Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1911-04-21
To PROBE PEN"
PREACHER CALLS
A DISGRACE"
Rev. DR.. Travis, of MOntcIair,
Says Caldwell Prisoners
Are Not Reformed.
SOME, SAYS DIVINE,
RETURN 40 TIMES
Warden, Denying Prison Is Ill
Conducted, Declares 1t Isn't
a RefOrmat0ry.

tuition of reform, started Wednesday
by the Rev. DIR. Thomas Travis, of
Montclair, before the Congregational
Conference in this city, was brought
to the attention of the Board of Free
holders penitentiary committee yes
terday afternoon. DR.. Travis reiter-
ated his statement that the prison was
a disgrace to the State and submitted
evidence to prove his statement. With
a promise to produce still further evil
dence he succeeded in getting the COM
mittee to appoint a date, two weeks
hence, for a conference in which the
matter will be thoroughly thrashed out
Samuel G.. Martin, warden of the
penitentiary, and Dr.. Travis both gave
out statements in which they main
tanned their original stand in the mat
ter. The warden was thoroughly in
censed that the prison should be called
a disgrace, and upheld himself and the
Board Of Freeholders as follows:
Il don't mean to contradict DR..
Travis, but when anybody says no eff
fort is made here to reform the prison
ers he is wrong We do it in every
way possible. Weghave church services
twice every Sunday. Whenever a man
leaves here we try to get him a Job
at something and offer him every en-
c-Ouragement to lead an honest life
after he gets out of here. If a man
comes here and knows a trade we put
him to work at that. If he doesn't
know anything we put him to work on
the farm. In any case he isn't kept
idle.
Can Run open" as Reformatory.
Everything I can do within my au-
thority | do, and that is certainly all
anybody can expect of me. If people
want a reformatory why don't they
give us the facilities for running one?
We can't run a ~refornatory and q
penitentiary at the same time"
d.. Travis prefaces his statement by
saying he believes he can prove the
caldwell Penitentiary a disgrace to the
State, and says his charges are the re-
suit of twelve years of study of prison
conditions. He does not attack the
warden of the institution nor the pro-
visions made for the comfort of the
prisoners. He attacks, rather, the lack
Of systematic effort to reform the pris-
oners, claiming that they are not made
to learn a trade and that not 5 per
cent. of them are turned out ~law-abid-
ing citfZsaas- 4A1r,-ATaFtin@said tina DIR.
Travis had never been to the peniten-
tiary, and in his statement the clergy
ma replies that he has made weekly
visits to the institution for the past
six months for the special purpose of
studying conditions there. The state
men is, in part, as follows:
ut is unfortunate that in these dis
cussions the personal element seems to
force itself. 1t is my honest ~endeavor
to avoid giving any unjust or sensa-
tional criticism. I try to attack no
man, but simply and quietly to state
facts which are patent n plain to all.
Thus to say that a penitentiary is
we'll kept, that it is orderly and clean,
that it is sanitary and that the GRIM
inals are happy there, is good so far
as it goes, but this does not make a
good p~enitentiary. A good penitentiary
is marked by only two things-the num-
Der of criminals it reforms n the
number of criminals 1t eliminates.
Caldwell Penitentiary is clean and
orderly, but 1t is not reforming the
criminal; Caldwell ~Penitentiary is fair
ly sanitary, but 1t is not eliminating
the criminal. The criminals may be
happy in Caldwell, and that may or
may not be a misfortune. It is not
the object of a penitentiary to make
criminals happy in confinement, but to
make them law-abiding citizens.
U~nprogressive in Reforming.
Now, Caldwell may be progressive
in the way of keeping order and MAX
ing Its criminals happy, but 1t is hope
lessly unprogressive in reforming them.
1t handles about 800 or LOCO men and
women every cal, and IL does not re-
form s per cen Nor does it eve make
any really intelligent attempt to re-
form any. If there are any inmates
of Caldwell reformed they are reformed
by chance or in spite Of the system
there used.
"Are we to be satisfied when we are
told that men who have robbed us are
being we'll fed? Are we to be satisfied
when those who have been unspeak-
ably vile and criminal against us are
housed and clothed and made happy in
confinement? Are we to consider an
institution progressive which has not
in all Its history 8 per cent. of re-
forms to its credit? Are we to keep
silent when We are told that Caldwell
is not a reformatory? Are we to ask
why. in heavens NAME, isn't it?
There are IN the records of Cald-
well Penitentiary convicts who have
been sent there from twenty to 100
times. There are criminals on Cald-
wells records who ask to nave their
place saved for them, as they are COM
ing back as soon as they a / doubt
whether there is a single convict in
Caldwell who does an honest, hard
eight-hour days work for five con-
secutive weeks in the year.
Here is a test. Let any three men
Of Newark, l care not what their faith
or creed, If they be honest. intelligent
men with mental vision, let these men
go to Railway, J~amesburg, Cleveland,
Elmira. Bedford; let them read of Witz-
will, in Switzerland, in which last
named place they handle just the same
kind of criminals as Caldwell and re-
form hundreds of them and pay the
State a cash bonus. l say, let these
three men visit our own reformatories !
and see What we are already doing
there; then go to Caldwell and say
whether We have a right to expect
more of it or not.
THE officials say Caldwell is clean.
orderly, sanitary and progressive. I
do not deny the first two counts, I will
not fully indorse the third, but of the
fotrth ccart this xuitt -ra---.l