The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1911-03-06
PRISON BRUTALITY EXISTS
ONLY IN HEADLINES

thing that when a man has demon
by criminal actions, that he
Is no longer a safe man to leave at
large and is committed by court of
justice to a termn in prison, he inn
mediately becomes the object Of ex-
treme solicitude on the part Of Ger.
tain class OF people.
The hysteria which is developing
regarding the treatment of criminals
reminds me very much of an attack
which was made few years ago upon
Superintendent Brockway, OF the FL
mira IN. W reformatory. A great
furore was raised about the brutality
of Brockway and his treatment oi
young men who we're sent to his re-
formatory for correction. In the In
vestigation which followed, Superin.
tendent Brockway defended vigorous.
ly and successfully corporal punish
ment- There has never been in this
country a more successful reformer
of incorrigible youth than Brockway,
and when he died he stood at the top
as a reformer and is recognized and
as the most successful
man we have ever had in that line OF
business -.
During that investigation, Bishop
Potter (than whom, perhaps, no more
philanthropic man ever Hved), in an
interview on the subject of corporal
said: There are men
who can only be made to understand
that the state has laws, which must
be obeyed. through their hides, and
when such man Is met, the only
way 10 inspire him with a wholesome
respect for the laws, rules and regula-
tons governing a community Is
through his hide and In this Bishop
Potter uttered a truth, and demon
strated that in addition to being Q
man widely known as a philanthropist
he was also man who knew some
thing about human nature.
why all this sentimentality regard.
ing the correction, discipline and man
agement OF men who have been con-
victed of crimes? II Is rare, indeed,
that man ever gets into one OF our
prisons who Is not Justly and proper
ly entitled TO it, and who has not
that he Is not amen
able To the ordinary influences gov
erning correct conduct among men.
You would think To read some of the
slush that is published in newspapers
and uttered from pulpits and plat
forms on this subject that the prisons
OF our state were populated by CON-
pany OF white-robed angels of purity,
entitled TO more consideration than
any other class OF people--all OF
which Is exceedingly disgusting TO
<xfH - H. -
contact with the criminal classes.
There are no inhuman practices
used In the prisons OF Michigan and
there are no inhuman men employed
in the administration of their affairs.
The inmates are better fed, better
worked less, given educa-
tional training, and are better enter
tanned than are the common free Ia
borers OF the state. Grand opera 10
none too good for the convicts Of
and they get 1t; theatrical
noted singers and enter
of all kinds are brought to
them, and they receive all the consid-
Grafton, and I sometimes think more,
than they are Justly entitled to.
This Ogg bill, ostensibly aimed at
vicious practices, 10 TO my mind one
Of the most vicious bills affecting the
OF penal Institutions that
has ever been introduced In the Iegis-
Iature OF this state. and one which g
TO deprive the manage
ment OF the prisons of proper and eff
fective means of enforcing discipline,
OF effecting the reforma-
ton OF criminal people. There Is an
awful lot OF rot I'm the Ogg bill"