The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-25
PONCE A THIEF ALWAYS
 A THIEF" NOT TRUE
How Men Profit By Chance Given ThemNecessty For Under mnate Court Sentence Conditions
 That Make Bad Boys


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 Bureau.)
 Tt pays to give men a chance, for once a thief always a thief is not true. After eight years experience I think the parole system is successful. The United States federal prisons began on September 1, 1910. to parole prisoners. They have started on the right way to give the convicted man an opportunity to redeem himself
 One inmate of the New Jeresy re-
 formatory who was paroled five years ago now holds good position as travelling salesman at $3000 year and commission. He has wife and two children. He was committed for break- ing, entering and larceny. He almost killed the owner of the house before
 the alarm could be given. Until he was
 paroled he had never worked a full month. Another young man was sent to us for grand larceny. He made up ms mind that he would not live up to the rules. He, was one of those we call
 bad ones., A change came over him
 ali at once and he made up his mind that he was going to be man. A1ter awhile he earned his parole and later a full release. Today he holds a posi- ton in the fire department of a large city
 People are always ready to criticise
 when a paroled inmate makes second mistake. It is impossible to have suc-
 cess with every case, but SO per cent Of
 those from this institution are reformed. The final result in 15 per cent of the
 cases is unknown, 5 per cent relapse
 and 20 per cent have neither bettered
 their condition nor have they committed
 second offense.
 Some while on parole make the best
 of men and when granted full release, knowing there is no check upon them, fall again and commit crime. The longer they are kept on parole the better are the results, because they understand
 that if they violate their parole condi- tions they will be brought back In our institution those who are un- able to write their names when admit ted are not allowed to leave until they have learned to write a letter intelli- gently We try to give the young men as much elementary knowledge as we can. We parole over 300 year. No
 one is permitted to leave until suitable employment has been found for him and the employer must know who he is. and | sign a form that he will try to help | make man of him.
 | I have never found an employer who was in need of help who would not give
 paroled boy an opportunity to prove himself a man, I have had as many as twenty of my boys in one factory at one time. working as laborers, iron
 workers. and electricians They receive the same pay as the regular employees. | There are two things which make 2 boy bad-too good a. home. One young
 man I know is the son of a man who has a fine business, with number of
 men ip his employ. He was given plenty of spending money by ''s mother She found that ,Ioh;1 sr1 ore than she
 could give him '4robb7 his fathers store .an.4 . goods to get
 money to buy cigarettes and for moving picture shows The father suspected one of his employees and had him arrested ] This man told the police and the father
 what the son had been doing. The fath-