Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-28
;oNvIcTs ARE APT PUPILS
State Superintendent Collins Suggests
Many Reforms.
DEPLoREs THE LIFE SENTENCE
Indeterminate Terms, He Declares,
Would Give Men Hope and Help
in Every Possible Way.

ALBANY. January 2s.-The humanitarian
feature In prison administration ia brought
prominently to the front In the annual re-
port of the superintendent of state prisons
which has just been made public
The prison school system comes within
that province, and Superintendent Collins
reports that during the first year that sys-
tenn has been in operation the result has
been eminently satisfactory The prison
schools in their present adequate condition
were established in November 1865
According to the report, 1890 men now
attend the schools one hour and a half
every day except Sunday in the state pris-
ons at Sing Sing, Auburn and Dannamora
which were opened for the illfterate among
the prison population: for those who had
some instruction. but still are deficient in
the rudimentary branches of education, and
for foreigners who cannot read and write
English,
ars is remarkable" says Superintendent
Collins In his report I'm some cases the
rapid advances made in educational deyel-
opment shown by the school records and
exhibits seem almost Incredible. The super
1ntendent expects greater results in re-
forfnatofy way from these schools than
have ever been attained by any other cor
regional agency. The successful men are
proud of their newly acquired knowledge
and strive by hard work in the schools, and
by studying In their cells after work
tages that the schools afford as fully as
the time limits of their sentences will per-
nit
Decrease in Death Rate.
Superintendent Collins recites what al
ready has been accomplished In the way
of furnishing better accommodation for sick
prisoners and quotes statistics to show the
results as ground to call upon the legis-
lature for an appropriation permitting Of
further progress in this direction. Con-
sumption is the disease which has given
most trouble to the prison authorities. In
his present report the state superintendent
Is able to point to a decrease of Il per
cent in the death rate from the dread
white plague in the last five years to
Justify him in calling upon the legislature
for additional funds to fight 1t.
/ An urgent plea Is made in the report on
behalf of prisoners under life sentence
for murder In the SECOND degree. Supt.
Collins recommends that the penalty In
such cases should be an indeterminate SEN
tence, the minimum Of which should be
Supt. Collins says. prisoner whose con-
duct is good will be eligible for parole after
nineteen years and eleven months. If his
conduct is bad he can be retained in prison
as long as he lives There was a bill in
troduced in the assembly at the last ses-
sion embodying this recommendation. It
passed the lower mouse, Dut reached the
senate too late for consideration. Supt.
Collins will have 1t rentroduced this year.
Statistics are appended to show that only
six life prisoners in each hundred in this
state remain In prison twenty years.
1T is probable, however" says Supt
Collins. ''that If 1t is provided by law that
such men may by good conduct earn parole
after twenty years service a less number
viii be pardoned. and. having the prospect
of release to sustain them, fewer will die"
Supt. Collins spoke feelingly about this
feature of his report.
Where ''Pull' Counts.
'The percentage that remains in prison
under life sentence" he said, sis the
poor man who has nobody on the outside
with a political pull to work for his re-
lease. A man from New York city is
never forgotten. He will always find some
ward heller. some district leader or other
politician to work for him; But take a
poor fellow from the North Woods He
has no friends with pull. He will stay
until he is either carried out to a pit filed
with quicklime in the burial ground or to
an asylum for the criminal insane The
latter fate is the more tragic and il is
brought on just by that hopeessness which
an indeter1nate sentence would obyiate."
Supt Collins also urges that laws be en-
acted to make indeterminate sentences
with parole provision applicable in all
cases, on the ground that the period of
limited freedom. semi-dependence and par
tial restraint is an aid in rebuilding char
acter. He wants the legislature to enact
| laws to provide for indeterminate SEN
fences in the case of first Offenders who
have been sentenced for definite terms, in
defiance of provision of the penal code
enacted in 1891 He says many prisoners
so sentenced would have been liberated on
parole long ago had they been sentenced
in accordance with the law
The report pronounces the results at
tanned by the department during the year
emineiitiy satisfactory" The expendi-
ture for care and maintenance exceeded
that OF the previous years by $1S.373 The
annual per capita expenditure exceeded
that of 1905 by s5.12. The daily average
prison population In the states institutions
Was 3, 4I3, or more than in 1906