Evening star., 1922-08-13

+ 4 young man offendS against
the law. is convicted. and is sent
to a penitentiary, need he be-
crnre an 'habitual criminal"
How far is the government justified
in going to prevent first timer"
from joining the criminal class for
ever What measures may We'll be
taken to prevent this?
congress and the administration
are moving in the matter. Heber
TT. Notaw, superintendent of federal
prisons. has drafted plan. and Rep
resentative Foster of Ohio has in
1roduced i bill embodying this plan.
1t calls fer the establishment of an
industrial refo. matory" at Camp
Grant. near Rockford. H.. an indus
trial reformatory to which first Of
Tenders may be sent, corrected,
educated in the fundamentals. and
trained in a trade or industry which
will enable them to obtain self-sup
porting employment and TO become
.'self-reiiant members of society"
" hen they are released.
Not Merely an Ideal.
The plan cannot properly be criti
cized as idealiStic or as Soft-heart-
ed and sentimental way of dealing
with men who have violated the law.
1t embodies the best ideas regarding
correction of prisoners which have
been adopted by the most progressive
states If first offender is i'm
prisoned-unless it be for Iife-he is
hound 20 come out of prison some
day. And what he does after he
leaves prison is of very great in
terest to the community and to the
country in general. Either he will
commit further crimes against So
ciety or he will be law abiding. either
he will become public charge or
he will support himself.
The industrial reforma tory which
1t is proposed Uncle Sam shall
operate in an effort to place first
offenders on the right path, after
they have served their sentences. will
lie limited to young men between
the ages of seventeen and thirty
years OF age, men who are young
enough. it is believed. to influence
toward correct standard of living.
The federal government now has
three penitentiaTieS-at Atlanta, Ga:
Leaveuworth. Kan. and Mcneil Is
land. Wash. Into these three institu-
tions are put young men and old, first
offenders and old timers, who have
violated federal laws. AS a matter of
fact. the population of these peniten-
tiaries is now so large as to make it
necessary to double up" the prison
ers to an extent which is deemed
harmful by physicians, and to farm
others out to state penal institutions.
The prison population is on the in
crease, too. it is said. The laws pro-
viding for the federal penitentiaries
relate only to sites, building and the
class of prisoners to be confined, with
little or no regard to discipline and
methods Of treatment and rehabilita-
ton. looking to the reform of the in
mates.
To Perfect Penal System.
The result is that, while the United
States government has penitentiaries
modern in every particular 50 far as
to physical comfort of prisoners,
measures for the training and refor
nation of the prisoners are made
auate. it is said. The object of the
Foster bill, according to report by Mr..
Votaw, is to complete and perfect the
federal penal system in this respect.
In bringing the law up to date"
Mr. Votaw said in his memorandum,
mo novel, fanciful or idealistic theo-
ries of reformation have been invok-
ed, neither are any drastic or reac
tionary measures contemplate ted
AS has been said, the populations of
the penitentiaries is on the increase,
and another penal institution is need
ed by the federal government to care
for violators of the federal laws. If
the industrial reformatory proposed
is not established. then another peni-
tentiary must be built soon along
lines similar to those already in op-
Grafton. The ordinary population OF
the Atlanta penitentiary is 1870. The
population as of June 10. 1922. was
s27s. The ordinary capacity at the
teavenworth penitentiary is 2,2lO
men, and the population on June 10,
1922, was 2,379. AT the Mcneil Island
penitentiary the ordinary capacity is
3O3, and the prison population, June
10. 1922, was 4s5.
The number of United States pris-