Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1908-07-29
THE STATE INSTITUTIONS.

} that editorial statements by some o1
J the newspapers of Iowa would indicate
that there is a feeling at least will
J these few newspapers that the state
board of control of state institutions
should be abolished. or at least should
be greatly curtailed. The state board
had been in existence just ten years
on the first of this month and it is not
believed that among the great body of
the people there is any sentiment for
such an action worth considering but
at the close of the first decade under
the state board it is considered proper
to take something of an inventory and
consider Just what changes have been
made by the state board
With the completion of the new cell
house at Fort Madison which will be
done shortly the last relic of the old
idea CT management of state institu.
tiOns will have been removed. For.
merly at the insane hospitals the win
dows were all barred and there were
padded cells for the violent inmates
There is nothing of that left. A
patient when admitted to an insane
hospital is treated as a sick person.
Every effort is made to impress upon
the mind of the patient that they are
simply sick and need rest and medi.
cine. In this way the mind of the
patient is prepared for the treatment.
Bars at the windows led the inmates
of old to consider that they were
prisoners. A patient is no longer put
in padded cell and allowed to COM
Lpletely exhaust itself trying to butt
its brains out against wool mattress
If the patient becomes violent there
are attendants ready to restrain it and
keep the patient in it's bed.
AT the penitentaries the old idea
used to be incarceration and that
only. If the condition of the prison
was entirely unsanitary it was ex.
cused as being good enough for
prisoners. The prison idea twenty
years ago in Iowa was an improve
ment over the old idea of dungeon
entertained two or three centuries ago
only in degree. When the new cell
house at Fort Madison is completed it
will be as sanitary as it can be made
and the prisoners while restrained of
their liberty will be treated in way
intended to keep their health as good
as when they enter.
The lock step which branded man
wherever he was seen after with the |
indelliSle stamp of prison service has
been abolished. But these are only a
few of the improvements. The old
idea of abuse of prisoners has been ex-
changed for one of merit. The
prisoner who obeys the rules of the
prison gets greater liberties than
those who don't and the re salt of this !
of kindness for cruelty |
has worked wonders in the prison
The board of parole law provides
that some one from the Office at Des
Moines shall visit each of the institu-
tions at least once q month and that
the entire board shall visit all the in
stitutions in body once every six
On these visits the inmates
Of the institutions are all given an
opportunity to MAKE any complaint
they wish against the management.
They are allowed private audience
with the members of the board and
are protected in what they say to the
board. This rule while simple has
worked wonders in the management
of the institutions. Under the old
system if an insane person made a
complaint it was given no considera-
ion because the person was insane
It is recognized that even if person
IS insane he is capable of telling the
anity may not affect his knowledge
II institution abuses. AS d result
inmates are treated better than ever
,efore.
The varying kinds of institutions in
owa is such that innovations and new
IDEAS and reforms adopted in one in
do not fit all. In the in
lustrial schools the old idea was that
hey we're bad girls and boys who
hould be punished. The idea on
which the state board of control has
worked so successfully is that if boys
nd girls of 12 and IA and younger are
'ad the presumption may be strong
hat the trouble has started with the
arents and that if the parents had
reared their children they
would not have come to the institu-
ion. In the vast majority OF the Z
ases this is true. AS a result every
hild coming to the industrial schools
; taught some trade. The girls are
aught how to cook and are taught
and typewriting in addi-
ion to being given good general
chool education. They are taught