Los Angeles herald., 1909-07-18
PRISON FIGURES
JUSTIFY REFORM
DEMONSTRATE THAT VIOLENCE
BEGETS VIOLENCE
Comparison Of South with Central and
New England States Teaches
Lesson of National
Importance

by the Prison Reform league capital
punishment, conditions in our county
jails and penal establishments, the ar
rest of vagrants under the fee system
and generally the most salient features
of the present methods of dealing Win
offenders will be considered at length
Before proceeding to this work we
wish however. to review the ground
covered by the previous six letters
and to point out, with an anpllncd-
ton that appears necessary, the Iac's
therein demonstrated.
1t was shown, for example in the
letter issued June 16, that while such
tortures as the straitJacket, lhe
"strappado," the oregon boot ana even
the whipping bost are still IN aClual
and constant use in this country IN Ihc
convict camps of the south conditions
prevail today which can be compared
only with Dantes inferno. BY clta-
tions from authors and periodicals OF
unouestionable repute this was estao-
liShed as a fact.
In our last two letters we ShoNeu
also as a fact, testified to UNANIMOUSLY
by official figures and leading crlilh-
nologists, that crimes of violence nave
been much on the increase. we were
then careful to point out, in connecIioll
with a preceding letter, that II is pre-
cisely in those localities in which the
attempted repression of crime mas
been most brutal-inspired most eX-
clusively by the spirit OF revenge
that crimes of violence nave oeen liloSI
numerous Taking the year l9uo' II
was demonstrated that in the south
ao14 murders had been recorded,
whereas the great central division OF
the country showed only 2S43, while IN
the densely populated manufacturing
districts of New England, in when
immigrants from Europe have settled
and multiplied so prolifically, the num-
Der was only 254 Thus we gave 10
those sufficiently interested in the Wei-
fare of their country to study lhls
question. a self-conVinCing demonstra-
tion of the philosophic truth that, al
wavs and everywhere, the great law
of inheritance works, like begettlhS
like and violence a progeny OF NioleHce'
more vital truth cannot be con-
ceived. and it is the unshakable scien-
tifc ground on which the Whole struc-
ture of modern Criminology rests. II
IT were proved untenabIe the frlson
Reform league should Immediately
close its books and regret that 1t ever
had come into existence. AS 1t Is,
we rest happy in the assurance that
the position is impregnable, and has
no need of being buttressed by fancl-
ful constructions of ancient texts or
appeals to passion and prejudice, since
it is anchored securely to the bedrock
of actual life.
demonstrations of the growth OF
crimes and violence with our two last
letters on probation and the indeterml-
nate sentence. Insanity and suicide
have been included as branches OF the
general problem because they repre-
sent unhealthy mental types, and be-
cause suicide is invariably, and m
sanity frequently, attended by Vlo-
ience AS a matter of fact CRIME ana
insanity receive substantially the same
treatment at the hands of the authori-
ties. 1t is often an open question
whether the insane patient does not
fare worse in his Incarceration than
does the criminal, and in both cases
we have the same fundamental factor
the prisoner helplessly at the mercy
of his keeper
Awakening Only Partial
The first step toward all action Is
psychological-a wish ripening into de-
termination to accomplish the end de-
sired. Stupidity and brutality remain
securely entrenched in power just as
long as we are satisfied to nave II so.
In our last two letters we have shown
that in certain portions Of the country
there has been an awakening and that
endeavors have been made by passing
probation statutes, applying the inde-
terminate sentence and otherwise, to
Introduce more rational methods OF ad-
ministration. Where do we ma that
awakening most pronounced? Precise
" in those sections where violence mas
been most conspicuOusly absent. Where
do we find the social conscience stlll
sound asleep? Precisely in the south,
where violence is most frequent. The
poof is submitted in the following
grouping:
The type of the old regime is repre-
scented in its purest form by those
states that have no refOrmatorles, mn
pose only definite sentences. leave the
granting of paroles, if granted at all
to the governor and do nothing for the
discharged convict Examining the
records and drawing largely on the re
port of the National Prison association
committee on discharged prisoners,
prepared by Amos w. Butler and pub
iished in 1908, we find the following
southern states in this class: Ala
bama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana,
MARYLAND, New Mexico, Mississippi,
Tennessee, North and South Carolina
and Texas.
Maryland is perhaps entitled To be
taken out Of this class by the fact that
paroles are frequently granted by
time of trial. but Maryland has been
under the civilizing influence Of the
Maryland Prisoners Aid association,
and the Maryland prison conference OF
January 1907 although 1t took no def
mite action, discussed and reviewed IA
vorably the indeterminate sentence. In
other words, thanks to individual eft
forts, thought has begun to stir in
Maryland, and with some result.
Missouri also would belong to this
class but for the fact that it adopted
IN 1907, with certain limitations, the
parole system. It has no reformatory
and its penitentiary has been the sub
iect of constant and most drastic crit
iclsm Fortunately it has among its
citizens men Of the Arthur N. Sager
type. and what they think Of their
states penal institutions may be
Judged from the fact that Judge Sager
told the National Prison association
congress Of 1907 that lit might fifty be
written above the portals of the grim
pile of steel and masonry at Jefferson
city All hope abandon, We who enter
here Governor Hadley has spoken
of it as more characteristic of the mid
die ages than of the twentieth century.
thereby indorsing the repeated con-
demnations passed by former Warden
Hall.
True to Their Record
Most Of the names given above fig
ured largely i'm our letter headed Held
Slaves in Convict Camps" Florida,
which was repeatedly alluded to, is
still in the elementary class, having
no arrangements for probation, and
attention was called to the fact that
in Delaware, another southern state,
the whipping post had proved so brutal
that the former warden of Wilmington