The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1909-05-22
IMPORTANT SUBJECTS ARE DIS
cUsSEo At ITS CONFERENCE
IN DENVER.
OPINIONS OF EXPERTS
INMATES LEAVE INSTITUTIONS
BEFORE HAVING LEARNED TO
MAKE A LIVING.

Denyer-"The new law permitting
adult offenders to be released on pro-
baton is one OF the best pieces of leg
islation in the history of the United
States."-Judge Ben B. Lindsey.
Inmates of the State Industrial
School should be kept there for at
least two and one-half years, as it is
impossible for them to learn a useful
trade in one year. ."-Superintendent
Fred L. Paddelford.
Women are turned out of the State
Penitentiary without having learned
how to make a respectablue living.
You know what they have to do and
where they go"-Mrs Sarah Platt
Decker.
Well wishing friends send tuber-
cuIar patients to Colorado when they
are in the last stages of the disease
and they become public charges
Dr. G. Walter Holden.
These are some Of the points
brought out Monday afternoon and
evening by the speakers who ad
dressed the conference called by the
State Board OF Charities and Correc-
ton in the Senate chamber az the
State house.
The heads and boards Of control of
the different institutions and scores of
men and women interested in chari-
able and reformatory work were pres
ent.
The exhibits from the asylum for the
deaf and blind and the State Home
for Dependent Children, the indus
trial workshop for the adult blind, the
Boys and Girls industrial schools and
the State reformatory attracted much
attention. Remarkable skill was
shown by many of the pupils.
The conference was called to order
Monday afternoon by Rabbi Friedman.
as chairman OF the Board OF Charities
and Correction. Judge Lindsey, the
first speaker, told OF the good which,
he said, would be accomplished by the
law permitting adults charged with
misdemeanors to be placed on parole.
Former Warden butcher in his ad-
dress emphasized the failure of many
judges to send prisoners to the proper
institutions He also suggested that
there should be more liberal law per-
mitting transfers Of prisoners from
one institution to another. SO that the
errors of the courts could be rectified.
He also cited many instances show
ing the inequality of sentences i'm
posed, relating cases where in his
opinion the courts showed no regard
for the environment, the habits, or the
capabilities of the prisoners.
1T is impossible to teach the boys a
trade in one year." said Superintend-
ent Paddelford. Under the present
system the boys can be released at the
end of a year if they get enough good
marks. This time should be increased
to two and one-half years. Then We
could turn them out as useful citizens.
We teach them all We can in a year,
but it is impossible for boy or man to
learn any trade thoroughly in a year"
Mrs. Decker declared that there
should be at least one woman on the
board Of control of every state institu-
ton. She said that if there were a
woman on the board of the State pen
itentiary, the women convicts would
not be thrown out into the world with
out having been taught how to make
living.
These women do not know what to
do when they get out" she said III
they were taught some useful occupa-
ton by which they could earn living
many of them would become good woN
men"