Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-15


IL to fit the criminal rather thai
the crime, the State OF Prussi;
will inaugurate on october l the mos
sweeping prison reforms ever known ir
Germany.
Under an order recently issued by
Prussian Minister of Justice Schmidt
prison administrators will turn their
backs upon the ancient regime in peno-
correctional methods, which treated
prisoners in the mass, and the basic
spirit of which was vindictiveness meted
out in inf1eXible measures by cast
iron penal code.
Furthermore, a new penal code has
been designed according to human
lied" principles and cast along Socio-
logical lines by trinity of law, psy-
chiatry and social welfare. In it capital
punishment is marked for abolition.
Pending its consideration in the Reich
stag the block has been silenced in
Germany
The new prison reforms rest on a
philosophy so idealistic that already
there is much solemn shaking of heads
as to it's success. The prisoner will be
treated as an individual. He will DC
studied as pathological specimen in
social laboratory. He will be CLASH
fed and subclassified, segregated, dis
tributed and then rediStributed. H.
will advance through various classes of
prison regime by the new grading
system" method which is underlald
with the belief that criminals, unless
they are hopeless recidivists or mentally
battered beyond repair. should be given
back to the economic machine as
healthy as possible in body and soul.
Yearly Vacations From Prison.
Hope and faith in the ability of the
hayward to recover his social balance
Is the main motif. Prisoners will be
granted yearly vacations and allowed
to work in factories outside of the
prison, in both cases unaccompanied by
guards. They will live not in cells but
in rooms fitted with furniture and
normal-sized windows, and outside ones
at that. They will, in fact, enjoy those
amenities which one finds in strictly
regulated boarding school, where de-
velopment of character Is the goal. II
they become i'll they will be assigned to
an inflrmary whose windows admit SO
per cent of ultraviolet sunlight.
Such privileges will be granted only
II they are earned. For the new prison
off1cialdom will act as an all-seeing
social pedagogue, infinitely measuring
the moral progress of the individual
prisoner, evaluating his conduct with
merits and dement's, checking its find
ingS against the case history and refuS-
ing to believe that every criminal Of
fender is person alike.
How will this plan of individualiza-
ton be worked? The first step will be
to Segregate the prisoner Immediately
after his conviction. Separate prisons
oners, for first offenders and for re-
peaters, for juveniles up to the age Of
rs years, for the mentally abnormal
and for recidivistS will be established.
These are but broad divisions and only
the beginning of NATURALIZATION.
Now comes the detailed classical
ton of the prisoners individual perso-
nality through psychiatric examina-
ton. A study of his entire life-pattern,
including even his style of handwriting,
will be made. Kretschmer's study of
body and character will be used as the
guide for an elaborate QUESTIONABLE,
which, it is hoped, will some day be
compiled to form master work on the
causes of crime. The prisoners social
history will be built upon records
gathered from welfare agencies, schools,
hospitals and the clergy.
The condition of his family life, the
direction of his talents or leanings, the
quality of his child life, all will consti-
tute data for the figurative blue print,
which will be made of the personality.
Police records will contribute to- but
will not control. the draughting of the
picture. Color value will be given from
the sociological point of view.
Three Glasses Provided.
The actual process of grading" will
involve the promotion of prisoners
from one prison to another. There will
be three classes in all, each a single
stratum higher than the other by
reason of the difference in privileges
allowed, the opportunities for educa-
ton and the progressive mitigation of
restrictions. The prisoner will advance
according to his ability to abide by
regulations and to the rate of his social
and moral improvement.
When he reaches the heigheSt grade,
he will be prepared for the period of
freedom to come after his discharge.
It Is here that his room window will
be curtained and draped. His door
will be unlocked and will have no peep
hole. He will enjoy an intramural club
life and will visit his family, unescorted,
on q two-week leave. It is the pur-
pose of this grade of prison to make the
change from incarceration to freedom
as gradual as possible, and to prepare
the prisoner to be socially responsible
and economically self-suficient from
the moment he departs from the land
In order to obtain realistic view Of
the way In which this latest penal in
telligence will function, consider the
case, for example, of Herman Miller,
who has committed a robbery of grand
larceny degree. He had previously
served a sentence of six months, let us
say, for petit larceny. The court has
found him guilty and has passed him
over to the sentencing board, who, after
hi
personality, commits him to serve nine
years in the "Zuchthaus" This is a
general classification of prisons for
long-term offenders, and we're known
in the days of Wilhelm to be the seat
of the cruclest regime, where water
soaked cells and the free-swinging
: Scudgel were the rule.
Had his offenSe been a lighter one
he would have been sentenced to a
"Gefangnis," where the less serious Of
tenders live under a comparatively
easier regime. Or had the study shown
that he was Enthusiastically vicious
and habitually thieving he would have
been assigned to a special prison for
"hard cases." where the intractability
of prisoners is pronounced and the rate
of advancement slow.
Probationary Period Six Months.
But investigation indicates that al
though irregular in habits, Miller is
kindly toward his family; that he is
ill adjusted in work, irreligious and had
lived in childhood under difficult en-
vironmental conditions. He is there
fore assigned to Prison B, grade l.,
Zuchthaus." Here he will find his fel-
low inmates are men much like him
self, all previous offenders.
At first the life is lean and hard. He
IS virtually isolated. He may not smoke.
For recreation he must walk the court
yard In silence at five PAGES from his
fellows. After work he may read the