El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-12-21
COMPARES JAIL
To GARBAGE CAN
Pitts burg Speaker, Nc
Bride, Says Criminals
Made in Confinement.

That the modern jail system. includ-
/. ing every type Of confinement place.
from the handsome roof garden coun-
ty Jail down to the old vile city dun
geon. is antiquated and manufacturing
criminals by the thousands annually,
was the emphatic statement Of RolIo
Mcbride, Pittsburg public defender
who delivered a public talk at Temple
Mt. Sinai Thursday night under the
auspices Of Fl Paso Rotary.
The great underworld is more re-
liglousiy inclined than the socaIIed
high society" declared the speaker.
who then demonstrated how a Jail
sentence for the first time offender
tends 10 stamp him as a criminal for
ever. because when he comes out no
one will give him a position and. with
sigh of what's the use" the unfOr-
tunate goes back 10 crime. from a bad
type 10 a worse To show that the
criminal class viii improve under
proper treatment he showed that of
1900 cases handled in Pittsburg &C
cording to his methods. Il percent
have reformed and made good"
Says Police Court Makes Criminals.
The present police court system
makes criminals instead of correcting
.
ago in New York that the first police
court was established. and I can see
the old judge in my minds eye and
hear him say. "S25 and 30 days. Take
him away Next 7 guarantee YOU
viii hear that tomorrow morning in
any police court in the country. In
this wonderful age. when every
branch Of human endeavor has made
tremendous advances. the police court
has not improved one bit
Booze Il Main Cause.
And TO throw a man in Jail because
he is drunk is the same as putting a
fellow into a garbage can to cure him
of stomach trouble. Now. booze is
the cause Of % percent OF the trouble
in police courts. In Chicago. criminal
cases number $4,000 a year, and 3
percent of the cases are vaErancy.
drunkenness and suspicious character.
I state emphatically that so long as
YOU license saloons. YOU have abso-
lutely no right TO jail fellow who
takes a drink too many"
The filming system was next scored
by Mr.. Mcbride. He said It was a
plan Of penalizinE the poor and letting
the rich go. often SO stands be-
tween a mans salvation and his loss
in a jail This is just as true in Fl
PasO as anywhere else. he said.
Criminals Made by Society.
made by society" This was the basic
idea underlying the speakers work
for the criminal class in PittsburE
and elsewhere. You can't grow
character in jails and Denitentiaries."
he said. while our political refOrma-
tories offer a university course in
crime. I had a young man tell me
he was sent to a refOrmatory at the
age OF Il and kept there until he was
q. When he entered, he knew moth
came out he knew everything about
all crimes"
Says Religious Services Too Preachy.
Even the religious services held i'm
jails are based on the wrong princi-
pie The average prisoner has heard
but sermons on the prodiEal
son and no songs but Where Is Ny
Wandering Boy Tonight" and as a
result they laugh at the services. .
The good church workers forget that
they are in the midst OF a crowd Of
prOdigals and wandering sons. and II
they want TO minister TO their COM
fort. they must do something besides
preach. If you don't back up your
with deeds, the criminal VIII
know you don't believe what you .
say"
The evenings program was pre- f.
sided over by rabbi Martin Zielonka- f.
while the speaker was introduced by ]
county attorney ". H Fryer, who +
said that while the public defender
idea at first seemed wrong TO him. he .
had come to look on IL as based on I
true universal charity