The Columbus journal., 1911-02-15
HANDICRAFT IN PRISONS.

HANDICRAFT IN PRISONS.
In most penitentaries, manufactur.
ing plants have been installed BY the
state. The object of the plants is
first. to work a reformation in the
prisoners by useful industry; second,
to make the institution selfsupporting.
This scheme, introduced with the
hest of motives, has failed in its intent
on both counts. I will grant, Of
course, that any kind of work is bet
ter than idleness, and it is further
admitted that a certain profit has been
realized from the labor of the prisoners,
that has gone toward the maintenance
of the institution. But the original
proposition stands, that work rs car
ried on in prisons is not . success,
either morally or financially.
The cause of the moral failure lies
in the fact that work in every prison
is regarded by wardens, keepers, over
seers and prisoners as a form of pun.
ishment.
The financial failure, I believe, is
because the industries introduced have
been, almost without exception, of \
kind and quality in which competition
has been most keen and profits very
close.
OF prisoners in state pen;tentiaries.
not over ) per cent are any more
vicious in their instincts than the men
outside. We find, on acquaintance.
that the man in bonds is very much
like ourselves. He has done some.
thing, while we have only thought it.
He often lacks caution, and he lacks
will. Yet through the right influence
at the right moment-his will supple
mented by another-he might be out
side and, a temptation coming to us
when impulse was strong, We might
now be in his place.
The prisoner is man and brother.
Our desire is to help him to help him.
self. and thereby help ourselves. Grant
that he must be restrained and a limit
put on his liberty, yet if We can make
restraint moral the greater are We.
Revenge belongs to the savage. The
germ of punishment lies in the act.
vengeance is mine, and / will repay"
saith the Lord.
And the Lord needs no help along
this line.
This leaves us free t. teach.
And so here is the vital point: Set
prisoners to work at hand work. Do
not suggest revolt by placing man On
a treadmill. Make work pleasant,
and give it as privilege.
We grow through expression, and
the only way to reform a man is
through the right exercise of his facul-
ties: thus allowing the man to reform
himself. Education should be through
selfactivity, not through punishment.
The kindergarten idea has been par.
TALLY introduced in various reform
schools, and the results have been
most encouraging-a marvel, often,
even to the teachers. And if boys
from twelve to eighteen can be man.
aged by kindness, full grown men
can also.
l am positive that l can take, just rs
they come, twenty-five Sing Sing men
and by the kindergarten method
manage them, in a room alone, day
after day, without arms or a guard, in
a perfectly orderly and decent manner.
can teach them to express themselves
in useful work, and can gradually
develop among the most of them .
degree of defines and skill that will
make them self supporting.
More than this. l can secure in .
week hundred men and women who
can teach just as well as l can. And
l am not sure but that men prisoners
can be taught best by women.
The kindergarten method should be
used in its entirety-that is, there
should be music, singing, marches and
calisthenics to relieve nerve tension.
Also there should be oral expression
under proper regulations, instead of
the grim deathly silence of the present
prison.
Men can be led away from the had
by making life affirmative and 50 these
men should be set to making things
with their hands. and gradually pro-.
noted from the simple work to the
more complex.
For grown men carpentry, wood
carving, cabinet work, blacksmithing
and weaving could all he used. The