The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1921-03-25
STATE PRISONS AFFECTED BY
 PROHIBITION

| Chicago, March 25.-DecreaSe in | the total population of state prisons in the middle and southeastern states | is attributed in part to prohibition by a number of state prison authori- | ties. Other reasons noted include high wages and shortage of labor. | the indeterninate sentence and the merit system. The falling off for 16 l states. as noted in reports collected here by The Assoeiated Press, 1914.
 In commenting on the decrease in | state where it occurred more prison officials named prohibition than any other single reason. Several citing industrial conditions. gave this cause greater weight than prohibition.
 From one of the states that re- | ported an increase, Ohio, the warden of the state penitentiary reported he did not believe that prohibition had decreased crime.
 The decrease in prisoners was not uniform. but took place in nine states, where the total decrease wiped out an increase in six states | and showed a net decrease for the entire sixteen, one remaining station | ary.
 New features in the character of crime and criminals were noted by | several state officials.
 | II believe that there has been general decrease in the prison pop l utatfon of the country" said Henry | Town, warden of the Wisconsin state | prison at Waupun- ''This can be at of intoxicating liquor and also to the l fact that labor has been scarce and high wages have been paid.
 We do not get as many petit of l lenders as formerly but the crimes committed are of a much more seri- ouS nature I believe it is also true | that great many of these serious 1 crimes are being committed and the I offenders von bnf f7tcr i think you can sum up the situation
 by saying that petit crime has de- | creased and more serious form of | crime has taken it's place and greatly l increased, and that the percentage of arrests for the more serious crimes
 is much less than the arrests for
 merly for petit crimes
 | Prohibition was said by Downer Mullen secretary of the Minnesota
 state board of control, to be one of
 the principal reasons for the de-
 crease in the number of inmates in
 the Minnesota state prison at Still
 water. John T. Burkett, secretary of
 the Arkansas Penitcmdary Com1nis- sion. gave the passage and enforce
 ment of prohibition laws credit for
 the decrease there in the number of state convictS.
 Officials of the Kentucky prisons,
 where the greatest drop in the 16
 states was noted, said that the de- cline there was due in large part to the unprecedented period of employ nent and high wages probably more
 than to prohibition. They said they did not expect their prison popu1a.-
 ton to stay at it's low point for long.
 In Ohio, Warden Thomas said that I1 the main reason why the state phi
 tentiary population had not decreased
 in the last few years was the inde-
 terminate sentence, It holds prison
 CTS longer, he said. Another reason
 given by Warden Thomas was that
 Ohio police were more active than
 those in some other states and were briD ging in more criminals. t+The reformer claims it is prohibi-
 ton that reduces our prison popula-
 tion," wrote J. R. Jordan, chief clerk,
 criminal record department, Texas
 state penitentiary. ''They also claim
 that since prohibition has been in
 effect Crime has decreased 6S per
 cent Of course they do not expect any one that is informed to believe
 them but it serves their purpose to fool the people part of the time.'' II In Missouri, William R. Painter,
 chairman of the state prison board
 said that prohibition was one cause of the decrease in number of prison CTS and that crime had diminished noticeabIy along with prohibition. MT. Painter said that the merit sys- tenn under which prisoners are given a chance to reduce their sentences by good behavior, had operated likewise to cut down the state prison popula- ton