New-York tribune., 1920-05-15
Honor System
For COnvicts
Defended Here
National Committee on Pris-
ons Hears Speaker Ad.
vocatc Making Such
Places Self Supporting
Standard Wage Is Urged
Reformed Criminals Will
Discuss ''The Cell and
What 1t Means" To-day

Penal institutions should be made
self supporting by greater indus
triaization which would benefit both
prisoner and institution, speakers be-
fore the annual meeting of the Ma
tional Committee on Prisons and
Prison Labor declared yesterday at
the Bltmore Hotel.
Many interesting facts were brought
out in connection with prison labor
and wages by DR.. f. Stagg Within.
of Columbia, who is chairman Of the
Executive Council Of the National Com
mittee.
The government during the war, he
said, had paid wages to prisoners ac-
cording to the scale paid free men in
| the locality where the work had been
| done and instead of paying the prison
! ers through the warden, had, as at the
| New Jersey prison at Trenton, paid
| them direct and by check. Payment
was for work done by the prisoners
for the army and navy, such as the
making and repairing of shoes. He
produced copies of the Trenton prisons
payrols for 1917, which showed the
government began by paying the pris-
oners $l.6O day and later had ad-
vanced this figure to $500 day The
state was allowed $l.8O day for the
prisoners maintenance.
Some Made $3.50 n Month
In many instances, the prisoners dur
ing the war received monthly checks
as high as $l60, Dr.. Within said, and
the government had thus led the way
! in reform Of farreaching importancc
IN prison industry. The result was
a stimulation of the prisoner to in
dustry and greater efficiency, which
gave promise for his future when dis
charged.
The national committee had recon-
mended the increased wage scale, he
said.
When told that they were to be paid
direct, and not as heretofore had been
the case through the prison warden,
Dr.. Within said. the men would not be-
lieve it. The disbursing officer went to
the prison, the men we're lined up, and
each received the check due him. A
common remark at such times was, Dr.
sure on the level"
The old plan of leasing out prisoners
to private contractors and which per
SlStS even yet in some states Dr.
Within said, limited the prison indus
tries to those which did not compete
with free labor. Politicians, he de-
clared feared to set up industries in
penal institutions which labor objected
to. The reason for labor's opposition
was the wholly inadequate wage paid
There were now about fifty Industries
IN prisons, he said.
Upholds Honor System
c. B. Rogers, president of the Ala
bama State Prison Board, chief warden
ana member of the Prison Council, said
the women Of the Alabama State Prison.
are employed in cotton mills and sew
ing shops. The men are worked in
cotton mills, saw mills, on farms and
gardening, stock raising, poultry rails
lng coal mining and as cooks. Recently
his state had enacted laws to do away
with the leasing system, he said, which
would not become finally effective until
1928 because of existing contracts. An
other law was enacted which leaves it
up to the convict to determine if he
shall serge the maximum or minimum
sentence for his offense and fixes the
| lndeterminate sentence
lhe honor system, Mr. Rogers
showed, was proving more and more
merltorlous, opposition to it notwith-
| standing.
Segregation of psychopathic patients,
or those mentally defective, from the
feeble minded and normally delinquent
women IN state correctional institu-
tlons for females. was urged by speak
ers at the conference on the care and
training of delinquent women and
girls. DR.. Katharine Bement Davis,
general secretary, bureau of social
hygiene, declared this segregation to
be one solution of the correctional in
stitution problem. Public prejudice
against state hospitals, she added, was
a deterrent factor in the success of
correctional work
EX-Convicts Speak To-day
Other speakers were Mrs. Jessie D.
Holder, superintendent of the Re-
formatory for Women in Massachu-
setts. and Professor Mary S. Rose, of
Teachers College, Columbia Univer-
sity
Magistrate Alexander Brough de-
clared before the evening session of
the conference that in his opinion. the
probation court will eventually sup
plant the Jail. He explained that there
are now 10000 men out on probation
in New York City and only 1852 in
| Jail The results are meritorious. he
said, and added that 76 per cent of the
men are being saved to society by the
| proDatlon court. Adolph Lewisohn and
Deputy Police Commissioner Lord also
spoke.
This morning at the Bltmore, for
mer convicts who have made good in
civilian life since discharge will dis
cuss THE Cell and What 1t Means"
In the afternoon the conferees will
go by autom obile to Heather Dell
Farm, Ardsley, for reception by
Adolph Lewisohn and discussion by
military and naval prison heads on
prison problems