The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1913-07-17
THE SENSE OF JUSTICE.
An Editorial by Register No. 4435, in
"Good Words" Of the Atlanta Prison.

The men in the cells, having seen courts
of Justice at close quarters, and allowing
| for personal bias, reach the conclusion, not
confined to them, that justice and courts
of Justice are not always the same thing.
Lack of college education need not imply
deficient intelligence; prisoners are apt to
be masters of the themes they handle.
Nearly the last thing to die out in man is
his sense of justice; to the extent of his in
telligence he sees what is right and not
right between man and man. On his hob
| by of justice the prisoner is worth hearing;
though he does not expound his opinions
from pulpit or lecture-platforms, in after
dinner speeches or in magazine pages, they
belong to the sincere thought of the day;
suffering has given them poignancy, and
they should not be ignored, at a time when
reform of courts and jails is receiving spec
ial attention from press and public.
Society must doubtless be protected from
criminals; but the criminal may some
times need protection from Society. So
ciety does not mean to be unfair, but, in
spite of Congressional debates, reports of
investigating committees, and popular
magazine exposures, it is ignorant of actual
Jail conditions and of the court machinery
that puts men in Jail. Only the men in
the cells know the facts, and their views
deserve respect.
| Officials are, at bottom, men like the
rest of us, and like the rest of us are prone
to be affected by traditions, customs and
usages. Prisoners use to be treated with
cruelty because that was believed to be the
right thing for them; but science and the
humanity that goes with it has modified
that idea. Nevertheless, material cond-
tions never improve as fast as opinions;
the heavy and rigid. paraphernalia of court
and Jail procedure lags behind the higher
sense of the community, and anachronisms
drag their uncomely forms into modern
daylight; while the public, because it de-
serves the right, fancies that it exists; and
officials, if they find themselves at odds
with advanced sentiment, stand perplexed
between that and the Book of Regulations;
it is uncomfortable to disregard either.
There survive, too, reactionaries, chiefly
those whose knowledge of courts and
jails is theoretical, who would perpetuate
usages which the majority of the public
hold to be abuses; but their voice is unim-
portant and is on the way to silence.
| The principle of recompensing the pris-
oner for good conduct and faithful work is
long step forward; hope of fastening the
day of liberty is the strongest incentive to
betterment that can be applied to prison.
er. The first ''good conduct" allowance
which, under stipulatons not hard to
meet, lets man out after serving one
third of his sentence in Jail. The plain
intent of Congress was to give him chance
to reform, and also to rescue him from the
evil companionship that haunts all jails.
The motives for him to make good were
so overwhelming that none but fool could
DISREGARD them.
And, Immediately, the standard of good
behavior improved. A bargain had been
struck; in consideration of orderly con-
duct, while in Jail, on the prisoners s part,
he was to be paid in months or years of
life beyond the walls. The advantages
were mutual, for officials would now enjoy
the cordial, spontaneous cooperation, in
stead of meeting the sullen inertia of the
men. The sense of justice was satisfied.
But if, on the other hand, unexpected
conditions should be introduced into the
contract by the Government, disappoint-
ment must enSue.
Such disappointment met aspirants for
parole when it transpired that good conduct
during sentence was not to be the soul-nor
indeed the chief-condition for freedom.
Government deemed it expedient to in
uuire also into the mans record before he
had incurred his present punishment. A
mans present is to be sure based upon his
past; but to make that past paramount
factor in determining his right to parole,
was to deny thatv very possibility of refor-
nation which the parole law assumes to
exist. No man can change his past, and
to crush him down with tale of misdeeds
long since done and atoned for, was to des-
troy his leading motive for good conduct
now. Why hold out the prospect of par