The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1921-02-22
SAM BLITCH
DEFENDS HIS
HONOR SYSTEM
H. H. Hart of the Russell Sage Foun-
dation Praises Condition in
Which he Found the
Prison Farm

Editor Star: Is it merely a coinci-
dent that the first and one of the
best articles ever written about the
Honor System" at the state farm
was penned by you, and practically
the first and most severe arraign-
nent of it was also penned by you? Is
It further a coincident that the first
article was written after you had Wis
tied the farm, and the second one un-
der the heat of a dastardly crime and
from hearsay altogether.
| was glad when you wrote the first
article. / am also glad that the since
the System" must come under fire,
that you were the one to let 60 the
opening gun, for while you are fear
less writer, and do not hesitate to
write that which you think, at the
same time you are fair and will divide
space in your paper for reply and any
system that will not stand being ex-
posed under the mighty searchlight of
TRUTH, should fall.
However, have no fear that hu-
manitarian treatment of prisoners,
which is referred to in this case as the
Honor System will fail, because it
is right and right win prevail in the
end. In your editorial you come out
Ifiat-footed for the "Honor System
and give many reasons why it is best.
You further state that you believe
that have honestly tried to carry
out the work, but have found the in
corrigible prisoner a hard problem to
solve, contrary to what | expected.
Such is not the case; the organization
has grown stronger from day to day,
and / am more fully convinced today
in it's justice and success than ever.
Let us review some few things that
you point out that we are criticised
for:
Discipline. | stand four square in
the statement that / have the best
disciplined state prison in the entire
United States, and / will wager the
best hat that could be bought in
Ocala or elsewhere for that matter
that if you will come here and spend
week, you will acknowledge it.
Escapes. Let us compare with the
state road department. They with q
few over 600 prisoners. average fol
1920, and with a few over 125 paiG
men engaged in handling prisoner.
with guns, had IS escapes. We hac
an average of around 500 prisoners
with less than 10 paid men, which in
cludes myself, and had Is escapes, anc
one of these. 12-year white man, re
turned voluntarily after visiting hi:
wife and children, whom he had mo-
seen in more than three years. Al
the other escapes were short tern
men, with the exception of one, ant
all were recaptured but four Thes,
figures can be verified at the prisoI
division in Tallahassee. Some one viii
most likely say in answer to this, tina
the road department has all the ba.
and desperate men, but / wish to in
form you that each and every MAJ
they have was brought here first an,
held here from two weeks to sixt,
Gays before being sent to them, ais
that the first few days of prisoner
life in prison is when the rabbit bloc,
pl edominates in him.
i Work. With the number of mel
here practically the same as when
took charge, we have opened a dair.
requiring eight men, poultry plan
requiring IL men, a shoe factory re
quiring four men, a retort plant re
lquiring six men, and a mattress fac
tory requiring two men, and are eul
Itivating 1900 acres more land thai
was in cultivation when | came. /
this not sufficient to show you tina
every ounce of man power on tn
, Iplace is being utilized.
i As to the story that the truck wa
used to take a number of prisoners q
Ia ball game, that is an absolute false
hood, and daresay that the man VIII
told you that knew it to be such.
Il As 60 Mendenhall, i wish to stat
that he is doing identically the sam
line of work today that / found hin
. doing under my predecessor, and an,
of the members of the hold-overs o
the board of commissioners of stat
institutions will verify this. As &
his being seen in Jacksonville, will sa,
that Mr.. w. Z. Brown, assistan
superintendent, took him there on
day to fit some glasses to his eyes