Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1919-09-04
PENlTENTIARY METHODS
DISCUSSED BY JACK BOYLE
AUTHOR OF THE BOSTON BLACKIE STORIES VISITS
INSTITUTIONS in THE WEST in INTEREST
OF COSMOPOLITAN MAGAZINE
OF COSMOPOLITAN MAGAZINE

suffering and redemption. 1t would
be just as impossible for the Shockley
of today to commit or break faith with
his true friend, Warden Storrs, as it
would be for you. reader. He has
proved that beyond dispute in in
Vulnerable instances.
Proves Scientific Prison Method Is
Salvation
ShockleIs case is one of the graft
flying proofs of the value of scientific
prison methods but it is by no means
an isolated or isolated one. One-sixth
of the inmates of the Utah prison
work out Of doors with as little super
, vison as free men and after working
hours are privileged to occupy their
spare time outside prison walls with
entire freedom and without guards.
They are not locked UP either night or
day, and although there are several
life-timers and many 1ong-term men
among them, not one has ever be-
trayed the Warden's faith and trust in
them by an attempted escape-which
would merely mean walking away-or
by any act which anyone could con-
denim.
To sum up, Warden Storrs tells his
men that they will be given just that
degree of freedom which their conduct
and state of mental uplift merits. And
he makes good with them. A mans
privileges are increased bit by bit un-
til he is to all intents a free man. And
when a man continues to keep faith
under these conditions Warden Storrs
goes before the parole board and Sc
cures the mans legal freedom. He
promises this and he never fails-a
parole board that supports an honest
warden's recommendations is a neces-
sary adjunct of progressive prison.
When a prisoner is released Storrs
personally secures employment for
the one-time criminal and sends him
back into a world toward which the
mans viewpoint has completely al
tered. A capital mental operation has
been achieyed-the one time badman
and thug with scarcely an exception
becomes the sort of citizen a commun-
ity welcomes to it's midst.
Capital punishment is another socio-
logical blunder that is slowly but sure
ly passing into the hideous oblivion of
the past. In this respect alone is
Colorado's penal system Anticipated.
wonder how many citizens of this
state know that today as you read this
there is g. man at Canon City to be ex-
ecuted this month and who is so sub
normally developed mentally that he
has the mind Of a 5-year-old child. This
mana Mexican who will be hanged
unless executive cIemency puts him
where he belongs which is within Ty-
mans prison walls-is no more capa-
! BILE of Judging right and wrong than
/, the typewriter upon which this is
written. More than that, he is incapa-
| BILE of even thought. He knows moth
| ing, feels nothing, understands moth
ing.
Hanging Man Is Crime as Bad as His
Own
| / talked with him yesterday as /
came through Canon City on my way
east He stared ct me with great,
i dull, blank eyes that were without the
| slightest vestige of comprehension or
understanding To hang that unfortu.
nate creature who has the body of a
man with child's mentality is as
| hideous crime as that for which he
| was sentenced. How many men in
/ this or any other state would permit a
| 5-year-old child to be executed, no
! matter what he had done? II the
Mexican now awaiting execution at
Canon City is executed, Colorado will
have hanged mental child.
| OF course, this man is not one whom
society can permit to be at liberty
! Free he is a menace. Prison is the
place for him-such a prison as Colo
radios, where bit by bit in the prison
school his antrophied brain will be
stimulated to action in the prison
school and through regular, enforced
prison work until an ultimate day
lcomes when this Unfortunate will
reach a mental state in which he viii
really be man instead of a child. AND
'having reached such mental state
under such surroundings and influences
as exist at Canon City he will be 9
lworker who will help to build Colo
radios wonderful roads without the
slightest danger to any man. woman OF
child in the state Yet, unless the
parole board or Governor Shoup inter
venes this man-child will be hanged
within very few days.
None Would Vote to Hang Childish
Man
If hanging were a crime deterren
this might be justified-the sacrifice O
, one creature for the protection OF 9th
/. ers. There, however, facts again assai
the advocates of the death. penalty
.lCaptial punishment has beer. practicet
for centuries without deterrent result
T 1t is a fetish Of a past happily nov
i almost behind us. Public opinion
moves forward slowly but inevitably