The Washington herald., 1914-01-26

Riggs place northwest, recently appoint
ed Superintendent Of Prisons for the De-
partment Of Justice in place Of Robert v.
lie Dow, will attempt to apply to the
penal institutions OF this country.
Il have certain ideas for the benefit
OF the prisoners" said Mr.. Duehay yes
terday, land IL / find that 1 cannot i'm
prove their conditions materially j shall
quit Immediately. for l am too busy TO
be In this work IL do not know that I
am going to do the men good"
Mr.. Duehay was appointed Saturday
and expects to leave shortly for Atlanta,
Ga. to investigate the prison there.
There have been a number Of charges
made against the Atlanta institution, but
the same time the Attorney General Is
restless about conditions there"
"sou,d Mind in sound Body"
TT is hard to say just what my frs;
move for the bctterment of the prisoners
shall be, for every case presents a
problem in itself But i believe that
criminal inclinations are merely an indi-
cation of a diseased mind. There is no
doubt of the truth of the old adage.
sound mind in sound body and my first
care shall be the care Of the mems
bodies.
81 shall try to see that as many as
possible work in the open air and have the
proper food, clothing and medical atten-
ton to keep them in good physical trim.
In that way / think more reformation
may be accomplished than by punishment
5 Then shall try to give a real home
to as many men as will allow me. At
Leavenworth prison a while ago saw q
prisoner go out in the morning for his
days work over in a patch Of woods and
later come back home to the prison for
the night.
Now / see no reason why the better
class of prisoners should have to call the
prison home and / am going to try to
arrange a system Of cottages on the
prison farms where the men who are
to be trusted can spend their time away
from the prison influence.
81 have heard stories of the atrocities
committed in prisons. / am not inclined
to believe them all But undoubtedly there
are great injustices done the men by the
under officials about which officials in
charge never hear.
81 have thought that theR might be a
sort of a court established for the pris-
oners where their troubles could be heard
to trace down cases of cruelty, and 1
shall do all in my power TO see that any
act of oppression by guards, shall be re-
ported and the guards punished.
Urges q "Squarc Dcai
81 do mot believe in making hero
of a criminal But do believe in giving
them a square deal True, they are men
who have never given the country or
their neighbors a square deal. but that
is no reason why the nation should take
them and break them body and soul.
But as / say you can never tell what
a criminal is going to do and every one
presents an individual problem. Look at
the recent case of the escape convicts IN
the West who got revolvers and killed
several persons before they could be
taken. You cannot say that the prison
was responsible for the tendency of these
men, for one of them had been in prison
only a short time"
Mr.. Duehay has not much faith in the
eugenics laws taken up recently in some
of the States.
THE idea of breeding 'superman' is
all fine enough" he said, but it seems
to me it would be a lot better II We could
even up all around and improve the
whole fabric of society.
Drink Is the cause Of most Of the cases
in the prisons. II we could eliminate the
bars we could eliminate the prisons
And then a great burden of the prob
lem lies with the parents. They could
help the prison officials IL they would
The place for boys and girls Is at home.
and il the reformers would reform their
own children we would not have so much
need for reformers."