The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-07-11
The Indeterminate Sentence Law.

Council Bluffs Nonpareil: Out of
the controversy concerning conditions
at the Iowa penitentiaries, there will
be developed some interesting truths.
Among others will be the development
of the fact that prison terms average
longer under the board of parole or
indeterminate sentence law than un-
this law. And this is not discreditable
to the board or the law.
First and foremost, the board found
a wide discrepancy in the work of
district judges in the matter of SEN
fences. One instance may be cited.
Three prisoners occupied cells in the
one institution, all committed for the
same crime. One had plead guilty, the
other two not guilty. The one who
plead guilty and one of the others
were sent up for the limit, fifteen
years each. The third was serving five
years for the same offense. One dis
trict judge considered this particular
crime deserving of the limit The 9TH
er district judge regarded it as de-
serving only the minimum. Under the
indetermlnate sentence law, the dis
trict judge simply commits for the
maximum term for the crime. The
board of parole then examines into
the case and the sentence is determin.
ed by the character and previous rec
ord of the individual.
Herein is the reason for the more
extended average Of service in the
penitentiary and also the explanation
of the merits of the parole feature of
the law. When the prisoner has been
incarcerated year he may apply for
parole. When his application is filed
he is given a blank form to be filled
out giving name, age, places of resi-
-dence and all other facts connected
with his history. He is also requested
to give references. This information
is then verified or discredited by in
vestigation. Photographs and Bertil-
lon measurements are sent to all the
prisons in the country The results of
these Investigations in large major
ity of cases show that the prisoners
are habitual criminals. In a majority
of cases men convicted of crime in
Iowa courts are traced out and found
! to have prison records in from one to
half dozen other states And in
most of these cases the trial court
supposed they were first offenders.
The district prosecutor had no time
or means to look up previous records.
And in the examination of these cases,
it frequently happens, in fact 1t hap
pens in majority of cases, that the
prisoner shows his unreliability by
bold efforts to deceive the parole
board. That is why pardons are de-
MED That accounts for the extending
of sentences. The board was not Great
ed for the purpose of turning over
the judgments of courts and for the
turning loose of wicked and unregen.
Grated criminals to prey on the state.
Its purpose was to investigate, to
make more accurate the judgments of
| the courts and to pardon where there
was reasonable hope of helping a man
convicted of crime back to paths of
rectitude and self support.
! The board may not always have
done exact justice or acted with Jeff
mite wisdom. but on the whole its
work has been conservative and salts
factory Doubtless there is room for
improvement as the law is new in
Iowa, but it is modelled on correct
4 principles and has come to stay. What
we need In Iowa is not repeal of
this law, but supplement to it pro-
viding for more effective reformatory
work in connection with prisoners
whom 1t Is deemed wise not to parole.