Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-08
Prison Riots Offer Problem
OF Dealing With Criminals

Comment on the recent prison riots
made before President Hoover an
nounced his plan for relieving condi-
tons In the Federal prisons indicates
that the step answers a wide public
demand. Many varying views on the
subject of severe laws and their eff
fectivenesS are reflected in the discus
sion.
Let us not have hue and cry over
the severity of the Baumes laws, be-
cause they send the worst of criminals
to prison for life" demands the Albany
Evening News, with the further COM
ment: Would these advocates of modi-
| flcation of the Baumes laws feel safer
with these desperate men outside of
prison or out in a few years and cher
ishing the hope of further opportuni-
| ties tor crime? It seems that the best
place for dangerous men is in prison,
and there should be proper provision
| for guarding them
Taking up the charge that "a des-
| perate effort to regain freedom is the
| natural outcome of the situation" aris-
! ing from the Baumes laws, the Column
| bus, Ohio, Evening Dispatch says: IF
we admit this diagnosis of the cases to
be true, it does not initiate against
| the wisdom or the justice of the
BaumeS laws. It is merely demonstra-
| ton Of the desperate and dangerous
criminality of the men within the walls,
| and the first and most important lesson
| to be learned from it is the necessity of
| prison management under which the
absolute futility of any such uprising
| will be evident to the prisoners them
selves. New York or any other State
that finds its prisons seriously over
| crowded should, of course, remedy that
situation; but the remedy should come
| through enlarging the prison quarters,
not through the turning of criminals
loose in society"
n \ *&
| Giving attention to other features of
the situation, the Rock Island Argus
contends: There must necessarily be
discipline in penitentiaries, but the
State imposing life sentences, or even
long sentences, upon offenders should
| provide for the comfort and the health
| of all those whom it condemns to i'm
some men who are confined in prisons
are as near utter depravity as men can
attain to, it would not only be- wise, but
also more humane, to provide sleeping
quarters that are adequate in size,
properly ventilated and in all respects
sanitary"
The disorders at Auburn and Gin
ton," in the opinion of the st. Paul
Dispatch, ARE serious indictment of
prison management in New York, but
4 one which applies to many other State
prisons in this country. Decent living
] conditions, steady and useful work,
| firm, but not cruel, discipline and some
hope for the reclaimable among pris-
oners are essential requirements of
orderly prison administration" The
Wheeling Intelligencer sees possible
| ity of providing a remedy "by the es-
Enlistment Of road camps" and makes
the further comment: This is good
| for the men, giving them healthful and
profitable employment in the open air
1t Is good for the prison, by making
more decent and more readily super
vised living conditions. It is good for
the State. by giving the public road
building program the economy OF con-
Wet labor, which, under fair tests, has
proved to be efficient"
| The conditions that have developed
in the prisons" as viewed by the Santa
Barbara Daily News, seem to furnish
evidence once more that theoretical law
makers, in their dealings with the hui
man element, have learned little. It Is
an unfortunate fact that California has
| copied much OF the legislation which
has brought about the present situation
in the New York prisons. Our laws are
too recent to have affected the prison
population materially But Is there any
reason to believe that the results In this
State will differ materially from those
in New York;"
| 4 n r. n
| "No Legislature need think" advises
the Houston Chronicle, that 1t can
make punishment suddenly more severe;
| no governor need think he can elimi-
nate pardons and cast greater gloom
into the already darkened lives of the