Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-02-18
HELP TO PRISONERS
Workh0uSe Sentences of Is to
go Days Breed Crime
DECLARES VIII. WHITAKER
Address Made to Prisoners Aid So
ciety in Baltimore.
FAvORS PLAN OF PAROLE
Declares Inmates of Penal Institu-
tions Should Be Trained to Be-
come Good Citizens.
FAVORS PLAN OF PAROLE

'Workhouse sentences of fifteen to sixty
days.. as administered by our Police
Courts. breed vagrancy and crime The
practice should be eliminated by law
giving Police Courts the power to SEN
tence all cases of vagrancy and violations
Of minor laws to the workhouse for not
less than sixty days or more than two
years, with the right of the management
to parole after sixty days. The greatest
menace today in handling men and boys
in our institutions Is the law that requires
fixed sentence by court or jury. A plfs-
oner so sentenced has no regard for dis
cipline, for society or himself. for he
knows that no rule of the management
can keep him beyond certain date. and
in very great majority o. such cases
it is impossible to impress upon such
subjects the Importance of improving
their time in prison"
In these words w. II. Whitaker, super
intendent of the District workhouse at
Occoquan, told a large audience at a
meeting of the Prisoners Aid Society of
Maryland in Baltimore last night the gist
of his ideas of the subject OF reforming
prisoners. Mr.. Whittaker'S reformatOry
ideas do not end with merely indetermin-
ate sentences, but he explained IN great
detail exactly how refOrmatory should
be managed so that the idea OF reform
would greatly overbalance the idea OF
punishment.
Sums Up His Ideas.
Mr.. Whittaker's ideas are summed up
by him as follows:
There should be no punishment for
men confined for violation of the law ex-
cept the denial Of their liberty.
Reformation cannot be successful I'M
less there Is perfect system Of moral
instruction, mental and physical train
ing and unless all officers. instructors and
teachers employed in our institutions are
living examples of true citizenship.
Reformation will not be obtained I'M
less the illiterate are given a common
school education under thorough and
practical instructors who are free men.
THE highest degree of reformation will
not be obtained In our penal reformatOry
institutions unless the industry of the
inmates be such as to train them in
useful trades which will enable them to
better secure useful and remunerative
employment after they have teen pa
rolled or discharged.
Reformation cannot be obtained with
out training in practical shop work and
a thorough understanding of obedience to
law
Useful and profitable labor in such in
stitutions is essential to health of body
and mind.
The indeterminate sentence and pa
role law for workhouse and reformatories
is absolutely necessary If permanent re-
suits are accomplished along lines of
reformation.
Necessity of Good Citizenship.
1T requires time in any institution to
bring to bear upon the inmate the neces-
sity of good citizenship. Therefore, any
law that compels the arrangement to
discharge the inmate for a short period
is a detriment, not only to the offender,
but to society as we'll.
I'm a reformatory an inmate should
serve from three to FIVE years in order
to receive proper discipline, proper
moral instruction, proper training in the
in shop work before he is permitted to
return to society.
No institution can accomplish the best
result until it provides the proper means
of training its officers in their respective
duties. This can best be done by an
officers school maintained and managed
under the direct supervision OF the man.
agement Of the institution.
Reformation follows the substitution
Of worthy ideals for unworthy ones.
Therefore library Of from 5000 to 10000
well selected books is one of the most
potent factors in bringing about this SUBJ
stitution. Each inmate should be graded
in his reading ability and given only
such books as he is able to comprehend
'Degenerates, confirmed criminals and
the abnormal subjects that constitute
80 per cent of our prison and reformatory
population should be kept in prison their
natural life, or. IL released, rendered
sterile. SO that further production of
their kind would cease
Mr.. Whitaker sketched briefly the
for
house at Occoquan and explained what
his hopes for that institution were. He
said that the idea 'once a criminal al
ways a criminal is an erroneous one.
and suggested that a grsat service would
be done by the newspapers Of the coun-
try In helping to remove the prejudice
against man who has been in a penal
institution.