Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-12-07


at the meetings held monthly and listcl
to the words OF the older members o
the toard and be guided accordingly
tons rotten. ! AIN going to say the
are rotten. II believe the rules ar
Q hardship, II is up to me to say so.
Remedy Rests with Board
ITO my mind It rests with the boar'
to remedy any condition that need
remedying. That is what the boar
h for. and that In what the boar,
should do. Nobody's word should b,
taken for granted. Investigate and fin,
out for yourself. That Is what ! do.
s.fn taking the stand thnt I do fol
wipins out the rules that now Cover,
tht County Prison. I take into con
SiderAtion the fact the men controlled
~ those rules have been convicted o
crime and are in prison az punishment
but does this mean that thes2 mcr
should be tossed into a cell. forbidden
TO speak to any one. denied smoke
now and then or a chew?
Personally. l do no: believe that 4,
Il possible for a criminal to redeem
himself In the County Prison at Holmes
burg because he doesn't get his chance.
Kindness. to my mind, Is the only sue =
cessful method to employ in treatmen;
Of prisoner.
''If you cage a man in cell and II
you punish him with foodless hours be :
cause he sncakcd smoke and If yoi
,,eny him his food because he talked
with another convict. it stands TO ren :
son that the spirit of the man is bound
10 be broken. With promise Of pun
ishment for such trivial ofcnscs hang
ing over him AL tn" time, what chance
has he to reform?
"On the "tker hand. 'nt this fellow
exchange words with others: let hirl
smoke occasionally. let him have a mu-
steal instrument in his cell. show him
the bright side once in while. and tie
first thing you find IL that this convict
Is beginning TO look forward to better
things. They are human and It is up
to the Board of Inspectors 10 treat them
as human beings"
Favors Prison Farm
Louis Fleischer. a braid manufac-
turer at 1923 Arch street. and n mem
ber Of the board OF Inspectors. is en-
Enthusiastically in favor of a prison farm
In tho outskirts of tho city.
IAN 7 will say about the situation
is this" he said today. II am chair
man Of the Manufacturing Committee.
you know. We should have prison
farms. with properly equipped factories
alongside.
''This would give the prisoners an
opportunity to work on tho farms. ~
the open air. and would give. in addi
ton. properly equipped factories where
the prisoners could work. varying their
tasks. In these factoies they could turn
out articles required in other State in =
stitutions.
AT present our knitting machines
are out Of date. They are hand ma
chimes and were chosen to give employ
ment to the largest number of prisoners
possible. ! really believe ! am in ad =
vance Of many members Of the board in
my iileas. realize. however. that Il
requires a great deal Of money n carry
out the projects have outlined"
Another advocate Of the prison farm
II Joseph +. NJ. Baldi. merchant and
banker. Of 92S South Eighth street.
But what Is tho use when You can
not get the money necessary" h,
asked.
But lot me tell YOU this: know
the Philadelphia prisons TO be property
conducted. clean and the food GOOD
We are not running n Bellevue STRAIT
ford. you know. We couldn't, for i
We did we couldn't keep people out
"Why. during the war they haf
better bread than had mysef. Tha
was because the institutions had bough
much good -four ahend. The bread i
very good. Every now and then 7 tax,
a loaf home with me and test it cut
] 90 unexpectedly 10 the prisons and
pick out any loaf ! please. There is n,
special loaf made up for me.
, Says Meat Is Good
'Then there is the question of meat
I tell you that meat is fine. You can
not believe what those convicts tell you
! recall one instance of n Young maj
whose family ! happen to know. II i
good family. but the boy got int,
trouble. After he got out he came 7,
me and complained Of the meat. 1T i
rotten he snid. 7 replied TINT knew
better and that he knew better that h.
had worked in the kitchens himself nnt
that he knew the meat was GooI.
"Well. he laughed and said. You ar,
right. you got me this time. Mr.
Bnldi.' Now. what are you going {,
do with people like that?
81 tell you these men arc liars Tim
Is it-plain liars. don't know wha
1t is. 1t seems TO be in the mir. th
very walls OF those places but + wb", m
men get in them they will not tell tn
truth. Why, 60 to the prisons alone
l even ride in my own automobile. so II
one will know | nm coming. Then I q
through the whole institution. e
alone into the cells with those men
Some people ask me whether this /
safe. but why shouldn't it be-?
haven't done anything to those men
and | haven't put them there.
Nov. why don't these men whispe
their complaints to me. il they hav
, any. Or to any others Of the prison in
spectors. But they do not. ever
have given orders that any prsone
who wants to talk 10 me il 10 tell {
guard and the guard is to let me know
Mt once. The guard must let me know
for IL he doesn't will find il out anv.
how. and then It would go hard Will
him.
Punishment Necessary
You ask me about the punshmon,s
Well. when n man docs wrong and /.
convicted hc is sent to Jail. in the frs
place. II h" misbehavcs in jail h
must be punished"
''Do you believe in solitary confine
ment. Mr.. Baldif"
Men must sometimes be punished
Take two men. for instance. They ar
arrested together. One turns State
evidence, both 60 to the same prison
The man who did not talk lays for tn
other one and beats him up at the frs
opportunity. Now, such II man mus
be punished.
"You may think It strange. also
that large gatherings are not permitted
Well, whenever these men get togethe
they talk Of one thing only. and tina
as escape. How to get out is the
constant thought. 1t does not do.
"AA for Amnkinn | nnlnratn nd Ii ~.