Los Angeles herald., 1909-11-16
BELIEVES PRISONS SHOULD
REFORM, NOT DEFoRM MEN

Los ANGELES, Nov. I4-[Editor
HERALD: Reformation-in so far as
that is possible under existing condi-
tions-of our human derelicts, and not
widful reformation, is what we de-
mand today Of those men in whom are
vested the powers of administration OF
penal institutions.
They have the power of either bright
ening the horizon of human endeavor
by placing within the reach of cer-
| tain of their charges such opportun-
| tiles and advantages of livelihood as
will arouse dormant instincts of right
eousness. And they can, If they will
but exercise the grand prerogative of
mind, generate such conditions as will
be in harmony with and further slim
ulate the already lofty manifestations
Of thought of certain of their other
charges. Or they can-as they most
certainly do-if they are mere tools of
great syndicates of vice-particularly
those which are ramifications of GER
tain sources political-impede the way
to progress, making 1t little less than
impossible for those who are ready to
enter the dawn Of a new awakening to
bestir themselves from a state of
moral lethargy. This they do by i'm
brutingt the very natures of their
helpless victims. causing them to quail
and fall before the seemingly insur-
mountable walls of adversely Cropping
blindly, as finished products of an in
iquitous system, they are insensible to
the subtitle promptings of the inner
self. As such we are wont to term
them hardened criminals" and de-
cree that they bide their time in some
zone of hell-fre and damnation-imag-
mary or otherwise.
Recently an appeal was made in be-
half of the women incarcerated In San
Quentin penitentiary The writer in
formed us that "many of the men can
see the beautiful bay the green trees
grass and lovely flowers. The women
can only look up at the sky from the
gray stone walls from which they can
not get away six feet. Their feet
from the time they enter, never touch
Mother Earth one of the women hav-
ing been there twenty-three years"
Reader. do you say that such meth
ods of treating the "sick' conform to
the wish of the populace in such mat
ters? Are they expressive Of anything
but depravity and narrowness Of moral
perception on the part of the ofttimes
vindictively inclined and illiterate in
fictors? If not, then is it not only
your right but duty to demand a
change? Such is imperative.
From Elizabeth Sloan Chesser we
learn that "Prison in Japan is an ed
ucational agency, and the women work
and are paid wages for what they do.
Prizes and decorative awards are also
given as an incentive to good work and
conduct.
"The japanese of today could teach
us a great deal in the matter of pen
ology. They allow their prisoners
more liberty, they show a more SYM
pathetic interest in their welfare than
we do. Everything is done to teach
them industry and morality" The
purpose of such treatment is quite OBJ
vious: Industry tending to integration.
lack of it to disintegration. they nat
urally choose the former as the line
of least resistance.
To say that delinquents can be re-
formed. when those conditions which
are necessary for the regeneration of
the profigate mind and the cleansing
and strengthening Of the mortal ves-
ture are utterly lacking, is the gross
est kind of sophistry, and a tribute
only to such men as make it possible
for the cost of crime in the United
States alone to exceed the six billion
dollar mark.
TWAIN MICHELSEN.