The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1911-11-03

den, and that on certain day he
would appear at the penitentiary and
ask to be inclosed within its walls,
and that the warden mustn't come
after hint wasn't necessary. He
said Il will be there" He gave the
address where he was. And so the
time passed and the day approached
and the day came when the man was
to come, and from morning until FIVE
o'clock, each hour, some of the EN-
ployees of the penitentiary who had
been under the old system, some
what guyed the warden because his
man hadn't come up to that time,
and ten minutes OF six o'clock the
man walked into the prison and sur
rendered himself, just ten minutes
before the hour of closing the peni-
Tertiary. Now there is something in
that man by which he can be re-
deemed; there is something in that
man which is good. The influences
which have existed around him no
doubt were not good, but when we
consider that the chief aim of i'm
prisonment is the redemption of the
the prisoner himself, 1t seems to me
that all of these methods and means
of getting him to be good, to awaken
in him a conscience, is something
that is of benefit to the state. ~.
Whenever you give prisoner a
motive to work for-whenever you
can say to him, 'You get ten days
out Of every thirty besides your other
good time If you will work on the
road" you will find they work with
an intensity, they will work with an
energy that is totally unknown to
pay labor.
l went with the warden one time
to a camp where they were; working,
and as I approached-we went
around a mountain and came up on
the gang unexpectedly--w found that
they were working as If racing each
other; they were working with all
their might instead Of the old slow
way that the pay labor often works.
We observed that everything was
quick. Their fear is that they will
be sent back to the penitentiary
walls, and they don't want that,
even perhaps if their sentence we're
not shortened, but when you add to
the fact that their sentence is short
ened by reason of that law, you can
not help but recognize that that IS
the motive that prompts them to
make good labor and refuse to es-
cape. Of course, you know, in the
event man escapes he loses his good
time, his ten days, and not only that.
but he has got to serve out his maxi
mum time, the full limit of his SEN
tence.
We in Colorado suppose the
same as other states-have what is
called an indeterminate sentence.
The Judge will sentence a man three
years to ten years. If his conduct is
good, he gets out not only in the
three years, but he gets the saving OF
time on that minimum sentence by
good conduct and his work he can
reduce his time perhaps to one-half.
In a ten-years sentence, if his con-
duct is perfect and his work is good,
he can get out in four years and
three months, and of course if he
would break that he would have to
serve the maximum sentence. And
so if his sentence were from ten to
twenty years, he could get out in four
years and three months; but If he
should escape he would not only have
to serve ten years, the minimum SEN
tence, but he would have to serve
the maximum sentence of twenty
years, and, consequently, it is an ap-
palling thing to him to think of es-
Gaping from prison.
At any rate, we have had fewer
escapes under this practice than we
have ever had in the history of the
state of Colorado. We have had
some few cases where they have got
ten away for good, and those were
the two during the first two years
of my administration. Some have
been captured and brought back. and
of course the example which has been
made of them Is one which makes
others hesitate to escape. But when
we find that there are in the state of
Colorado seven hundred and fifty
prisoners in the penitentary, over
four hundred of whom are out on
the roads right now, and when we
raaliza that in these states in the I'm