The Monmouth inquirer., 1923-07-05
Report Of Investigating Body Call
ing for Modern Management
Approved by Managers.
WANTS SELF GOVERNMENT
Jsmes E. Kersey, Suspended Keeper,
Not to Return-Trained Men Com
ing In--coal Situation Hazy
as Reports Conflict.

dungeons are to be torn down. The
dining hall is to be opened. Special
diets are not to be taken from the sick
as punishment. The idle are to be
employed. The mentally unfit are to
be examined and removed. Hydro
therapeutic treatment is to be estab-
lished and, most important of all, a
man trained in penology is to be APP
pointed as right hand man to the prin-
cipal keeper, Joseph S. Hof.
These reforms were recommended
by the report of the committee that
investigated the state prison. They
were approved b. the Board of Prison
Managers and were adopted unani-
mously by the State Board of Control.
AS they have been further Endorsed
and agreed to by Burdette G. Lewis,
commissioner Of institutions and agen-
cies, and by Warden Hoff, there is
every reason to believe they will be
accomplished without delay.
The report marks the retirement Of
James e. Kersey, suspended chief
deputy. Kersey is to be permitted to
retire on a pension. The report makes
allowance for the fact that he was a
faithful servant of the old system of
prison management. He failed, how
ever, to accept or even learn modern
methods, and his recent mistakes
made his return to the prison impossi-
BILE. AS he had been in the prison
service for 20 years and was eligible
for retirement four years ago, it was
agreed by all that he should be given
his pension.
With Kersey's passing it is expected
the old harsh, oppressive and not in
frequently cruel practices will cease,
for he is to be succeeded by a trained
a upon whom Hoff, a political ap-
pointee, can lean. Hoff himself is not
criticised in the report. A constitu-
tional officer, he would be difficult to
remove, and the report brings no
charges against him. 1t is believed to
be the feeling of the committee that
be left matters largely to Kersey and
that he was not directly to blame for
conditions that came about.
Avoid Mention of MuIheron
The report avoids mention Of the
fact that James H. M%ulheron, former
warden, used prison supplies and pris-
on labor to repair his private home.
The report recommends immediate
action upon the following:
I'VE recommend carrying out the
suggestions contained in the report OF
the joint committee of the two several
boards, bearing late April 10, 1923, es-
pecially with regard to the further tx
tension of the use of the dining room,
ment of larger number Of prisoners in
useful arts and further development
of the state use system in the shops
of the prison board and with proper
and competent instructors and a suit
able personnel to develop the best re-
suits in the training, education and
general reform of the inmates.
"The immediate and complete aboli-
ton of the dark cells under wing s,
consisting Of a removal of the cells,
with the necessary braeing by pillars
for the su~perstructure and the utiliza-
ton of the space so cleared for stor-
age or other useful purposes.
"The better enforcement of the pres
emit existing regulations ID with re-
spect to the hearing Of complaints
made by prisoners, including giving to
the prisoners copies of definite
charges made against them by keep
ers or otherwise, and giving them OPP
p~ortunity Except in most extraordi7
nary circumstances) to have a hear
ing on the basis Of said charges be-
fore the principal keeper or a deputy
designated by him for such purpose
before punishment shall be admins
tered; (2) with respect to the non-
removal Of diet when heretofore pre-
scribed for prisoners for punishment
reasons without specific authorization
from the physician in charge.
we suggest that under no circum-
stances, even when a prisoner Is
placed in solitary confinement under
punishment, shall his ordinary be re-
moved from him for the reason that
we believe 1t deteriorates his mental
and physical being without any real
accomplishment from a disciplinary
point of view.
IAN examination by a competent
board of all border line prisoners with
respect to their mentality; a reclassi-
ication of such prisoners when neces-
sary by reason of their present ascer-,
aimed mental condition, including the
necessary steps to transfer such pris-
oners from the prison to the institu-
ton in which IL would be more suita-
BILE to have them detained. II such
Investigation shows more of the pris-
oners to be eligible to such transfer
than 1t is possible to accommodate in
the proper institutions then We recon-
mend the installation as speedily as
possible of facilities for hydro-the-
rapeutic treatment necessary and sci
eEtifcaily desirable for prisoners Of
srch temperament OF mental
iofects. With such interchangeable