Perth Amboy evening news., 1906-02-17
CARE OF CRIMINALS
MUST CHECK CRIME.
New Jersey Conference of Charlie 6
and Corrections Discusses New
Treatment in Prisons.

NEWARK. Feb. lin the SEES
sion of the New Jersey Conference OF
Charities and Correction. in the Free
Public Library in Newark yesterday.
the theme for discussion was the
Newer Methods of the Treatment OF
the Criminal
Decatur NJ. Sawyer, Of Montclair,
presided, and among the speakers
were George o. Osborne, warden of
the New Jersey State Prison at Tren-
ton; the Rev. Charles c. Cooler,
moral instructor in the Railway re-
formatory; William H. Speer, prose-
cutor of Hudson county; Alfred F.
Skinnerfi Of Newark, and John c. Ka-
leen, superintendent of the New Jer-
sey State Home for Boys, in James
burg.
rs the Penitentiary Useful?" was
the subject of the talk of Mr.. Skin
ner. He declared there is need for a
change in the conduct of such insti-
buttons, and showed conditions can
be improved and penitentiaries
changed into reformatories. In every
case. he said, the power to do so lies
with the Board of Freeholders. He
pointed out the differences in the
care and treatment of inmates of the
Essex County Penitentiary and the
Railway reformatory. He decided
that as now conducted the peniten-
tiary is not useful as a means of les
sening crime. and. that it is not right
to send first offenders, often mere
boys and girls, to such a place.
81 understand it is the intention of
some n to offer a bill in the legisla-
ture to prohibit the sending of any
offenders to the Railway Reformatory
because of it's crowded condition" he
said. IF that is so / am glad | am
no longer a judge in the Essex coun-
ty courts"
He ~contended that by making the
Freeholders see things as they are
seen by others interested in the pre-
vention rather than in the punish
ment of crime and the uplifting of
humanity, the necessary changes in
~penitentiary operation can and will
be made.
IF this is not done and the Rah-
way reformatory is closed for two
years, as proposed" he declared, sit
will be the blacklist page in the his
tory of this organization and Others
like it until they do something to
make conditions better"
Mr.. Speer deplored the fact that a
year ago the legislature rejected a
bill for the creation of a state reform
atory for women. Warden Osborne
upheld the theory of a permanent ref
ormation and the rehabilitation of
discharged prisoners in order to give
citizens.
The Rev. MI. Cooler spoke on the
value of the indeterminate sentence.
He took a sharp rap at what he term
ed big thieves, who are not arrest
ed like little thieves" but merely
investigated, and at the jury system,
which he declared defeats justice as
often as it helps.
The following nominations were
made, the election of officers being
concluded at the evening session:
For president, Hugh F. Fox; for
secretary, Mrs. Frederick c. Jacob
son; for treasurer, John A. Cullen;
for vice presidents, the Right Rev.
James A. McFaul, the Right Rev. Ed
win S. Lines, Mrs. Emily E. William
son, Governor Stokes, and Mrs. Hen
ny H. Dawson. The following were
nominated as directors: Francis B,
Lee, Trenton; Charles F. Currie,
Blackwood; the Rev. Walter Reid
Hunt, Orange; Hugh F. Fox, Plain
field: Mrs. Archibald Alexander, Ho-
boken; Arthur w. McDougall, New
ark; Albert C. Aborn, East Orange;
Decatur NJ. Sawyer, Montclair;
George o. Osborne, Trenton; Alger-
non T. Sweeney, Newark; Edward
R. Johnson, Vineland; the Rev.
Francis A. Foy, Nutley; Blocker Van
Wagenen. Orange; W. Chur, Salem,
ii Do-;oU,;. Atha Aaunrl-