The Washington times., 1925-08-22

from New York appeared at the
prison simultaneously, hungry for
news. Osborne gave them carte
blanche to investigate, permitting
them to interview the injured
man in the hospital, the. one who
had committed the assault, and
such guards and prisoners who
had witnessed the affray. The
group, after making these in
quiries, came back to the war
denis office, and their spokes-
man said they would very much
like Osborne's statement about 1T.
Good" exclaimed Tom. 81 ex-
pect shall surprise you, but this
assault, aside from the inherent
wrong, is a good thing. So long
as 1t has happened am glad OF
1.-THE men were getting alto
gether too good; dangerously SO.
All these months without a seri-
Gus disturbance worried me-
was beginning to think / had as.
sumed charge Of a seminary In
stead Of prison"
But doesn't this assault go to
show the danger of too much
freedom?" asked the spokesman.
eft couldn't have occurred under
the old system, could it,"
Reporters SkepticaI as Warden
Explains
For reply the warden produced
the disciplinary records and dem
onstrated that scarcely day had
passed in Sing Sing under previ-
Gus administrations without
fight or assault, frequently with
a guard or officer as the object
of attack. In spite OF this COM
parison, so much in favor of the
welfare system, the reporters re-
manned skeptical; pugnacious, IN
fact.
what is a prison for?" con-
~tinued Osborne. ''It is q place
for the confinement of those who
by their acts outside have DEM
onstrated need for restraint ana
correction. Very well. hold
that when we get men Of that
type together we have an. ideal
opportunity for studying their
weaknesses. and the only way to
learn their true characters is to
give them every possible oppor-
tunfty, consistent with continued
detention, for exhibiting their
shortcomings.
Prison freedom-that is. op-
portunities for wrong doing-is
the only logical way for getting
at the weaknesses Of prisoners
and enabling those in charge to
determine their fitness or unfit
ness for return to outside free
dom.
Freedom Intended TO Prove Mems
Weakness
ITO that end have done away
with the old cage-like repressions'
when mems hates and viciousness
smoIdered and boiled and became
a hundred fold more intense, only
to break forth in atrocious acts OF
violence and unlawfulness follow
ing their release. 1 have given
prisoners more freedom SO they
may be trained in the exercise or
freedom while in place where
a yielding 10 weakness on their
part can do the least amount OF
harm to society.
"'It is liberty alone that fits
men for liberty as Gladstone so
aptly put it. Therefore, this
assault proves that We have at
least one man in Sing Sing who
lacks self-control and needs fur.
Their training. He has evidenced
this weakness under improved
conditions, making his offense all
the more reprehensible.
Under the old system. when
the men were held down like wild
beasts, an outbreak of this sort
could not always be ascribed to
inherent viciousness because 1t
was frequently the result OF un-
bearable repression and downright
cruelty-a desperate, hopeless
fighting back OF a man half
crazed, perhaps wholly crazed by
injustice and stupidity"
Next morning we scanned the
newspapers eagerly, hoping that
some of this statement might be
included in the accounts Of the
assault. Some of the reporters
may have included it in their
respective "write-ups," but II so
it had been carefully elided by
the editorial pencils. The &C
counts of the affair all agreed
that Osborne was giving the Sing
Sing convicts full opportunity to
assault and kill each other. as
well as exposing the guards and
officers to unnecessary peril.