The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1915-01-19
He DEALS WITH PRISONERS
AS f THEY, TOO, WERE. MEN


At just the age When the average
man r-ch in honors and money begins |
TO plan a life OF ca g Thomas Mott |
Osborne,~a graduate OF Harvard and q |
man OF affairs, equally we'll known in |
business and political CT les, has &C
cepted appointment as rden o.
Sing Sing prison, says in the
Philadei phia North Ame.
For many years the name Il. i
has stood for everything one elo
to avoid. In song, drama and ~
it has served to a a1centuate the drea
and dangers Of prison life. And not
without just cause. For It's pfoA-
unity to the nations metropolis OF
crime New ork; its abnormal pOpu-
lation OF first offend ders-alWays the
hardest to handle-and its unfit ply
sical condition have given 1t record
replete with trOublOus times.
Only year ago last July the in
mates rnutinied and set tire to the
| shops 4 few months before that the
! man who then was Warde.> teit It nee
essary to carry a loaded Pistol when
! in the prison yard. Yet on the after
noon of Sunday, December 6, just
week after he had taken Office, Ward
en- Osborne assembled all the prison
ers in the chapel and before saying
word to them asked every guard to
| withdraw.
AS yet no man justly can assay the
ultimate worth Of the hour which
followed-an hour OF frank speech
between one free man and 14O0 men
confined for crimes ranging from
pocket picking to murder. In COM
mon with a majority Of those who
have given thought to the great prob
| lem of prison conduct, always we
have contended that the first need is
appointment of honest, high-grade
men to take charge of prisoners. And
while it is too soon to estimate the
value Of this longest step yet taken
in the advancement Of the new pen
ology." it is the duty of every person
interested in the betterment Of men
and conditions to know something OF
an hour which may, in years to come
be remembered as mOthering a new
epoch.
} Two weeks prior to this occasion
Mr. Osborne informally had visited
the prison and talked to the inmates
5 At-that time he said to them:
"Our new system will be founded or
the true manhood of every man here
: and the correcting Of what have beer
your mistakes and weaknesses Of the
past. There is still in every man some
thing which can be appealed to
: sense of manhood, fair play, a will
ingness to be on the level with mar
Now, he had ordered away tn.
guards that he might discus with The
1 prisoners fifteen almost revOlutiOnar.
;, changes in the rules suggested by th'
Golden Rule Brotherhood, the Sins
Sing organization modelled on the Mu
. tual Welfare League in the Auburn
penitentiary. It may be remembers
= that under the name Of Tom Brown
y Mr.. Osborne once spent week
|
= for himself the accommodations AM
> treatment there accorded.
= = Important Change Asked.
. The most important change aske'
. by the Sing Sing prisoners was tha
y they might be permitted to disciplin
= | themselves, without initial interven
ton Of warden or keepers. Their re
>. quest in part, was thus couched:
- I'VE ask that the system Of discip
: line be materially altered, and tina
r the executive committee of the broth
r erhood, sitting as a court, shall b
q allowed to examine all minor case
Of discipline and determine, if prac
s ticable, the nature and extent Of tn
- penalties to be inflicted.
J. In the words Of an outsider VIII
q was present, Mr.. Osborne replied
n that he was fully in sympathy wit
10 the suggestion, and that he woul
a carry the idea further and allow tn
IS brotherhood to decide all reaches c
u discipline, with appeal, where the jus
,s tice Of decision was disputed, to tn
le warden's court, which is composed c
S. the warden himself, the principe
le keeper and the prison physician"
@ AS Frank Marshall White says i
d the Outlook, Even SO short a tim
h ago as a year the suggestion on tn
part Of the convicts in Sing Sing tina
they be allowed to try one another fo