The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1908-12-08
WHAT SHALL BE DONE WITH
OUR CRIMINALS?
Dr. S. n. Bitch, State Prison Physi-
can and Member of the National
Prison Commission, Contri-
butes a Timely Article on
the Subject.


lem of criminology is one sufficiently
perplexing; but the various systems
inaugurated, both in this country and
abroad, in the last fifty years, clearly
indicate that the method TO be en-
ployed in dealing with criminals. both
habitual and casual, depends largely
upon the economic conditions of a
country, and whether its predominant
ing interest are industrial or agricul-
tural.
Broadly speaking, the purpose of
Imprisonment is to protect society on
the one hand, and, on the other, to
protect the criminal against himself
The crimintl is still a man, and in
dealing with him it should never be
forgotten that society can best pro-
tect itself by elevating the prisoner to
a higher plane, and leaving him more
of man and less of an outcast than
it found him.
Neither should Ii be forgotten that
the criminal is, both officially and f.
nancially, burden, not only to him.
self, but to the state. For this reason
it is wisely provided that he shall be
made to labor during his term of i'm
prisonment. Idleness, especially in
close penitentiary life, is a potent
cause of insanity. At the outset, the
prisoners life should not be so hard
that he has nothing to hope for, nor
so bright that he has nothing to fear.
His life must necessarily be a lard
one-a life of subsection and toll, so
adjusted as to give the state due COM
pensation for its outlay in prosecut-
ing, detention, maintenance, etc. New
ertheless, the prisoner should always
be allowed to look forward to better
ing his condition by good conduct,
while, if he deliberately chooses the
opposite course, this step should inev-
itably bring down upon him increas-
ed burdens and fewer privileges. l
do not, in making this statement,
it should be explained, mean to con-
vey the idea that the convict is any
mans slave; but that he is in the
grasp of the state, and that it is ne
cessary to the welfare of the COM
munity that its laws be enforced.
Is here an ideal system of prison
management? Would not a perfect
system for imperfect human beings
be a perfect failure?
Where are the Wanted remedies of
the misguided enthusiasts and the
newspapers who clamor so vocifer-
ously for the abolition of the lease
system? Why do not these theorists
follow up their vicious attacks upon
our convict and lease SYSTEM and
mount the rostrum, and by rising to
a question of personal privilege, point
out to long suffering public the
means to the end they seem so anx-
ious to attain? Something more than
theory-something more than idle
rhetoric-is needed here. Discussion
practical, logical, rational discus
sion-is required by people already
over-taxed, in view of the financial
difficulties that will unquestionably
follow the complete humiliation of
the convict lease system in this state.
AS the annual income from that lease
is now, approximately, s250,000, senti-
mentality and vague humanitarianism
should never be permitted to color a
controversy over a subject of such vi
ia Importance; nor, on the other
hand, should the issue be looked upon
purely as cold-blooded, business
proposition, but rather with due con-
sideration of all the factors involved.
In short, this question should be
handled in a common sense, humane,
business-like manner, with view of
being fair to the prisoner, just to the
tax payer and creditable TO the state.
The difference between one convict
systm and another is, after all, sim
ply a difference between the manner
in which the labor of the prisoner is
utilized. In the north, the labor of
the convict is leased. In Florida, the
convict is leased outright and bodily
"a distinction without a difference.
The state of Florida now maintains