have prevented
the deplorable conditions which the
state now remembers with shame.
Nevertheless, in spite of its failure
to place blame outspokenly where it
belongs, and considering its assurance
that all offenders will be punished, the
report of the committee, when care
fully read and considered, is encourag-
ing for the future. Its various conclu-
sions are not classified and will not be
readily grasped, as policy, by the
average reader; but they are evidently
based on the conviction that the pres
ent state system of dealing with criml-
mails is faulty and that the vital and
urgent demand of the whole situation
is to reform the system. They are
looking forward to better facilities and
methods and the question of past blame
and its penalty is of secondary inter
est to them and is readily resigned to
the hands of the encouragement.
Gathering up the scattered recon-
mendations which the committee have
introduced at judicious intervals in the
gentle course of their review of past
difficulties, we find them all excellent
outlining a plan which the next leg
islature should take into earnest con-
sideration.
They recommend better pay for the
right kind of management and assist
ance; a school, especially for young
prisoners; suitable hospital; more
light and fresh air and proper sew
erage; arrangement of rooms for the
separation of men and women in the
prison life; a law to allow the employ
ment of "trusty" prisoners outside the
prison; more humane treatment of re-
fractory prisoners and corporal pun
ishment only in extreme cases; plain
gray garb to replace the repulsive plack
and red now used; a common dining
room and the privilege of conversation
during meals; arrangements for private
bathing and enlargement of quarters
to relieve over-crowding.
The committee evidently believe
these provisions will cover the needs
of the prison since they offer no 9th
ers; and we agree that proper quarters
and care. work and instruction, whole
some food and regulations preserving
and promoting self-respect are neces-
sary adjuncts to prison discipline. But
why has the Windsor prison lacked
them in the past? Has there been nc
official power to fill these needs? Some
of them would have required small
outlay of money
The truth is that the suggestions OF
the committee overlook the one great
requisite to prison reform which then
observations failed to note as lacking
in the past-right supervision. No of
fetal report, however smooth and toll
Grant its phrases, can disguise the fact
that with the right kind of super
vision no extreme conditions of un
cleanness, immortality, or abuse car
long exist; and that without it, the
best system must fail.
There is no scheme of prison man
agement known that will work itself
There must be strong humanity, en-
ergy, executive ability and sterling
character back of it, in the persons
of superintendent and directors of the
institution.
= a. Gon,