The Glenwood post., 1909-06-19

Public interest is directed to the
state prisons of New York state by the
recent action of the Legislature in en-
acting measure transferring the
property at Comstock, Washington
county, purchased by the state from
Hon. Isaac V. Baker about five years
ago, from the jurisdiction of the State
Lunacy commission to the superintend-
ent of state prisons and appropriatlng
$5O0,000 for the construction and
equipment of an additional new state
prison to be known as the Great
Meadow prison.
The overcrowded condition of the
prisons of the state has become
more and more serious problem in the
last few years, and notwithstanding
the erection of the new prison at Bear
Mountain down the Hudson to take the
place of the old Sing Sing prison,
which is now well under way, State
Superintendent of Prisons Cornelius
V. Collins pointed out to the legisla-
ture that the need OF another new
prison is already imperative, owing
to the growing prison population nat
urally due to the steady increase of
the population of the empire state.
There has been practically no new
prison construction, aside from neces-
sary improvements, with the eXcep-
tion of one wing Of Clinton prison,
since 1915. There are at present in
the three state prisons 4.1O1 convicts,
an increase of 1,2Sl in IS months, and
as the prisons provide but 5000 cells,
it is necessary to double" in more
than 1000 of these small cells. To
afford relief as soon as possible it is
proposed to start work this summer
on the Comstock property so as to
have the buildings ready for occu-
pancy early next year.
Few persons, except those who have
inspected a state prison or are directly
connected with one of these institu-
tions, have any adequate conception
of their magnitude, and only by COM
parison with the conditions existing
in the prisons of this state decade
or more ago can the far-reaching eff
feet of the numerous prison reforms,
in which this state has been the pi-
oneer, be understood comprehensively
These changes and the establishment
in New York state of what are recog'
nized as the model penal institutions
of the country have been brought
about directly by the orders of the
present State Superintendent of Pris-
ons, Cornelius V. Collins, who has
been head of the state prison depart.
ment since 1897, or through legisla'
ton enacted upon his recommendation
The policy of the state in regard to
these institutions is best expressed in
a statement made by the superintend
ent before the National State Prisons
association in Baltimore. Md:
"The state in committing a man tc
prison not only intends that the com
monwealth shall be protected from his
criminal acts during the time of his
/ incarceration, but that those in whose
charge he is given shall use all pos
sible means to effect his reformation
and return him to society better and
with a higher conception of his owr
moral obligations
Even in these days of enlightenment
it is not far cry to the whipping
post, the darkened cell and the bread
and-water diet. For years all othel
considerations in prison management
we're subordinated to large industria
production and the greatest financia
returns to the state from the prod
ucts of prison labor. Hard labor un
der strict discipline is still required
as it must be, but the reformation
and education of the criminal, to re
store his moral sense and send hin
forth from prison to become. If pos
sible, a useful and productive indivi
dual, has been made paramount.
With this conception of the duty o
the state toward those convicted o
crime an intelligent treatment of thu
prison problem has resulted in changes
of methods, frequently revolutionary
but always progressive, which hav'
proven effective to remarkable de
gree. 1t is only necessary to enumer
ate some of the more important re
forms introduced in the last ten o
12 years to show by what steps th'
present standard Of the prison system
of the state has been reached.
First, the prisoners were classihe,