The Irish standard., 1909-10-09
4 SPLENDID PLAN Of
REV. FL. KELLY, 0.P.
Outlined by the Priest in an
Interesting c Communication
to the Penitentiary Board
Of Managers of the State
4 Of Ohio---Education Sug-
gested as Part of the Prison
4 System After Many Years
as Chaplain.

The following letter in regard 10
prison training from Rev. Francis l..
Kelly, o. P, formerly of Minneapolis,
but Catholic chaplain at the Ohio
penitentiary for the past fourteen
years, contains suggestions of a prac-
tical nature which we take pleasure
lumbar as follows:
To the Honorable Board of Mani-
gers, Ohio State Penitentiary, Column
bus, Ohio:
Gentlemen-For some time past I
have been considering the advisable
ity of presenting for your considera-
ton a plan which I believe will tend
to the mental and moral uplift of the
prisoners confined in this institution.
His Excellency, Governor Harmon, to
whom 1 explained my project, has
graciously commended it, and at his
consideration.
From my fourteen years. expert
ence as Catholic chaplain of the Ohio
state penitentiary, I have found the
primary cause of crime to have been
a lack of proper education. Ignorance
of the fundamental principles of mo-
rality and want of intellectual devei-
opment have ever been the fruitful
sources of criminal tendencies. I'm
fortunate circumstances of birth and
education not infrequently have forced
many men to live in an atmosphere
inimical to virtue and hence in how
many cases the commission of crime
may be attributed rather to ignorance
than contempt of law.
Experience has conclusively proven
that the remedy is to be found only
in education. James A. Garfield In
his letter Of acceptance of the nominal
ton for president, remarked that,
justice is popular education, without
which neither freedom nor justice can
be permanently maintained" We can
readily see the truth of this statement,
for where ignorance and illiteracy are
predominant in a community freedom
and justice are misnomers, and law
lessness is a consequent evil. You
know from your own experience that
education brings forth what Is best
and noblest in man, and elevates his
personality. Ruskin gives expression
to the same thought when he says:
Education is the leading human souls
to what is best, ana making what is
best out of them; and these two OBJ
jects are always obtainable together,
and by the same means. The training
which makes men happiest in them
selves also makes them most service
able to others"
I believe that II we can make the
inmates of the Ohio penitentiary bet
ter and happier and more serviceab,e
to their fellow men, we shall institute
a reform which shall be far-reachins
and lasting in its effects. This re-
form, maintain. can be brought about
! by courses Of education.
I would therefore suggest, gentle
men, that a day school be established
in this institution and that curricu-
lum of studies be formulated accord
ing to the intellectual capacity of the
individual, arranging the courses To-
cording to. the public school system
of the country. This course of studies
should occupy a period of three hours
daily, Sunday excepted, and as an in
ducement for application. believe a
4 Communication of sentence should. be
4 granted. This reduction of sentence
I could be regulated by, progress in
i studies. For each advancement grant
T to the subject reduction, say 1t
\ least one month from his sentence.
Such reduction should be absolutely
II 1FreVocable. This Is essential; for II a
{ portion of the good time gained as a
y reward for application to study Re
made revocable because Of some in
fraction of discipline, many prisoners
& would consider it useless to prosecute
4 their studies. When they flnd how
ever. that the communication gained bv
II advancement will not be forfeited,
Y even through incorrigibility, a very
strong incentive to study will be Civ
4 en- them.
The previous suggestions apply only
sKtD the uneducated class of prisoners.
sss I am aware, moreover, that these
B. ssare among the prisoners many men
who have had the advantage Of lib
4 eral education. The Communication ex-