New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-08-09
Bv JUDGE BEN B. LINDSEY.
The opinions follOic:

Tho idea Of modern prisons is not
~. % nrotect society. but also to re-
5,or, the offender. am satisfied that
,bis is exactly what Mr. Osborne is try
;nr ~ do. ! also believe that he is
succeeding.
He is making Of Sing Sing labOra-
tory or experimental station in which
is being worked out the biggest eco
romic problem Of the day. work that
;s little understood by those who have
not had a part in it.
In this work Mr.. Osborne is facing
two dangers: One is the danger Of
brutality that responds with hate
that was the old order. The other dan
cor is leniency that responds with con-
tempt. He is trying through the Nut
ual Welfare League to step in between
the two with a system Of efficiency that
will avoid the brutality of the old ideas
of vengeance and also escape the pit
falls OF sloppy sentimentalism for the
criminal. There is a difference be-
tween kindness and leniency.
He is irving to reduce his plan to a
businesslike systematic scheme through
fppeslinr to the good qualities in men.
These qualities are capable of wonder
fal development in about 70 per cent
OF the men in prison. The percentage
nav be higher in some of the prisons.
Ir every prison there are men who are
leccuerates and feebleminded or
rhvs-callv defective from causes for
which they may not be altogether re-
sporsible. But il is the minority IN
every prison TO whom the kind Of ap-
real made by the Mutual Welfare
League is not always successful.
Honor System Proved Worth.
In Colorado. for example, have in
nv own work trusted about 700 men
and bows 10 20 to different institutions
and prisons along with their own COM
mitmcnt papers. Only five ran away.
Three Of the FIVE came back to apollo
r.ze for running away and went the
second time on trust and honor. In
The same time the police have lost
tfty prisoners in breakaways that they
have not got back yet. You never
heard of a prisoner breaking away from
a policeman on his way to prison vol
unfairly returning and apologizing for
running away.
There are perhaps 10 per cent of
Young men whom YOU cannot trust as
have trusted this 700. There is a
kind OF skilled man who seems TO in
s,inctiyely know who can be trusted.
3 good deal of this skill is acquired
through experience.
Mr. Osborne's work and the expert
ment ne is undertaking deserve every
POSSIBLE charity and consideration for
some Of the seeming mistakes that
mar h.. But the conventional mind is
so hostile TO anything new that IT is
fully capable Of condemning without
understanding. Thus il condemned me
for trusting these boys and men be
cut any thought of the 700 who did not
run away
The public mind, or at least the con-
ventional part Of it, is also capable of
beng misled by those whose interests
nay be affected by any change. though
mat change be for the public good.
nus great hue and cry was raised
n Denver when IL was charged that
notorious burglar and his pal that |
mad trusted to go $50 miles away TO
PRISON had made their escape.
In that case a deputy sheriff tried
To frame up with those two boys to
nun away. That they had run away
was actually reported under great
scare heads in the public press and l
was condemned for allowing them the
opportunity.
he fact was that the men had not
icn away, that they went straight TO
the prison and gave themselves up for
punishment, and that at the moment
ihe presses were running the story of
those men had been several hours in
prison. We could not get that fact
10 the public through the publication
nat made the original charge. 1t had
10 be done through others.
What Mr.. Osborne is trying TO do is
not exactly new, though he is trying
70 accomplish his purpose in some rev
ways, notably the Mutual Welfare
League idea. Nor is the treatment he
IS receiving new. have been investi-
gated six times in the last two years
and finally my court and all connected
eith it were abolished by the last Leg