Los Angeles herald., 1909-02-06
PRISONERS AT
THEIR MERCY
PAROLE DEPENDS SOLELY ON
OFFICIALS WHIM
COL. GRIFFITH J. GRIFFITH FUR
NISHES PROOF
Asserts That State Board of Prison
Directors Has Deliberately Vio-
lated the Law for Many
Years


mo prisoner shall be released on |
parole until there shall have been de-
posted with the warden of the prison |
N which the prisoner is confined the !
sum of $25; said deposit to be used in |
defraying the expenses of arresting |
| and recommitting the paroled prisoner |
IShould conditions of parole be violated. |
| Should no such expense be incurred |
the entire amount shall be refunded to
the depoSitor on return of the receipt, |
| property indorsed, after final discharge
of said paroIed prisoner.
| Each applicant shall cause to have
published at least once a week for two
successive weeks in two newspapers of
opposite politics published in the county
| in which he was convicted, if such
| newspapers are published, the fact that
he intends to apply for parole; and no
such application shall be considered by
this board until the statement Of pub
fishers with a copy Of notice attached,
shall have been filed. In counties
where only one newspaper is published,
or where all the papers are of the same
politics, it shall only be necessary,
| however, to publish such notice or in
| tention in one newspaper. If no news
paper is published in the county the
notice shall be published in an adjoin-
| ing county.
Added to Application
''No application shall be considered
until a statement has been obtained
from the district attorney who prose-
cuted the case or the district attorney
| of the county in which the prisoner
was convicted, showing that the appli- |
cant had not, to the knowledge of said
district attorney, been convicted of a
felony or served a term in a penal in
| stitution prior to that for which SEN
tence is being served, and that the
said district attorney knows of no
other indictment or serious charge |
lending against said prisoner. No ap-
plication shall be considered when the
board has knowledge from any source
that the applicant has previously been
convicted of a felony and served a
term in a penal institution or that
there is another indictment or serious
charge against said prisoner.
mo prisoner shall be released on
| parole until satisfactory evidence shall
have been furnished this board in writ
| ing that employment will be furnished
| such prisoner by some responsible and
reputable person, certified to be such by
the clerk of the county where such per-
son resides, or that he will engage in
some respectable business for himself.
1.-The state does not furnish either
| money, clothes or transportation to
paroled prisoners, either upon their re-
lease or final discharge"
|
| fifth says:
! Under the above rules the best man
on earth, if incarcerated in either of our
state prisons, could not be paroled
| against the wishes of a freak district
attorney or judge before whom he had
| been convicted.
| MANY such judges dislike the idea of
changing their attitude toward the
offender; while many district attorneys
make political capital out of convictions
and consider it a reflection on their
work to favor a convicted man. Conse-
quently they secretly frequently defeat
a deserving applicant for parole by
subterfuges, and in some instances
openly oppose it.
Cites Case in Point
"The writer personally knew of a first
| offender, a model prisoner in San
| Quentin, who wrote the usual letter
asking the district attorney of a certain
! county to state there were no other
charges against him, etc, in that
county. When the deserving, helpless
man received the answer, which was
signed by the heartless wretch, the dis |
trict attorney himself, the poor heart |
broken prisoner, with tears in his eyes
handed it to the writer, and the follow |
ing is an exact copy of the body of the
letter:
"I have made it a rule to have moth |
ing to do with attempts to secure par |
dons or paroles for criminals sent to |
state prison from this county. There |
is no reason why [ should make any |
exception to this rule in your case. You
need not waste any further time in at |
tempting to secure assistance from
me-"
"The law, the rules and the above |
mentioned conditions are largely re- |
sponsible for the fact that but thirteen |
prisoners per annum were paroled IN |
this state during the first fourteen |
years after the laws enactment. The |
present board is paying more attention |
to business and doing better work
"Under our present state law and the |
above rules it costs the prisoner from |
$50 to $50 to be paroled and return to |
the place of conviction, regardless of |
the expense of securing employment. |
AS nearly nine-tenths of those eligible |
for parole are penniless, the glaring in |
equality of the law is at once apparent. !
''I talked with many deserving pris- |
oners in San Quentin who never ap- |
piled for pardon because they felt |
blocked on account of their poverty.
my parole bill cuts out the money
demands on the helpless prisoner and |
aims to extend a helping hand to the
deserving man as he leaves the prison.
State Law Violated
Elm addition to the above drastic and !
unreasonable rules the state board Of |
prison directors has deliberately vio-
lated the state law for many years by |
compelling prisoners to serve half their
time before that body considers them |
eligible for parole, while the state |
law requires the prisoner to serve but |
one year before he is eligible, except |
in the case of those serving a life SEN
tence, who are required to serve seven |
years. Again, the board violates the |
state law by forcing the life term pris-
oner to serve eight years solid before |
he can be considered eligible.
For more than fifty years this state |
has tried torture. revenge and degrada-
stead of our methods being a deterrens,
crime has increased so that the latest |
statistics show 523 per 100000 of popu-
lation, which is far more crime COM
mitments than is recorded in any state
in the union.
eff the new method, with the inde-
terminate sentence, reduces crime and
works so well in other states, why not
try it in California? Under the inde-
terminate sentence the criminal gets
the maximum sentence and the pro-
fessional fears that law above all
things; consequently it proves a great
deterrent.
''The adult reformatory aims to pre-
pare the accidental offender to enter
society again better trained to obey its