Newark evening star and Newark advertiser., 1915-10-21
OSBORNE TELLS
ABOUT REFORMS
Sing Sing Warden Explains
System Before the Wednes-
day Club.
PRISON COINAGE USED
TO AROUSE INCENTIVE
Men Pay for Board-CelIs 'De
Luxe" May Be Bought.
Other Features.


all over the country-men who have
been deprived of their liberty because
they have offended against society.
Mr.. Osborne, who, in addition to be-
ing warden of Sing Sing prison, is a
millionaire philanthropist, delivered
an address before the Wednesday
Club in the Washington last night
In his address Mr.. Osborne in
Weighed against the barbarous cruel
ties practiced on prisoners under the
system just now In transition. He
\ told of his experiences when, as TON
Brown" he was voluntary inmate
of Auburn prison and of the day he
spent In the dark cell on bread and
water Some of the incidents that
have come under his observation as
prison reformer and as warden, he
could only suggest, even before an
audience made up solely of men. At
the end of his talk several of those
who were present asked questions and
these he answered at length.
Prisoners Pay for Board.
The answers of the speaker, with
illustrative remarks accompanying
them, were by all means the most in
teresting. He told OF the establish
ment of token coinage" in the prison,
by which the men are paid for their
work, and by means of which, they in
turn, support themselves while in
prison.
The warden raised laugh when he
told of the cost of q call on the prison
physician. A Doctors call, he said,
now costs the men 25 cents of the
prison coin.
"a call on the doctor varies the
immeasurable monotony of prison
occupation" said the speaker, and
the men often left their tasks to go
to the prison inflrmary, saying that
they were i'll. In the plan of ours to
make the men understand they were
supporting themselves, 1t was de-
cided to charge 25 cents for Doctors
call If the man was really Ill, there
was no further charge. It was sur
prising how the calls dropped off. Be-
fore The charge was established there
were an average of 119 calls a day.
The very first day they dropped to
nineteen"
1 Mr.. Osborne said that the men were
compelled to pay 10 cents for break
fast and supper and a quarter for
dinner. And If he hasn't the money,
the man goes hungry" he said.
.That is, unless he can borrow it."
Even the lodging in the cells has
20 be paid for, Mr.. Osborne said. The
cells de luxe, that is, the cells in the
upper tier, are charged for at the
rate of $1.80 a week, while those on
the flats cost but 81.
Right after the beginning of the
issuance of the token coinage bank
was suggested" said the speaker. "a
board of directors for the bank was
submitted to me, the men chosen be-
cause of some especial fitness that
seemed to strike the members OF the
Welfare League. One man was
chosen because of his 'oratorial
ability while another was selected
because of his moral influence on his
fellow men, He was serving his
seventh term"
The warden replied to the structures
upon him because of his entertain
ment of the prisoners with moving
pictures and baseball. I'VE are doing
that to save you and your children
from the menace of contagion," he
said. Moving pictures keep them
out of their cells. Baseball keeps the
prisoners out in the open air. They
are away from the cell and confine-
ment in the cells means tuberculosis
and worse.
Baseball q Reward.
but let me warn any prison war
den that If he starts reform with a
baseball game he starts at the wrong
i end. The reform must begin from
the inside Let the men earn their
right to baseball and the pictures.
Make them realize that 1t all depends
on themselves. That IL they are not
fit to govern themselves they are not
fit to be permitted any privileges;
David Grotta, who presided, asked
Mr.. Osborns If under his system a
clever hypocrite could not successful
ly deceive
HE might be able to fool the war
den and his assistants" replied the
speaker, "but he cannot fool the prls-
oners. If a man can keep out OF the
prisoners court for year, he's do
ing pretty we'll. One of the men said
an Illuminating thing about this
when we started the coinage, and
member of the committee OF the wei
fare League suggested that 1t might
offer an opportunity for pickpockets.
.'If we cannot resist temptation to
nick pockets while we are in prison,
fhis man said, I'VE never will be able
Z to do so outside.
4. that a prisoners bank account Is
a pretty good indication Of his prog
ress."
letters from ex-convicts, and told a
story of "a fine young fellow who
graduated from Sing Sing last May.
AS he was going out one of the mem
hers of the committee said to him:
s'Charlie, If you don't go straight
don't YOU ever show your face here
again."
Connrmsd Crooks Made in Prison.
Every man in Sing Sing is nat
ural product of his environment ana
training" said the speaker. Every
man in prison is more or less Off the
normal, and mostly more. But we
have been treating them in the most
absurd manner, and nothing that we
have done in the past could cure this
abnormality. When you speak of the
confirmed criminal you are speaking
of the man you and have manufac-
tured in the prisons. The only con-
firmed criminal know of is the one
who has been made so by bad prison
system.
Most people fail to realize the
horror of imprisonment. No one can
realize the desolation that comes to
the soul of a man locked in cell;
the excrutiating suffering that surges
through a man when the door is locked
upon him. That is punishment indeed,
and, of course, 1t Is necessary to do
this to punish and cure those who
have offended against society. The re-
suits of confinement are horrible and
certain enough, but the old system
adds to this by depraving and brutal
izing the prisoner.
THE Welfare League of Sing Sing
and Auburn prisons are organized as
: communities and the prisoners are
made to understand that any offense
is against their community. Under
this system l know of several men
who, having been crooks all their
lives have through their connection