The mirror., 1914-07-16
PICTURE AS seen
BY men INSIDE
None But He Can Know the
Despair, and Loss Of Hope
and Courage that is Felt by the
Man Shut in.
The Monthly Record

There is side to this question
which cannot be understood except
by him who has experience pur-
chased at an infinite rate" 1t is
very easy for the human beings"
who have never known what prison
life is, to give advice = advice that
is helpful too, it must be confessed
to the men behind the bars.''
But until the unjaiied" man has
experienced what life on the inside
really is, he cannot fully sympathize
with the man who is deprived of
liberty, of the accustomed comforts
of life, of his beloved surroundings,
and, too often, of all incentive to
struggle and to hope. He cannot
appreciate the feelings of the man
who is suddenly changed from re-
spected. prosperous citizen into a
despised felon. whose friends CD of
yesterday have become his bitterest
traducers; who, because he is
down" has unnumbered and un-
thoug ht-of crimes attributed to him.
Neither can the man who has not
experienced 1t know, even in the
slightest degree. the utter despair
and loss of hope and courage that
overwhelm the man when he hears
the Gathering bolts that shut him
into his narrow cell; the remorse
and shame that holds him in relent-
less grip, if he is guilty, as he thinks
of what he has forfeited, and of the
grief of all who were identified with
him; or of his dismay and hopeless
ness if he is innocent, and of his
just hatred of the mistaken or vim
dictive zeal that condemned him; of
the enforced association with those
who are uncongenial to him; of the
depressing and depravlng influences,
even in the most progressive insti-
tutions, that surround him; of the
waking dread and the sleeping hor-
ror that inevitably attend him while
he is in prison.
Hard to Follow Advice.
1t is easy to counsel one to
hope, to have courage, to think
high thoughts'-a& it is the cor.
rect thing to do; but it is quite an
other thing to follow that advice
under the conditions which sur
round the prisoner And that cur
ious entity which we call society,""
and which may be partly to blame
for our present condition, what does
it do to help and encourage the in
carcerated man? We agree that
self-help and the Punishment of hate
and the submission to authority are
all necessary and desirable, but how
far they are possible must depend
on the spirit of the men who are
confined. Self-help must be sup
plemented in practical ways by help
from others, and by something more
tangible than good advice, however
sincerely it may be given. The en-
tire physical and moral conditions
of cur prisons must be changed be-
fore men. in the large, can. be re-
formed, and that change is up to"
society. Many a man is termed a
criminal who has never been a
criminal in intent. Conditions
which he could not, or did not, con-
troll have placed him in his unfor-
tunate position.
But the man who is deprived of
liberty, who must be governed in
every action by inexorable rules.
whose conduct must be regulated by
conditions that are foreign to his
every instinct, finds it a different
matter to control his thoughts and
shut out everything that prevents
self-mastery and self-improvement.
The advice of our friend-for we
count him as such-is excellent; but
by what magic can the prisoner shut
out the disagreeable present and
his thoughts upon things
which ennoble and strengthen?
try; few succeed; but
the mass of prisoners cannot hope
to attain that enviable condition
which the advisor commends.
We are not pessimistic; we would
not discourage any man; but the
dreary round of prison life is some-
thing that the -unjailed" cannot
and must, under exist
ing conditions. prove terrible