New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-09-26
KATHARINE DAVIS FINDS THE CRIMINAL IS HUMAN
The Glass Which Regards the Prisoner
as Beast Is as Dangerous as That
Which Makes Him Hero, Says the
Commissioners OF Correction.

can be given an indeterminate sentence not to
exceed two years When this goes into effect
on January I, it will make il possible to give
more individual attention.
Another phase is that Of contagious dis
cases Among 2447 women we found u per
cent diseased In another group OF Sl7 10 per
cent were diseased This was a result OF an
actual blood test made by the city Health De
partment.
Look at the danger to the community in
these short term commitments. We cannot
keep the women there long enough TO cure
them. Under Our new plan we shall have tine
to ,er- q voraa until she is al least past the
most dsr7ero-a stare
Tic city chould have a separate institution
for women committed % ,he Departments o'
Charities and Correction Last year there
was all average population OF sos women IN
the department. 1t is absolutely impossible
to care properly for them in institutions where
men are also confined under local conditions.
Until the present administration took Office
women had no outdoor exercise during their
whole term. no industrial training, not nearly
enough industrial occupation. We have been
able to give them certain amount OF outdoor
exercise and to move the penitentsry nearer
to Queens where they have some instruction
in sewing and dressmaking, at least enough
TO make their own clothes, which the men for
merly made for them.
What the city should have is farm colony,
on which we could house repeated offenders
and hopeless offenders, where they could con-
tribute to their own living. The women
have been referring to cannot possibly make
their own living when they are free. They are
parssitical, wholly incapable But the young
woman, first offender, if she is physically
fit or if she can be made so, and who can take
industrial training, should be sent to state
institution like that at Bedford, where she can
get such training and where she can be prop
erly classified.
That is the next thing / am going to ask
the city fora farm near enough New York
City to carry out this plan. | should do 1t
now if the city were not so poor, though as
far as that is concerned it would be far cheaper
to endow one than to run along i'll our present
course. Delnquents would be cared for under
simpler conditions in more inexpensive build
ngs, where they could garden and otherwise
contribute toward their own support.
There is no reason way these women should
not do for the city hospitals the sewing that
is now being done by the men at Sing Sing.
1t would cost the city nothing, whereas now,
Sing Sing being state institution, the city
has to pay it for the services OF its prisoners.
Warden Osborne approves the plan because
he wants to teach the men trades which they
can use outside. The prisoners themselves
talked to me about it, saying they hated to
make pajamas and sheets and gowns because
that was womans work. We can't do it now
because we don't have the women long enough
to teach them to sew properly and because we
haven't the physical space
Since took Office, twenty months ago, S3s,-
900 has been given the department by private
citizens OF this $4,000 went to the hospital
for the treatment OF drug eddicts on Riksr's
. Island and the balance for salaries which have
since been provided for by the city. Follow
ing the example OF these donors, why do not
more Of the wealthy people who give to pri-
vate charities give directly to the city' Why
would it not be beautiful philanthropy for
some one to give to the Department OF Cor
rection money for farm OF 200 acres in
Orange County near railroad and near the
other institutions Then we could separate
the women from the men, keep them as long
as they needed to stay, give them outdoor
work and industrial training and save money
for the city both by eliminating present cum
bersome processes and by working for the
hospitals.