Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-06-30
STATE PRISON
COMMENCEMENT
Prison School Ends Another
Term and Interesting Exer-
cises Are Given

1,RENToN. June 30.-The most
unioue school in New Jersey held lts
anna closing exercises here today.
me place was the state prison anu
me scene of the event was the pris-
ON chapel with Warden Joseph o;
Hoff presiding. The prison schoo.
ended another term OF its Work ~
educating those convicts VINO entel-
ed the institution either iiiusIrate %
40 poorly Informed IN n Ens 81
language that it played d Pasrl
n sir being sent to prison. 1atn
AZ into the chapel were over ooo
mon 10 observe the closing exercises;
Ali these were pupils of the scnooi
surine the past year and all are men
paving the penalty for some mis-
feed Under the laws of New jersey.
THE head of this most unusual
s.chool r. Howell Tice, was tne
-astsr Of ceremonies today. MI
Tscs il the school teacher In the
etste nrison and for many years
.sught in the South Jersey schools
~ WiIliamstown, Gloucester ounes
He has been the head OF the prissoonn
echool system since 1917 anu nj
been highly successful IN TINS VIZ W.
Of enabling men within tne 90
walla to rise again. He mas the ous
ndence Of every n OF ms bot
l and they look to him 1or aosiov
] onlv in their educational uoupt
Snt n ALI the events of their mar
sewsd lives within the prison CON
nnes.S -. a o'clock
MI. roorninR and were partlclpateu
IN bv prominent people from the us-
!; v,orld. The inmate rs
t~rsd ~ an address by Roy L. ohai
80 a~sSistant state commissioner u
,cation. heard readings give py
No. sarah B. Askew. epresehtins
49, state library commission neaiu
mnrds If advice from the two prison
sharI,;ns' the Rev. Charles II. Eloer
end the Rev. Father Luigi GuI d
nd were entertained by RudoIpn Z,
schey. of the Vienna cohserSaso
of music. The prison pano diso
dered selections: NOS the
sance Of several of the oes'
app,j IN the platform. One OF WnoHa
uars on the subject, What Inie
Spboo, has done for me- n an.
o.hsr, on the topic. How may TINS ms
school D me for gong GU
The singing of America cohci
Ths mast year has been one OF n
-ast ~~,ccessful in the history OF III.
Nav Jersey state prison scnool'
n.h;cb is authorized by act OF tne
ierislature. During the year a tota.
- soo men were enrolled in tne
- r;ous classes, in other words ABOUT
half Of the prisons population. ~
addition to this a night scno
branch was conducted at n prIsUrh
farm in Cumberland county VIZ
from rs to so men in regular az
tendance. r ught
.nd airy class rooms were hileu
daiIv with prisoners eager to grasp
The Knowledge impaired by Mr.. lice
snd his staff of three convict assist
anta. the latter being men OF eou-
cation and capable of serving In tne
~.nacitv. Three sessions were con.
Sucted daily, The first starting al
o,clock IN the morning and run
n,nr until $3.50. The second from
hat latter hour until 11:10 n tne
third from 1 o'clock In the AFTER
noon until 2:30.
The course of study includes with
In its scope practically a grammar
school education. Enrolled afnons
the pupils during the year "ert
white men, negroes and many -,
foreign birth. Each class room ans
I.r school desks provided, black
hoards. charts and all the parapher-
malta of q school.
Including the summer scnooi oa
,ast August, the period marked oy
today,s exercises embraced 6l3 SEES
If the different classes. Inc
rumber of ~convicts who attenoeO
more than one class a day was IL
There were 500 and ISL colored men
enrolled. A total of 81 former pu,
MI. were Y~e-enrolled. The grano
Average of attendance daily was Zos
and the average daily enrollmen
va 22s. Promotions to the mum
Der Of 263 were made during tne
year. The number of prisoners pa.
rolled by the Board OF Manaseli
who were connected with this scnoo
totalled 113. o.,,
n teaching the foreign speaking pop
ulation Of the prison, the ngnsn
language and the American ways
IN this Mr., Ticehas the cooperation
Of Richard d. La G~uardia, who Is q
resident of Trenton, engaged in Am
ericanization work. This phase OF
the schools work has always beer
one OF its strongest appeals, since
many OF the foreign born men in the
prison landed there because OF the
lack Of knowledge of English ano
the ways and customs of this coun-
try.
idea. 1t was authorized by the New
JERSEY legislature about the year
1908 and with money provided was
launched in 1909. Two men wne
were then the prison chaplains, the
Rev. Father Alloys NJ. Fish, and the
Rev. DIR. George c. Maddox, Were
interested in the Launching or the
work. The former was for II years
Catholic chaplain. retiring in 1912
and the latter was the non-Catholic
moral instructor for an even longel
period. DIR. Maddox died in. about