Delaware City press. (Delaware City, Del.) 1913-19??, 1913-08-01

vironment, and worked out the result
of the combination. He got a. good
idea Of the advantage to youthful con
victs of having cocaine and morphine
struggled in to them by keepers a lot
more crooked than the prisoners they
guarded. He formed some impress
sions of whether the prerogative of
prison is to reform or create Grimm
ais, and he got to know that even
man with tail sentence at his back
is human being.
These things we're what made him
determine to spend the rest of his bus
mess days--when he got out himself
helping 1.-THE boys" as he calls them,
get start despite the prison which
keeps many of them crooked. He
found that man out on parole need
ed two things, principally encourage
ment. and chance TO make an hon
est living, And he determined that
SO long as It was in his power he
would provide those dual requisites.
These are some of the home made
statistics he compiled during his So
iourn in a Sing Sing cells
Forty per cent of the men in prison
ought not to have been sent there.
Nearly so per cent of the inmates
of Sing Sing are dope fiends.
Twenty per cent, are dope flends
when they go there. The remaining
80 per cent. acquire the habit in their
cells.
There should be prison segregation
prisons for first offenders, places for
old-timers, for murderers, for degen-
crates. BY mixing all together, the
pestilence of each is spread to the
others, and the prison becomes
Crime College.
Says It Does Not Reform.
IAN investigation of Sing Sings
1000 convicts will show any fair
minded man that the penal system of
today does not reform criminals or
benefit society,"" said the president of
that unique company, He is a tall,
wide-shouldered, black-haired. ear
nest-faced man. One needs but to
look at him and talk with him to dis
cover there was blunder somewhere.
Yes; / have taken all my office
force from Sing Sing and >Elmira.
find them good, efficient, earnest
workers. Do have any fear of en-
ploying them direct from a cell? No;
of course, not. know them, and they
know me- We understand each other.
Some of them were up there when
was We got to know each other. and
could pick my men. l never have
employed one that has not proved
himself reliable.
81 suppose receive several hun
bred applications for jobs from Sing
Sing yearly. l investigate them all
If haven't place find other work
for them. Not long ago l got man
out of his cell into bank down town.
He's doing well and they know his
story and trust him.
Giving All a "chance."
"You see, took Up this work after
seeing what sort of chance the boys
at Sing Sing had 1t was pretty plain
they needed help when they got out.
Nobody wants to employ convict, as
rule, and IL you're going to keep a
man who has committed crime from
going back to 1t when he gets out Of
Jail, you must show him the world
hasn't lost all faith in him. If he sees
1t has, and can't get job, and hears
his babies crying at home because
they're hungry, he's going to feed
them. And If he can't do 1t honestly,
he'll do 1t the other way.
What they need is a chance-the
feeling they aren't blacklisted for life
just because they've fallen. and some
one to encourage them. That's what
try to give them!
81 found how it was myself first
hand. Remember that! l had money
and big business when | came out,
but l had that blacklist bugaboo to
! face and needed some one to encour-
J age me. If man doesn't get that its
back to the old game, or-the river,
generally.
Best Way to Put Down Crime.
/ ''If people only would realize these
; boys are not SO bad as they're painted
i mean the first time men who've
made a mistake, Just one little mis-.
] takes enough, you know. 1t would
make a lot of difference II somebody's
I help them out when they first get pa
rolled. know of no better way of cut
1 ting down crime than helping the
r criminals to quit it.
: you see, I've got faith in human
. beings. A mans naturally honest
But let me give you an example oil
how the prison system helps them to