Los Angeles herald., 1910-11-21
Progress of Prison Reform
IN GRIFFtTn j. GRIEFITH

BY GRIFFITH
The International Prison congress
has been meeting in different places
quinquennially for the past forty years.
Last month the gathering was held in
the new Pan-American building, Wash
ington, D. c., and the next session will
be held in 1915 in London, England,
where the congress held it's first con-
Vention.
A few days prior to the international
congress the American Prison associa-
ton, organized in 1870, held one of its
annual sessions in the same city, so
also did the newly organized American
Institute of Criminal Law and Grim
inology. All the foreign delegates were
invited and many of them graSped the
opportunity to learn our methods from
the discussions held by the two Ameri-
can associations. In the interval, be-
fore the opening of the international
gathering, the delegates were invited
to be guests of the United States on
the tour of American institutions
which preceded the Washington Prison
congress. The itinerary included the
New York state reformatory at Elmira,
founded in 1875, and the first institu-
ton of the kind in the world; the
George Junior Republic at Freeville,
the initial children's institution for
Juvenile delinquents, founded along the
self government lines; the New York
state prison at Auburn, the State Ag-
ricultural and Industrial School of In
dustry, one of the best examples of
cottage institutions in America; the
Ohio state remormatOry at Mansfield,
one of the newer American reforma-
4 - IL
first children's court in the United
States and in the world, together with
the following Illinois state institutions:
The house of correction and John
Worthy School for Boys, the Illinois
state penitentary at Joliet, Illinois
State Training School for Girls at
Geneva, the state reformatOry at Pom
tiac and the School for Boys at st,
Charles. In Indiana an equally notable
series of institutions was visited, in
cluding the Indiana Woman's prison, the
Indiana Girls school, Indiana's Boys
school Cboth for juvenile delinquents
and Indicating even III their titles the
newer conceptions in such work, the
Indiana state prison at Michigan city
and the Indiana refOrmatory at JeTtef-
sonyille, which has taken the leader
shin i'm Experimentation in the direction
on asexualization as a preventive
agent. Special entertainment was ac-
! corded the delegates at New York, Au-
burn. Buffalo, Chicago, Indianapolis
Louisville, Washington and elsewhere
Visits We're made to the institutions OF
the District of Columbia and after the
congress- to the eastern penitentiary of
Philadelphia, the model in its day of
cellular confinement, as Auburn was
once for imprisonment in common with
Isolation at night the two distinct
tvpes which, even i'm Europe, have
been known by these American names.
About 100 foreign delegates aVailed
themselves of the invitation, and on
their return to Washington, both be
fore and after the convention, We're
loud in their praises of the tour ana
the object lesson it afforded them.
Among the forty countries repre-
scented were the Argentine republic,
Austria. Belgium, Great Britain. can
ada, China, Colombia, Cuba, Finland,
France. Germany, Greece, Guatemala,
Haiti, Holland. Honduras. Hungary
Italy Japan, Liberia, LuNemburg,
Mexico. New South Wales Norway,
Queensland Russia, Salvador, Siam,
Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunis,
Turkey and Venezuela.
The work of the international con
gress lasted several days, and in order
to expedite things it's labors We're con-
Quoted under four departments, name
ly: Section l on Criminal Law, sec
tion on "Prison Adinistration, sec
tion on prevention" and section 4
on children"
The results Of this gathering is far
reaching inasmuch as the representa-
tives of some forty countries dld Tor
the first time in it's history indorse,
nv resolution, probation, indeterminate
sentence and parole. Thus the organi-
zation turned its back on the revenge
theory and clearly substituted reform
for the offender.
The United States delegates did not
hesitate to call attention to the facts
that thirty states have now juvenile
and twenty adult probation laws; that
fwenty-one states have adopted some
phase of the indeterminate sentence
law and that we have fourteen re-
formatories for adult male Offenders