The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-03-01
BEHIND PRISON WALLS-By Julian Hawthorn

that you are the victim OF Hind
stupidity. Not In this way can Won hs
| reformed. All genuine refpiln,,ion
must proceed from within you il c,n'
not be compelled by locks aud bars
| freedom is essential to 1t. Locks ana
bars arouse only the impulse To- hroaL
through them. and this primal and
righteous impulse leaves you no leisure
to think OF relieving your SOU from
stains of guilt.
| The only imprisonment to wl.b a
man can properly he subjected IS tbn
Imprisonment of good in him which
evil doing operates automatlcal, md
spontaneously any outside moddline
with that operation binders, confu>.e or
defeats 1t. Crime weakens and shackle,
you: to put shackes on the body is M
way to remove shackles from the spirit
1t is the gross blunder OF a brutal and
immature era, but we have continued II
down 10 the present day. jail is stiu
| the remedy.
| The newspapers the other day told Of
a man who had been sentenced t. forty
years in Jail for an assault. \ woman
hearing the verdict said, We'll that's
better than nothing. but he ought to
have got life" We are told in the Bible
that we must not let the sun go dnn
upon our wrath. The wrath Of this
lady could not be appeased with forty
years. Think Of what that culprii viii
he after forty years in Jail.
Assuming for the sake OF argument
the extreme absurdity that he is aIiv.
by that time, picture to yourself fcl-
low creature Of his--and a woman
saying. II won't forgive you yet"
pity her more than I do him, who's.
troubles In this world will probably soon
he over. But when her time comes
! with what face. on what plea. shall she
ask forgiveness?
But II there are to be no prisons what
shall We do to be saved from crime?
cannot for my part imagine any
hard and fast plan being laid down in
| advance. But it would seem reason.
| able. to begin with, to free ourselves
from the social crime Of claiming 81
periorty to our brethren. HAVING re.
moved that beam from our eyes. We
may see more clearly how to abat.Sthe
notes in the criminals. II We can
bring ourselves to regard prisoners and
jailbirds as inferior to ourselves only In
good fortune. which has kept us out of
jail and put them in, We may find our
selves on the road to remedying their
lapses from moral virtues.
The majority OF prison crimes are
against property and are motivcd by
want and poverty. II the man had op-
portunity to work for his living ne
would as a rule abstain from stealing.
Other crimes are committed in passion,
but such criminals need education and
training in self-control and (oftenD re-
moval Of the provocations (which set
their passions Attire. Many other crimes
and almost all vices are due to physical
or mental disease or to actual insanity
It is the doctor and not the jailer who
should seek the cure of these.
But there are also some persons
chiefly brought up or brought down IN
our cities. who practise crimes appar-
emily for sheer love Of evil. These gun.
men gangs are the most depravcd and
malignant members Of the community:
they will not work and they rob and
murder not from want or passion but
because the suffering Of their victims
gives them pleasure and ministers to
their pride and self-esteem. Most OF
these gangs, as We have too much rea-
son to believe. stand in with the police.
giving them percentage OF their plum
der and getting protection from them
for their misdeeds.
These creatures, as have already
suggested. are the d,stillation OF thu
various evils in our cities which society
has failed frankly to face or genuinely
TO attempt to lessen. They are not re
sponsible for their existence, and as they
indicate general condition it can do
no good to kill them or otherwise put
them out OF the way: others would take
their places. They are not insane in the
common sense. but they are the produc,
Of insane social circumstances. response
bility for which rests on us.
They must be taken in hand individu-
ally by workers self-consecrated To that
duty. and deferred from doing evil and
shown the value Of doing good one
might work a lifetime with some of them
and have little to show for 1t in the end;
hut 1t took a long time to build the
Pyramids and the Panama Canal and to
advance from the dugout Of the savage
to the Mauritania. II Is work better
worth doing than any Of these.
Taking the situation by and large,
society must cease to he sham
and become truly social. The thing
seems inconceivable and still less practi-
cable. but it Is not. Nor has history
failed to admonish us that it has some
times been the most difficult and i'm
probable things which have been never
theless accomplished, as IL their very
difficulty and the labor and self-sacri-
flee involved in doing them were them
selves a stimulus.
Europe. handful Of centuries ago, at
the behest of a fanatical priest or two
forsook all else and spent generation
in journeying to Palestine and trying
tn get certain city from the Turks.
The city was worth nothing to Europe;
II was an idea that Set them crusading