The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-12-15
PROBLEMS Of THE
CONVICT SYSTEM
Indeterninate Sentence, Parole
and Other Reforms Are
Urged

New Hanover county is completing
a new work house as u part of its
program Of handling county prison
ers of this work house and the prob
lem OF the prisoner in ssnrral.
Mr.. M. S. Willard, chairman of the
Board OF Commissioners of New Han
over says i'll his annual report
The new work house is nearing
completion, but Will probably not be
ready for before February
1st. The completion of this building
will certainly render unnecessary any
addition to the present Jail which has
been urgently needed 50 many times.
1t will also make available the neces-
Sary labor for work on the splendid
county farm. and will enable us to
take from the County Home the in
sane negroes and women prisoners
who now have to be kept there along
with the INDECENT.
The cost Of this building Will lee
about $4,000. but it viii meet the
needs of the county for years to come,
and was an absolute necessity if the
custom was to be continued Of keep
ing our county prisoners in the county
for road work.
This building is also necessary If We
are to put in practice any Of the dea
which are SO generally taking hold OF
the minds of the people in regard to
the treatment and care of prisoners. it
is q certainty hat the next Legisla-
ture Will enact a statewide law MAX
ing some radical changes along this
line. We are fast getting away from
the idea that the State has the right
TO use its morally delinquent citizens
for its own profit without considering
the economic effect such a policy nay
have on the community, or on the in
dividual himself. Ply depriving a de
/ Dnndnnf f ppi1y of t},n nryTinn nf thu
bread INN and leaving them to
shift for themselves in a great many
cases results in the creation of pau
pers or thieves, thereby augnentinG
the needs of u charitable ~OrganiZa-
tons and furnishing additional work
for our courts.
"a very little reflection should con
vince any one that the methods now
employed in the treatment Of prison
ers is utterly illogical. The first OBJ
. ject to be accomplished in depriving
a law-breaker of his liberty is the
protection of society and the next is
the reformation OF the individual
Neither of these objects is accom-.
plished under our present methods.
When We take the indiScriminate out
put Of our courts and herd them to-
; gether, the vicious with the unfortu-
nate, the frequent offender with the
one who is guilty of his first trihine
oAAS1loS, N1IC olA VAIL IL NOuuS, d11I
turn them out at the completion OF
l their term of sentence after close as.
sociatiOn with each other for months
there can not much be said Of the eff
fort to protect society. The effort!
to reform the individual seem to b.
! confined to a few small reformatorie.
$ for youths and h older offenders ar,
4 left to grow hardened in crime will
their advancing years. A better real
lzatlon of our obligations to thes,
classes is calling for a change il
: methods all over the land. We be
lieVe with the completion of thi
building we will be in a position I,
attempt some of these changes which
Will be approved by a great majorit
OF our citizens, and will result in grea
benefit to the community.
IF the Legislature shall pass ,
statewide law providing for an in
d~eterminate sentence, for a parole @
probation system for old as well q
young for part of the alu Of a pris
oner's labor, over and above the ex
6 penSe he may be to the State. to q
to his dependent family, or to himsel
II he is found, at the enc Of Lis sen
tence, to be deserving, it will go ia
towards solving the problems of on
convict system"