The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1907-12-26
Is For Suspended
Sentences.

Sentences.
Il believe that q man convicted for
the first time, Of alcrime that is pun
ishable by imprisonment in the peni-
tentisry, should be given a suspended
sentence and be allowed to 60 free,
with the prison staring him in the.
face If he violates the conditions of his
2afole." Fhis is the remarkable state
ment of Warden O. Il. Gould of the
Ohio penitesdiary. who has, made
careful stadyao of criminals and the eff
fects of penal seryitude during the
past three years that ise has servedyat
the head of Ohio's big penal institu-
ton. ;. ~ F,
"A convict suffers all that he can
ever suffer in the first thirty days that
he is in the prison. declared Warden
Gould, in discussing Il the question,
"The first three or four days, to the
prisoner are nothing more or less,
plainly speaking, than 80 many days
IN the lower regions. After the fifst
month this feeling wears away and he
settles down to endure the best he can
the tortures Of confinement. 59rt
3 "There9 are one,or two Judges in the
state who put into practice this sus-
spended sentence pian. continued the
warden. "Ofle Of these 10 Judge Camp
bell, OF Morrow county, from whom We
haze received only one or two prison.
'ers in thepast two years, aud another
is Judge Kinkead, Of Toledo. There
may be others, but do not know OF
them. The suspended sentence, / be-
Iieve, will 60 as far, If not farther, to-
ward the reformation of the convicted
person. Should the prisoner come to
the penitentiary, he may be influenced
by evil associates to become an habit
uai law violator, while il he has the
prison 81 iaring him In the face and yet
is free, he will probably bshave him
self. oej 942sP ..,1s..a,
z II am an advocate of this suspended
sentences as q meansj of reform and /
believe that it will do more good than
to give the yiolator of the Law q term
behind the walls. OF course, there are
many instances where it cannot be put
into effect, but there are as many
more IN which it can" s
oa In speaking Of reform, Warden
Gould was; asked if he thought that
the Ohio penitentiary has In reality be-
come g reformatory. "All prisons, op-
Grated by modern methods, are re-
formatories nowadays" he replied.
"Wei direct our energies along that
line, but 1t is pretty hard question to
determine whether q term in the pen
itentiary really reforms q man. I be-
lieve that all of the prisoners who
leave this institution and do not re-
turn again, are reformed. There
seems TO be no other way. Of determine
ing whether prisoner has been re-
formed or not, but It seems reasonable
to assume that he has if he is not
brought back again.
&c this is the case, then eighty-five
per cent Of the prisoners who leave
this prison are reformed. Only about
twelve per cent are returned for the
second time and q few for, the third,
fourth, fifth, sixth and even the sev.
enth time. Of course we are assum-
ing that ell ofthe convicts are crimi-
mails, which is 9 fact, or they would not
have been convicted. -.
whether penitentiary is in reality.
q place Of reform Is = big question
that has many sides and over which
there b much difference .of Iopiaion.
It efforts gos for anything, the peni-
tentiary should be called 8 reforma-
tory. We deal kindly with the men
and endeavor in every way to get
them into the straight path. II 4 mar,
ish6ws aidnp6sitibnjto lbehsvs hfhhsslf
and do ssshst Us right ne matcE Ehfm
and We help him along and encouraee,
him + Apap shQEe 4 mean dispos{